Toronto has historically been the territory of the Haudensaunee, Wendat, and Anishanaabe people. The area that Downsview occupies is subject to the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the aforementioned Nations. 

1.  Bolduc, Denise, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, Rebeka Tabobondung, and Brian Wright-McLeod, eds. 2021. Indigenous Toronto : Stories That Carry This Place. First edition. Toronto: Coach House Books.

Moatfield Village and Ossuary in what is now North York, with sample text and diagram showing map of burial site from 1300-1400 CE. 

2.    ROM Cat# HD12713. Gift of Evelyn H. C. Johnson in 1922.
https://www.wampumbear.com/W_Dish%20With%20One%20Spoon%20Belt.html

Illustration of Dish with one Spoon Wampum Belt. Was appropriated by Royal Ontario Museum at some point but does not currently seem to be in their catalogue. 

3.   Simpson, Leanne. "Looking after Gdoo-naaganinaa: Precolonial Nishnaabeg Diplomatic and Treaty Relationships." 
Wicazo Sa Review 23, no. 2 (2008): 29-42. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/wic.0.0001.

Description of the nature and qualities of sovereignty and freedom present in the Dish with one Spoon treaty. 

4.    Bolduc, Denise, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, Rebeka Tabobondung, and Brian Wright-McLeod, eds. 2021. Indigenous Toronto : Stories That Carry This Place. First edition. Toronto: Coach House Books.

Description of Southern Ontario 4000-9000 years ago, with image of stone object from 4000 ago. 

5.    Nikolaas J. van der Merwe, Ronald F. Williamson, Susan Pfeiffer, Stephen Cox Thomas, Kim Oakberg Allegretto, The Moatfield ossuary: isotopic dietary analysis of an Iroquoian community, using dental tissue, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 22, Issue 3, 2003,
Pages 245-261, ISSN 0278-4165,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-4165(03)00038-2.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416503000382)

Diagram showing isotopic regions relating to archeological villages.
    

6.    Sandberg, L., Johnson, J., Gualtieri, R. & Lesage, L (2021). Re-Connecting with a Historical Site: On Narrative and the Huron-Wendat Ancestral Village at York University, Toronto, Canada. Ontario History, 113(1), 80–105. https://doi.org/10.7202/1076079ar


Arrowheads from historic Huron-Wendat village dated to around 1450 CE.

8.     Damiani, Roberto, and Adrian Piper. “Toronto 1788–1978.” Scapegoat Journal 12/13 (2020): 90–107. Accessed September 18, 2024. http://www.scapegoatjournal.org/docs/12-13/SG12-13_90_Damiani_Piper_Toronto1788-1978.pdf.

Historic drawings showing the “Toronto Purchase” & “Toronto Carrying Place” relevant, as well as analysis of how lot lines being drawn up as a rigid grid leading to land speculation (land as commodity), as well as the role of private property in the enforcement of empire. 

9. Ibid. 

Figure 6 shows a drawing of a proposal for a grid system for Toronto in 1788. 

10.    Toronto  Purchase  Treaty Boundaries (1805)
https://mncfn.ca/the-toronto-purchase-treaty-no-13-1805/

Diagram shows the Toronto Purchase Treaty along with Rouge Tract Claim (unceded land)

11.     Painting of Locust Lodge Farm, 1937 &  Section of the Tremaine Map of York County, 1860  (Boake lot highlighted). https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/lot-14-and-the-boake-family

Example of colonizers that settled one of the grid lots, and farmed there for 4 generations, until the military gradually appropriated the farmland completely in 1950.

12.   Plan of York (1815) Series 725 item 83  https://www.toronto.ca/ext/archives/s0725/s0725_it0090.jpg

Map shows the gradually developing urban center encroaching on the surrounding forest and farms. 

13., 14.     1914, Toronto Star Archive.

Anecdotes about local goings on in 1914 around the Downsview area. 

