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.
Meet the Ontario Community Changemakers and learn more about their inspiring initiatives transforming parks across the province.
Creative ways to connect people to nature, community, and care for ravines in Toronto.
A guidance and resources to measure the impact of your park work on community health and wellbeing, integrating a social equity lens.
Shakeera Solomon from the Vision of Hope Resource Centre in Brampton, a recipient of a TD Park People Grant, shares valuable tips on transitioning indoor programs to the outdoors.
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Destination Danforth is part of a suite of ActiveTO programs, designed to support the City of Toronto’s restart and recovery response to COVID-19. These programs were part of a period of unprecedented rapid program implementation and deserve careful evaluation.
The Destination Danforth Intercept Survey Evaluation Report was designed to provide diverse perspectives on safety, accessibility, and user impact of the new street installation and to assess the success of the program’s goals to support businesses and increase safe and equitable access to active modes of transportation.
Perspectives on safety, accessibility, and user impact of the new street installation
Park People’s ‘Making Connections’ report proposes strategies for creating a network of parks and open spaces that can connect our parks, ravines, hydro and rail corridors, streets, laneways, schoolyards, and other public spaces.
“As many Toronto neighbourhoods continue to develop and intensify, the need for an expanded and improved parks and open space system grows. Encouraging flexibility and experimentation both in designs and funding as well as in how we engage with communities. Underpinning all of this is the need to make connections— connections between different types of parks and open spaces, between communities and partners in those spaces, and between city divisions and resources.”
Strategies for creating a network of parks and open spaces.
One of the oldest parks in the City of Toronto, Allan Gardens and its historic conservatory provides a unique space in the heart of downtown Toronto amidst a diverse and bustling neighbourhood. With these assets, Allan Gardens represents an unparalleled opportunity in the city to create a truly vibrant, active public space for the surrounding community, the wider city, and visitors to Toronto—an opportunity that a renewed focus and energy can help bring to life.
The report recommends that a new partnership model focus on the conservatory and adjacent gardens, with a full-time project manager needed to engage with the community, the City, and potential funders to lay the necessary groundwork for a success.
“The key to unlocking Allan Gardens’ potential is in establishing a new governance model for the park. This new and creative partnership is needed to not only deliver the capital improvements required, but to activate the space with rich community-based programming around horticulture, food, and the arts. A new partnership dedicated to Allan Gardens would help focus community input in the park and drive new investment into both capital improvements and programming.”
Unlocking Allan Gardens’ potential with a new governance model
From growing food to restoring natural habitat to bringing arts programming to parks, the Weston Family Parks Challenge kick-started a more creative, collaborative approach to green space in Toronto. This report highlights what we can learn from the Weston Family Parks Challenge, and how we can apply those lessons to other municipalities to help guide the future of park philanthropy in Canada.
“While there is a long history in Canada of private donations of land to create city parks, there has been a limited culture of philanthropy for park improvements and programming”.
Applying lessons from the Weston Family Parks Challenge to guide the future of park philanthropy in Canada
Join the Canadian City Parks Report’s authors, Jake Tobin Garrett, Adri Stark & Naomi Amberber, and Park People Board Chair Zahra Ebrahim, for a webinar to launch the 2021 Report. This Canadian City Parks Report launch webinar features:
The third annual report tracking the trends, challenges, and leading practices in 32 Canadian cities. This year’s report highlights new city park insights on how parks can foster more resilient, equitable cities—not only as we recover from COVID-19, but as we address another looming crisis: climate change.
The webinar is held in English; French subtitles are available.
Adri Stark is specialized in research and policy at Park People, and co-author of the annual Canadian City Parks Report.…
Zahra is a public interest designer and strategist focused on shifting power to people who are typically underrepresented in institutions…
Jake Tobin Garrett (he/him) is a writer, illustrator and public space policy and research consultant. He was previously Park People’s…
Parks and public spaces are places where communities connect, imagine, and thrive. In this two-part blog series, we explore programs we champion with our partner, 8 80 Cities, that support local leaders in reimaging and activating parks across Ontario. From mentorship and funding to creative activations, these programs show how trust, support, and imagination spark meaningful change.
