Toponym'elles

Toponym'elles is an initiative that was started to improve toponymic representation of women's contributions to Montreal by renaming public spaces such as parks and streets, as only 6% of places were named after women. Initially, Toponym'elles was created to include 375 names to commemorate the 375th anniversary of Montreal's founding. It was launched on March 2, 2016, a few days before International Women's Day. Montreal is the first city in Quebec to have created a database of this kind. The creation of a similar open name database was requested in Sherbrooke in 2018, but this request did not receive any follow-up.

Database
Thérèse Cadorette was the first woman to be honoured by this initiative, with a square being named after her in 2016. Among the first places named according to the Toponym'Elles database, notable locations also include the Ethel-Stark, Jovette-Marchessault, and Julie-Hamelin parks, as well as Grace-Hopper and Jacqueline-Sicotte streets Alice-Guy Crescent, and the Place des Montréalaises. One of these first places, Palomino-Brind'Amour Park, was selected as one of the Commission de toponymie's favorites in 2018. The original list includes names of well-known Quebec women, lesser-known women, names of female groups, and titles of significant cultural works created by women. The list also includes names linked to Indigenous cultures. Notable women across Canada are recognized, as well as international figures. Gabriel Martin, a linguist, chose the 375 names used in the initiative's launch. In addition to the names used at launch, around 85 additional names of living women were recorded in another list, the contents of which were kept secret due to the social taboo surrounding anticipation of posthumous tributes. Subsequently, the database was opened up to contributions from the general public. , the list has been expanded to include 453 names.