Accessible Parks

Luke Anderson

Dufferin Grove Park accessibility

Accessibility inventory and talk by Luke Anderson at Dufferin Grove Park, 2018

Until 2009, the central north-south route through the park was a rutted dirt path (as the branch of the path leading off to the east still is). Yvonne, a wheelchair-bound park friend who lived half a block north on Gladstone, found that she couldn’t get into the park most days because the bumpy path rattled her wheelchair so badly that it was painful for her. So she stayed just outside, on the sidewalk, looking at the trees from a distance.

A search in the Toronto archives turned up the information that a deputation had asked the Parks Department the first time in 1925 to pave the path. But the city never found the money, until Gladstone Avenue was extended right through the park (when?). There are still people around who remember cars joyriding through the park on Gladstone, with kids jumping out of the way in both directions.

In 1973, the pavement was removed and the path reverted to dirt. read more