Walk through any city in Canada, and you’ll find them: parks and public spaces.
These spaces are the commons, the connecting space for community, the places where neighbours meet for the first time, where celebrations unfold, a place for democracy, and where we escape the hustle and bustle of city life to connect with nature. They’re where kids learn to ride bikes, where friends meet for picnics, and where you might just stumble into something unexpected.
Park People and 8 80 Cities share a simple but powerful belief: parks and public spaces are more than patches of grass or trails through trees. They are part of the city’s social fabric. They are places where belonging is practiced, where we learn to live alongside one another, and where we imagine something better together.
When people feel a sense of ownership over their parks and public spaces, everything changes.
Benches get painted, gardens take root, and lanterns are lit. Entire herds of papier-mâché giraffes parade through neighbourhoods. Parks and public spaces become mirrors, reflecting the life and creativity of the community around them.
That belief is at the heart of two programs we’re proud to lead alongside our friends at 8 80 Cities, and with the generous support of the Balsam Foundation: the Sparking Change program (Park People) and the Ontario Community Changemakers microgrant and leadership program (8 80 Cities).
Our long-standing partnership is rooted in the vision that parks are most vibrant when shaped by the people who use them. While Park People focuses on connecting and supporting community leaders to animate and care for their local parks, 8 80 Cities brings a placemaking lens and their signature principle: If a city works for an eight-year-old and an eighty-year-old, it works for everyone.
Together, we champion community-driven urbanism, supporting local community leaders who transform spaces into places of belonging. Through these programs, grassroots groups and individuals continue to animate their communities and drive local change, often well beyond the programs themselves.
Together, we’ve seen how this alignment of vision translates into real impact: Park People’s community networks and mentorship pair seamlessly with 8 80 Cities’ Ontario Community Changemakers program, which equips leaders with funding, training, and a peer network. Many participants move between both programs, carrying forward skills, ideas, and partnerships that ripple into parks and neighbourhoods and impactful change across the province.
We know that lasting change happens when cities, community members, and non-profit partners work together toward a shared vision. By combining their strengths, we can amplify the impact of our public spaces.
Park People’s Sparking Change program centres building capacity, offering mentorship, and removing barriers so those connected to their parkspaces can shape it in ways that matter most to them. Park People asks: What could this park be if it truly reflected the people who use it? Then we provide the tools, coaching, networks, and seed funding to make that vision real.
The projects that grow out of Sparking Change take many forms: story-sharing circles, cultural festivals, trauma-informed ravine hikes, community gardens, park clean-ups, environmental stewardship days, art installations, youth-led gardening programs, and neighbourhood celebrations. All are locally led. All emerge from the creativity, care, and knowledge of the people who know their park best. And all, in their way, show what is possible when communities are given the trust and support to lead in their public spaces.
8 80 Cities’ Ontario Community Changemakers (OCC) program takes a similar approach. The program gives participants a year of mentorship, peer learning, and project funding to make a big idea happen in their community.
Over 2024 and forward, 8 80 Cities recently opened the program to people of all ages, reflecting that creativity, energy, and vision aren’t bound by age. That change means more voices, perspectives, and chances for public spaces to be shaped by the people who care about them most.
Many Sparking Change leaders have also been Changemakers, with both programs playing a key role in supporting their growth and impact.
Mehedi Khan and Igor Samardzic are strong examples; through both their fellowship years, they gained tools, mentorship, and connections that helped them advance their Muslims in Public Space initiative with their co-lead, Linda Selam. These programs provided the platform to deepen their work, from making parks and plazas more inclusive for Muslim communities to celebrating Islamic culture in public spaces.
With ongoing support from Park People, 8 80 Cities, and collaborators like PlazaPOPS, they have been able to launch and sustain projects such as Tower POPS, where they are helping to transform underused spaces around high-rise towers into welcoming, active public places for people in Toronto and Mississauga.
