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| Discovery Walk |
A new 1.6-acre public park celebrating indigenous
culture is planned for downtown Toronto. Dr. Lillian McGregor Park, which will
be located along Wellesley Street between Bay and Yonge, is being designed by
the award-winning architecture, landscape and urban design firm DTAH, with
Metis artist Kenneth Lavallee to create the park’s public art component.
Two major streets run parallel
to the site. Bay Street, located west of the park is a transit corridor with
high density development. Yonge Street, which is located east of the park is
Toronto’s main street. It is one of Toronto’s most prominent retail corridors,
and contains Toronto’s most heavily travelled subway corridor.
The park includes a central gathering space, a
continuous bench that runs along one path, a “discovery walk”, an off-leash dog
park, a sloping lawn, tree groves, and a plaza with seating areas. The central
gathering place will have a medicine wheel embedded at its centre. Four crane
sculptures will also be placed in the park.
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| Park Overview Design |
The Indigenous theme is carried through
several features across the park, aided by the designs of Lavallee. First, the
central gathering place is proposed to have a medicine wheel embedded at its
centre, while four crane sculptures positioned around the space at the four
cardinal points will reflect the meaning of each quadrant of the wheel. Lillian
McGregor was part of the crane clan within her tribe, and so the sculptures are
meant as a tribute to her.
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| Wellesley Plaza |
As well as the central gathering space, the
canopy at the Wellesley Plaza features a feather-shaped cutout, creating
interesting shadow patterns on the ground. The rocky outcrop and forested areas
evoke the natural wilderness of northern Ontario, from which McGregor
originates, and the reed screens throughout the park are in line with this
theme.
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| Overhead view |
According to Urban Toronto, “One
of the main criticisms of the proposed design [by the Toronto Design Review
panel] revolved around the fact that the park is built over a parking garage
which will require maintenance when its waterproofing reaches the end of its
40-year lifespan—meaning that at some point in the future, the park will need
to be completely ripped out and rebuilt. Panel members urged designers and the
City to consider what happens after the park is torn up, given that many people
in the neighbourhood will have become accustomed to it or will even have moved
there because of it. They urged designers to consider the future issues this
raises: will the park be reinstated as is, or will it be redesigned, or will
certain features be designed to be dismantled and reinstalled after work is
finished?”
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| Park Features |
McGregor was a long-time community leader who had
promoted Indigenous culture and education. Dr.
McGregor (1924-2012) was a nurse and community leader, acknowledged for her
work in promoting Indigenous culture and education. She received numerous
awards and recognitions throughout her lifetime, including being the first
Indigenous woman to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of
Toronto, and acted as the University's first ever Elder In Residence. McGregor
hailed from Whitefish River First Nation, located near Manitoulin Island in
Northern Ontario.
