Misspelled Street of Honour to be corrected after 30 Years

Conversations about the restoration of the Cenotaph and War Memorial continued at last week's Council Meeting, with Christopher Watts from The Aurora Heritage Authority questioning why Luxton Avenue, named after World War 1 hero Fred Luxon, has been misspelled for over 30 years.

Luxon's name was also misspelled on the Aurora Cenotaph, and both are set to be corrected as part of the 100th anniversary of the monument.

Watts questioned the delay in implementing the correction, pointing out that museum staff had been aware of the issue for years, as it was documented in an online exhibit seven years ago.

He also presented a 2023 email from Museum staff proposing to correct the Luxton Avenue sign at the same time as Folliot Street, another Street of Honour that was misspelled and corrected in 2023.

Watts attributed the delay to the Town's Street Name Changing By-Law, saying, “In a report…we see staff stating they appreciate the difficulty [of changing the sign], so I have to ask what is the difficulty in ensuring that a war hero's name is spelt correctly on a street of honour here in Aurora?”

He further questioned whether the issue stemmed from the policy's failure to distinguish between name changes and corrections.

“At that time, Council decided not to consider a change to the policy. In fact, to accomplish the correction of Folliot Street, you had to waive procedural by-law.”

Watts urged Council to revisit the street naming policy to ensure such corrections can be made more swiftly in the future, saying, “This is not an isolated incident...I urge Council to revisit the current street naming policy that has led to these unacceptable outcomes.”

Later, Ward 4 Councillor Michael Thompson asked Town Director of Planning and Development Services Marco Ramunno if staff were reviewing the by-law.

In contrast to Watts' delegation, Ramunno stated that the policy didn't need updating, explaining, “I don't believe the policy needs any updating. [The Luxon Avenue misspelling] was brought to our attention a couple of months ago and staff have been collaborating together and ensuring that the name change on the street sign and the war memorial park would occur as part of [the 100th anniversary] motion that came forth a couple months ago...”

Ramunno called the process “pretty streamlined,” noting that the only action required was sending a letter to residents explaining the name change.

Councillor Thompson committed to reviewing the by-law, with potential revisions to return to Council in the coming months. Meanwhile, Aurorans can expect the correction of Luxton Avenue to Luxon Avenue within the next few weeks, with the notice to residents expected this week and the new sign already prepared.

By Selena Loureiro