After helping bring Toronto’s massive new river valley into existence, Don Forbes choked up Friday during his first paddle through the lush, green surroundings 鈥 the result of human effort and ingenuity completed by the magic of Mother Nature.
“It’s remarkable how it’s all taken,” the Waterfront 海角社区官网project manager said of the maturing plants and trees on the shores of the river valley created during the restoration of the mouth of the Don River over the past seven years.
“Sorry, I’m a little awestruck.”
Forbes joined the Star for a canoe tour as barriers came down on Commissioners Street and residents were welcomed into some sections of Biidaasige (pronounced “Bee-daw-sih-geh”) Park. Slightly larger than Trinity Bellwoods Park, it officially opens Saturday along with the听restored mouth of the Don River听辞苍听Toronto’s eastern waterfront.听
After decades of advocacy, political meandering and construction, Biidaasige Park and the newly regenerated mouth of the Don River are open to the public to enjoy, and the Star was among the first authorized members of the public. With paddling help from Tom Thwaits with "Big Canoe Project."
What now looks like a natural waterway was, early last year, a dry, freshly dug channel through the Port Lands . A legion of planners, engineers, wetland specialists and more have transformed a mostly derelict and dusty industrial wasteland into a “renaturalized” river and surrounding parkland for paddlers, hikers, cyclists and adventurous kids.听
“I’m really happy with what we’ve done,” Forbes said after our canoe passed nesting swans and their cygnets, and a duck family crossed the river ahead. “Seeing it now, in this finished form, makes the trials and tribulations, late nights, early mornings worthwhile.”
Friday’s milestone was marked by an Indigenous water ceremony under sunny skies at the foot of the water on River Bending Landing hosted by Val King,听Indigenous Elder and Knowledge Keeper. It was followed by speeches from project managers and dignitaries from all three levels of government, including Mayor Olivia Chow who later kayaked away down the Don’s river valley.
The $1.4-billion project has already brought wildlife back to an area that was heavily polluted by years of industry.
Steve Russell 海角社区官网StarWhile Torontonians are finally getting access to the first opened sections now, wildlife couldn’t wait. As soon as plants carefully placed in the riverbed and shore took root, and Lake Ontario water flowed in, construction crews started seeing birds such as bald eagles, rabbits, otters and various fish species. A crew recently saw an eagle swoop down and snatch a pike out of the river.
Beavers intent on damming the freshly opened waterway were gently relocated.听
It took听decades of citizen advocacy and political meandering听to finally听trigger construction of the massive flood protection project.听Costing about $1.4 billion, it’s funded by the city, the province and the federal government, which are all partners in Waterfront Toronto, the agency overseeing the project.听
A decades-long dream to restore the Don River to its original natural route through the Port
Jennifer Bonnell, a York University history professor and author of the book “Reclaiming the Don,” which traces the river’s history from natural wonder to polluted, junk-filled mess, and the work of activists who pushed to restore it, is delighted with the results.听
“To see the level of thought, care and effort put into this constructed landscape, which is first and foremost for flood protection and residential development 鈥 what they’ve been able to do for wildlife and for people’s enjoyment of this space far surpassed my expectations,” she said in an interview.听
听(meaning听“sunlight shining toward us” in Anishinaabemowin) Park covers more than 40 acres on an island carved out in the Port Lands. Most of the park will be open to the public, with the parts of it closer to the harbour听opening next year.听
A ‘carrying place’ to the north
The 38-kilometre Don River was carved thousands of years ago by glacial retreat. It flows from the Oak Ridges Moraine near Richmond Hill into Lake Ontario.
The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation are the descendants of the River Credit Mississauga and Ojibwe Nation, and 鈥渙ur ancestors occupied, controlled and exercised stewardship over 3.9 million acres of lands, waters, and resources here in southern Ontario,鈥 said Chief Claire Sault on Friday.
An Indigenous water ceremony opened the new portion of the Don River on Friday.
Steve Russell 海角社区官网StarThe Mississaugas, the Seneca and Haudenosaunee people canoed, hunted and fished the river they called Wonscotanach, using it as a secondary 鈥渃arrying-place鈥 route to lakes to the north.
Early settlers also boated the Don through its two mouths that once emptied into Ashbridges Bay marsh.听
海角社区官网Mayor Olivia Chow paddles in the newly opened section of the Don River on Friday.
Steve Russell 海角社区官网StarBut by the early 1900s, a federal-municipal agency had turned听one of the largest wetlands in Eastern Canada into an industrial tank farm, now obsolete but known as the Port Lands.
Bonnell said the “hotbed for wildlife,” an ideal hunting spot for waterfowl, shorebirds and salmon, became听polluted habitat, forcing animals to flee. The Don’s mouth was rerouted into the straight, cement-lined Keating Channel near the Don Valley Parkway.
A ‘reawakening’ of the Don
For many Indigenous Peoples, nature is not a separate entity but an extension of their family and community, a source of well-being and a sacred entity.
With animals like otters, eagles and swans returning 鈥 among newly planted 5,000 trees, 77,000 shrubs and two million perennials 鈥 Sault said she felt “joy” and a “reawakening” on Friday because the park鈥檚 restored landscape holds stories and memories for her community.
The Star had exclusive access to watch a major milestone in the reclamation of the Don River
Indigenous elders named the new island that the Don’s river valley carved out (briefly known as Villiers) as Ookwemin (“Oh-kwhe-min”) Minising meaning “place of the black cherry trees” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwemowin.听The name, referencing trees once natural to the marshland, speaks to a hopeful future for the dozens of saplings planted last year.
鈥淚t brings me great pride to know our presence, Mississaugas of the Credit and other Ojibwe nations, is resurging rapidly in the past 10 years in our treaty homelands,鈥 Sault said.
An area in transformation
Ookwemin Minising is still a work in progress, which means there is听still construction taking place.
Biidaasige Park’s western portion, including Canoe Cove and a waterside promenade with a view of the harbour, 海角社区官网islands and the city skyline, is expected to open in 2026.
Paddlers on the new section of the Don River on Friday.
Steve Russell 海角社区官网StarGreenspace to the north is scheduled to open in 2028, and will include recreational amenities, a lookout and another water access point.
The Keating Channel and the Don River north of it are closed to paddlers until next year.
To the northeast of the island is another feature that鈥檚 yet to be designed and funded: Villiers Park.听
鈥淭hat is something that is intended to be funded through development charges,鈥 on future buildings, said Chris Glaisek, Waterfront Toronto’s chief planning and design officer. 鈥淪ince there’s been no development, there are no development charge monies that have come in for that park yet.鈥
A new name’s been chosen for an emerging neighbourhood on Toronto鈥檚 waterfront. Here鈥檚 what it means
On Friday, Indigenous elders announced the new name they’re proposing for Villiers Island as
Thousands of homes in condo and apartment听towers are expected to rise on the emerging island neighbourhood.
“Imagine what it’s going to look like in five, 10, 20 years when the trees that we’ve planted really mature,” said Forbes as our paddle concluded. “This new natural system that we’ve created is going to evolve a lot over time.
“It’s a world class destination, unique, no other place compares to it.”
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