Toronto’s forthcoming artificial island just got a new name

As Toronto’s waterfront rapidly evolves through the expansive Port Lands Flood Protection (PLFP) project, a new island has taken shape in the former industrial area that will one day be home to tens of thousands of residents, with space to live, work and play.

There are huge plans for what Waterfront Toronto and other stakeholders have been calling Villiers Island, which, surrounded by a rerouted Don River and new marshland, will serve as the crown jewel of the pocket’s makeover.

And while planners are at the drawing board creating detailed blueprints for the new neighbourhood, it just finally got its official name.

In a ceremony led by Mayor Olivia Chow, Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher and Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation Elder Shelley Charles on Friday afternoon, Villers Island was retitled Ookwemin Minising, meaning “place of the black cherry trees” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwemowin.

The forthcoming precinct’s primary green space also got its official moniker: Biidaasige Park, which means “sunlight shining towards us.” Both are, of course, nods to the original shepherds of the land and the area’s history.

Fletcher reflected on how the epithet was selected to “honour the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples on our waterfront,” saying in a press release that “this beautiful name is a gift given to us through the work of the Indigenous Advisory Circle. We are grateful and honoured to receive it.”

blogTO has reached out to Waterfront Toronto to comment on the significance of the name and naming process to the PLFPP overall, and also what the next steps in shaping the island community are.

In the spring, teams began working on updating preliminary designs for the area to include more housing density in response to public feedback, but there has since been some concern about the feasibility of the proposed building heights.