Item - 2024.EX18.3

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council designate the new island in the Port Lands, shown in Attachment 1 to the report (November 1, 2024) from the Interim Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, as “Ookwemin Minising” recognizing this as the island's permanent name as it becomes a distinct landform.

2. City Council adopt the name “Biidaasige Park” for the new park in the Port Lands, shown in Attachment 2 to the report (November 1, 2024) from the Interim Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation.

This report responds to MM5.3 – Place Names in the Port Lands and EX13.5 - New Island, New Beginnings: Furthering Reconciliation and an Indigenous Cultural Framework for the Port Lands.

Over the last year, City staff, in collaboration with MinoKamik Collective and LURA Consulting, facilitated an Indigenous community engagement process to discover, reflect on, and determine Indigenous names for the new island in the Port Lands. The proposed names were lifted up by an Indigenous Advisory Circle (the Circle), comprised of Elders, Knowledge Keepers, language speakers, youth and community members. The process was rooted in Indigenous traditions, teachings and cultural protocols, involving ceremonies, site walks, and deep discussions. The Indigenous Advisory Circle met seven times between April and October 2024. In addition, broader Indigenous communities were engaged at community events, in a survey and in other ways.

Circle discussions centered on the area’s history as former marshland, the cultural significance of the land and water, and long-term environmental restoration and stewardship, with a focus on water and native plants. The historical erasure of Indigenous languages and significance of language revitalization initiatives was also emphasized. The collaborative engagement process is detailed in Attachment 3.

As acknowledged at the April 9, 2024 Executive Committee meeting, the 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. The process itself is as meaningful as the names chosen. This process demonstrates ways of shifting power and priorities with respect for Indigenous worldviews, ways of knowing, cultural protocols, ceremonies, self-determination and leadership.

This report recommends naming the new island in the Port Lands Ookwemin Minising, (pronounced Oh-kway-min Min-nih-sing), meaning “place of the black cherry trees” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwemowin. As outlined in Attachment 3, this name honours the natural history of the land, recognizes a vision of environmental restoration, and highlights the future care of Indigenous plant communities. Local Elders recalled the waterfront’s original marshlands near the mouth of the Don River and the trees that grew throughout the waterfront area. The connections between past, present and future resonated with the Circle, with efforts to restore and revitalize both Indigenous names and plants. The name also aligns with other historical Ojibwe place names on Lake Ontario, including Adoobigok (Etobicoke) meaning “place of the alders.”

The area the Circle named Ookwemin Minising was previously referred to by several names through many years of planning, design and construction, including the Lower Don Lands, River Precinct, Cousins Quay, and Villiers Island. In November 2024, the “north plug removal”, a key milestone for the Port Lands Flood Protection project, will connect the Don River with the river valley and complete the transition of the landmass into an Island surrounded by water, from planning concept to physical reality. Ookwemin Minising will therefore be the formal name for this newly formed island, coinciding with its emergence as a significant ecological and cultural landmark on the Toronto waterfront.

Additionally, this report recommends naming the new park surrounding the Island Biidaasige Park, (pronounced Bee-daw-sih-geh), meaning “sunlight shining toward us” in Anishinaabemowin. As outlined in Attachment 3, this name relates to the hopeful light of a new day, shining on waterway restoration and reconciliation and acknowledges the relationship between the earth, water, sun, and moon as relatives and teachers. The name recognizes water awareness as central to the Port Lands Flood Protection project and creation of the renaturalized Don River, valley and park. The name honours the Indigenous water walker movement, Water Walkers including Josephine Mandamin, and the Indigenous communities who have helped highlight the significance of water as essential to life. The name connects with, and ties together, design elements throughout the island, including the bridges and the flow of the river from east to west, in line with the direction of the sunlight’s daily path.

In addition to the two names brought forward in this report, a new name for a portion of Cherry Street that was not realigned, between Commissioners Street and the Keating Channel, was determined by the Circle and will be discussed with landowners and then recommended to the Toronto East York Community Council in December 2024 as part of a staff report on road openings related to the Port Lands Flood Protection project.

Other names for the area will be recommended as needed through future related engagement processes. Other than the portion of Cherry Street referenced above, City staff are not recommending that any other existing civic assets be renamed at this time. Villiers Sankey, a former City surveyor, will continue to be commemorated through Villiers Street, an existing street that will be prominent on the new Island.

Through EX13.5 - New Island, New Beginnings: Furthering Reconciliation and an Indigenous Cultural Framework for the Port Lands, City staff were also directed to report back on an Indigenous cultural framework for waterfront revitalization in the Port Lands. In 2025, staff will present a report on the many ongoing initiatives related to the Reconciliation Action Plan and Indigenous cultural revitalization on the waterfront.

While Indigenous place naming is a significant part of ongoing efforts to advance Indigenous cultural revitalization on the waterfront, it is but a small step in a long journey. There are many ongoing initiatives and future opportunities for advancing Reconciliation Action Plan commitments in a forward-looking framework that involves First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities throughout the process.

Ongoing initiatives that the City and partnering agencies, including Waterfront Toronto and CreateTO, are collaborating on with Indigenous communities span from ecology, native plantings, and land/water stewardship to Indigenous art, design, and interpretive signage to language revitalization through place naming. First Nations rights holders, Elders and Knowledge Keepers, Indigenous artists and designers, urban Indigenous youth and community organizations and others are involved. The many communities involved are collaborating to ensure Ookwemin Minising and surrounding precincts are places with meaning and connection to Indigenous histories, cultures, values, and ways of knowing that center connection to the land, water, plants and animals.

Future opportunities will take shape alongside the evolution of the future mixed-use communities in Ookwemin Minising and the broader Port Lands. These opportunities can include affordable housing, economic development, land and water stewardship, cultural programming and placekeeping through public realm design. These will be discussed with Indigenous communities and begin to be outlined in a framework, with the vision for this new island, Ookwemin Minising, to be a place where Indigenous histories, worldviews, cultures, and ways of life hold a respected, celebrated, prominent and distinctive place on the waterfront.