Waterfront Toronto recently removed the “north plug” completing the mouth of the Don River and allowing the river to flow freely. It marks the creation of a new island and brings the vision for the waterfront closer to realisation.
The removal of the north plug (removed in November) follows on from the removal of the “west plug” at the location where the new river meets Lake Ontario, in July 2024. Now, the north plug is being removed, which will finally reconnect the existing Don River with the new river valley we built, allowing the river to flow.
The Port Lands Flood Protection project protects existing Toronto neighbourhoods from extreme flooding and contributes to unlocking up to 240 hectares of land to build urgently needed housing and to construct the city’s largest park network in a generation. This historic achievement marks a big step in an eight-year major construction project to bring the vision for a waterfront city within a city to life.
“In 2017, all three orders of government recommitted to waterfront revitalization through equal investments in funding for Port Lands Flood Protection. This investment helps to unlock 240 hectares of public land that is a 10-minute walk from downtown Toronto. In 2025, we will begin to open the largest park system in Toronto that has opened in a generation on and around the new island. This is a significant step towards creating a waterfront city within a city on the Eastern Waterfront.”
– Mayor Olivia Chow, City of Toronto
The new island that has been created is 39.6 hectares. The longer-term vision for the island includes:
- Over 15,000 residents; over 9,000 housing units; nearly 3,000 jobs
- 20.2 hectares of parkland as part of a comprehensive 35-hectare park system
- 19.4 hectares of developable land
- Extending waterfront transit along Queens Quay East into the Port Lands
- A complete community – new island community advancing best-in-Canada sustainable development practices
Ookwemin Minising (pronounced Oh-kway-min Min-nih-sing) has recently been announced as the name of the island, which means “place of the black cherry trees” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwemowin. Members of an Indigenous Advisory Circle, including Elder Shelley Charles from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, joined Mayor Olivia Chow and Councillor Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) to unveil the new island name. Additionally, the surrounding park will be called Biidaasige Park (pronounced Bee-daw-sih-geh), meaning “sunlight shining towards us.”
“I couldn’t understand when [my father] said these are third and fourth generation trees as all the old ones were cut down. I cried as I couldn’t understand how people could cut down these tree beings. How did all those animals above and below the soil react to having the trees cut down? They went away. The muskrat and sturgeon left. People used to come to this shoreline to rejuvenate themselves and this was a corridor to all the lakes. Our footprints of our ancestors are here. When we think of this tree and how everyone wants to restore Indigenous plants, I can just imagine the conversation from other-than-human beings from land, water, air, insects, animals: it will be like seeing a long-lost friend!”
Elder Shelley Charles
Images: Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto
Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA)
Collaborators
Domingo Gonzalez Associates (Lighting Design)
Dougan and Associates (Wetland and Meadow Consultant)
Entro Communications (Wayfinding and Signage)
ERA Architects (Heritage Conservation)
ETM Associates (Operations and Maintenance)
GEI Consultants (Marine and Coastal Engineering)
Geosyntec Consultants International (River Geotechnical Engineering)
Hines (Irrigation Design)
Inter-Fluve (Ecology)
Jacobs (Geotechnical, Earthwork, and Environmental Engineering)
LimnoTech (Hydraulic Design)
LMDG (Code Consulting)
Olsson Associates (Soil Science)
Reliable Reporting (Play Code Consultant)
RJC Engineers (Structural Engineering)
Smith+Anderson (Electrical Engineering)
Vermeulens (Cost Estimating)
WSP Canada (Civil Engineering)
