As Dave Harvey retires from his co-leadership position at Park People, he reflects on the incredible journey since founding the organization in 2011.
Each year, we support inspiring older adults in Metro Vancouver to reconnect with nature by leading events in their local parks—sparking belonging, joy, and wellness in their communities.
Discover how Arts in the Parks is transforming Toronto’s green spaces into vibrant hubs of creativity—and how Park People helps make it all possible.
How colonialism plays out in park practices and how we can work together to embed reconciliation and decolonization.
Discover ways to help you host events in your local parks during extreme heat events.
Each year, Park People Summits bring together our growing network of urban park changemakers to connect, reflect, and explore what’s possible for more inclusive, community-powered parks in our cities.
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
This contribution from Emily Rendell-Watson is part of Park People’s 10 Years Together in City Parks. The series has been edited by Dylan Reid with illustrations from Park People’s own Jake Tobin Garrett.
Edmonton, or Amiskwaciy Waskahikan, will soon be home to Canada’s first urban Indigenous ceremonial site.
Kihciy askiy, which means “sacred land” in Cree, is located in the heart of Alberta’s capital city on a 4.5-hectare site in Whitemud Park. The park is situated in Edmonton’s river valley and will be a spot where Indigenous communities can gather for ceremonies and sweat lodges, grow medicinal herbs, as well as facilitate learning for non-Indigenous people about Indigenous culture.
“We’re living in the era of reconciliation and as a part of that reconciliation we have to create positive relationships with settlers, so this is going to go a long way,” explained Lewis Cardinal, the project manager for the site from the Indigenous Knowledge & Wisdom Centre (IKWC).
“We deal with issues today like racism and discrimination, but a lot of that is based on ignorance, or simply not knowing people’s traditions and being led by misinformation. This gives an opportunity to provide that direct and personal interaction with (Indigenous culture).”
Lewis Cardinal
Cardinal added that it will be equally as important for the site to act as a hub for local Indigenous communities to come together, especially for those who are seeking healing from addictions, abuse, or other trauma.
“This is how we can help to transform these things into something very positive; strengthen people and strengthen relationships,” he said.
The project, which is a partnership between the IKWC and the City of Edmonton, was initially proposed by Cardinal and elder William Campbell in 2006 with the aim to establish a place where Indigenous ceremonies could be held within the city.
The land where kihciy askiy is being built on the west side of Edmonton is on what’s known as the old Fox Farms property, and historically was a place where Indigenous people would camp before entering the city, and pick saskatoons. Oral tradition talks about how across Whitemud Creek to the east of kihciy askiy is a large ochre deposit site, which is significant because ochre was an important part of Indigenous ceremonies in the past — it was mixed with berries and pigments to create colour.
The area was used off and on over the years for ceremonies, including an international Indigenous conference called Healing Our Spirit Worldwide. But each time the Indigenous community wanted to use the land, Cardinal said they had to apply for permission from the city — leading the elders counsel who guided the conference to wonder if it was possible to permanently have access to a plot of land in the urban centre.
Cardinal, Campbell, and a group of elders created a non-profit organization called the Edmonton Indigenous Cultural Resource Counsel to move the initiative forward and began to have more serious discussions with the city about how to make the project a reality.
Some were in favour of hosting ceremonies within the city, while others were against it, so in 2010 the organization decided to gather 120 Indigenous elders from across Alberta to discuss the opportunity over three days. The group also considered what specific ceremonies should be held in cities, and where they should be located.
“The response to the first question was, yes, we need to have ceremonies available to our families and our youth and our community in the urban centres because we know that in the near future, most of our people will be living in urban centres and they need access to these cultural activities and ceremonies in an environment that is embraced by Mother Earth,” Cardinal explained.
“In other words, you can’t have ceremonies in the parking lot of a Walmart.”
The project was eventually taken on by Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA), which kicked off a process of continuous dialogue, and the establishment of the Counsel of Elders to work with the team during the design and construction of the site, as well as provide spiritual and cultural leadership for the project.
NSCA hosted grand council gatherings for Indigenous spiritual leaders in the Edmonton region at the Alfred H. Savage Centre in May 2015 and again in October 2018 to review and approve of the concept design, go over ceremony protocols for the site, and broadly discuss ceremonial and spiritual needs of the Indigenous community in the region.
In 2018, NCSA underwent a structural reorganization and the decision was made to move the project over to IKWC, recalls Cardinal, which is when he was asked to manage it on a full-time basis.
“The elders have always taught me that you bear responsibility for your dreams and visions. So if you’re bringing this dream and vision forward for yourself, or for a group of people, you still have that commitment to it. So it was quite lovely to get back in and start to work with the elders and bring it to this point.”
One of those elders is Howard Mustus, chair of kihciy askiy’s Counsel of Elders, and traditional knowledge keeper. He said he hopes the project will help to minimize racism, as non-Indigenous people absorb and accept Indigenous traditions and culture.
“We encourage non-Indigenous people to come in and sit with us in our sacred circles and to learn more about indigenous law. That stems from the sanctioning of spirituality, which is very important to our people. That is the ultimate power and authority that dictates how we conduct ourselves and how we function as a society for caring and sharing in a holistic manner,” said Mustus.
