The current Pretoria Bridge was built in 1915 to replace a wooden swing bridge of the same name.
Questions are being raised about the merits of Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar’s proposal to rename the Pretoria Bridge in honour of Nelson Mandela.
“Dewar has a sterling record of advocacy but he is off the mark on this one,” says George Neville, president of the Ottawa Historical Society in an interview.
Neville says the society has not discussed the issue and was speaking only for himself.
He says naming the bridge after the capital of the Dutch South African settlers is important.
“It commemorates the first foreign involvement of Canadian troops on behalf of the British Empire, it wasn’t a glorious war but those people did give their lives,” said Neville.
However, he says Mandela is worthy of recognition. Instead of renaming the Pretoria Bridge, Neville suggested erecting a monument to the African freedom fighter somewhere near the
monument to the South American independence fighter Simon Bolivar in front of the main entrance to Les Suites Hotel on Besserer Street.
“Mandela is in much the same category,” he said.
But Neville said it is important that Ottawa continues to commemorate the Canadian soldiers that fought with distinction during the Boer War, which lasted from 1899-1902. The conflict involved more than 7,000 Canadians, killing 267.
The Pretoria Bridge and Pretoria Avenue were named after the South African capital after the British victory in 1902.
Capital Ward councilor and mayoral candidate Clive Doucet said the city needs to be careful when it comes to changing historical names.
“I think it is sort of a tricky game playing with history and reinventing it. Things are named in their time and place,” said Doucet.
He said he agrees with Dewar that Mandela is an exceptional person and that it would be appropriate to commemorate him in some way.
Doucet suggested the possibility of a hyphenated name, something along the lines of the Pretoria-Mandela Bridge.
“It would be a way to keep the old connections and illuminate the new ones,” said Doucet
There was a movement in the ‘80s and ‘90s to rename the bridge after Mandela but nothing became of the proposals.
Public reaction to Dewar’s proposal as been overwhelmingly negative.