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Reposted by Eric Very

Francesca Bouaoun

@francescabouaoun.bsky.social

📍 Biidaasige Park #Toronto

Trajet, by Caroline Monnet and Dean Baldwin Lew, highlights the 11,000-year-old footsteps of Indigenous ancestors that were found during the excavation of Toronto’s harbour in the early twentieth century.

The first sculpture of the Lassonde Art Trail latfoundation.org

A large circular bronze slab on a paved area by the Don River. Footprint impressions cast in the bronze cover the entire art piece.

View of the Toronto skyline at dusk viewed from Commissioners Street bridge in the new Biidaasige Park.

Sign for art piece titled Trajet.

The artwork Trajet acknowledges footprints made by indigenous ancestors that were uncovered in blue clay on the floor of Lake Ontario in 1908.
Using a sketch made before the footprints were erased by the building of a waterworks tunnel in 1908, Monnet and Baldwin Lew invited Indigenous community members to reaffirm this 11,000-year-old historical presence.
Guided in ceremony by late Elder Pauline Shirt, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Torontonians cast their prints in clay, creating a monument in real time that was later cast in bronze.
Trajet is now permanently integrated into the landscape of Biidaasige Park at the bend of the new Don River mouth. Adjacent to the water, the location allows visitors to pause and look in the direction of the lakebed where the footprints were found.
The names of all those who contributed to the making of Trajet including those who walked across the clay in 2019 are etched into the edge of the sculpture.

Caroline Monnet and Dean Baldwin Lew
Bronze, 2019
City of Toronto Public Art and Monuments Collection
Trajet was commissioned by the City of Toronto.It is the first sculpture to be installed as part of the Lassonde Art Trail (LAT). On target to launch in June 2026, LAT will be a free, open-air destination for outstanding contemporary art from around the world, featuring sculpture and programming across Blidaasige Park.

October 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

rudy.ca

@rudydotca.bsky.social

#TOhistory

Eric Very @ekvery.bsky.social · 29d

Made this map while researching my neighbourhoods early history. It's a composite of an 1797 and 1837 map, which reveals some familiar and lost routes in the west end.

More about the history here: brockton-history.ca/2025/10/18/e...

October 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Made this map while researching my neighbourhoods early history. It's a composite of an 1797 and 1837 map, which reveals some familiar and lost routes in the west end.

More about the history here: brockton-history.ca/2025/10/18/e...

October 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

The cormorants are occupying Sherborne Slip. Wonder what they are feasting on over here?

September 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

Dylan Reid

@dylanreid.bsky.social

My colleague @johnlorinc.bsky.social put me on to this book, which intrigued me because I have family history in Earlscourt, one of the most notable shacktowns. The book was full of fascinating insights that still resonate today. 🧵

Spacing @spacing.bsky.social · Sep 4

Much of Toronto's early expansion took the form of "shacktowns," where owner-built housing on small private lots provided affordable housing for workers. @dylanreid.bsky.social explores the seminal 1996 book "Unplanned Suburbs" that analyzed this phenomenon. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Reading List: Unplanned Suburbs - Spacing Toronto

We think of suburbs as places where the middle classes go to leave the city. But Richard Harris’s book Unplanned Suburbs: Toronto’s American Tragedy, 1900 to 1950 (1996) reveals that, for several deca...

spacing.ca

September 4, 2025 at 12:51 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Over 200 years ago, a handful of officers, widows, and insiders submitted handwritten petitions for land in what is now Brockton Village, Toronto.

Their words preserved in the archives show how Indigenous land became colonial property, lot by lot.

brockton-history.ca/2025/06/13/l...

Who Got the Land? Reading Land Petitions from Brockton, Toronto (1796-1812)

What did it take to get land in Brockton over 200 years ago? This post explores the original petitions submitted by the area’s first settlers, soldiers, widows, and government insiders seeking land…

brockton-history.ca

June 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Centennial Pavement. First time noticing one of these on Toronto's sidewalks

May 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

Christopher

@heychristofur.bsky.social

Great work on the British land slop!

Eric Very @ekvery.bsky.social · May 19

On this Victoria Day weekend, I’m sharing a story about land, loyalty, and colonial paper trails.

Meet Brockton’s first landowners: a sheriff, a secretary, a commander, a widow, and a father-in-law to the Chief Justice.

brockton-history.ca/2025/05/18/t...