A ground blessing (instead of a groundbreaking ceremony) was hosted in September 2021 to mark the beginning of construction and honour the relationship between all the stakeholders involved in the creation of kihciy askiy, which has a budget of $4.5 million. It was also an opportunity to “seek blessing from Mother Earth in allowing construction to take place,” which involved tying ribbons to a tree to signify connections and respect to the earth.
Construction on the land, led by Delnor Construction, officially began in mid-November and is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete.
The relationships formed through the process have been key to kihciy askiy’s success thus far, including influencing how the site was developed.
Nav Sandhu, program manager with the City of Edmonton, said the social procurement aspect involved considering how potential contractors engage their teams or sub-trades to incorporate Indigenous communities. That meant hiring an Indigenous human resources coordinator and working with Indigenous-owned businesses to tackle the mechanical and landscaping aspects of the project.
“Social procurement is relatively new when you look at the construction industry, and it’s something that I think that we’re moving aggressively towards. It’s great to see the city be a leader in ensuring that the partners and the people that are going to be using it have a voice at the table to say (what’s going to benefit them).”
Nav Sandhu
“Projects like these, where the social impact is so significant, take a lot of collaboration.”
The development process also involved getting consensus from representatives of the more than 50 Indigenous communities who will be able to use the site and adjusting several parkland policies to allow for development in Edmonton’s river valley and access to the area for Indigenous cultural activities.
As the owner of the land, the city will construct two buildings on kihciy askiy, which will house changing rooms, washrooms, a small classroom to host land-based education, a meeting space, and a storage facility. There will also be an outdoor amphitheatre.
Cardinal said the goal is to naturalize the space and “not make a huge footprint on the site.”
There will also be a teepee area, with enough space for 10-12 teepees or Métis trapper tents, to hold storytelling ceremonies.
Two fire pit structures will be able to support two sweat lodges simultaneously, with space for up to eight in total. Sweat lodges offer a ceremonial space that’s integral to Indigenous culture, which is important because the Indigenous groups in the Edmonton region have many different traditions surrounding the purification practice.
“Sweat lodge holders have been taught differently from their ancestors, or the ones who’ve transferred that ceremony to them. So we have to make sure that there is accessibility for all of those users,” Cardinal explained.
Once kihciy askiy is complete, Indigenous people in Edmonton won’t have to travel out of the city to Paul Band, or Enoch or Alexander First Nation to participate in a sweat.
The third element will be a medicine garden, building off of the traditional medicines accessible in the river valley, which is one of the reasons the site was chosen. It will be used as a teaching area, as well as a place to harvest things like sage, tobacco, sweetgrass, and more for elders.
Finally, a multi-purpose space will offer an alternative locale for Indigenous ceremonies and other traditional structures that may need to be built for some First Nation traditions.
“It will also be the place where we can do some teaching for non-Indigenous people, to welcome them to our ceremonies and to give them an introduction to our Indigenous worldviews and our history. It’s a great opportunity to create those interfaces to teach people about things,” explained Cardinal, who added that there will also be what they’re calling an “open program” where sweat lodges will be open to the public.
“The whole site is intended to foster good relations, help Indigenous people reconnect to the land and the teachings that come from the land, as well as to their culture, traditions, and history.”
Indigenous organizations and agencies will also be able to use the site to deliver their own cultural programming.
Cardinal said the only other park site he knows of that is remotely similar to kihciy askiy is Jasper National Park’s Cultural Use Area, which is an area developed by the Jasper Indigenous Forum and Parks Canada for Indigenous partners to reconnect with the land, and host cultural learning and ceremonies.
The site, which has been used since June 2013, is not open to the general public.
Once construction on kihciy askiy is complete, IKWC will run the site. People will be able to access it by various means of transportation, including bus, which was an important factor in solidifying the site location, said Cardinal.
Cardinal, Mustus, and Sandu all envision the site as an important pillar for the Indigenous community in terms of offering a way to uphold traditions within the Edmonton region. The partnerships that were key to developing the site will continue, and new ones will hopefully be formed between the Indigenous communities who use it and non-Indigenous people who are eager to learn.
“Kihciy askiy offers a safe haven for the community. I don’t think it’s going to be the last (project of this kind) — I think you’re gonna see a trend of these in the coming years … to bridge that gap,” Sandhu said.
“I think this is a significant step towards truth and reconciliation that needed to happen.”
Emily Rendell–Watson is an Edmonton-based multimedia journalist who is currently the Editorial Lead & Community Manager of Taproot Edmonton, a publication that seeks to help its community understand itself better.
She writes about tech innovation, urban issues, climate change, and anything else that comes across her desk. When she’s not chasing a story, you can find her coaching speed skating or adventuring in the backcountry with her rescue dog, Abby.
The rich ecosystems in our large urban parks not only make our cities more biodiverse and climate-resilient, but they also provide places for people to build connections to nature which are strongly linked to pro-environmental attitudes and well-being.
Nature-based programming–from environmental stewardship to species monitoring– engages communities in the valuable work of caring for large green spaces to help them thrive. It’s a virtuous cycle that can simultaneously support the well-being of people and the planet.
How can we measure and amplify the impact stewardship and restoration have on the health of ecosystems and people in our large urban parks?
This first Cornerstone Parks talk gather three experts who are evaluating the benefits of large urban parks and applying this research to secure more funding, attract partners and move the needle on large urban parks.
