TORONTO – A Toronto park has been renamed to honour three-year-old Elijah Marsh who wandered away from home and died on a cold winter morning three years ago.
Rajah Park, located near Bathurst Street and Highway 401, is now known as Elijah Park.
“My reaction to the park was that I was shocked that everybody had initiated it and that it was already underway and they asked for our blessing. This is first park that I took him to, so it was an amazing way and a special way to honour him … I was very happy,” Georgette Marsh, Elijah’s mother, said Tuesday evening.
Elijah walked out of his grandmother’s apartment building early on a February morning in 2015 and was found dead about six hours later in a nearby backyard.
Security camera video showed Elijah — dressed only in a shirt, diaper and winter boots — pushing his way through the building’s front doors at about 4 a.m. when temperatures had fallen to about -20 C.
The official “unveiling” of the new name and park sign happened Tuesday evening.
— With files from Kamil Karamali