“It’s Christmas time and we want to enjoy our friends and family without all this hatefulness.”

Some residents fighting to change the trail’s controversial name aren’t giving up just yet, however.

Jennifer Horton is promising to raise the issue with provincial government ranks. She is fuelled by a response from the Ministry of Transportation that the word swastika can’t be placed on a vehicle’s licence plate as it represents human rights discrimination.

“If it’s a human rights discrimination on a licence plate, then it must also be a human rights discrimination on a street sign, or a driver’s licence.”

Horton also believes the debate over street name has been highly personal, dividing neighbours, and suggested she and other proponents for change are being unjustly vilified.

“We were talking about the street sign, we were not talking about our neighbours or even making any suggestions about what their beliefs might be. We were strictly talking about the name on the street and its offensiveness.”

Next steps in the battle to change the street name haven’t been formalized yet, said Horton, who is surprised the fight would still need to continue following a vote by council.

She anticipated council would be swayed by the words human rights discrimination and shocking evidence of racism and anti-Semitism going on in our country on a weekly basis. She also thought results of online surveys calling for the street’s name change would have had more impact on council’s decision.

One of the online surveys was posted by Horton, a survey which drew ire from Wyszynski, as it included images of Hitler alongside swastikas and assumed non-residents of Swastika Trail have a right to decide the road’s future.

“We were quite surprised they made the decision they did,” Horton said. “We haven’t really figured out our next plan other than to say that we’re not stopping. For us it’s not over.”

Although it is not the first time debate has erupted over the street’s name, the push to kill the Swastika Trail designation gained momentum last summer, ending up in the lap of Puslinch councillors to decide.

After several presentations for and against a name change, council asked members of the Bayview Cottagers Association to hold a vote last fall, which ended in favour of keeping the name.

Council received a report for information on the background of the debate on Dec. 6, and then heard more presentations Wednesday before holding a vote.