On top of all their community and cultural leadership, Mehedi and Igor managed the 2025 city-wide Jane’s Walk Toronto Festival, inviting the city to “walk with us” and celebrate the stories of its neighbourhoods.
Read Part 2 to meet the changemakers shaping Ontario’s parks and see the creative ways they’re transforming their communities.
At the heart of every project is trust in community and the belief that amazing things can happen in public space with a little spark, a little funding, and some truly incredible changemakers.
Park People’s Sparking Change program trusts communities to lead. The 8 80 Cities Ontario Community Changemakers program trusts individuals to turn vision into action.
When people have the tools and support they need, they can transform neighbourhoods, parks, and public spaces into places of connection and belonging. It creates space for imagination, brings communities together across generations, and inspires community members to animate parks, ravines, hydro corridors, and all the spaces in between.
It allows culture to be celebrated in comfort and joy to ripple through public spaces. Most of all, it helps people build stronger and more connected communities across Ontario.
We are deeply grateful to the Balsam Foundation for believing in people, for championing ideas that don’t always fit neatly into a box, and for helping grow a network of leaders who are shaping the future of parks and public spaces across Ontario.
The 2025 Ontario Community Changemakers have officially been announced! Meet these inspiring leaders and follow their projects as they bring new ideas, energy, and creativity to parks and public spaces across Ontario. Start thinking about applying for microgrants, leadership training, and mentorship from Park People and 8 80 Cities to launch your own inclusive public space or park project in 2026.
Read Part 1 to learn more about the vision behind Park People’s Sparking Change and 8 80 Cities’ Ontario Community Changemakers (OCC) programs.
In Thunder Bay, Nancy Angus, founder of Age BIG, used her time as an Ontario Community Changemaker to create Park Your Stories. This project brought older adults and high school students together to transform city benches into painted gathering spots.
Students built portable wooden chairs and even crafted a custom metal medallion for the project. The result was a mobile, joyful story circle that has popped up in gardens, conservation areas, and senior living facilities, bringing intergenerational connection, people together, and people closer to nature.
“People of all ages talking, knitting, painting, playing. Trees. Plenty of places to sit. Clean. Safe. Free.” is how Nancy describes her vision for a welcoming park.
“Occasionally, animating a park can bring people there who have never been before, and that’s a win, because they’ll come back.”
Nancy Angus, OCC program participant
In Waterloo, another Ontario Community Changemaker, Hannah Gardiner, was inspired by the memory of zoologist Dr. Anne Innis Dagg to create a unique activation of her local park: a Giraffe Parade. Twenty-five papier-mâché giraffe heads, built by neighbours, wound through the park in a joyful procession.
It was whimsical, intensely local, and wildly inspiring. Since then, the Giraffe Parade has sparked other “microparades,” bursts of neighbourhood creativity that can be as playful as they are powerful.
This year, with a TD Park People Grant, Hannah is building on her Changemaker experience to create a bubble procession, a lantern parade, and even karaoke in the park. Proof that the skills, confidence, and connections from the OCC program carry far beyond the original funding and opportunities.
“Building off of this special parade, my goal for my Changemakers project was to show, and through showing, encourage other people to host their microparades.”
Hannah Gardiner, OCC program participant, Waterloo.
“I was thrilled when one of the Changemakers, Nithya Vijayakumar, and Angry Locals Toronto put on a parade this spring to draw attention to infrastructure in their community. A friend recently sent me a video of students hosting a Trout Parade in Vermont.”
For Hannah, inspiring people is just one part of the vision. “The other part of my project is focused on making it easier for people, anyone, to host these kinds of small, community-focused events in parks here in Waterloo Region,” she says.
Hannah is working on a mini “how-to guide” that will pull together resources the public can use to make their own events happen. She’s been meeting with the City of Waterloo, Park People, and local community groups to figure out how to break down barriers.
“I feel really lucky to live in a city with a very community-minded mayor like Mayor Dorothy McCabe, who has encouraged me during this project,” Hannah adds.
