What to know<\/p>\n
Dozens of activists and organizations are raising concerns that the city\u2019s redesign of Barbara Hall Park could diminish the significance of the longstanding Toronto AIDS Memorial.<\/p>\n
The \u201cEchoes\u201d proposal calls for restoring and expanding the memorial while adding new elements that reflect both the ongoing HIV\/AIDS crisis and decades of activism.<\/p>\n
Supporters argue the current city plans feel disconnected from community input and fail to meaningfully honour those lost or those still living with HIV.<\/p>\n
The City of Toronto says it is considering feedback and exploring ways to integrate elements of Echoes, while maintaining its focus on accessibility, safety, and park improvements.<\/p>\n
For people frequenting and living in Toronto\u2019s Church and Wellesley Village<\/a>, the redesign of the neighbourhood\u2019s Barbara Hall Park<\/a> has been a long time coming. But many members of the community have a concern: the future of Toronto\u2019s longstanding AIDS memorial.<\/p>\n The Toronto AIDS Memorial<\/a> had several temporary iterations in the late 1980s and early 90s. First erected in the downtown park in 1993, the current permanent memorial features cement pillars in a crescent shape towards the back of the park, each bearing plaques with the names of those who lost their lives to HIV\/AIDS. However, the first pillar bears a plaque with poems \u201cCry\u201d by Michael Lynch and \u201cCircle of Stones\u201d by Shoshanna J. Addley. These engravings honour those who died of HIV\/AIDS but remain unnamed.<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Drug use by patrons, a lack of upkeep, and various encampments in the park have drawn the ire of many residents and regulars in the predominantly 2SLGBTQ+ neighbourhood for years. As such, it\u2019s now the subject of an ongoing redesign, but not everyone is in favour of the city\u2019s new plans, which include changes to the existing memorial.<\/p>\n The Echoes proposal<\/p>\n David is the Toronto-based activist spearheading the Echoes proposal,<\/a> a reimagining of the AIDS Memorial that honours those who lost their lives to HIV, while also recognizing the historic and ongoing advocacy for awareness surrounding the disease.<\/p>\n A member of the HIV-positive community, he says that while the current memorial was powerful in the 1990s, it now fails to recognize the ongoing epidemic. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, for a lot of people, this was the first time they saw their friend\u2019s name, mourned together, or even learned someone had passed. It was a living document of the crisis,\u201d David told Queer & Now<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow, for most folks under the age of 45, they don\u2019t know any names up there,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo it\u2019s really shifted into feeling like it\u2019s a memorial to something that\u2019s over, even though we\u2019re still in the midst of this epidemic \u2013 it\u2019s just changed.\u201d<\/p>\n This is especially relevant in Canada. Despite global HIV numbers trending downwards, recent reports<\/a> show that Canadian HIV numbers are on the rise. <\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The proposal features elements including a restoration of the existing pillars, and an expansion for more names to be added. It also includes new pillars, and a pink, triangular stage as a symbol of queer strength and liberation. The project proposal explains that this honours the gay and bi men that make up over 70 per cent of AIDS deaths in Canada.<\/p>\n Various seating is featured in the design, as well as artistic elements like the Poz Art Screen, a continuous steel artwork honouring HIV-positive creators, a red pathway called the \u201cCircle of Care\u201d and two light-based installations. The Echoes proposal also features greenery, including a five-metre-deep garden serving as a buffer, providing both enclosure and acoustic protection, and leaves the existing neighbouring Trans Memorial in place, with a shared bench linking the two sites in solidarity.<\/p>\n David explained that since the city started the redevelopment of the park in 2023, people in Toronto living with HIV have been raising concerns about a lack of adequate engagement with the HIV-positive community. David shared that when consultations did take place, the feedback gathered about the memorial was not meaningfully incorporated into the redesign.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe City has effectively destroyed the memorial through neglect, tearing out the rose bushes and leaving the plaques to be covered with graffiti and scratches. Now the City\u2019s proposed design continues to reduce focus on the people we\u2019ve lost,\u201d the activist shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEchoes is about preserving the reverberations of the lives taken by the AIDS epidemic, finding new ways to amplify their memories, and echoing them outwards and into the future,\u201d he continued, calling his redesign proposal a restorative framework to enhance the park while illuminating the experiences of all people living with HIV today, while affording dignity to those who were denied it in their final moments.<\/p>\n He explained that the process of developing and producing plans for the Echoes proposal involved months of historical research, conversations with long-term survivors, and consultations with neighbourhood stakeholders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The major goal of the proposal is to combat apathy and ignorance about HIV and AIDS by creating a humanizing landmark that acknowledges the ongoing HIV\/AIDS crisis, historical and ongoing activism.<\/p>\n David shared that Echoes is already endorsed and supported by more than a dozen organizations servicing people with HIV\/AIDS, including the Canadian AIDS Society<\/a> and Pozitive Pathways Community Services<\/a>. It has also garnered support from various activists in the city, including Tim McCaskell.<\/p>\n Toronto AIDS Memorial: Community voices<\/p>\n Active in Toronto\u2019s Queer community for more than 50 years, McCaskell was diagnosed HIV positive in the 1980s and has since worked as an advocate for those living with the condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n A co-founder of AIDS ACTION NOW!, a now defunct organization that first came to life in 1988, McCaskell worked alongside other Toronto activists like Michael Lynch to also establish Toronto\u2019s first AIDS Memorial.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the memorial is a living site. It records the names of many of my friends and colleagues,\u201d McCaskell said in a statement. \u201cAs well as being the venue for the annual AIDS vigil, one only has to visit the memorial and see the flowers and mementos that are regularly left on the pillars to understand the importance of this site to those of my generation.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that he is among those who are concerned by what he calls a slow deterioration of the site in recent years. Explaining that he has studied the city\u2019s plans for revitalizing the park, calling them both half-hearted and disconnected from the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey do not live up to the memorial\u2019s potential to honour those who died, or to transmit the lessons of that historical experience to future generations,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCaskell is, however, in support of the Echoes proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cIt reimagines the memorial in a way that would both make it relevant to future generations, and preserve the community\u2019s memory of what my generation endured and our resilience in the face of a terrible moment in history.\u201d<\/p>\n Like David, McCaskell is calling on Toronto to create an AIDS memorial that \u201clives up to its potential.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is time to listen to community voices and make this site something meaningful that we can all be proud of,\u201d McCaskell continued.<\/p>\n Fellow longtime activist Anthony Mohamed adds that the current memorial holds a special place in the hearts of thousands of residents who have lost someone due to complications related to HIV\/AIDS.\u00a0<\/p>\n A fellow member of AIDS Action Now! And coming out in 1993, at the height of the AIDS Pandemic, Mohamed was an advocate for sexual orientation to be added as a protected ground to the Student Rights & Responsibilities Handbook in Toronto.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, everyone who was doing 2SLGBTIQ+ rights work, immediately started supporting and demanding care for our friends and lovers who were literally dying,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n He is also in favour of the Echoes proposal, sharing that it creates space to remember those who have died, while simultaneously recognizing decades of activism.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis re-design proposal creates a community space that honours those we have lost, the decades of community activism that led to the current successes in prevention, support and treatment options and goes beyond AIDS to others we have lost within the 2SLGBTIQ+ communities,\u201d Mohamed shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSpecifically, people who are Trans who disproportionately continue to face misunderstanding, discrimination and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n City of Toronto responds<\/p>\n