Item - 2023.MM7.15

City Council on June 14 and 15, 2023, adopted the following:

1. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with other appropriate City Divisions, to take steps to expand the clothing optional beach at Hanlan’s Point on City-operated lands between Toronto Island Airport and Gibraltar Point, as shown in Attachment 1 to Motion 1 by Councillor Ausma Malik, as soon as possible and implement communication tactics including signage to communicate the expansion.

2. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with the City Solicitor and other appropriate City Divisions, to review a by-law amendment on the restoration and expansion of the clothing optional beach at Hanlan’s Point Beach and area between Toronto Island Airport and Gibraltar Point and to report back to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee at the earliest opportunity in 2023.

3. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with appropriate City Divisions, and in alignment with the Toronto Island Master Plan and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Flood Mitigation Environmental Assessment, to begin an early preliminary review of the following urgent projects in tandem with the development of the recommendations and priorities of the draft Master Plan, and to report back on progress alongside the presentation of the Master Plan in the fourth quarter of 2023:

a. as a means of commemorating the site of Canada’s first ever Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer and additional sexual orientations and gender identities Pride gathering and recognizing the significance of this space to Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer and additional sexual orientations and gender identities communities, implementing the restoration (“sand nourishment”) of the approximately 400 metre eroded and unusable section of Hanlan’s Point Beach on the westerly shoreline of Toronto Island Park where this historic gathering occurred;

b. the development of a new paved trail to access the northernmost entry point at the north end of Hanlan’s Point beach while ensuring the protection of the adjacent Environmentally Significant Area; and

c. new permanent fencing intended to protect the Environmentally Significant Area around Hanlan’s Point Beach, redirect beachgoers away from areas currently experiencing the most erosion and ecological degradation, direct park and beachgoers to preferred access points and pathways to help reduce crowding and associated conflicts.
 

4. City Council request the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to continue work already underway to review and implement:

a. installation of signage, cultural markers and flag poles to acknowledge the significance of Hanlan's beach as a historic gathering space for queer people and the site of Canada’s first ever Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer and additional sexual orientations and gender identities Pride gathering;

b. interim fencing to direct park and beachgoers to preferred access points and pathways to enhance the ecological integrity of Hanlan’s Point; and

c. a pilot project for renaturalization (“rewilding”) key areas to increase natural buffer zones within and around Hanlan’s Point Beach and the Environmentally Significant Area.