15.     Irish Settlement at Downsview, Dublin House of William Duncan. https://www.toronto.com/opinion/north-york-pioneer-william-duncans-legacy-lives-on-in-restaurant/article_60533b9a-c052-59e8-941f-a00c4932ad6e.html?

16.    Boakes Grove in Downsview Park. https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/early-irish-settlement

Post-WWII 

17.    Looking south on Keele at Diana Drive (2023 & 1955). https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/search/*/objects/images?filter=geoNeighbourhood%3ADownsview&page=2

Development of west edge of site over 68 years. 

18.    William Baker Park Canadian Forces housing, demolished 2018. City of Toronto Archive. 

19.     On Track…the Pilot’s Air Travel Guide (First Annual Edition – 1978) Downsville-Military Aerodrome .
https://rcaf.info/rcaf-stations/ontario-rcaf-stations/rcaf-station-toronto-downsview/

20.     Site Plan, Downsview, Toronto, Ontario (1956) (Source 1 Canadian Air Division) . https://rcaf.info/rcaf-stations/ontario-rcaf-stations/rcaf-station-toronto-downsview/

21.    Ad for Bathurst Manor north-west of Downsview. https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/jewish-life-in-bathurst-manor

22.     Grocery shopping at Steinberg’s in the Manor, 1968. https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/jewish-life-in-bathurst-manor

Large Jewish population moved (or emigrated) to Bathurst Manor and Downsview area in 1950s and 60s, reaching population of 9200 in 1961.

23.    Italian immigrant families arriving in Toronto’s Union Station, 1952 . https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/italians-in-downsview


24.    Italians making sauce in their garage. https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/italians-in-downsview

25.     Mastro’s Ristorante , Italian Restaurant opened in 1964. https://www.id8downsview.ca/post/italians-in-downsview

These last 4 references are representative of the importance of food to the variety of cultural and national groups that occupy the Downsview area, historically and contemporarily. 

26.    City of Toronto Archives,  Proposed metropolitan parks system - map 1.  Fonds 200, Series 726, Item 309 . 

In 1994, the Canadian Forces Base at Toronto was decomissioned, leaving an uncertain future for Downsview. Local outrage spread as a 610 civilian and 370 military jobs were lost.

27.  1994, Toronto Star Archive. Feb 23, 1994, page 13 - The Toronto Star at Newspapers.com

In 1999, the first official secondary plan for Downsview was drafted, highlighting the desire to create the largest Canadian urban park.  In the same year, Parc Downsview Park held a design competition for this park. A year later, The Office of Metropolitan Architecture, led by Rem Koolhaas and Toronto’s very own Bruce Mau, had won the proposal. However, the project would not come into it’s full fruition due to unstable support and financial concerns. These factors delayed construction for the Downsview Park we know today until the 2006s.

28.  1999, Downsview Park Competition RFI,  National Post Archive. Jul 24, 1999, page 69 - National Post at Newspapers.com

29.  Brown + Storey’s finalist proposal for Downsview Park. Downsview Park Competition (brownandstorey.com)

30.  James Corner + Stan Allen’s finalist proposal for Downsview Park. Source: Marco Polo, “Environment as Process” Canadian Architect, October, 2000.

31.   Office for Metropolitan Architecture’s winning proposal for Downsview Park. Source: Marco Polo, “Environment as Process” Canadian Architect, October, 2000.

32.  Concern over the delay of Toronto’s “Central Park”. Source: 2010, Toronto Star Archives.

33.  Public concern over Downsview Park and change in ownership. Source: 2013, Toronto Star Archives.

34.  Post-competition process. Source: 2006, Toronto Star Archives.

35.  1994, Toronto Star Archive. Feb 23, 1994, page 13 - The Toronto Star at Newspapers.com

From the 2000s, the site wasn’t wholly empty.  The site had held many large scale temporary events to fill the use of the largely abadoned site, such as the papal visit in 2002, SARSfest, Caribana, and rave festivals.



