Item - 2024.EX13.5

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council direct the Director, Waterfront Secretariat and the Director, Indigenous Affairs Office to further engage with First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous communities, and to report back to the October 1, 2024 meeting of the Executive Committee with a permanent name for Villiers Island, as well as a framework for reconciliation projects that support Indigenous cultural revitalization in Villiers Island and the Port Lands.

On March 29, 2023, MM5.3 – Place Names in the Port Lands was adopted by City Council. Since then, City staff have been working with an Indigenous engagement consultant and Elder to design the engagement related to this work. The process, which will include a place naming advisory circle, will result in a recommended Indigenous name for the Island and a list of proposed names for streets and parks, to be considered by City Council in the fall of 2024. A permanent name for the Island will be needed in the early fall as Waterfront Toronto is expected to complete their Port Lands Flood Protection project’s river excavation work. The park and street names will be required by the end of 2024.

In addition, this can provide future opportunities for the City to collaborate with Indigenous communities and use their leadership for a number of projects including affordable rental housing and economic development initiatives.

The neighbourhoods, parks and public realm that are taking shape in the Port Lands offer a unique moment to support Indigenous cultural revitalization and to integrate Indigenous knowledge systems, oral histories, protocols, and connections to the land into the waterfront revitalization process. This motion requests that staff report on a culturally informed framework that coordinates and communicates the many projects in line with the Reconciliation Action Plan in both the Island and the Port Lands.