A temporary memorial for victims of the Danforth Avenue mass shooting in Toronto was taken down on Thursday.
Mayor John Tory, along with city councillors and community members, were on hand for the closure of the makeshift memorial at Logan Green Field Parkette.
“Seeing the outpouring of love by the community and everybody, for the two girls and the families, it’s very emotional today to actually decommission this,” Coun. Paula Fletcher said.
“The families have been offered anything that they might like. Today, I actually found cards there that have been overlooked, that were meant for the families. They’ll get those.”
A number of memorial sites were created following the mass shooting on July 22 that left two dead and 13 others injured.
The memorials were moved and centralized earlier this month to an area in front of St. Barnabas Anglican Church during the Taste of the Danforth street festival, but were relocated to Logan Green Field Parkette following the event.
“I found that very hard to load them onto the wheel barrel, particularly the stuffed animals and the flowers that were such an outpouring of love and affection by this community and from people across the city,” Fletcher said.
City officials said the large particle boards will be stored by the parks department, while some of the stuffed animals and memorabilia will be kept in the permanent archives.
Some of the flowers that were able to be saved will be planted in the indoor garden at the East York Civic Centre.
According to city officials, temporary memorials usually remain for 30 days before they are removed.
A permanent memorial will be erected in the future following consultations with the victims’ families and community members.
“It’ll be a process that will not be a rushed process where we are going to include members of the community, members from the BIA, the city will be involved in that,” Coun. Mary Fragedakis said.
“I would really, really want to make sure that the families of the victims were consulted to see if they want any kind of permanent memorial because I think that that’s really critical to make sure they are supportive of such a thing.”
VIDEO: Musician sings “Hallelujah” to honour shooting victims at Taste of the Danforth