PARTISANS-led team designs Ontario Building Workers’ Memorial for Toronto’s Queens Park

A team from the Toronto architecture firm PARTISANS has designed the Ontario Building Workers’ Memorial, set to be built at Queens Park, where College Street meets University Avenue. This memorial honors construction workers who have died on the job or from work-related diseases, like asbestos exposure, which actually claims more lives than accidents on site. Each year on April 28, the National Day of Mourning, a new bronze plaque will be added to remember those who have passed. The design is inspired by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Alabama. Local leaders, including Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, and organizations like the Ontario Federation of Labor support this initiative. The memorial is slated for completion by 2027, addressing the dangers of the construction industry, which reported 18 fatalities in Canada for 2024-25.