Residents invited to celebrate Biidaasige Park expansion this weekend

Toronto’s Biidaasige Park in the Port Lands will celebrate its expansion this week, revealing new public art, gathering spaces, and additional waterfront parkland

Biidaasige (meaning “sunlight shining towards us” in Anishinaabemowin) is one of Toronto’s largest parks. It will offer visitors views of the Toronto skyline, playable structures and sculptures, including a climbable owl, and opportunities to observe more than 100 bird species, as well as small mammals and native fish.

The park’s unique urban ecosystem was created through Waterfront Toronto’s $1.4 billion Port Lands Flood Protection Project, a partnership between of the City of Toronto and the provincial and federal governments, to renaturalize the mouth of the Don River as if flows into Lake Ontario.

The area has deep Indigenous roots, as a place for fishing, gathering, teaching and celebrating for many communities, including the Petun, Wendat, the Haudenosaunee and the Anishnabeg. However, industrialization in the late 1800s dramatically altered the landscape, and the Keating Channel, which was completed in 1912, forced pollutants into the harbour, destroying the natural wetland that had been part of the area.

The Flood Protections Project rerouted the river, excavated a new valley and reworked the industrial land located on the island of Ookwemin Minising, meaning “place of black cherry trees.” The park’s creation and naming was facilitated by an Indigenous Advisory Circle.

With the expansion, Biidaasige Park will grow to 60 acres, with an additional 10 acres along the northwest harbourside.

Residents will be able to celebrate the new expansion starting on Saturday, July 25, and continuing on Sunday, July 26, with a number of free activities and interactive experiences from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

Biidaasige Park is located on 51 Commissioners St.

For more information on the park and its history, please visit https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-recreation/places-spaces/beaches-gardens-attractions/biidaasige-park/