The City is adding a memorial to Olive Square Park to honour and remember the victims of the tragedy that took place on Yonge Street on April 23, 2018. The design will be selected through a two-stage design competition and shaped through close collaboration with families, survivors and the broader community.
The timeline is subject to change.
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The City is selecting a design team for the memorial through a two-stage process. In Stage 1, design teams submit their qualifications and up to four are shortlisted. In Stage 2, these teams create and present their designs to a jury and the community. Families, survivors and community members will have opportunities to provide feedback, which will help inform the jury’s selection of the final design team.
In this phase, the City worked with families and survivors of the tragedy on Yonge Street, along with a Community Working Group comprised of local community members closely connected to the event, to develop a vision and guiding principles for the memorial.
These outcomes will inform the development of design competition submissions.
The vision is a big-picture statement that describes the ideal future memorial and establishes a common understanding of the project’s overall goals and objectives.
The memorial at Olive Square Park will honour and remember those whose lives were lost or forever changed on April 23, 2018. It will offer a respectful place for family, friends and the wider community to reflect, express love and support one another. Rooted in remembrance, the memorial will also reflect the healing and hope that is possible when community comes together to support each other.
The guiding principles are high-level directions that reflect the community’s most important values and ideas for how the memorial and park should look and feel.
On March 30, 2026, the City met with the Community Working Group. The draft vision and guiding principles, developed from initial consultations with families and survivors, were reviewed and amended to include feedback from the Community Working Group.
The City worked with a trauma-informed engagement consultant to update families and survivors on the memorial planning process, engage them according to their preferences and gather their feedback on the draft vision and guiding principles for the park.
In this phase, the City will gather feedback from families and survivors, the Community Working Group and the broader public on the design competition submissions. This feedback will be shared with the design competition jury, who will consider it alongside other criteria when choosing a preferred design.
The community engagement activities anticipated in this phase include:
In this phase, the City will refine and share the preferred design with families and survivors, the Community Working Group and the broader public.
The community engagement activities anticipated in this phase include:
On April 23, 2018, a tragedy on Yonge Street in North York claimed the lives of 11 people and injured 15 others. In the years that followed, Olive Square Park, located near the site of the tragedy, became a natural gathering place for people to grieve, remember and express their sympathies.
Recognizing the significance of the park to the community, City Council approved Olive Square Park in April 2025 as the location for a permanent memorial to honour and remember the victims. The memorial will be developed through a design competition. Families have shared a vision for a memorial that celebrates the lives of those lost and serves as a symbol of hope, reflecting the strength and resilience of the North York community.
While the design competition was being planned, the City took steps to improve the park in the interim. In fall 2025, a new plaque and updated seating area were installed in the park, and lighting repairs were completed.
The planning process builds on initial memorial consultation carried out with survivors and families between 2019 and 2021, and is being shaped in close collaboration with families, survivors and those most affected.