Art and shoes along Queens Park

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Art and shoes along Queens Park

Queen's Park is the seat of government for the Province of Ontario and the name of the road that passes beyond and around the legislature building. Steeped in historical significance, the site includes a war memorial and a statue of a guy on a horse as well as a fence around the entrance so you can't get in. Placed along the 'keep you out of the house' fence are a lot of shoes representing the lives lost in Canada's residential schools. The sad spectacle of children's shoes lined up several feet wide laid at the foot of the building where the politicians lead Ontario is doubly disturbing with the recent discoveries of old, unmarked cemeteries around the country and the reality of what Canada did to the indigenous populations.

The shoes are a memorial to the memory of the children, unlike the other memorial at the north end of the park dedicated to war and those that died in battle, including those that served in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. We need to make a permanent memory at Queen's Park for the children as well.

The war memorial monument erected by the 48th Highlanders, built in 1923

Afghanistan was added to the monument and now even that war has ended

In the centre of the park is the statue of a former king, originally installed in India in 1922 where King Edward VII made the journey as Emperor of India. When Indian independence occurred they removed many of the colonial monuments, including this one which was later sold to a Canadian and assembled in Queen's Park in 1969. The crumbling base of the statue was recently reconstructed which has much improved the looks of the installation.

I remember a time when U of T's engineering students dressed in yellow and sometimes coloured purple flock to the park and kiss the statue as part of frosh week.

King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions.

At Queens Park and College Street you can find the Notre Place monument to Franco-Ontarians, installed in 2018. Notre place means our home and features a series of shiny columns with painted sections.