A coalition of Black community groups in Montreal is asking for the Place des Festivals to be named after legendary jazz musician Oscar Peterson.

The groups wrote a letter to new Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada on Monday asking her to recognize three late Black leaders, including Peterson.

They also want to see Dan Philip, a longtime civil rights activist who died last year, and Noel Alexander, the former president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal, honoured in the city’s place-names.

The groups say Peterson and jazz are synonymous, urging the mayor to acknowledge that pairing by renaming the location at the heart of Montreal’s world-renowned jazz festival.

That same proposal was supported by then Opposition party Ensemble Montréal – now in power after Martinez Ferrada’s election vi

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