A contest is being held inviting people to submit designs before December 1, 2008 for a permanent memorial on the grounds of the old Lakeshore Insane Asylum/Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital in Etobicoke, Ontario. According to the Psychiatric Survivor Archives, “1,511 forgotten people”, inmates of the hospital, were buried without markers on the site. As part of an ongoing project involving local community activists and groups, organizers are asking, “any psychiatric survivor, consumer, client or current or former patient of the mental health system and anyone who has a relative who is buried in this cemetery” to submit descriptions, designs or models for a commemorative monument of respect for these no-longer-forgotten people. Here’s the complete press release below:

MEMORIAL DESIGN CONTEST

for the

Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Cemetery, Etobicoke


About the Contest:

Purpose: A design campaign is underway to create a permanent memorial for the 1511 people buried in the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Cemetery at the northeast corner of Horner Avenue and Evans Avenue in Etobicoke. Most of the people were buried in unmarked graves between 1890-1974. The purpose of this campaign is to create a permanent public marker to remember the people buried here in a dignified  and respectful way and to acknowledge their contributions to our community. It is intended to right a grievous historical wrong in which we as a community say to the people buried here: “You are forgotten no longer!”


Background: Between 1890-1974 one thousand, five hundred and eleven people were buried in a cemetery at what is now the northeast corner of Evans and Horner Avenues in Etobicoke. These men, women and in some cases, infants, were almost all deceased inmates of the Mimico Insane Asylum, later known as the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital at the time it was closed in
1979. Of these 1511 people, 1357 are buried in unmarked graves and 154 are in marked graves with gravestones in varying states of repose. Since 2004, efforts have been underway to preserve and restore this site which, heretofore, had been allowed to deteriorate. Activists, led by Ed Janiszewski of CAMH Archives, have worked together with the Psychiatric Survivor Archives, Toronto (PSAT), Among Friends Community Mental Health Program in Etobicoke, and local heritage groups, as well as concerned citizens who are not connected to a particular group, to maintain this site and memorialize the people buried in the cemetery. Since January 2006, these efforts have been organized under the umbrella of the Lakeshore Asylum Cemetery Project (LACP) which meets at Among Friends.



Instructions: In memory of the people buried at the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital Cemetery in Etobicoke, consider a monument that we could build on the cemetery grounds. Use words to describe it, or draw it (showing the front and side views), or make a sculpture or model of it (using clay, popsicle sticks, or any medium). Tell us how large the monument should be, what it should be made of, and any other information that would help us build it (colour, direction, ornaments, lettering, etc). Send it to us with your phone and/or address so that we can contact you. No previous design experience necessary!

Inuksuit, Inuit rock stackings

‘Infinity’ sculpture in water

Brick wall with dimensions

Who Can Apply: Any psychiatric survivor, consumer, client or current or former patient of the mental health system and anyone who has a relative who is buried in this cemetery.


1st PRIZE – $ 650
2nd PRIZE – $ 250
3rd PRIZE – $ 100

Contest winners will be announced in early 2009.

Send or deliver your submission by December 1, 2008, to:

Among Friends (Design Contest)
185 Fifth Street, 4th Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M8V 2Z5

For more information, including an information package, call “Among Friends” and ask about the “Memorial Design Contest”:
416-251-8666

or email Deb Quiggin:
deb dot quiggin at gmail.com

See the cemetery website at:
http://www.psychiatricsurvivorarchives.com/cemetery/index.html

Who Will Judge the Contest: The design Selection Committee will be made up of representatives of the Lakeshore Asylum Cemetery Project and the Psychiatric Survivor Archives Toronto. The Psychiatric Survivor Archives, Toronto has provided funding for this memorial design campaign. Members of the selection committee and their relatives/partners/spouses are ineligible to submit a design.