Naming the Island and Park in the Port Lands: Ookwemin Minising and Biidaasige Park [Video]

As the renaturalization of the mouth of the Don River (Port Lands Flood Protection project) nears completion around the end of 2024, an island is emerging in the Port Lands – and this new island needs a name. City of Toronto staff have collaborated with LURA and MinoKamik Collective on an Indigenous community engagement process to discover, reflect on and determine Indigenous place names for the island, the park and priority streets.

The process itself is as meaningful as the names, which was led by an Indigenous Advisory Circle of Elders, Knowledge Keepers, language speakers and community members, through ceremony, Circle discussions and walks on the land. The process centered First Nations, Inuit, and Métis voices, cultural values, teachings and principles as well as reflections on the relational history with the place as former marshlands and discussions on the reclaiming of Indigenous languages and culture after historical erasures.

City Council’s decision to hand over the power to name this place to Indigenous communities was both a symbolic and concrete step in turning words into actions that contribute to truth, justice, and reconciliation and advance commitments in the City of Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan. City Council adopted the names on November 13, 2024 and they were celebrated through ceremony the following day.

Learn more at: www.toronto.ca/port-lands-indigenous-place-naming-initiative/