A wetland for thousands of years, the space now called Belle Park in Ka'tarohkwi (Kingston, Ontario) was used as a landfill from 1954-1974, and converted to a golf course that operated until 2017. At its entrance stands an unmarked totem pole carved by Indigenous inmates at the Joyceville penitentiary in 1973, and the park’s peninsula ends with a bridge leading to Belle Island, a known location of Indigenous remains. The park and island are surrounded by wetlands and the Cataraqui River.
Belle Park in recent years has often been considered a “problem” and approached through various scientific, management, legal and social policy frameworks. Recognizing toxic histories and ongoing challenges, the Belle Park Project nonetheless seeks to see the space as a generator of questions, relationships, and life. We hope that our work with Belle Park is not only of significance for people in Kingston/Ka’tarohkwi, but also for those seeking to understand or inhabit similarly complex sites in other cities. We draw from many disciplinary and community knowledges, giving special place to multisensory experience and artistic or research creation modes of thinking and doing. We are committed to developing and sharing high quality research and art through the life of the project, and doing so with and for people who care for and about this place.
With three lead researchers — Dr. Dorit Naaman (Film & Media, Queen’s), Dr. Erin Sutherland (Art, U Calgary), and Dr. Laura Murray (English, Queen’s) — and a core research team of Chief Dave Mowat (Alderville First Nation), Dr. Mary Louise Adams (Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s), Dr. Laura Cameron (Geography, Queen’s), Dr. Matt Rogalsky (Dan School of Music and Drama, Queen’s), and Francine Berish (Geospatial Data Librarian, Queen’s), the Belle Park Project works closely with graduate students and community members from a range of backgrounds.
This project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
For physical events that happen at a specific time. For example a concert, or dance performance. If there are multiple shows, you can still duplicate your event to cover them all.
Belle Park
