As Dave Harvey retires from his co-leadership position at Park People, he reflects on the incredible journey since founding the organization in 2011.
Park People’s Executive Director, Erika Nikolai, has been honoured with the Distinguished Individual Award from World Urban Parks—an international recognition that celebrates her leadership and the growing national movement Park People has helped build here in Canada.
The programs offers community members from equity-deserving neighbourhoods training and coaching to help them enhance or transform vacant or underused spaces into public green areas.
Pumpkin parades are a creative way to celebrate local creativity and give carved jack-o’-lanterns a second life. Here’s a step-by-step guide to make your pumpkin parade a smashing success.
Learn more about the impact of Canada’s large urban parks’ stewardship initiatives—from healthier ecosystems and stronger community well-being to essential support for city services.
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For people living in cities, public parks are vital sites of connection. They’re spaces for meeting our neighbours, engaging with nature, and mitigating the harmful impacts of climate change. But large urban parks also face unique challenges, often requiring more resources for maintenance, operations, and programming.
Park People created the Cornerstone Parks program to support and connect the organizations working in large urban parks across Canada. We’re the only national network dedicated to ensuring that these park leaders can access resources, learn from one another, and maximize the impact and influence of their important work.
Here’s what we’re up to:
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volunteers engaged in stewardship restoration
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of participants say their mental health is improved from stewardship activities
m2 of invasive species removed
Stanley Park in Vancouver
High Park in Toronto
Mount Royal Park in Montreal
Champlain Heights Trail system in Vancouver
Everett Crowley Park in Vancouver
Blue Mountain – Birch Cove Lakes, Sandy Lake, Backlands / Williams Lake in Halifax
Darlington Ecological Corridor in Montreal
South Saskatchewan River Valley in Saskatoon
North Saskatchewan River Valley in Edmonton
Edwards Gardens and Botanical Garden in Toronto
Park People and our Cornerstone partners are seeking to better understand the link between parks and health. Our groundbreaking research shows that park stewardship has tremendous benefits for our mental and physical health, for our sense of social connection, and for our overall well-being.
Parks Canada is building a new kind of park system, one that brings nature into the heart of cities. Launched in 2021, the National Urban Parks program aims to create 6 parks with the goals to:
Park People is proud to have collaborated with Parks Canada by contributing to the interim policy that guides the designation and management of new national urban parks, and by engaging and supporting organizations working in large urban parks across the country.
Cornerstone Parks, Stewardship
Explore how different sectors are currently working to meet shared urban biodiversity goals and how we can all work differently –or more collaboratively– in the future.
Montreal's Urban Park Champions mentoring program offers dedicated community members from equity-deserving neighbourhoods training and coaching opportunities to help them organize a series of two activities in their local parks.
InTO the Ravines creates opportunities for Torontonians to come together to explore the ravines, learn about their social and ecological benefits, and champion their preservation.
The Sparking Change program supports equity-deserving community groups to transform their parks into powerful engines of community development.