The webinar is held in English; French subtitles are available.
Catherine Reining is the Project Coordinator for ParkSeek, a pan-Canadian initiative to gather information about population health impacts of parks,…
With a background in landscape architecture, international development cooperation, and social impact measurement, Jia currently manages the Research and Analytics…
Ariane is the Conservation Projects Manager with Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) and is a Registered Professional Biologist. She is…
Sue Arndt is Director of Programs at Park People. Sue leads Park People’s National Network and Cornerstone Parks program, building…
A profound Indigenous saying here on Turtle Island is that Water is Life. Water is not only scientifically required for life to flourish, but it also connects people to new places; it brings people together. In Toronto, we are lucky to have many water sources – from rivers and lakes to ponds and ravines formed through thousands of years of geographical shifts.
Focusing on these waterways, the InTO the Ravines program, launched in 2020, has made quite a splash. First conceptualized on the heels of Toronto’s first-ever Ravine Strategy, the program’s multifaceted, support-focused and community-first approach has made soaring positive impacts. The InTO the Ravines program seeks to mitigate the impacts of climate change that continue to become more apparent everywhere, including in Toronto’s urban and natural spaces, while keeping communities at the centre.
As the program nears its 4-year mark, Park People has recently launched the Ravine Engagement Report, highlighting its tremendous impacts on the communities it serves across the city.
InTO the Ravines has sought to tackle the fact that despite many people living or working near them, Toronto’s ravines are often forgotten spaces in the city. InTO the Ravines consists of two main components.
First, a microgrant stream, where community-led groups are funded to host gathering and learning events in and around Toronto’s ravine system. Second, a champions training program, where pairs of community leaders are provided training, funding, and event planning support to host an event in their local ravines.
Equity-deserving community groups who face barriers, including uncertainty due to fear of getting lost or other feelings of lack of safety, in accessing ravine spaces are prioritized. As can be found throughout the Ravine Engagement Report, InTO the Ravines, through its very design, has been developed to work more closely and collaboratively with equity-deserving community members to support the Protect, Connect, and Celebrate tenets of the Ravine Strategy.
The multipronged nature of the program has had wide-reaching impacts: over 3,000 community members have actively engaged with their ravine spaces, with 50 champions receiving training and support over the course of the past three years.
Since the implementation of this unique and innovative program began three years ago, everyone involved in InTO the Ravines, whether they have played the role of champions, grantees, or program staff, has been able to experience Toronto’s ravine spaces in different, unique, and memorable ways. InTO the Ravines program also emphasizes continuing to develop relationships with the ravine spaces long after their involvement in the program ends.
InTO the Ravines centres around fostering connections between people and nature and nurturing spaces for self-connection or self-reflection.
As the program launched and the impacts of the pandemic became more pronounced, including greater feelings of isolation and sadness, the importance of these natural spaces became all the more crucial, especially for those in equity-deserving communities. As the program facilitates space for community gatherings in and around ravine spaces, community connection is a major element of this program. Over 100 events have been hosted by community members, and 15% of in-person event attendees said they had never visited a ravine before. Importantly, in a space where the impacts of climate change manifest, ravine spaces become critical to highlight the need to restore relationships and reconnect to nature.
The connection piece of InTO the Ravines is especially emphasized through the champion training program. Here, champions get to meet each other and learn from each other and speakers from the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and the City of Toronto, as well as build up their own skills in event planning and networking.
For me, it was knowing more about not just what is the Ravine Strategy, but what the city sort of looked to develop and how it grew. So meeting with park staff…that was pretty cool because I think on just our own– we had the documents, but just hearing it from the city and the work on that strategy was cool to get an inside look.
Program Participant
Park People ensures that champion alumni remain connected to the program by supporting them through various means, events and opportunities, networks, and funding to continue their activation of ravines in the years after they have completed training and that they are re-connected to other cohort members. 50% of past participants have continued to host events in their ravines after completing the program.
Finally, InTO the Ravines has also helped facilitate new connections to the land through Indigenous teachings as part of the various ravine events.
Events like this or talking to an elder, for me, was one of the first opportunities to learn about Indigenous history and parks. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have ever known where to even find information other than just reading up online.
Park and nature access are unequal across the city. For many of our programs, including InTO the Ravines, Park People prioritizes working with equity-deserving, resident-led groups who often live close to ravines but, for various reasons, both physical and sociological, do not access them.
As mentioned in our Ravine Engagement Report, several participants reported that they either didn’t know that ravines existed in their communities or that they were unaware of how to access them.
Our research found this was especially true in communities of colour.
Specifically, the Champions training program has focused on redressing some of this imbalance by working with residents from equity-deserving communities to provide them with training, funding, and support. One of InTO the Ravines’ core value is that community members are the experts on their local parks, neighbourhoods and ravines, and their nuanced and lived knowledge of their local community make them excellent leaders to take on this work.
A community member shares the impact of this focus in our Ravine Engagement Report,
In a dense city like Toronto, where few people have access to backyards or natural areas outside the city, InTO the ravines helped (me) see these spaces as shared places where (I) could get away from the daily life in the city.
Community member
Significantly, 70% of event attendees are more likely to bring friends and family to visit the ravines in the future.
