Sunrise Ceremony for the opening of Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area with birding afterwards

Hosting Club: Toronto
Category: Urban Walk
Location (Google Maps): Marie Curtis Park by the washrooms. If coming by TTC, take bus 337 from Bloor St W at Islington Ave West side at 4:39 to Lake Shore Blvd. Change to any Westbound Streetcar to Long Branch Loop. Walk 10 minutes to our meeting spot.

Hike Leader(s): Andrew Proczek Click here to contact Hike Leader(s)

Pace: Leisurely (2-3 km/hr)
Terrain: Flat, Level 1 (Easy - mostly on flat, well maintained trails with hard-packed surface)
Distance (km): 5-6 km

Description

Please join me for the opening of the long awaited Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area (10 years in the making). This will be an indigenous led ceremony to honour Grandfather Sun and open the conversation area by the Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters, starting at 6 am. The ceremony will be held in the Indigenous Teaching Amphitheater.

Ceremony Schedule

5:30-6:00 am - Guests arrive and light refreshments (coffee/tea/pastries).
6:00-6:15 am - Raiden Levesque of Credit Valley Conservation will open the ceremony in a good way and conduct a pipe ceremony.
6:15-6:45 am - Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters Drummers.
6:45-7:00 am - Story telling and closing out ceremony.

The Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area is a newly built 26-hectare greenspace that transforms a degraded section of eastern Mississauga’s Lake Ontario shoreline. Located west of Marie Curtis Park, the site restores natural functions while reconnecting people and wildlife back to nature. This new greenspace will allow lakefront access unimpeded from Marie Curtis Park in Etobicoke all the way to Lakefront Promenade Park in Mississauga.

We will be joined by expert birder, Peter Sproule, who has guided us in back to back years at Colonel Samuel Smith Park to the Arsenal lands. Starting at 7 am we will bird and hike on the new Jim Tovey Lakeview Trails as well as on the Arsenal Lands, Marie Curtis and Etobicoke Creek trails.

Free parking available at Marie Curtis Park, however, the washrooms will not open until 9 am. We will make a nature stop in the woods before arriving at the Opening Ceremony.

For the future, Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area has no road access or parking lot. The closest parking area is the large west parking lot at Marie Curtis Park. For our hike on Saturday, we are meeting on the east side of Etobicoke Creek by the washrooms.

https://cvc.ca/discover-our-parks/jim-tovey-lakeview-conservation-area/#faq