Recognition, Restoration, and Expansion of The AIDS Memorial (Toronto) - by Mayor Olivia Chow, seconded by Councillor Jamaal Myers

The memorial is located in Ward 13, but its meaning is not limited to one ward. It is a civic memorial of national significance. There are people living with HIV, and people who have died of AIDS, in every ward of this city. The memorial holds grief, history, activism, and memory from across Toronto, Ontario, and Canada. More than 21,000 Canadians have died of AIDS-related illness, and more than 65,000 people in Canada are currently living with HIV. The impact of HIV/AIDS has been borne especially by communities already facing stigma, exclusion, and institutional neglect, including gay and bisexual men, trans people, African, Caribbean and Black communities, Indigenous communities, sex workers, people who use drugs, incarcerated people, newcomers, and migrants. For many people who died of AIDS, public naming was an essential act of dignity. In periods when many were denied recognition by families, institutions, and governments, chosen family and community carried the work of remembrance. The AIDS Memorial made that grief visible. As the City of Toronto advances the Barbara Hall Park Improvements project, The AIDS Memorial must be treated as a defining civic and historical feature of the site. Community members living with HIV, people who lost loved ones to AIDS, and HIV/AIDS organizations have identified the need to restore the existing memorial, strengthen its dignity and legibility, expand its capacity, and ensure that its history is understood by future generations. The AIDS Memorial Project's Echoes proposal responds to that need. Echoes is a community-led restorative framework for The AIDS Memorial that combines restoration, spatial definition, interpretation, public art, gathering space, and a renewed memorial landscape. Echoes has received unusually broad community support, including endorsement from over 45 provincial and national HIV/AIDS organizations, four local trans-led organizations, and the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association. City Council should recognize The AIDS Memorial (Toronto) as a civic memorial of national significance and endorse Echoes as the principal framework for its restoration and expansion. Reason for Urgency: Substantive work to develop the final concept plan for the Barbara Hall Park Improvements project will be complete before the next meeting of City Council.

3. City Council acknowledge the broad community consensus behind The AIDS Memorial Project's Echoes proposal, including endorsement from over 45 provincial and national HIV/AIDS organizations, four local trans-led organizations, and the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association, and endorse Echoes as the principal framework for the restoration, expansion, interpretation, and long-term civic recognition of The AIDS Memorial (Toronto). 4. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks and Recreation, in consultation with The AIDS Memorial Project, people living with HIV, people who lost loved ones to AIDS, HIV/AIDS service organizations, and relevant City divisions, to continue moving forward with the integration of the Echoes proposal into the final design for The AIDS Memorial (Toronto), including its core components. 5. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks and Recreation, to ensure that the interpretive, storytelling, and name-recovery components, including opportunities for digital storytelling, associated with the Echoes proposal for The AIDS Memorial (Toronto) are developed through community-led processes, with the City supporting the participation of people living with HIV, especially those from communities most affected by HIV/AIDS.