Listening to water stories at Biidaasige Park

I am a sound and visual artist and a postdoctoral research fellow at Simon Fraser University with the Sonic Research Studio (though I am based in and conducting research primarily in Toronto). I was also born and raised in Toronto and have always been fascinated with the city's watershed and major waterways such as the Don River. My proposed Jane's Walk will take place in the newly opened Biidaasige Park and will tend to the water histories of the site. Taking a journey through history we will think collectively about the movements of water that made this park what it is today: beginning with the Ice Age sitting a kilometre under the Laurentide Glacier, then as the prehistoric proglacial Lake Iroquois, then as the Ashbridges Marsh, then infilled industrial site (Port Lands) to today's revitalized and meandering Don River mouth. I will share some stories of Toronto's historical relation to the Don River's mouth (for example the straightening of the Don through the 1886 Don Improvement project and the river's diversion via the Keating Channel) to unpack the city's complicated relation to its rivers and waterfront (and share some archival photos from Toronto Public Library). Weaving together these stories of Toronto's history I will also invite walk participants to engage in a series of 3 deep listening exercises (inspired by Pauline Oliveros' deep listening prompts like her 1971 instruction piece: "Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears") to collectively attune to water histories not just through our visual perceptions of the site but also though listening and hearing.

The walk will be between 45mins and 1 hour and will begin at Commissioner Street Bridge where we will look north to the Don River and discuss the many changes to this landscape over the past 150+ years. We will then walk along Commissioner's Street to enter into Biidaasige Park, near Raccoon Terrace, where we will follow the gravel trail that meanders along the new river mouth. Our walk will end on Cherry Street Bridge overlooking the revitalized park, city skyline and Lake Ontario. Through the walk we will stop at (for example) the canoe launch and fishing areas along the gravel trail to discuss the many lives of this site and its relation to water (as Laurentide Glacier, Lake Iroquois, Ashbridges Marsh, Port Lands and now Biidaasige Park). I will also share some stories about the revitalization project and its connection to water and deep time stories -- like for example the unearthing of 100 year old seeds during construction that sprung to life after being covered by infield dirt and debris and were gather and replanted in the park. The composition of this walk will be informed by my own work as a artist and researcher having written, recorded and edited a geolocated soundwalk through the park hosted by echoes.xyz, more info on that walk can be found on my website: https://trevalegassie.ca/mouth-speaks

Walk Start Location:

Commissioners Street Bridge, 150 Commissioners St. Port Lands, Toronto.

Walk End Location:

Cherry Street South Bridge, 242 Cherry St. Lower Don Lands, Toronto.