Ottawa council approves renaming of park in memory of Mary Papatsie
Park signage to be updated using developer fees; plaque may follow
Edmond Park in Ottawa’s Vanier neighbourhood is to be renamed Mary Papatsie Park in memory of an Inuk woman who went missing in 2017, as a result of an Ottawa city council vote held Wednesday. (Image from Google Street View)
Ottawa city council has approved the renaming of a park in the Vanier neighbourhood as Mary Papatsie Park, in tribute to the Inuk woman who disappeared in 2017 and whose remains were discovered five years later.
Mary Papatsie, an Inuk woman whose remains were found in Ottawa in 2022, was buried in her home community of Pangnirtung in 2023. Ottawa city council is renaming a park in the Vanier neighbourhood in her memory. (File photo courtesy of the Papatsie family)
The motion to rename the park was carried on Wednesday during the council meeting led by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, following the community services committee’s earlier endorsement of the motion introduced by Coun. Stéphanie Plante, whose Rideau-Vanier ward includes a considerable Inuit population.
Emond Park, located at the corner of Emond Street and Deschamps Avenue, will now bear the name Mary Papatsie Park to honour not only Papatsie’s life and tragic death but also to recognize the Inuit community in Vanier and the broader issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The cost to replace park signs will be paid using money the city collects from developers who choose to give cash instead of land when building new projects.
That money is set aside specifically to improve parks in the area, so the sign replacement won’t come from the city’s general budget.
Any future expenses for installing a commemorative plaque are expected to be funded externally or through the councillor’s office, the motion said.
The plaque, if installed, will also acknowledge that the land is on unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory, respecting the wishes of the city’s Anishinabe Algonquin Nation Consultative Culture Circle, which supports the renaming.
On Sept. 23, the community services committee also discussed ensuring park signage is displayed in English, French, and Inuktitut, following the example of Ottawa’s Annie Pootoogook Park in Sandy Hill.
Plante noted that while discussions about erecting a statue or additional memorial elements have not yet begun, the Inuit community may pursue further ways to recognize MMIWG.
Interesting how nothing in Nunavut gets named after these women (this is the second Ottawa park named after a deceased Inuit female). It’s almost like Ottawa is oblivious to the complexity of the lives of who they elevate as aboriginal role models.
It would have been much more appropriate to name this park, and others, after an indigenous person who serves or served as a positive role model for young people of all backgrounds because of their positive accomplishments.
exactly!!
As an urban Indigenous Inuk woman and a mother, I think it brings awareness about MMIWG2S that affect our people and loved ones in urban settings.
It encourages more awareness and a reminder for our societies to be more diligent. It’s very much part of Canada’s history and present issues, that we as indigenous women fear even for our children and generations to come if it doesn’t improve.