Redefining the Waterfront: Biidaasige Park expansion leaves gaps

Parul Gupta –

This summer, Toronto has a new way to experience its east­ern waterfront.

At the western edge of Ook­wemin Minising, the city’s new island in the Port Lands, a four-hectare western expansion of Biidaasige Park has opened. The new section features the restored 300-ton Atlas Crane, Canoe Cove, the Lassonde Art Trail and new waterfront paths.

This carefully designed public park is the result of a much larg­er transformation: a $1.4-billion effort to reshape the mouth of the Don River, protect the east­ern waterfront from flooding and restore natural habitats on land that Toronto spent more than a century industrializing.

Ashbridges Bay, once a ma­jor freshwater marsh, fishing ground and important gathering place for Indigenous peoples, was gradually filled to make way for factories, railways and shipping. The Don River was straightened, and its mouth re­directed toward the Keating Channel, fundamentally chang­ing the landscape and its rela­tionship with Lake Ontario.

With the park’s new expan­sion, that relationship is being reimagined. The Port Lands Flood Protection project cre­ated a new kilometre-long riv­er channel that reconnects the Don River to Lake Ontario and helped form Ookwemin Minis­ing. The project protects 174 hectares of land from flooding while creating the foundation for a new waterfront communi­ty.

Biidaasige Park brings togeth­er naturalized landscapes, pub­lic space, art and recreation. Its shoreline offers places to walk and launch non-motorized wa­tercraft. Its trails and gathering spaces have turned the once-in­dustrial land into a place to spend the day.

Its ecological restoration is equally significant. The park and its new greenspaces feature more than 5,000 trees, 77,000 shrubs and two million herba­ceous plants – an effort to re­store the natural landscape of the Port Lands, including wet­lands, aquatic habitat and native plant communities.

But perhaps the most mean­ingful change is less visible.

The island was officially named Ookwemin Minising, meaning “place of the black cherry trees.” The surrounding park was named Biidaasige, meaning “sunlight shining to­wards us,” following a years-long process involving an Indig­enous Advisory Circle.

The names reflect the ecology and history of the land, while Indigenous design and place­keeping have also been incorpo­rated into the park and broader planning of the island. Together, these efforts recognize Indige­nous histories, knowledge and continuing connections to the land.

For Franca Leeson, president of the Canary District Neigh­bourhood Association, that his­tory of reclamation matters.

“We live on formerly pollut­ed industrial lands; it’s part of our history,” she says. “Canary District could not become a residential neighbourhood un­til methods were developed to make our ground safe. We see a kinship with Ookwemin Minis­ing in this respect.”

“Biidaasige Park has the po­tential to be a jewel in Toronto’s crown and an incredible tour­ist attraction,” she says. “The key is ensuring that people can reach it safely.”

Leeson says residents have embraced the new park, but reaching it from the surround­ing neighbourhoods is not as straightforward as maps sug­gest. The Cherry Street rail un­derpass can feel cramped, while the Lake Shore Boulevard East crossing remains difficult for pedestrians and cyclists.

A pedestrian and cycling bridge across the Lower Don River had been part of earlier plans associated with the On­tario Line’s East Harbour Tran­sit Hub. Metrolinx described a dedicated multi-use bridge as part of the project in 2021, while by 2024 it noted a potential pe­destrian/cycling bridge and out­lined other ways to reach the East Harbour Station. But the bridge is not part of the current East Harbour construction con­tract.

For Leeson, the issue is wheth­er the neighbourhoods around the park can connect to it easily without relying on cars.

The city’s updated 2026 plan anticipates approximately 12,000 homes and 21,000 peo­ple on Ookwemin Minising over the next 25 years, along with jobs and new community infra­structure. Communities already living nearby are concerned about limited infrastructure as the neighbourhood grows. The plan includes a community rec­reation centre, neighbourhood library, community space, an elementary school, childcare fa­cilities and a fire station.

“If people start moving into the new neighbourhood before infrastructure is in place, traffic is going to be a serious issue,” Leeson says.

“The increased foot traffic hasn’t made much of a differ­ence for the shopkeepers in the area,” she says. “We hope that will change once more housing is built in the Port Lands and Quayside and the East Bayfront LRT is up and running.”

The East Bayfront transit con­nection is now moving forward as part of the broader Water­front East Transit project.

Toronto has spent more than a decade reshaping the Don River, transforming a piece of waterfront once defined by in­dustry and environmental dam­age. The park that has emerged is a glimpse of what the eastern waterfront could become when flood protection, ecological res­toration, Indigenous placekeep­ing, art and public space are considered together.

But can the city make it feel truly connected to the neigh­bourhood around it?