Taste of the Danforth is over. Now organizers and the city are grappling with how to memorialize recent tragedies

Thestar.com
August 14, 2018
Tony Wong

We won’t forget.

Community organizers of the Taste of the Danforth festival are looking for a permanent memorial to the victims of the mass shooting in July that left two dead -- 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis -- and 13 injured.

Artists Julie Ryan and Thelia Shelton have built a new structure in Humber Bay Shores Park to support the recent victims of gun violence. Recent acts of violence raise the question of how the city should permanently memorialize such tragedies.

The shooting came three months after the North York van attack on Yonge St. that killed 10 people and injured 16 more -- a tragedy that was marked with makeshift memorials at Mel Lastman Square and Olive Square Park. Two months ago, city staff dismantled those memorials, with Mayor John Tory saying the city will create a permanent one.

As the city grapples with the aftermath of these tragedies -- as well as other shootings, and pedestrian and cyclist deaths on the roads -- it also faces the question of what should be permanently memorialized and what’s the appropriate way to do so.

A makeshift memorial was placed in front of St. Barnabas Anglican Church on Danforth Ave. during last weekend’s street festival. That memorial, featuring flowers, stuffed animals, candles and other items, was set to be moved this week to the nearby Logan Green Field Parkette.

“We are moving the flowers and artifacts from in front of the church because the road needs to be opened again. But it allows us some time to find a permanent concept,” said Howard Lichtman, organizer and spokesperson for Taste of the Danforth. “The flowers, unfortunately, will fade in time and we need to find a permanent solution that has to be right.”

Whereas monuments to military exploits and acts of heroism serve to mark the events themselves, the memorial for a seemingly random act of violence serves as a symbol of a community pulling together and supporting each other after the tragedy, said Steve Joordens, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

If made permanent, it can also act as a psychological bridge between the departed and their loved ones, he said.

“It’s nice to have some sort of physical thing that we can grieve around,” Joordens said.

“Everybody who lives in that area probably, every now and then, would like to reflect on that. They probably don’t want just to pretend it didn’t happen.”

In a statement, Pat Tobin, the city’s director of arts and culture services, said there is no definitive policy for memorials of these unfortunate incidents, adding that the van attack and the Danforth shooting were “precedent-setting occurrences in the city.”

“Consultation with the local community, representative agencies, affected family members, local councillors and more would all influence the decision-making process,” he said.

Temporary memorials usually remain for 30 days before staff from transportation services remove them, following consultations with affected families and community members, Tobin said.

Cities across the world have found various ways to memorialize these types of events.

Pulse nightclub in Orlando plans to create a permanent memorial to the victims of the 2016 shooting that left 49 people dead. The site will also have a museum where artifacts and stories of the victims will be displayed, according to CNN.

Boston plans to build two memorials made of granite, bronze and glass on Boylston St., where three people were killed and 260 others injured by two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Globe.

Joordens said a statue of people holding hands would be an appropriate tribute to the #DanforthStrong messages that showed the community’s strength and social bonds in the face of tragedy.

Clare Pain, director of the psychological trauma program at Mount Sinai Hospital, said memorializing people’s names -- as long as it’s culturally appropriate -- is important. She said it’s equally vital to think of something that can bring positive change to the future of a community.

“So a memorial can be people’s names, inscribed somehow, but also scholarships for young women, or something that goes on into the future, not just something that’s static,” she said.

During Taste of the Danforth, organizers with the Greektown Business Improvement Area varnished the existing hoarding from a building under construction that had been turned into a memorial board and placed it in front of St. Barnabas, while shutting down a lane of the street.

The trick now is to find a permanent home for the memorial, which Lichtman says may or may not include the hoarding.

“We want to do the right thing. Not the rushed thing,” said Lichtman. “We have to sit down with the community and the people who were affected and make a decision. We have to be respectful to the families and we have to see what the range of opinions are out there.”

The memorial could take many forms, whether it is a work of art, a plaque or the renaming of a public area. But Lichtman said the organization has purposely not tried to generate a list until they speak to the community.

“We’re not going to make a rash decision. And a great idea can come from anywhere. We don’t have a monopoly.”

Litchman said this year’s festival -- the 25th edition, which saw visits from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mayor John Tory -- broke records with upwards of 1.64 million visitors.

“There was a mood of bitterness and sorrow but also defiance, like, we’re going to make this happen,” he said of the support the community received.