“You represent the city I love. All of us with our different backgrounds and cultures live together in relative peace and social justice... Without social justice there can be no peace.” ~ Justin Trudeau.

Pictured Above (left). Toronto Mayor for Peace David Miller and Justin Trudeau sign 36-foot Peace Day Canada Banner just minutes before the 25th Anniversary of the Toronto Peace Garden.

Toronto Peace Garden
Nathan Phillips Square
100 Queen St. W. Toronto City Hall

Toronto Peace Garden is “a lasting physical expression of our highest aspirations in our most public place… In symbolizing peace and a love for mankind, it will represent our continuing struggle to avoid the devastation of war.”

The Peace Garden represents the desire of the people of Toronto for peace among the nations and people of the world. The structure in the garden symbolizes shelter and community, and with its incomplete roof, the vulnerability of our efforts to achieve peace. The eternal flame for Hiroshima is our hope; the water represents our faith in the renewal of life. The Peace Garden measures 1800 square feet (or 600 square metres). It cost $540,000 to build in 1984.

December 12, 1983
Toronto City Council approves the building of the Peace Garden on Nathan Phillips Square to commemorate the City’s 150th anniversary.

March 5th, 1984
Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau turned the first sod during Toronto’s Sesquicentennial – the City’s 150th Anniversary.

September 14, 1984
His Holiness Pope John Paul II, lit the eternal flame with an ember from the Memorial for Peace in Hiroshima, Japan and poured a vial of water from the river that flows through Nagasaki into the Peace Garden’s pool.

October 2, 1984:
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, formally dedicated the Toronto Peace Garden as a lasting expression of Toronto's and its citizens' commitment towards peace.

April 4, 2007:
Grass roots citizen's movement begins to save Toronto Peace Garden from demolition. Watch "Save the Peace Garden" video on YouTube.

September 29, 2009
The City of Toronto celebrates the “25th Anniversary of the Toronto Peace Garden” with over 6,000 students from across the city in attendance at Nathan Phillips Square. Read the article.

NOTICE: Toronto Peace Garden to be Moved
On August 7th, 2010 the Peace Garden will be decommissioned and moved from its current location in front of the doors of Toronto City Hall to the west side of Nathan Phillips Square during the massive revitilization of the entire square. Redication of the Toronto Peace Garden is slated for the Summer of 2012.

Pictured Left. Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima atomic bombing survivor, Father Massey Lombardi, and students during the Peace Garden celebrations on September 29/2009. Thurlow & Lombardi were instrumental in helping to establish the Toronto Peace Garden in 1984.