The Sheriff, Secretary, Commander, Widow, and Father-in-Law

Brockton’s First Land Owners In the summer of 1793, John Graves Simcoe arrived in Toronto determined to establish his new capital on the remote northern shores of Lake Ontario. He brought sol…

brockton-history.ca

May 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

On this Victoria Day weekend, I’m sharing a story about land, loyalty, and colonial paper trails.

Meet Brockton’s first landowners: a sheriff, a secretary, a commander, a widow, and a father-in-law to the Chief Justice.

brockton-history.ca/2025/05/18/t...

The Sheriff, Secretary, Commander, Widow, and Father-in-Law

Brockton’s First Land Owners In the summer of 1793, John Graves Simcoe arrived in Toronto determined to establish his new capital on the remote northern shores of Lake Ontario. He brought sol…

brockton-history.ca

May 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

Shari Kasman

@smkasman.bsky.social

Jode Roberts led a fabulous Jane’s walk through Bloorcourt! He installed some new signage for the occasion.

May 3, 2025 at 6:43 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Had a great time walking around Brockton Village for @janeswalk.bsky.social. Glad the rain held off and thanks to everyone who came out!

May 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

Sean Marshall

@seanyyz.bsky.social

If you’re in the Liberty Village area tomorrow afternoon, I will be leading another walk of the neighbourhood, partnering with the local BIA.

We start at 2 PM at Liberty Village Park.

www.janeswalkfestivalto.com/friday-may-2...

taking-liberty | Jane's Walk Toronto Festival

www.janeswalkfestivalto.com

May 2, 2025 at 1:01 AM

Reposted by Eric Very

Michael Senters the Sigillite, ABD. (Yang Wen-li stan)

@mikesenters.bsky.social

More and more people are coming to realize that our man spoke TRUTH back in the day.

May 1, 2025 at 8:50 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Looks interesting. Place and memory.

School of Cities @uoftcities.bsky.social · Apr 22

TO: Experience Sam Carter-Shamai's Homecoming, Exchange + Regenerative Encounters exhibition - a collection of archives, soundscapes, photography, maps + an exploration of how we remember the places that made us and how they show up in the places we are schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/event/homeco...

April 30, 2025 at 5:10 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Change doesn't come without risk.

Looking forward to the next stretch of the Waters Edge Promenade opening

April 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

Love this! A little flower pop up by the Bellwoods Sakuras.

April 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

On September 13, 1791, days before Simcoe would leave England for Canada, the machinery of Empire was finishing breaking up Indigenous land.
Read about the summer that reshaped Ontario in my latest post:
brockton-history.ca/2025/04/21/1...

April 23, 2025 at 12:57 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

On September 13, 1791, days before Simcoe would leave England for Canada, the machinery of Empire was finishing breaking up Indigenous land.
Read about the summer that reshaped Ontario in my latest post:
brockton-history.ca/2025/04/21/1...

April 23, 2025 at 12:57 PM

Reposted by Eric Very

Jason Thorne

@jasonthorne.bsky.social

I quite like when cities retain some of the industrial heritage when redeveloping former industrial areas. This is the 300-ton Atlas Crane in the Toronto Portlands. One of the last of its kind on the Great Lakes, it’s being restored and incorporated into the new Biidaasige Park on Ookwemin Miniseng.

April 22, 2025 at 11:10 AM

Reposted by Eric Very

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

In the summer of 1791, Augustus Jones carved a line through forest and swamp. That survey turned Indigenous land into British property—and drew the edges of Brockton.

📍 Read the full story:
🔗 brockton-history.ca/2025/04/21/1...
#TorontoHistory #BrocktonVillage #1791Survey

A map showing the route of the 1791 Baseline Survey along the north shore of Lake Ontario, from near Dufferin Street in present-day Toronto to the Bay of Quinte and the return journey. Township names and dates mark key points along the survey route. Notable field notes are annotated along the shoreline path. An inset shows the layout of a “single front township,” with uniform lots and roads illustrating the imposed colonial grid.

April 22, 2025 at 12:40 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

In the summer of 1791, Augustus Jones carved a line through forest and swamp. That survey turned Indigenous land into British property—and drew the edges of Brockton.

📍 Read the full story:
🔗 brockton-history.ca/2025/04/21/1...
#TorontoHistory #BrocktonVillage #1791Survey

April 22, 2025 at 12:40 PM

Eric Very

@ekvery.bsky.social

My latest post explores Brockton's and Toronto's Indigenous past and present, through a mural recently commissioned by the Dundas West Open Air Museum by artist Philip Cote brockton-history.ca/2025/03/30/t...