New downtown street will honour Arthur Downes and his family

September 14, 2022

A new street in the 22-acre Lower Yonge Precinct will honour the Downes family.

Arthur and Joan Downes, along with their son Douglas and other family members, attended the street naming ceremony on July 26.

“I am almost beyond words,” said 95-year-old Arthur Downes of the recognition. “I thought it was just going to be a little trail that went a few yards and maybe turn into the end of the garbage dump. I had no idea this is what it was going to be. I thank those people that work with their hands and heads.”

Born two days after Union Station – designated a National Historic Site in 1975 -- opened on August 6, 1927, Downes said the honour recognizes extended family members and the community.

“It is also Davis St., my mother’s family, Blackwood St. which is my mother’s family and Tait St. because I had a grandmother who was a Tait,” he pointed out. “So, it is not unlike Black history. It is everyone’s street here today. All I ask is that when you drive down Yonge St., toot your horns as you go by Downes St.”

Asked to provide a list of suitable Black candidates for consideration during the street-renaming process in the city, the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) recommended the Downes family.

Channon Oyeniran (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

“We are privileged to celebrate and memorialize stories like Arthur Downes and his family who have contributed to community and organizations to promote equity and inclusion on behalf of Black residents in the City of Toronto,” said OBHS Vice-President Channon Oyeniran who is pursuing a PhD at Queens University. “We are thrilled they were chosen to be part of acknowledging and celebrating living Black history.”

The OBHS honoured Downes with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual Black History Month kick-off brunch in January 2020.

He is the cousin of late classical jazz pianist Wray Downes who was once married to Marguerite ‘Peggy’ Downes -- the first Black woman to be honorary aide-de-camp in Ontario -- who passed away in 2009.

“It is a joy to know that the Downes family will have a street sign,” said historian/curator Dr. Sheldon Taylor. “But more importantly, people on a regular basis will call that name ‘Downes’ which becomes very important for all of us. Streets are meant to symbolize not just names of individuals, but they are supposed to take you somewhere important. What I know about Downes St. is it will take you to Yonge St. where there is a weave of African-Canadian history, starting at the water edge of Lake Ontario and going all the way to York Mills.”

Dr. Sheldon Taylor (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

During the Upper Canada Rebellion at the end of 1837, nearly 120 Black soldiers, who were part of the loyalist forces, helped disperse rebels at the Battle of Montgomery Tavern at 2384 Yonge St. that is a National Historic Site of Canada.

While Toronto is recognized as one of the world’s most diverse cities, Councillor Joe Mihevc said commemorations, street names, park names and names of buildings do not fully reflect the city’s rich history and all the stories that are present.

Joe Mihevc (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

“Like in many other North American cities, most commemorations in Toronto celebrate the city’s colonial history,” he noted. “This historic imbalance has meant that the stories of Indigenous people, Black communities and equity-deserving groups have been excluded and sometimes even erased from Toronto’s public spaces and the decision-making that govern these spaces. We believe that Toronto’s urban landscape should reflect the diversity of residents and more authentically account for the diversity of the city’s stories. They have good stories to share and we want to hear them.”

Running east to west, Downes St. is located in the Menkes & Pinnacle development in the Lower Yonge St. Precinct that is a nine-hectare neighbourhood with a projected population of 13,000.

The new development will include Ontario’s first elementary school inside a high-density condominium building that can accommodate 455 students, a 50,000-square foot community centre that will open later this year, a 2.5-acre park and two daycare centres.

Jared Menkes, who is overseeing the Sugar Wharf Residences development on the waterfront, said his company is supportive of the city’s decision to choose the name Downes St. after the Downes family.

Jared Menkes (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

“As a longstanding city builder, we see first-hand that communities are not simply made up of the streets and buildings that occupy them, but are rather like intricate puzzles that are fully formed when all the pieces come together – leaders, people, culture, values and policies,” he said.

The product of Caribbean immigrants, Downes was a Justice of the Peace, Humber College lecturer and Republic of Guinea Honourary Consul for 16 years until 2009. He served on several boards supporting service organizations, including the Doctor’s Hospital Foundation (now Kensington Foundation), where he was the inaugural Board of Directors Chair, the Hospital Council of Metro Toronto, the Ontario Hospital Association and St. Michael’s Day Care Centre for Children.

Joe Mihevc (l), Arthur Downes, Douglas Downes & Jared Menkes (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

With the support of then National Black Coalition regional chair Kay Livingstone, Downes joined late research chemist Thomas Massiah and Taylor in making a presentation on behalf of the Black community to Toronto Police in 1972. They were the first community members to develop and implement liaison committees between the Black community and Toronto Police Service.

His enduring interest in helping others matches his devotion to Masonry.

The oldest former Masonic lodge leader in Ontario and one of Canada’s first Black Grand Masters, Downes was among a group of five, including late lawyer B.J Spencer Pitt and Canadian Second World War veteran Lester Brown who died in 2013, that joined Eureka Lodge #20 in February 1949 and served as Worshipful Master.

The nonagenarian is also Past Potentate of Hadji Temple #61, trustee of Scottish Rite United Supreme Council northern jurisdiction, honourary Past Imperial Potentate of the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Illustrious Deputy of Orient of Eastern Canada and Southern Jurisdiction Sovereign Grand Inspector General.

In addition, Downes is a Naomi chapter past patron and life member, an Ezekiel chapter Excellent High Priest and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star since 1954.

Joe Mihevc (second from left) and Jean Augustine (third from left ) were among the well wishers that joined Arthur Downes and his family for the unveiling of Downes St. (Photo by Ron Fanfair)

In 2015, he was the recipient of the Order of the Diocese of Toronto created nine years ago to honour members of the laity in the Diocese who have given outstanding service over a significant period in their volunteer ministry.

Downes was also awarded a Doctor of Letters from the defunct Mary Holmes College in Mississippi where he was invited to be the commencement speaker a few months later.

He was an integral part of the Black/Jewish Dialogue relaunched during Black History Month in 2000.