This report is in response to a request asking the Commission to address the pooling of lands and the integration of future plans for Exhibition place, Ontario Place, Fort York, HMCS York, and adjacent lands in consultation with the Ministry of Tourism and other authorities involved. It also discusses the role of of Garrison Common including its international, regional, and local roles. It also focuses on the environmental framework.
This tract of land in Niagara-on-the-Lake has witnessed an amazing cavalcade of Canadian history. For 250 years a large tract of oak savannah at the mouth of the Niagara River designated as a Military Reserve has witnessed a rich military and political history: the site of the first parliament of Upper Canada; a battleground during the War of 1812; and annual summer militia camps and the training camp for tens of thousands of men and women during the First and Second World Wars. In the midst of the Reserve stood the symbolic Indian Council House where thousands of Native allies received their annual presents and participated in treaty negotiations. From its inception, this territory was regarded by the local citizenry as common lands, their "Commons." Although portions of the perimeter have been severed for various purposes, including the Shaw Festival Theatre, today this historic place includes three National Historic Sites, playing fields, walking trails, and remnants of first-growth forest in Paradise Grove. On Common Ground chronicles the extraordinary lives and events that have made this place very special indeed.
This edited volume while focusing on participatory governance in the Great Lakes basin of North America also gives a comparative perspective of the African Great Lakes. The book describes the actions taken at degraded locations along the Great Lakes in North America through Remedial Action Plans (RAP) and other mechanisms, with an aim to highlight the successes and failures encountered in ecosystembased regenerative approaches. The book documents these experiences including the lead taken by industry in improving environmental quality of the Great Lakes. The book concludes with lessons learnt about revitalizing the ecosystem integrity of the lakes, which can be replicated in other watersheds of the world.
"Aldona Sendzikas has produced a book on one of Toronto's forgotten institutions: the New Fort, or Stanley Barracks (which stood to the west of the better-known Fort York). Aldona explores such themes as the construction of the garrison in the aftermath of the Rebellion of 1837, the place of the British army in the life of the colonial city, the founding of the North-West Mounted Police at the New Fort, the early ears of Canada's professional army, the military's extensive operations at 'Exhibition Camp' between 1914-18 and 1939-45, the interment of enemy aliens at the site during the Great War, and the destruction of most of the Stanley Barracks in the 1950's. "-Carl Benn, Ph.D., author of Historic Fort York, The Iroquois in the War of 1812, The War of 1812, and the Mohawks on the Nile. "Sendzikas takes us back to the days when Stanley Barracks was a bustling military centre, and shows us what it was like for the thousands of men and women who lived and trained there over the decades."-Jonathan F. Vance, Ph.D., professor and Canada research chair in Conflict and Culture, Department of History, University of Western Ontario.