Another cornerstone of the InTO the Ravines program is strong and collaborative partnerships. The InTO the Ravines Champions training program focuses on working together as a group and helps foster partnerships between sets of champions and inter-community partnerships across different city regions. As a testament to this, 125 park and ravine groups and 30 organizations worked together on the development and execution of InTO the Ravines.
Additionally, The City of Toronto and Park People developed this program collaboratively and continue to work jointly through the year to support each other’s strengths and to offer assistance or help fill in gaps. InTO the Ravines champions and microgrant recipients work collaboratively with Park People and the City through focus groups, feedback and evaluations to improve the program each year and are plugged into our wider Toronto Network. This year, Park People worked directly with past champions to provide partnership and support where groups requested it, continuing to prioritize working in trusting and collaborative relationships with community groups.
These themes also show up in a myriad of other ways through our Ravine Engagement Report.
Also, find the Ravine Strategy here to learn more about the important principles and how you can get involved.
If you are in Toronto between Saturday, September 30 and October 9, we highly encourage you to attend a Ravine Days event, including one that Park People and Evergreen are jointly supporting on Saturday, October 7, and one that STEPS Public Art is hosting with the support of Park People’s Cornerstone program.
“We often have limits in our heads, where we don’t always feel capable of taking action. I overcame this barrier by meeting other people who are doing great things in the parks. Thanks to the Park People program, I was able to get the myth out of my head that I am limited. Everything is possible!”
Program participant, Montreal Urban Park Champions
As we face some of the most significant challenges in generations, parks remain relevant in addressing climate change, social cohesion, and political polarization. Parks and public spaces are more than physical landscapes; they’re where we learn to share, to compromise, and to adapt to the needs of people we don’t yet know.
From the community leaders we support in activating their local parks to the municipalities that use our insights to create better park policy, the movement continues to expand. We’re pleased to share just some of these impacts in our 2024 Impact Report.
Small actions in parks often lead to unexpected change. A senior in Vancouver might become inspired to start organizing her own community events via our TD Park People Grants, or an Arts in the Parks participant who discovers a new path as an artist.
Park People’s future is rooted in connection. We’ll continue to support the people and ideas that help public spaces thrive.
Every summer, Toronto’s parks come alive with art, music, theatre, and dance through Arts in the Parks, a city-wide initiative that turns public green spaces into open-air stages.
Presented by the Toronto Arts Foundation in partnership with the Toronto Arts Council, the City of Toronto, and Park People, this unique program animates parks in every corner of the city, from concrete plazas to lush green spaces in Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York.
Since the program’s launch in 2016, more than 700,000 people across the city have visited 78 parks for over 2,400 free arts events including Japanese Taiko drumming, collaborative mural painting, and African circus performances—to name just a few!
At Park People, our vision for Canada’s cities includes vibrant parks where people and the rest of nature thrive, and where everyone—regardless of income, identity, ability, or age—has equal access to the benefits of public green space.
However, 33 percent of Torontonians don’t live within walking distance of arts and cultural programming, and overwhelmingly, those people are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, and newcomer residents of the city’s inner suburbs.
To close this gap, Park People supports Arts in the Parks by selecting sites in areas where access to free cultural programming isn’t generally as accessible, and where new opportunities for creative park animations abound.
Park People also supports the Arts in the Parks program by drawing on our biggest skill: strengthening the relationships between neighbours and their local parks. To ensure that events are responsive to the needs and interests of their surrounding communities, we bring our relationships with park groups and local leaders into the process early on, helping to shape events that reflect the neighbourhood and invite people in.
“Our role is to connect. Before events are organized, we try to bring together artists and community groups, usually in the park where the event will happen. These early meetings create space for ideas to grow.”
Cindy Hashie, Senior Project Manager at Park People.
These meetings are a chance for everyone at the table to share stories, ask questions, and shape something new, together. Community groups bring valuable knowledge, like when the park is busiest or which language flyers should be printed in, while artists can share their creative visions and learn what matters most to the people who use the park every day.
“We help make the connection so everyone feels comfortable, heard, and respected.”
Ayesha Talreja, Project Manager at Park People.
For Ayesha, one of the most exciting parts of Arts in the Parks is seeing how it inspires event attendees to think about their own creative potential.
Ana Cuciureanu is just one great example: Ana first got involved in Arts in the Parks as the founder of the Friends of Parkway Forest Park, a group also supported through Park People’s Sparking Change program. After seeing how Arts in the Parks brought community-based art into her beloved local park, Ana decided to create her own event through her collective Splash on Earth, which brings together eco-artists, storytellers, and neighbours to make public art using eco-paint made from food waste. Ana’s team has hosted Arts in the Parks events for three years, and even formed a non-profit dedicated to creative climate action.
“Ana understands what it means to collaborate. She’s been on both sides as a community organizer and as an artist. That perspective helps create events that reflect the community.”
Ayesha
Others have followed similar paths, like Christine Malec, who started as a participant in Park People’s InTO the Ravines initiative and now leads accessibility-focused arts programming through Arts in the Park. Her project, Described Toronto, offers audio-based tours of the city for people with sight impairments which are often incorporated into a podcast with rich descriptions of Toronto, its flora and fauna, inhabitants and culture.
These stories remind us that public space and public art are powerfully connected. When people see themselves reflected in what happens in their park, they feel a deeper sense of responsibility to their community, and often, an expanded sense of creative possibility.
