Members of the emergency and community services committee applauded the Hamilton Historical Board’s idea to rename the August Civic Holiday after George Hamilton.

“What a novel approach,” said Mountain Councillor Tom Jackson.

Other municipalities have renamed Civic Holiday after their own particular founder. For instance, Toronto honours John Graves Simcoe, while Burlington names its holiday after Joseph Brant. In addition, Ottawa honours Colonel John By, Guelph celebrates John Galt Day, and Colbourg has named its holiday James Cockburn Day. The City of Brantford has recently honoured the founding fathers of the city by calling the August holiday Founders Day. Under the Ontario Municipal Act, a municipality can observe the Civic Holiday as it wishes.

Mr. Hamilton was born in 1788 at Queenston Heights, served in the War of 1812, and was a prominent merchant and politician in the area. He purchased 257 acres of land in Barton Township in 1815 and over the years managed to oversee how the town grew to benefit his landholdings.

He represented the Wentworth riding in the Upper Canada legislature from 1821-30. Mr. Hamilton died in 1836. The Hamilton Historical Board recently held a competition that recognized Mr. Hamilton as the city’s “greatest” Hamiltonian.

An added part of the renamed holiday would be recognizing another notable local historical figure.

Pat Saunders, a member of the Hamilton Historical Board and Hamilton Mountain Heritage Society, said the Hamilton Historical Board will recommend each year’s honouree to council for approval. The criteria for selecting the person will include public input, and relevancy to Hamilton.

The board would like to have a year-long celebration of the honouree, said Ms. Saunders. The first honouree celebration would begin in 2011.

The committee referred the issue to staff for further research and a cost estimate.

Politicians will vote on the recommendation at their Oct. 28 council meeting.