Item - 2025.TE23.53

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that:

1. Despite the provisions of the City of Toronto Property Naming Policy, City Council approve the renaming of the community garden in Joel Weeks Park to Carol Sutton Garden.

Carol Sutton was a beloved community leader and exceptional artist whose dedication, artistic talent, and community service left a lasting impact on Joel Weeks Park and the surrounding community.

A highly accomplished abstract artist, Carol's work is featured in major public collections across North America, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Canada Council Art Bank in Ottawa, and the Edmonton Art Gallery, among others. As a woman exhibiting in major galleries around North America during a time when the field was still heavily male-dominated, Sutton’s presence helped pave the way for other female abstract artists.

Carol’s home and studio overlook Joel Weeks Park in East York. Beginning in the early 1980s, she took it upon herself to care for the then-named Joel Weeks Parkette. Her volunteer stewardship included planting trees and shrubs, maintaining gardens, cleaning the grounds, and even replacing basketball nets.

When the neighbourhood underwent redevelopment and Joel Weeks Parkette was expanded and renamed Joel Weeks Park, Carol was an active participant in community consultation meetings. In recognition of her longstanding contributions, a special garden bed was included in the park design, located beside the basketball courts and near the water fountain, just for Carol’s gardening. Carol and her husband, sculptor André Fauteux, lovingly created and maintained a vibrant perennial flower bed there. When Carol could no longer tend to it due to Alzheimer’s, André continued to care for the garden in her honour.

Naming this garden after Carol would be a meaningful tribute to her devotion and lasting impact on the community. A formal naming application was submitted to Strategic Partnerships by the local BIA, with strong support from both residents and Carol’s family.