Island presents ‘unique moment’ to commemorate area’s heritage
City working with Indigenous groups to name neighbourhood
There’s an island being built on Toronto’s waterfront, and when it’s done it will allow for the construction of a new community, complete with commercial space, apartments, parks and trails.
But, while finding space for a whole new neighbourhood steps from downtown is rare, the city is hoping the development will also provide a different kind of opportunity, the chance to honour Toronto’s Indigenous people.
In consultation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis groups, Toronto is working to find a new moniker for the emerging neighbourhood in the Port Lands that for years has been referred to as “Villiers Island.”
The move comes after the mayor and council were forced to scale back a controversial plan to rename Dundas Street last year, although there’s no sign the Villiers proposal will provoke a similar uproar.
The 40-hectare island is being carved out of former industrial lands on the eastern waterfront as part of a massive $1.4-billion flood protection project being led by Waterfront Toronto that includes “naturalizing” the mouth of the Don River, and connecting it to Lake Ontario via a new humanmade river valley south of Commissioners Street.
The development-ready precinct that will be created has been known tentatively as Villiers Island. The temporary name comes from Villiers Street, which runs along the southern edge of the Keating Channel on what will be the island’s north shore.
But Coun. Paula Fletcher (Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth), who has championed the renaming, says that, for generations, Indigenous groups fished and held gatherings at the mouth of the Don, and the renaturalization represents a “unique moment” to commemorate that heritage.
“Reclaiming that Indigenous history of Toronto’s waterfront is important in so many ways,” she said.
Including Indigenous languages in “placemaking” initiatives is part of the city’s Reconciliation Action Plan. Steps that Toronto has already taken include last month’s opening of the Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Recreation Centre and Library, named in consultation with the Huron-Wendat.
Council approved the island’s renaming in March 2023, and the city is convening an advisory circle of elders and other community members to choose an alternative.
A motion from Fletcher going to Mayor Olivia Chow’s executive committee Tuesday asks staff to report back with a recommendation by October. The goal is to select a new name in time for the symbolic moment this fall when the “plug” at the mouth of the Don will be removed and the water will flow freely through the new valley. The elders will also make recommendations for parks and streets on the island, which could get Indigenous names by the end of the year.
Selina Young, director of Toronto’s Indigenous Affairs Office, said First Nations, Inuit and Métis residents have recounted how, after centuries of colonial powers trying to erase their identities, “they don’t see themselves reflected in the city that they live in.” Giving an Indigenous name to the island would be an effective way of marking their presence in Toronto.
But Young, who is Métis, said that while commemorations are important, to advance reconciliation, the city needs to take concrete steps to improve Indigenous Peoples’ lives. On the new island, that could mean building an Indigenous cultural centre and creating ceremonial space.
Fletcher’s motion calls on the city to work with Indigenous leaders to create affordable rental housing, which is expected to make up 20 to 30 per cent of development on publicly owned lands in the precinct.
“We’ve got so many more opportunities to do more than a name,” Young said.
The debate around renaming Dundas Street was fuelled by sometimes bitter disagreements over the legacy of 18th Century Scottish nobleman Henry Dundas, whose critics accused him of prolonging the Transatlantic slave trade, but whose defenders cast him as a principled abolitionist.
The man Villiers is named after doesn’t appear to have as contentious a legacy. Villiers Sankey served as Toronto’s city surveyor for 15 years and drowned in 1905.
But even the city’s pared-down plan to rename Yonge-Dundas Square, as opposed to all of Dundas Street, faced pushback. Critics claimed the process to select the new name, Sankofa Square, was rushed and lacking public input.
Fletcher said her motion going to committee should head off similar concerns about Villiers by laying out the renaming process months in advance.
A city spokesperson said staff are working on an engagement plan that will allow the public to “contribute their perspective” about a new name, while respecting the cultural expertise” of the advisory circle.
Including Indigenous languages in ‘placemaking’ initiatives is part of the city’s Reconciliation Action Plan and staff are convening an advisory circle of elders and other community members to choose an alternative name