Please stop HRM from Erasing a Lebanese Canadian Legacy when the renaming of Lynwood Drive comes to a vote at Tuesday’s council meeting. A self-made man, my grandfather was a pioneer of both Lynwood Drive and the Diman diaspora, building his retirement home on Lynwood Drive in the 1950s and opening it up to strangers — all subsequent waves of Lebanese immigrants who came to Halifax with no money, no support system and no help, just directions to Lynwood Drive.
As you can see, the staff report “misunderstands the history entirely,” overlooking the extensive oral and community testimony documenting the street's cultural significance to today’s Lebanese diaspora, the foundation of which was built on Lynwood Drive. It focuses instead on the fact it was not
originally named for the Lebanese community.
The significance lies not in why the street was named, but in what happened there afterwards.
The report, also shows administration hasn’t resolved the duplication issue as they are only calling for the renaming of one of three Lynwood Drives, leaving the duplication in tact. Given the historical context, it’s difficult to understand why they would put forward the original Lynwood Drive for renaming other than the fact it has three or four fewer homes that would need to change their mailing address.