Arts in the Parks aims to offer something for everyone, whether it’s Asian drumming or Salsa dancing that invite people to move together, or quiet moments of storytelling under a shady tree. Some events are deeply rooted in local cultural traditions, while others introduce new and unexpected art forms to neighbourhoods that may not have seen them before. No matter the medium, the program’s strength is in how it brings people together, and how it inspires long-term creative partnerships between artists and residents.
“Artists who return to the program year after year often think deeply about how to engage the community. They find creative ways to hear from neighbours and make space for local input in how their work takes shape.”
Of course, there are always challenges: schedules shift, event permits take time, and not every collaboration unfolds exactly as planned. But there is care in the process. And if an event has to move, the program works to make sure the original park still gets something special. The intention is always to honour local relationships and keep the doors open for participation.
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the program, Arts in the Parks continues to grow in both its reach and impact.
Between supporting artists in building meaningful community ties and helping park groups explore their creative side, we’re proud to be part of an initiative that brings joy, connection, and possibility to neighbourhoods across Toronto.
To learn more about Arts in the Parks and find more events near you this summer, visit artsintheparksto.org.
Mark your calendars! Here are a few of Cindy and Ayesha’s recommendations for the 2025 Arts in the Parks season:
July 12 & 13, Aug 9, Sept 6 2025 | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Rowntree Mills Park
Exploring the intersections of nature, community arts and wellness, this public art program will share crafting and movement sessions, led by STEPS Public Art alongside local and Indigenous creators, to reconnect with the land and the Humber River. Learn more
August 16 & 23, 2025, 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | R.V. Burgess Park
Enjoy music from the Middle East, Mediterranean, South Asia, and more! Four different musical groups will perform modal music, a centuries-old system of music-making practiced by many cultures, with contemporary interpretations and new compositions. Learn more.
September 27, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Lee Lifeson Art Park
Artists will tell original stories inspired by the land and public artwork of Lee Lifeson Art Park, using descriptive and inclusive language that is accessible to a Blind and partially sighted audience. Participants will also experience a touch tour of the public artworks and 3D tactile models of the park. The Story Hour will be recorded live and released on the Described Toronto podcast. Learn more.
In 2025, 72 community groups and organizations across the country are receiving TD Park People Grants. They’ll be bringing people together in parks and green spaces through creative, inclusive, and environmentally focused events.
Their initiatives highlight the many ways local leaders are building stronger connections to nature and community from coast to coast.
Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton (OFRE)
Sinkunia Community Development Organisation
Strathearn Community League
Windsor Park Community League
Pamir Canadian Multiculturalism Council
Skatelife Calgary
Spectrum Promising Association
Springboard Performance Society
Birding Buddies
Briarpatch Community Garden
East Richmond Community Association
Everett Crowley Park Committee
Free the Fern Stewardship Society
La Boussole centre communautaire société
Ladybug Community Garden
Middle Eastern Support Women Group
Native Bee Society of British Columbia
Pollinating Butterflyway Urban Gardens
RedRoadRecovery
The Sustainable Act
WESN in the Park
Wild with Nature
Kelowna Chinese United Association
Accessible Nature Wellness Park Group
Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary
ArtBeat Studio Inc
Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest Winnipeg
Seniors for Climate Mb
Winnipeg Ta’alim Community
Gale Force Theatre
Healing Buddha Hermitage
North End Community Garden
The Monthly Cycle
Charlie’s Free Wheel
Children’s Creative Village
Friends of Marita Payne Park
Friends of Tom Riley Park
Georgina Island First Nation
Humber River Lodge Volunteer Group
Lovers of Planet Earth
Our Space
Queer Forest Club
Sweet Grass Roots Collective
The Forgiveness Project
Ysabel Project
Two Rivers Neighbourhood Group
Pamoja
Weaving Community Connections in Civic Centre Kitchener
Jane’s Walk Ottawa-Gatineau
Neighbours of Meadowvale Park
Ottawa Stewardship Council-KN Regens
Women of Colour Remake Wellness
Age BIG
Green Harmony Collective
MacGregor-Albert Community Association
Action-vert
Atelier Tlachiuak
Coalition des ami·es du parc Jarry (CAP Jarry)
Innovation Youth
La Grande Tablée de Terrasse-Vaudreuil
La Planète s’invite au Parlement
Mossy Society
Parc Nature MHM
Parcours Âme
Ruelle des Décou-verte
Ruelle Esperanza Verde
Westhaven Community Center
Chez les Simone, tiers-lieu
Horti-cité
Club L’Aval
R.A.F.A.L.: Ressources Actions Familles au Lac St-Charles
Saskatoon Climate Hub
Parks are not “nice to have,” they are critical social, health, and environmental infrastructure for Toronto. City parks are lifelines in extreme heat waves. Social connectors in an age of increasing polarization. Keepers of biodiversity despite ever fragmenting urban landscapes.
To meet the biggest challenges we face in Toronto—climate change, biodiversity loss, social polarization, rising inequality—we need whole new ways to plan, design, manage, program, and govern parks. This shift requires doing things differently. It requires ensuring proper funding, sharing decision-making power, addressing inequities head-on, and prioritizing action on truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
As Toronto faces the upcoming mayoral by-election in June, we urge candidates for Mayor to accelerate the transition to a more equitable, resilient future for city parks by working with us on the ideas presented in this platform.