“I think Park People’s success with the City of Toronto in waiving fees for community events in parks is a really big win for community building, and I hope that the City of Waterloo can draw inspiration from that in their new park plan.”
Another project from 2024 began with a simple but powerful vision from Ontario Community Changemaker Rignam Wangkhang.
Outside the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre in Etobicoke, Toronto, he saw families and seniors gathering in parking lots or spilling into busy streets during cultural events. Across the road sat an overgrown hydro corridor, unused and full of possibility.
“I imagined a place where kids could play safely, elders could rest in the shade, and the community could celebrate without fear. It felt like the space was just waiting for us to bring it to life.”
Rignam Wangkhang, OCC program participant, Toronto.
From the very start, Rignam involved the community in shaping that vision. Local events revealed how deeply people wanted this change: a safe, welcoming space that reflects their culture, needs, and pride. What began as one person’s idea quickly became a shared mission.
Through the 8 80 Cities’ Ontario Community Changemakers program, Rignam has found a network of people who believe in bold ideas.
“It’s one thing to dream about change, but it’s another to have others trust you to make it real.”
That trust, in community and collective imagination, can help turn an empty hydro corridor into a safe, vibrant space the whole neighbourhood can call its own.
Another past ravine and hydro corridor lover, Nithursan Elamuhilan, has been heavily involved in the Park People Network and the 8 80 Cities program.
Born and raised in Scarborough, Nithursan is an emerging visual storyteller whose work blends photography, community connection, and a deep commitment to place. He first launched itsneerby with support from the Ontario Community Changemaker program, using it as a platform to document and share stories of Scarborough’s neighbourhoods.
Since then, he has become an active leader in the local arts and public space sectors, contributing to community events with NGOs, serving as a past board member of 8 80 Cities, and volunteering regularly with Park People.
Nithursan has participated in numerous Scarborough initiatives, including Scarborough Made, and has led public events such as a photowalk for a past Jane’s Walk Festival. His photography has celebrated and documented public spaces, such as The Meadoway, a major urban greenway project, and his work has been featured in exhibitions across Toronto, including group shows at the CONTACT Photography Festival.
Through his art and advocacy, Nithursan continues to highlight Scarborough’s cultural richness, resilience, and evolving landscapes, building connections between people, place, and the stories that shape them. He documents and advocates for future infrastructure reuse of a rail line into a trail for the community to readapt and reuse.
These are just a few examples of the incredible leaders behind programs that nurture grassroots initiatives, spark change, and provide vital support to community projects. Through partnerships between 8 80 Cities and Park People, these leaders have been given the tools and trust to turn creative visions into public-space reality.
Across all of these efforts, local leaders backed by a network, community and NGOs that believe in their ideas are reshaping parks and public spaces across Ontario. Together, we are building places where communities can see themselves and both people and nature can thrive.
In Vancouver’s Champlain Heights, a powerful model of urban stewardship is taking root.
The Everett Crowley Park Committee (ECPC) and Free the Fern Stewardship Society are two grassroots organizations that work in close partnership to protect and revitalize some of the last remaining native forest ecosystems in East Vancouver.
Their largely volunteer-run teams have organized hundreds of successful nature education and stewardship events, and they seek to ground their work in shared values of reciprocity, reconciliation, and a deep commitment to place.
We sat down with Damian Assadi and Evie Osborn of ECPC, and Grace Nombrado of Free the Fern, to talk about how they’re stewarding not only land, but community.
Damian: I was actually born in this neighborhood. There’s a green space called Sparwood Park. I played in it every morning, and it’s where I first learned the values of stewardship. I loved playing among the cedar trees, the salmonberry and the cedar berry bushes. One day, I noticed a strange plant sprouting at the bottom of my favorite salmon berry bush. A decade later, I realized that the salmon berry bush was killed by invasive Himalayan blackberry. I was determined to do something, so I reached out to the ECPC and volunteered to help in whatever way I could.
