This Park is Getting Some Other Name

Hello there,

As you probably know, in March 2024, I put in an application to name a new park across from where Bloordale Beach was. This application included a proposal from me, along with this petition (which had 1042 signatures at the time), 37 comments from the petition, and 7 letters of support from community members and business owners. Thanks to everyone who signed the petition, wrote a comment on the petition, and/or submit a letter. 

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, someone from the Parks Department phoned to tell me that the park at 70 Croatia Street will not be called Bloordale Beach Park. They said that the park will instead have an Indigenous name. I asked if the Indigenous name could be Bloordale Beach Park in an Indigenous language, and they said no. I asked why this was the case, and I didn’t get an answer. I asked what the park will be called, and I again didn’t get an answer. Someone else at the City emailed to also tell me the park would have some other name, and I again asked these exact questions, and again did not get answers. 

The Parks Department explained that the park had to have an Indigenous name because they designed the park to include Indigenous features. I told them that I’d mentioned this beach idea back in January 2024, so they could have included beach features in the park, and then could have given the park a beachy name to match the beach features. This could have been fun! And funny! But fun and funny clearly were not of interest to them. Last year, after I started the petition, councillor Alejandra Bravo phoned me to say she had a commitment to Indigenous names, but she had said this didn’t mean the park definitely wouldn’t be called Bloordale Beach Park. I have a feeling she knew back then that she was intent on making her mark in this way, and she could have said back then that she had no interest in the beachy name. One of the letters of support for the Bloordale Beach Park name even included this: "As an Indigenous person and specifically an Oneida and Haudenosaunee person, decisions are always made by listening to the community–specifically the community directly around the area of significance." I thought that would have proven to be useful information for them. Anyhow, I'm very curious what they've decided on for the name and wonder how they came to the final decision. 

I'd asked if I could join in on the park's consultation and they wouldn't let me, but I know from those who had been involved in the consultation process that there were questions from the public as to whether the park could be related to the beach. There’s some of this apparent in online documents from those meetings. In a PDF from March 2024: “Q: Can we have a beach theme in homage to Bloordale beach? A: We will take this into consideration alongside all the input we received through the Thought Exchange Survey, Pop Up Events, Community Meetings, and CAC and IAC meetings." And in a PDF from February 2025 from these consultations are three comments: “It would be nice to see something that acknowledged Bloordale Beach, a unique grassroots feature that occurred organically in response to the community searching for connection and recreational space,” “Incorporate an homage to Bloordale Beach,” and “Should be related more to Bloordale Beach, which was meaningful to the community, and less related to generic Indigenous stuff.”

I’m not sure why Alejandra couldn’t have named something else with an Indigenous name. She could have named her office Asbestos Area in an Indigenous language to commemorate the time being spent renovating her office to rid it of asbestos, which they’re apparently doing right now, until May 15th.

Anyhow, the Parks Department said they’d like to discuss potentially naming something else for Bloordale Beach, like a road or something within the park. Or, maybe there’ll be a plaque. There’s still some discussion about this. Meanwhile, whoever wants to call it Bloordale Beach Park can certainly do so.

Thanks, anyhow, for supporting the idea. And please stay tuned for the release of a Bloordale Beach party, Bloordale Beach book, and an upcoming Bloordale Beach gallery show. Follow @smkasman or @bloordalebeachofficial on Instagram for updates, or you can sign up to my Substack newsletter. 

Thank you!

Shari Kasman