All of the ideas in this platform require us to invest more time and money into city parks. In our 2022 survey of residents of Canadian cities, 87% said they support more investment in parks.
Responsible for 60% of Canada’s infrastructure, municipalities like Toronto receive only 10 cents on every tax dollar.
And, the provincial government’s drastic changes to park levies and planning rules under Bill 23 will further diminish park budgets and reduce the amount of parkland created to support new growth.
All three levels of government, each of which have responsibilities for our natural environment and human health, need to come to the table. This is easier said than done. The multiple benefits of parks—health, environmental, social, economic—actually make it harder to invest at the scale we need to. Why? Because the benefits of investing in parks are distributed across many different ministries and government departments, each of which are accountable for their own budgets and plans. That is why we need to support governments to pursue an ambitious, whole-of-government approach to investment in Toronto parks.
Investing more in city parks is not an imposition or an obligation. It is an opportunity to transform Toronto for the better.
People living in Toronto will need to adapt to hotter, wetter and more unpredictable climates. Climate change is here and is already impacting our city. With the right investment, parks can serve as climate infrastructure and provide people with critical places of refuge in hot, dense cities where a major health crisis is unfolding.
At the same time, people are seeking out nature more for its mental and physical health benefits. People want more places to experience nature close to home: 71% of survey respondents said they value visiting naturalized spaces within a 10-minute walk of home, such as a native plant garden or small meadow. In fact, 87% of respondents said they were in favour of more native plant species within parks—the second most requested amenity after public washrooms. Toronto’s Ravine Strategy offers a strong road-map for ensuring these vital, biodiverse natural habitats are safeguarded for the future and enjoyed by residents, but funding has remained limited.
Invest in the co-benefits of naturalized spaces as climate resilience infrastructure, urban biodiversity habitat and vital nature connections in Toronto.
There is a clear and growing disparity in who has access to quality green spaces in Toronto. As COVID laid bare, equity-deserving communities face complex, interrelated health crises. Toronto must recognize how race, income and the built environment conspire to make parks a pressing environmental justice issue in our city.
Usable parks are the bar for entry. Toronto’s parks maintenance and operating budget has not kept pace with use and demand. There’s an urgent need to increase park operating budgets to ensure basic amenities like bathrooms and water are standard in every single Toronto park.
Spending on park operating budgets must start to keep pace with demand. It is basic: amenities like bathrooms and water must be the standard in every single Toronto park, with a priority focus on equity-deserving and high-use parks. Investments in basic amenities that promote park use must include:
There is an urgent need for new models of Toronto Park governance rooted in shared decision-making power. We need a new way of managing city parks that are more inclusive, and community-focused, and respect the land rights of Indigenous peoples and the knowledge of communities.
Over the past several years, communities have been actively working to decentralize power in institutional spaces. It is time for Toronto to give communities more decision-making power on the park issues that affect them most, particularly in equity-deserving communities.
Are you currently running your park group on your own? Are you just getting your group started and looking for some direction around governance? The team model is a really effective way of working with others on collective goals. How the team model gets applied varies based on the nature of your group and your preferred leadership style. We look at two different park groups to give you a flavour of what the team model might mean for your organization.
It’s no surprise that park groups organize themselves differently from not-for-profit organizations with paid staff. For many volunteers, park work is a “side-hustle” that happens while managing busy work and family responsibilities.
Grassroots Growth, a project from Volunteer Toronto, talks about the various governance models common for smaller organizations like most community park groups. We’re going to cover the team model and address how it’s been applied by two different park groups, differently.
To do this, we spoke with Louise O’Neill, Convenor of Friends of Cedarbrook and Thomson Memorial Park (FCTMP) in Scarborough, Ontario, whose organization recently transitioned from a strong leader model to a leadership team model. We also spoke to Ana Cuciureanu from Toronto’s Friends of Parkway Forest Park (FPFP), an organization that has adopted a hybrid version of the team model that they’re found effective.
By way of definition, a team model means that “all core volunteers work together to make decisions.” Adopting a team model makes sense when your group is small; you are looking for ways to include others in decision making, and working to avoid the burnout that can come with one individual carrying the load as a leader. Your ideas and solutions might turn out to be more creative, and sharing the load can feel good for everyone on the team.
What happens when a team leader or key member leaves? Both Louise and Ana have given this considerable thought.For Louise, the team model build resilience and continuity into her group. For example, she’s already given a member with an interest in social media the reins in running their accounts. Louise figures that two or three people could split the responsibilities that she now manages. “Still, you need one person dedicated to taking on the role of convenor,” says Louise. “Someone has to hold things together.”
Like Louise, Ana recognizes that she’s a figurehead for the group. However, she feels strongly that an agile approach to her team’s leadership will ensure that many people will gain experience in different roles which will help the group remain resilient if she needs to step back for any reason;. “I’m trying to create a lot of mini-mes” she says “so that anyone can step into the lead role on a project and feel confident. We’re definitely getting there as people are gaining experience in different areas.”
If you are just getting your parks group off the ground and hope to do more than a couple events a year, think about the team model of governance. It puts control into more hands of more people and helps you accomplish more than going it alone.
