Rededication of the Toronto Peace Garden
Thanks to extensive lobbying of Toronto City Council by peace and interfaith groups from 2007 on, the Peace Garden was rededicated on May 18, 2016.
Traditional Aboriginal Elder Cat Crieger welcomed the audience to the original lands of the First Nations on which City Hall stands.
Presentations were made by Scott Sorli of the Nathan Phillips Square Community Advisory Committee, the Jarvis Collegiate Institute Choir, Toronto Poet Laureate Anne Michaels and the Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke.
Mayor John Tory, the Consul General of Japan Yasunori Nakayama, Hiroshima Peace Ambassador Setsuko Thurlow, Zul Kassamali, Chair of the Toronto Area Interfaith Council, Father Massey Lombardi and Phyllis Creighton of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition made moving appeals for peace. (Photographs by Michael Chambers).
Cat Crieger performing the traditional smudging ceremony.
The Consul General of Japan Yasunori Nakayama.
Toronto Poet Laureate Anne Michaels.
Mayor John Tory and Father Massey Lombardi light the flame of peace.
Setsuko Thurlow pouring water from Nagasaki into the reflecting pool as a symbol of solidarity and peace.
The audience at the May 18 rededication.
Return to the Peace Garden homepage for archival photos of the original Toronto Peace Garden.