Daisy Peterson Sweeney’s family upset about Montreal street about-face

MONTREAL – Just weeks before the first anniversary of her death, Daisy Peterson Sweeney’s family is upset the City of Montreal has changed its mind about naming a street after the piano teacher who taught many jazz greats, including her brother Oscar and Oliver Jones.

Celine Peterson, Oscar Peterson’s daughter, says then-mayor Denis Coderre said at her aunt’s funeral a year ago the city would name a street after Peterson Sweeney.

The influential pianist died last Aug. 11 at the age of 97.

In 2016, Coderre announced plans to rename 375 streets after women to help the city mark its 375th anniversary the following year. He said at the time the move would reflect the richness of Montreal’s cultural heritage.

The family had been hoping the administration would rename a street in front of the downtown church where Peterson Sweeney taught piano and also contributed to the city’s black community.

But in May it was informed by the Valerie Plante administration that a small park, or what Celine Peterson called a “dog run,” will now bear her name.

“That’s the best way to describe it. . . park is a very generous word,” Peterson said Monday in an interview from Toronto.

“When we were given the details of the so-called park, we realized that it was nothing more than a little patch of grass behind somebody’s yard.”

Peterson said the family let the city know in a formal letter the park idea was unacceptable but that it only received a form letter in return.

In an email to The Canadian Press on Monday, the city said it wants to honour the memory of Peterson Sweeney and that its toponomy services proposed a downtown park which “seemed like an excellent idea, considering its strategic location and planned redevelopment in the coming weeks.”

But it added it’s ready to talk about finding another place which would be suitable for the family.

Peterson added the family is going public in hopes “it triggers some kind of proper and respectful reaction from the city as opposed to the disrespectful way this has been handled so far.”

Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, says his civil rights organization became involved after the family came to him seeking advice.

“From the get-go we felt that basically this is not the right way of going about it on the part of the city,” he said. “The family was not consulted.

“This is not a very respectful way and dignified way on the part of the city to honour women of this stature.”

Niemi said many people in the black community are not happy.

He added he visited the park the city wants renamed and said it had little connection with Peterson Sweeney.

The family would prefer to have the street in front of the downtown Union United Church renamed after her.

“That’s where she lived, that’s where she spent time teaching so many people piano and being involved in church and community work,” Niemi said.

“If we want to honour black history and recognize the place of Miss Sweeney in the city’s history we have to do it right and that’s one of the best ways to do it.”