In the early days, Friends of Cedarbrook and Thomson Memorial Park employed a strong leader model. To keep the explanation simple: Louise did everything herself. Eventually, Louise realized that the group could only diversify and grow its presence by involving more people. Also, sharing the leadership role meant building succession planning into her vision for the group. The transition to a team model was made easier by the fact that the group’s events were continually attracting new people who were eager to get more involved. Louis now has a core team of 10 members and a larger group of 60, many of whom help out from time to time.
According to Louise, the most essential roles to fill on a team include those of a treasurer/bookkeeper who manages funds and keeps accounts straight; and of a convenor who sets meetings, administers the membership list, creates agendas and generally keeps things on track. Louise says that a third type of team member could be a marketing person, mostly because they continually attract new people to the group. Each of the team members have specific roles and the team needs to form consensus to make important decisions.
By contrast, Friends of Parkway Forest Park has grown in numbers and has employed the team model from the get-go. So far, the group has been able to successfully function without much formality in the group’s structure. While Ana is technically the group’s figure-head, she doesn’t want to be recognized as the group’s ‘leader’ even though she’s happy to be “the glue” that holds the rest of the team together. “I don’t want to be a leader. I want the group to belong to everyone, but I also know that as the Founder, people see me that way. It’s something I try very hard to resist because its not my style and I don’t think it’s what’s best for this particular group.”
Friends of Cedarbrook and Thomson Memorial Park’s core team members choose the roles they wanted to fulfill. For example, one member is an accountant who offered to do FCTMP’s bookkeeping and keep track of attendance figures. Another member contacts local businesses to solicit donations, while yet another is a professional landscaper spearheads park beautification projects. Louise continues to oversee the group’s administrative duties.
FCTMP has other team roles that are program-based including a cycling coordinator, a nature coordinator, and a knitting enthusiast who organizes the group’s participation in Worldwide Knit in Public Day. Each coordinator works autonomously but makes decisions in consultation with the rest of the core group. The group’s structure is relatively fluid, making space for people to join in for specific projects and efforts as needed.
At Parkway Forest, group members also contribute based on their strengths. However, the group’s membership ebbs and flows largely based on volunteers’ availability. Part of the group’s reality is that many of the group’s members have outside commitments and responsibilities. There’s an inherent recognition that people won’t always be available tonpitch in. “We’re all volunteers with full lives that send us in different directions. We just can’t expect that everyone will always be able to participate, so we’ve created a structure that accommodates that.” Having worked on several projects together, the members know each other well and have an intuitive sense of what each can add to roles like grant writing, events, documentation and outreach. Ana recognizes that this approach may not be effective when new members join, but for now, it works.
The members of Friends of Parkway Forest Park have a core group of members that emerged through their partnerships with social service agencies and other volunteer groups. When someone emerges with skills and interests that intersect with the group, the existing group members discuss whether this person should be added to the core group. There’s no distinction between core group members and any other members. They’re very careful about adding new people to the group to protect the group’s dynamics.
Friends of Cedarbrook and Thomson Memorial Park’s core members have final say on the direction that FCTMP takes and the activities that it carries out. They base their decisions about core group membership on the principle that if you show up to multiple meetings and come out to a few events, you’re a core member. Otherwise, you’re still welcome at any meeting, but not considered a decision maker. The group adopted this approach to address the challenge of working with people who are primarily interested in leveraging the group to further their own agenda. For example, Louise recalls that one group wanted to organize a musical event and tried to get it organized through Friends of Cedarbrook Park, hoping they could avoid permit and insurance fees. “It made us realize that we need to have people commit to a certain extent,” says Louise. “We need to make sure that they are truly interested in our core mandate of improving the park.”
This article was originally published in Municipal World.
This election season, several Canadian municipalities are anticipating lower voter turnout than ever. It’s a disconcerting trend for Jacquie Newman, a political science professor at Western University. “Most of what happens at the municipality level is going to have a real impact on your life,” Newman said.
We’re also seeing startlingly few candidates running for municipal office in cities like Toronto. “This is a symptom of an ailing democracy with low social capital,” said urbanist and researcher Josh Fullan. “People are burned out to their core by the pandemic and the growing list of things that simply don’t function as they should – internet and cellular coverage, water fountains in parks, four-hour lineups for sundry services.”
These trends indicate that Canadians feel a disconcerting sense of powerlessness when it comes to the human-scale touchpoints people engage with in their daily lives. Park People’s 2022 Canadian City Parks Report surveyed more than 3,000 urban Canadians. And, while Canadians value their parks more than ever before, the vast majority of respondents reported feeling a lack of agency about influencing decisions about city parks.
The survey found a dismal 22 percent of city residents reported feeling they “have a voice” in their local parks. Further, 48 percent of respondents who say they are unsure how to get involved in their park identify as members of racialized groups, compared to 36 percent who identify as white.
Grassroots park engagement can be a powerful on-ramp to civic engagement. Want to learn about how the city council works? Host a movie night or advocate for a new skating rink in your park. Parks are the most visible and tangible places where residents directly engage with political power structures. They are also where residents can exercise agency and feel they have a meaningful stake in collective outcomes. On the flip side, complex or impenetrable bureaucratic structures undermine an individual’s sense of agency and personal power. As activist and author Dave Meslin aptly says, “It’s hard to change the world if you can’t change a municipal by-law.”