Evie: We always joke that Everett Crowley Park is basically just Damian’s backyard. If you don’t know where he is, he’s probably in the park! I’m from the UK, and when I moved here a few years ago, I quickly got involved in stewardship and environmental work. For me, it’s a grounding way to get to know a place by knowing its environments, its species, and its habitats. I came along to a planting event at Everett Crowley Park, and it was so friendly and warm. I remember speaking to Damian, and feeling so encouraged to get involved. I’ve been working with the committee for over a year now, and blown away by everyone’s love and enthusiasm.
Grace: I got involved in Free the Fern very organically. After a windstorm in early 2021, I was out on the Champlain Heights trails clearing branches when I noticed invasive ivy taking over the area. Having previously volunteered at Everett Crowley Park, I recognized the damage it could cause and started removing it with a neighbour. People walking by began asking what we were doing and if they could help. That’s how Free the Fern began. I was inspired by uncovering a hidden fern while cutting back a blackberry and said, “Free the fern!”—and the name stuck. What started as a spontaneous cleanup turned into a full career shift for me, and today we’re a registered nonprofit.
Damian: Everett Crowley Park actually used to be the city landfill. Before that, it was an old growth forest stewarded by the Coast Salish peoples, near a former village called Tsukhulehmulth. That’s a very important backdrop of stewardship history that is carried on throughout time. When the landfill was closed in 1967, people were proposing extending the nearby golf course from 19 holes to 27, or building a miniature railway system. But community members and nature lovers campaigned to the parks board to protect it as natural space. That’s how ECPC was founded as a sub committee of the Champlain Heights Community Association, with a mission to steward the park as urban wilderness.
Grace: The area east of the Everett Crowley Park was still dense forest up until the 70’s. Luckily, when the city was planning to redevelop the area into the neighbourhood of Champlain Heights, they decided to keep a strip of the original forest as a pedestrian path. Stewardship along these Champlain Heights Trails are so important as the trails contain many species of native plants traditionally used for food and medicine and support habitat for eagles, owls, bats, pileated woodpeckers, and more! But, the trails also contain many invasive species that are threatening to take over the trails. Hence, why we need a dedicated community stewardship program like Free the Fern.
Damian: We’re the only East Vancouver neighborhood with over 30% tree cover. Generally, tree cover parallels income levels in neighborhoods, but our neighborhood is an anomaly—we have a good amount of tree cover alongside low-income and social housing. Unlike most of the city, the forest here was preserved during development in the 1970s. Today, only 4% of forest remains across Vancouver, and we’re part of it. This green oasis inspires people to care because it’s special.
Grace: Our neighborhood is like one large park. The Everett Crowley Park and the Champlain Heights trails are right across the road from each other.
I always say, “the birds don’t know boundaries,” so anything that benefits the park or the trail system, benefits each of us.
Grace, Free the Fern
When we look for grants, for example, we’re generous about sharing opportunities. Even if just one of us gets a grant, it benefits our whole neighborhood. There’s no need to feel competitive, as we share the same vision and values.
Damian: I like to think of ECPC and Free the Fern as cousin organizations in one big community, one big family. There’s something special about our neighbourhood in the fact that we’ve generated two grassroots environmental organizations. I think that it’s not a coincidence, and it speaks volumes about the interconnectedness of the programming and the stewardship that we’re doing.
Grace: A great example is our Light up the Night in Champlain Heights lantern festival. Free the Fern has been running the event for four years, but last winter we worked together with ECPC on it for the first time. Their team helped us with set-up, and with supporting the artists who were making lanterns. It was one of our most successful lantern festivals, thanks to this partnership.
Damian: It’s about taking the time to connect with people.
We believe every single person who comes to our events has something to learn, and every person teaches us right back.
Damian, Everett Crowley Park Committee
Thanks to the support we’ve received from Park People and others, we’re able to build in a way that is creating this collective vision. We have multiple subcommittees that suit the interests of our members, and we’ve self-organized to help those skills really shine. I like to say we’re dreamers and we’re doers.
