Don’t Fence Us In

Dignity: The memorial is visited at all hours by people grieving and remembering loved ones. A fence changes the relationship between the community and the site and restricts access for reflection. A defining public memorial must remain accessible to the public.

Responsibility: In recent years, maintenance and standards of care for the memorial have lacked consistent municipal leadership. The Councillor’s proposal to enclose the park instead of addressing stewardship obligations risks shifting attention away from the City’s responsibility to maintain the site with the sustained dignity and respect it has long deserved.

Feasibility: Fencing represents a reactive design response to broader social conditions. It would displace challenges onto adjacent sidewalks and doorsteps while embedding the memorial in enforcement and public realm disputes it did not create. Given the park’s large footprint and multiple entry points, a comprehensive fencing scheme is operationally impossible, cost prohibitive, and would create new safety pressures while restricting pedestrian flow and visitor access.

Precedent: How this memorial is treated will establish precedent. If enclosure becomes normalized here, it signals that memorials connected to marginalized communities may be managed through restriction rather than care.