Case studies featured throughout the report demonstrate how to build positive relationships with municipal power structures, heal fractured relationships, and boost civic engagement in parks. In the report’s survey of 30 Canadian municipalities, 92 percent of cities reported that COVID-19 changed the way they engage communities on park projects, with 35 percent reporting that the pandemic sparked more intentional outreach to equity-deserving groups.
Innovative models for trust-building featured in the report demonstrate how we can repair relationships, redistribute power, and foster a greater sense of civic agency in our cities.
The report highlights how Toronto Island Park Master Plan built in a pre-engagement phase to give residents a say in the engagement process itself.
To understand what Toronto Island park engagement should look like, the master plan team met with community organizations, Indigenous partners, and several departments across the city. Meetings between the city and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) and other Indigenous partners who recognize the island as a sacred place of healing and ceremony led to important changes in the planned engagement process. For example, as a result of listening and early engagement, the city embedded ceremony into the engagement activities.
As the report highlights, Lori Ellis, Project Officer of Strategic Projects with the City of Toronto, acknowledged that the pre-engagement process took time, but added “It’s worth its weight in gold in regards to building that foundation of trust and transparency.”
Edmonton’s RECOVER Urban Wellness Initiative piloted creative models for engaging with equity-deserving communities. One of the initiative’s city-supported prototypes is based in community-driven storytelling and sense-making. This approach is a deliberate shift away from city-driven data collection toward deep listening and relationship building.
To collect community stories, the city hired a team of 10 Local Listeners – community members living in Edmonton’s Alberta Avenue neighbourhood. The listeners collected over 150 stories from the community, which were then shared back at a public event called Knowsy Fest. The festival, a literal celebration of community knowledge, invited residents to interpret the stories and mine them for concrete ideas for street-level changes.
RECOVER places connection as the center its engagement process, which fundamentally changes the relationship between the City of Edmonton and the residents it serves. RECOVER’s approach is to “create environments where connections can flourish, both on the small scale, between individuals, and on the larger scale, through policy change at the institutional and systemic levels.”
Another powerful approach featured in the report is participatory budgeting, which gives residents a direct route to decision making about park investments. However, like many engagement strategies, participatory budgeting requires a nuanced understanding of community needs, contexts, and dynamics. As is a recurring topic in the report, doing this work takes time and deliberate focus.
For example, the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre*’s $10-million participatory budgeting program with the City of Montreal engages residents that are too often left out of consultation processes – namely non-citizens and youth over 12. In the end, the team found that youth and non-citizens welcomed the opportunity to be involved, representing about one-fourth of all those who directly voted for projects in their communities.
Isabelle Gaudette, the Coordinator for Participatory Processes for the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre, addressed the importance of building transparency, fairness, and inclusion into every step. For example, to avoid setting up participatory budgeting as a contest between neighbourhoods and reinforcing unequal access to power structures, Gaudette recommends prioritizing projects that activate and improve multiple parks. This way collaboration, connectivity, and equity are embedded in the selections. She also recommends processes from community development settings, such as having a diverse steering committee to build trust and ensure projects align projects with identified community needs.
Insights and lessons from the 2022 Canadian City Parks Report show how parks can play a stronger role in building and healing people’s relationships with frontline municipal power structures in cities. Taking the time to listen deeply, cultivate trust, and establish collaborative outcomes requires cities to invest time and resources to foster meaningful engagement. But this investment has implications that extend beyond our parks and can help build stronger civic and political engagement, which we need for healthy, thriving democracies.
Residents of Canada should be prepared to feel the heat as our climate warms up at twice the global rate. Unfortunately, this means extreme heat events will become hotter, longer, and increasingly commonplace, which does not bode well for our cities. Because of urban heat island – a phenomenon where metropolitan areas experience higher temperatures than outlying areas due to factors like limited greenery and waste heat from densely-packed people –urbanites will feel the heat more than others.
At this time, we should be looking at our cities for solutions – specifically, our parks. Natural landscapes, like parks, mitigate urban heat islands by creating cooler microclimates, which help shield us from the sweltering heat.
In this resource, Park People will outline ways to help you host events in your local parks during extreme heat events.
Recent research shows that racialized and lower-income neighbourhoods in Canada often have less access to quality green spaces than wealthier, whiter areas—and are more exposed to urban heat islands. Even commuting to a park can involve unexpected barriers.
When access to parks is limited, staying cool in summer becomes a matter of health equity, one that puts already marginalized communities at greater risk.
Here are some general guidelines to remember when organizing your park event when it’s hot outside:
Providing refreshing food and drinks is a great way to ensure guests stay happy, healthy, and hydrated. When drafting your menu, here are some considerations to keep at the back of your mind:
Make sure meals and snacks are kept at the correct temperature to prevent food-borne illnesses and stop food from spoiling quickly in the heat. Check out Canada’s food safety website for ways to correctly and safely handle food stuffs.
With extreme heat events also comes heat-related illness – when the body becomes hotter faster than it can cool down. Luckily, heat-related illness is preventable, so it is essential that you take the time to understand and prepare for it.
Leading up to the event, consult local weather forecasts and advisories. It may also be a good idea to get a lay of the land and determine where amenities are in the park. Here are a few resources to help with planning:
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