36.  1994, Toronto Star Archive. Feb 23, 1994, page 13 - The Toronto Star at Newspapers.com

37.  Radiohead concert held at Downsview, which resulted in a concert collapse. Source: Stage design in fatal Radiohead concert collapse called for parts that didn't exist, witness says | CBC News

38.  1994, Toronto Star Archive. Feb 23, 1994, page 13 - The Toronto Star at Newspapers.com

39.  1994, Toronto Star Archive. Feb 23, 1994, page 13 - The Toronto Star at Newspapers.com




In recent past, the city had recognized new potentials for the site, both infrastructurally and in terms of community building. A new GO train extension and station, as well as urban agriculture initiatives, which continues to define Downsview’s social and infrastructural landscape today.

40.  First Go train rolls into new Downsview Park station. 2017. First GO train rolls into new Downsview Park station (insidehalton.com)

41.  2009, Etobicoke Guardian. NORTH YORK: Downsview Park to be centrepiece of urban farming initiative | News | toronto.com

42.  Community public events at Downsview Park. Source: 2009, Toronto Star Archives.

Throughout the most recent years, Downsview has become a melting pot where different types of land use, culture, and mobility infrastructure collide. One can find a major train yard and TTC training facility within close proximity of institutional buildings and  and urban farms.














In the context of food security issues in the greater Toronto area, Downsview Park is home to important for-profit and non-profit urban farming organizations, such as Fresh City Farms. Some of the non-profit organizations distribute food to marginalized and food insecure neighborhoods in Toronto.

43.  Food security report in Downsview, from 2023 Who’s Hungry Report. Source: Toronto Black Farmers in Downsview fighting food insecurity by teaching locals to grow food (citynews.ca)

44. Food bank visit report from 2023 Who’s Hungry Report. Source: DB_3714-18_WhosHungry_Report_E.indd (dailybread.ca)

45.  Toronto Black Food Sovereignty Plan which addresses food insecurity, and anti-racism, primarily in the Black communities of Toronto. Source: One of a kind: The Toronto Black Food Sovereignty Plan passes in City Council — Downsview Advocate

46.  List of farms (many of which are non-profit) that sublease farmland from Fresh City. Source: Fresh City Farm at Downsview Park (freshcityfarms.com)
























In terms of demographics, Filipino and Black populations are among the top two visibile minority groups, indicating a growth in diversity throughout the past decade. Additionally, the Downsview Park Merchant’s Market is where people of various ethnicities sell and buy a diverse selection of goods and food. 

Despite the void of use caused by the decomissioning of airfield
operations at Downsview Park, local and regional flows continue to bring life into the peripheries of the seemingly barren site. 


47.  Newpaper article about the culture around self-grown food at Downsview. Source: 2022, Toronto Star Archives

48. Artist map of Little Manila at Wilson and Bathurst St. Source: Little Manila & a Filipino-Downsview Connection | Downsview Park

49.  2016 Census data on the top 10 visible minority populations in Downsview. Source: Neighbourhood Profile Data - City of Toronto

50.  Web article about Downview Park Merchants Market Source: Downsview Park Merchant's Market is Toronto's most underrated food court (blogto.com)















Given that the current Downsview site has a significant infrastructural and agricultural role in the city, does the future framework plan take into consideration both the site’s past and current uses? The framework plan does not address any notions of “land back”, nor give any ideas on improvements/expansions to the current urban agricultural systems. 

50. The guiding “principles” of the future Downsview Framework Plan, designed by KPMB and SLA.dk. Source: id8downsview.ca/_files/ugd/4ea6e4_b688d437659749c48a89da5947534b37.pdf

51.  Open space plan diagram of the future Downsview Framework plan. It is important to note that the plan proposes to cut through the existing Downsview Farmer’s market to create more connections. Source: id8downsview.ca/_files/ugd/4ea6e4_b688d437659749c48a89da5947534b37.pdf