Toronto AIDS Memorial

The Toronto AIDS Memorial opened on 26 June 1993 in Cawthra Square Park, immediately south of the 519 Community Centre and at the heart of the Church-Wellesley Village. It is the largest AIDS memorial in Canada and one of the largest of its type anywhere in North America. The memorial's design is Michael Balser's. Fourteen curved concrete plinths — arranged in an open S-curve — carry inscribed plates with the names of Toronto-area residents lost to AIDS. The plates are added annually on the last Sunday of June, at a ceremony that is the Church-Wellesley Village's most significant annual gathering. The current inscription count exceeds 3,000 names; the first plate was inscribed on the 1993 opening with 74 names. The memorial has additional programming beyond the annual name-adding: a permanent flame at the memorial's eastern end, lit each 1 December (World AIDS Day); a monthly candle-lighting on the first of every month; and a permanent notice-board that displays donor plaques and interpretive material about the epidemic's Toronto history. Cawthra Square Park is a small green (0.5 acres) with benches, mature trees and a small children's play structure at its far end; the memorial occupies the park's northern half. It is entirely public land, unfenced, and open 24 hours. Wellesley subway is a three-minute walk. Combine with the 519 Community Centre next door (see separate entry) and the Alexander Wood statue at the Village's southern gateway.