The Plaques and Markers Program invites Torontonians to apply for plaque projects, and encourages them to find in their communities the support to make those projects happen. That support includes the full cost of plaque fabrication, installation, and, where appropriate, plaque presentation ceremonies. Heritage Toronto provides expertise in historical research and the drafting of text, and coordinates plaque design, fabrication, installation and presentation ceremonies. Depending on the availability of funds, Heritage Toronto may consider financial support for approved projects by community-based groups and organizations. Heritage Toronto works to ensure that, together, we present the stories and peoples and places of our city in a manner that does justice to our past and that enriches our present.

All plaque project applications will be assessed according to set criteria and will follow set procedures. All properties on the City of Toronto’s Inventory of Heritage Properties will be considered for a plaque or marker, and applications for such plaques are reviewed by the Heritage Toronto Plaques and Markers Committee. Once installed, such plaques and markers become the property of the property owner.

Applications for proposed Commemorative or Historical Information Plaque projects must go through a more rigorous selection process that occurs twice yearly, in the spring and fall. Such plaques remain the property and maintenance responsibility of Heritage Toronto.

To download the plaque application form, please click here (PDF format).

For more information on applying for a plaque project, please contact:

Gary Miedema
Historian and Director, Plaques & Markers Program
gmiedem@toronto.ca
416-338-0681

Heritage Toronto Legacy Plaques Program

Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Legacy Project, in partnership, have launched a new program of commemorative plaques that celebrates the bygone lives that helped to build the city of today. Each plaque will mark a site where a notable artist, scientist, or thinker lived or worked.

Many cities have similar programs, such as London, Paris, New York and Barcelona. Toronto has the Cabbagetown People plaques, but this is the first city-wide initiative.

The first six plaques honour prominent poets and writers: Milton Acorn, Margaret Avison, Morley Callaghan, Robertson Davies, Gwendolyn MacEwen and E.J. Pratt. The program will continue steadily, with six to eight new plaques annually. The second series, launched in June 2011, honoured artistic director of the National Ballet Celia Franca, urban activist Jane Jacobs, photographer William James, architect E.J. Lennox, professor and communications analyst Marshall McLuhan, composer Harry Somers, artist Tom Thomson and scientist J. Tuzo Wilson.

The Partnership

The Toronto Legacy Project was established by Toronto's first Poet Laureate Dennis Lee in 2002 to celebrate Toronto's notable artists, scientists, and thinkers by weaving their names into the cityscape. Initially focused on naming or re-naming facilities, such as Oscar Peterson Place (at the Toronto Dominion Centre), Glenn Gould Place (formerly Metro Square), and George Faludy Parkette (at St. Mary's and St. Nicholas Streets), the Toronto Legacy Project is currently focusing on this new plaques program.

The Toronto Legacy Project and Heritage Toronto share a common commitment to memory - to marking, on our streets and in our public places, the names of those who have given us something worth celebrating. This new program reflects the merging of the Legacy Project's focus - individuals who have made a major contribution to the arts, science and thought - with Heritage Toronto's long-standing Plaques and Markers Program. Using criteria jointly established for this program, the Toronto Legacy Project and Heritage Toronto work closely to select candidates and plaque locations.

Selection of Candidates and Plaque Sites

To be considered, individuals must have made a major contribution to the arts, science or thought. That contribution must be recognized by members of their own calling, and must be well documented and broadly acknowledged. Candidates must also have had a strong association with the City of Toronto through birth, residence over a significant period of time, or through the connection of their work and career with the city.

Plaques must be installed on a site which has a well-documented and strong connection to the life or work of commemorated individuals.

Candidates for the plaques are put forward each year by the Legacy Project. The public is invited to submit names for consideration to both Heritage Toronto and the Legacy Project.

The Plaques

Simple and elegant, each plaque uses a few words to identify the person and place being honoured. Plaques will be installed either on the front wall of a building or on a post at the sidewalk.

The striking design was contributed by the Toronto firm, Hahn Smith. Each plaque is an oval, 30 cm by 18 cm, with bold white type on a blue background. The oval retains the shape of Heritage Toronto plaques; the blue retains the colour of Legacy Project markers at Oscar Peterson Place and other sites, while referencing the official colour of Toronto. 

For more information, please contact:

Gary Miedema
Historian and Director, Plaques & Markers Program
gmiedem@toronto.ca
416-338-0681