Friday

Toronto is now honouring "artists, thinkers and scientists".

Plaques Mark Toronto's Heritage Heroes - Torontoist

See the EARLIER POST on the British Humanist Association Humanist Heritage blue plaque program for comparison.

While London has blue plaques and New York City has bronze plaques and medallions, Paris has thousands of plaques mounted throughout that city paying homage to citizens who died in its defense during the Second World War. Cities the world over honour distinguished citizens and the places they lived — or, in the case of Paris, where they died — with a variety of heritage programs.

So how does Toronto recognize citizens who made a significant  contribution to the character of this city, and mark the location where  they domiciled? Until recently, it was through an ingenuously named heritage program known as Cabbagetown People. Since 2002, Cabbagetown People has honoured a slew of Heritage Heroes [PDF] (their terminology), commemorating the likes of author Morley Callaghan and world-famous magician  Doug Henning. Though well-intentioned, this heritage program lacked  scope, recognizing only those Heritage Heroes who had resided in the  Cabbagetown neighbourhood.

Like other metropolitan centres, Toronto was in need of a citywide  commemorative plaques program. Earlier this year, that's finally what it  got.In March, Mayor David Miller, along with Toronto’s first poet laureate Dennis Lee, and representatives from Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Legacy Project launched the Heritage Toronto Legacy Plaques Program. The citywide heritage program  recognizes Toronto’s artists, thinkers, and scientists by identifying  their homes or other significant locations in their lives.

NOTE:
Humanists may wish to RECOMMEND candidates or to recognize humanist luminaries in a similar program.  Ideas welcome.

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