Evie: Our committee has grown from 5 people to 11 people in the last year. We’ve also seen a real increase in diversity at our events, which is more representative of the Champlain Heights community. That’s diversity in age, as we have more younger people coming on, and in race and ethnicity. We have people bringing new skills like documentary filmmaking, ecological research, and nonprofit management, as well as more local community members getting involved. We ran 69 events last year, but we’ve already held 45 in the first few months of 2025.
People often come to us with an idea or vision they want to achieve, and we’re lucky to have the flexibility to support them. Funding from Park People helps to provide the logistics that allow volunteers to lead the programs they’re passionate about. Our bird programming is a great example: a long-time committee member teamed up with some new volunteers to launch bird-focused events. These have been hugely successful, with waitlists often oversubscribed by 200%. We now have five volunteer facilitators with bird knowledge who lead monthly walks that are beginner-friendly and social, with opportunities for everyone to share. We also run a smaller monthly bird survey to build an inventory and offer field experience for those interested in ecology, and the data is shared with the City.
Grace: As part of Free the Fern’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, which we passed in Aug 2024, we welcome diverse volunteers to take on a leadership role at each of our events. These volunteer leads support us with greeting volunteers, guiding a welcome activity, supervising our stewardship effort, and helping with clean-up. Having diverse volunteers take on leadership roles, helps those from underrepresented groups feel seen, valued, and motivated to participate, knowing that their backgrounds are represented at the leadership level.
Grace: Since our founding, we’ve made an effort to hire Indigenous knowledge sharers for workshops and walks. In 2023, the David Suzuki Foundation and the National Healing Forest Foundation recognized our Douglas Fir Teaching Garden as a healing forest, a place to acknowledge harm and support healing. Our Elder-in-Residence, Marge Wiley of the Tl’azt’en Nation, says it gives her a real sense of peace, and she visits almost every day. That’s what we hoped for—a space of healing.
Because of climate change, a lot of cedars are struggling as they aren’t used to the drying climate. With help from city forestry workers, we cut and rolled the trees down the trail with volunteers. It was a hilarious event of us trying to roll these logs! Then we hired a Squamish carver, John Spence and his son to carve the logs into a sacred circle. It’s become our gathering spot where the kids come to learn.
We have a monthly diversity committee to guide inclusive programming, including Indigenous reconciliation. I’ve been learning a lot myself and always try to cite where that knowledge comes from. When I teach students, I share the traditional uses of plants that were shared with me. Nearby, we have a food forest, inspired by Coast Salish traditions of planting edible food near villages. We installed a sign with history, plant info, and photos to help people learn.
Evie: After learning from Free the Fern’s amazing work on an equity, diversity, and inclusion policy, ECPC decided to create our own policy with a specific focus on indigenous reconciliation. We now have a dedicated budget to support this, which includes hiring Indigenous facilitators for walks, plant ID sessions, and workshops that share the park’s Indigenous history and present. Reconciliation also happens through restoration, as we plant native species and share their Indigenous names and uses where we can.
Damian: Our Healing Garden transformed an area overrun by Himalayan blackberry into a space filled with native, pollinator species that have edible and medicinal properties and which are culturally important to local Indigenous nations—hence the name “healing garden.”
We try to ensure a hands-on aspect is an underlying action to everything we’re doing, to go beyond just saying a land acknowledgement and put our values into practice. We actively offer open calls for folks that have knowledge to come forth to us. We’ve had folks who are Indigenous at our events, who’ve shared a knowledge that we don’t know about. We really appreciate that there’s this environment that is being fostered where we can have this knowledge sharing happen.
My hope is that we are achieving our mission of stewarding Everett Crowley Park as an urban wilderness, that the values of the committee are brought forward by the committee members themselves, and that programming is based on the interests of the community members.
It’s a vision that is collective, that’s based within the community. One that is modelled on stewardship: grounded in reciprocity, respect, and in allowing everyone’s qualities to best shine.
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.
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.