Barbara Hall Park
Barbara Hall Park is a park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park was renamed to commemorate Barbara Hall in 2014. Hall was the first Mayor of Toronto to march in the Toronto Pride Parade in 1995. An AIDS memorial is installed in the park. The memorial was vandalized in 2023. A trans memorial was installed in the park in 2014.
Trans memorial
A memorial wall for transgender people is located within the park, near the Toronto AIDS memorial. It was originally created as a temporary chalk memorial by local trans women on July 10, 2014. Inspired by the recent passing of a trans community member, the memorial was envisioned as a place where trans people and their lived names could be honoured and remembered.Shortly after the installation of the trans memorial, and in preparation for the official renaming ceremony, clean-up crews removed the memorial from the wall. Toronto Centre MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam apologized for the removal, and the memorial was immediately restored. Following the official ceremony, Barbara Hall, a human rights advocate and long-time ally of trans people met with community members to pay her respects.
Since then, despite a subsequent erasure and restoration of the memorial in 2017, the park has acted as a community hub for vigils, Trans Day of Remembrance events, and a focal point for trans advocacy.