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.
Why are events in parks important? How do grants fit into Park People’s larger goals for creating change in city parks?
For years, Geri and Gary James drove an hour outside Toronto to find nature — not realizing one of the…
In 2026, 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.
Ready to rally your crew and make a visible difference in your local park? This guide walks you through everything you need to host a successful community clean-up in Toronto
Explore key findings from five years of the Canadian City Parks Report, highlighting significant trends, issues, and practices shaping urban parks across the country.
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Senior Fellow and Manager at Canadian Parks Collective for Innovation and Leadership (CPCIL)
As a post-doctoral fellow with the IES, Don’s work focuses on managing the Canadian Parks Collective for Innovation and Leadership (CPCIL). Funded by the Canadian Parks Council, led by IES, and in collaboration with several other institutions, the CPCIL comprises programming and research that will support parks and protected areas leadership and communities of practice across Canada.
Don combines 26 years of leadership in Provincial Parks interpretation, inclusion, and management with research focused on the mental health and well-being benefits of inclusive nature experiences, interdisciplinary research in parks and protected areas, transformative learning and leadership in parks, and the role of protected areas and sacred places in the Anthropocene.
He recently moved to Nexwlélexwem/Bowen Island with his family and free-range kids, who are enjoying discovering the ocean and forests of the west coast.