Hint of death kills use of number 4 in Toronto town Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill in Toronto bans figure from new home addresses because of morbid connotations in Cantonese and Putonghua
Toronto's Richmond Hill suburb, home to many Hong Kong and mainland Chinese immigrants, has banned "4" from new street addresses, a move that some residents in one of Canada's wealthiest communities say amounts to "town planning by superstition".
Richmond Hill's town council approved the new by-law by a vote of five to four last month.
Specifically, it does away with "4", which in Cantonese and Putonghua sounds similar to the word "death", in new residential developments.
Double digits, such as 14 or 24, are exempt.
Some Chinese residents had complained after buying lots in new projects only to discover later that the municipal address was "4", which can affect the resale value of the home.
An alternative is to apply to the city for a suffix to be added, creating 4B for example, at a cost of C$500 (HK$3,700).
The council's decision has divided residents. Ward councillor Greg Beros, who proposed the by-law, said: "I have residents from all over the world, and they come in with different beliefs and cultures. We are an inclusive community."
High school teacher Dan Horner, 43, said the by-law was pandering to superstition. "Superstitions are only as strong as we allow them to be," he said. "If we feed them, they grow. If we starve them, then they die."
Brenda Hogg, one of the council's two regional councillors, said she opposed the motion because it might interfere with emergency response databases, but neither did she believe town planning should be "based on superstition".
Richmond Hill is home to one of the country's most significant Chinese-Canadian populations.
About 28,000 of the town's 184,460 residents are native Chinese-speakers, listing their mother tongue as Cantonese, Mandarin or non-specified Chinese, a 2011 census shows.
Angela Chan, of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, said the Cantonese were more superstitious than other Chinese and likelier to act on these myths.
"Toronto Chinese are more inclined to cling to traditions because they would like to reminisce on where they come from," she said. "Secondly, mainstream Canadians have shown a lot of interest in the Chinese culture … creating an importance and need to keep our traditions alive."
Beros agreed. "All of this is definitely based on superstitions. But that's people, right? People are naturally superstitious. I'm just trying to do my best" as an elected representative, he said.
"If these are the concerns the residents in my ward are bringing me, then it's my responsibility to bring them to council, and to do something about [them]."
Resident Sarah Chiu, 21, said the ban made sense. "While I'm not superstitious, if this number devalues property, then it's not really fair. I feel like this new ban evens out the playing field."
Of course, it has not escaped notice that the number "13" has been avoided when numbering building floors across Canada for as long as anyone can remember.
Ward councillor Godwin Chan, who supported Beros' motion, said: "The municipality would have difficulty in justifying the rejection of the number '4' while continuing to omit '13' in the town's by-laws."
Vito Spatafora, the other regional councillor, said: "To me, it's just a number. We should even return 13.
"But 13 isn't too much of a problem, besides that it sets an example for the exclusion of numbers, because it's a one-off number, whereas four repeats. Are we going to ban all the fours (14, 24, 44)? Then it just gets silly."
