This year again, local leaders gathered their neighbours, built connections, and restored nature in projects big and small. The movement continues to expand, and we're pleased to share just some of these impacts in our 2025 Impact Report.
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
Discover ways to help you host events in your local parks during extreme heat events.
Explore key findings from five years of the Canadian City Parks Report, highlighting significant trends, issues, and practices shaping urban parks across the country.
A guidance and resources to measure the impact of your park work on community health and wellbeing, integrating a social equity lens.
The 6th Montreal Park People Forum is back on September 17 under the theme “Remembering, Looking Forward, and Taking Action for Urban Parks".
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
In the lead-up to the Park People Conference, taking place virtually September 21-23, 2022, Park People met with Lewis Cardinal, a communicator and educator, who has dedicated his life’s work to creating and maintaining connections and relationships that cross cultural divides. Lewis is Woodland Cree from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation in northern Alberta, Canada. His consulting company, Cardinal Strategic Communications, specializes in Indigenous education, communications, and project development. Currently, Lewis is Project Manager for “kihciy askiy–Sacred Land” in the City of Edmonton, Canada’s first urban Indigenous ceremony grounds.
Lewis Cardinal: Listen, building relationships takes time. Nobody’s done a project like this before so there’s no blueprint. The City of Edmonton didn’t have policies and processes to do something like this. We had to make these things up as we went along and, naturally, that slowed things down.
I mean, the city’s not in the habit of giving land back to Indigenous people.
It took a lot of community consultation to make kihciy askiy happen– with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. The elders made it very clear, that we have to move forward in a good way, and take the time to build the relationships that need to be built.
We said, let’s just keep moving forward with this and try to be as patient as we can because the process is the product. If we want this to be a sacred site that is built on love, trust, respect, and understanding, that’s what we need to embody in the process.
LC: The city and community had to approach learning from each other with an open heart and an open mind. We start with ceremony, respecting our relationship with the city, and respecting the individuals we are working with because, at the end of the day, we’re all just human beings trying to do something to benefit people in our community.
We had to bring the City into how we do things and we had the opportunity to work with the City to learn how they do things too.
To do that you each need to have a clear vision of what you’re trying to build together. From there you share that vision with colleagues, friends, and partners. Then they each start to see themselves in that vision, that story. It is not just our vision, as Indigenous people. It’s a shared vision.
Working in a good way is also about being respectful, even during disagreements. Our Indigenous tradition teaches us that it’s all about relationships, and these relationships are critical to moving anything forward.
I mean, we’re all human beings, right? We lose patience. But when things start going sideways and you’re starting to feel the tension, you have to slip back into the ceremony to bring yourself back into a sense of balance so you can continue to move forward in a good way.
One thing I’ve learned from this process is that you really can’t drag anybody along to where you want to take them. They have to come willingly. And that’s why the vision needs to be shared so everyone involved sees themselves in that story.
LC: Yes, that’s right. We could have pulled all kinds of political cards and tried to force the City to do what we wanted to. But, kihciy askiy would have taken longer than 16 years or it may not have happened at all.
We continuously remind each other that we are in a good relationship, and it becomes almost like a mantra to continually remind us why we’re doing this.
Picture a young man standing with his mom and his little sister at a bus stop in Edmonton with a towel underneath his arm. Somebody asks that young man: “Where are you going swimming?” He responds: “I’m not going swimming. I’m going to a sweat lodge. I want my mom and my sister to see it too.”
When you share that kind of vision, it shakes loose some of the rigidity we may have built up. It cuts through the titles that we have as individuals, and it puts it into the heart of the human being that you’re working with. And I think that’s what works because it’s consistent, it’s like ceremony.
Consensus is a ceremony of communication. Consensus is the sacred process of honouring each person’s vision so that they can connect themselves to an idea in their own way.
When communication fails it creates shadows. Those shadows create doubt and confusion. Then, the process becomes a playground for individuals who might want to take advantage of that communication breakdown. So being consistent in speaking together and building a shared vision is very important.
LC: We always begin with ceremony, prayer, and mindfulness, because they take us back to the essence of what it is that we’re trying to do. Creating consensus can be unnerving at the beginning because people aren’t used to working with it, and they may stumble and fall. But once you get used to it, things move really quickly. Suddenly, everybody’s agreeing to the same vision.
We always make sure to celebrate and honor our partners. Whenever I get a chance to talk to the media or groups of people, I always say what a wonderful relationship we have with the city and how honoured we are to work with the City of Edmonton. This is an act of reconciliation.
By honouring your partners you’re reinforcing the relationship and strengthening it.
Every relationship has its dark side. That is our flaw as human beings –we always tend to muddle things up more than they need to be. We can become controlling and destructive. But the opposite is also true. We can become very creative and very loving and very open and we can make positive changes for a lot of people. So working within this context of consensus and relationship building is foundational.
LC: Over the last 18 years we’ve had the Edmonton Urban Aboriginal Accord, the Edmonton Declaration and the new Indigenous framework. This has helped the city rethink how it works with other communities, beyond Indigenous communities. It’s created a freshness of possibility.
In Cree tradition, we have the word tatawâw, which means you are welcome. It expresses openness to embracing all the people and communities who make Edmonton their home. It says “there is room for you here.”
Here are some resources to help you learn more about Lewis Cardinal and his work:
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Park People, Canada’s national city parks advocacy organization, is extremely concerned that efforts to scrap the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation will take away from much-needed work to meet the park needs of the city’s communities.
“There are major challenges facing our parks,” said Masheed Salehomoum, Park People’s Manager, Vancouver.
“Maintenance budgets are falling behind, new park development is challenged to keep up with growth, changes in park use and changes in our climate are putting severe strain on our park system. Blowing up the century-old structure of how we deliver vital park services will result in a complex, lengthy and ultimately distracting process.”
Masheed Salehomoum
A debate was opened during the recent election on the future of the Park Board, but Mayor Sim firmly closed the door on that debate and committed to keeping the Board. Now, there is an effort for the Council to vote on this issue with only one week’s notice. Restructuring and amalgamating park services in other Canadian cities has resulted in many years of disruption and confusion, taking a toll on park staff who are already pressed to deliver services. Park People believes the primary focus should remain to safeguard Vancouver’s parks and to ensure they remain accessible, well-maintained, and vibrant spaces for all.
The Park Board is working on some Canadian-leading initiatives, from park equity efforts in VanPlay to ongoing decolonization work through initiatives like the Local Food Systems Action Plan. Let’s not lose momentum for that important work in pursuing better parks and stronger communities. Let’s prioritize the needs of the people over structural changes and ensure that Vancouver’s parks continue to thrive, providing solace and joy to all who enjoy them.
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.