If you live in Toronto you probably live near a creek or a stream or a river. Of course some of those creeks and streams might be hard to find. Many of us live on or near waterways that have be filled in or buried. Look at the landscape around High Park in the west end or one of the many tributaries of the Don and you can get a taste of the ravines and streams that used to be a big part of this landscape. As many people know Fort York used to be bordered on its east and northern sides by Garrison Creek. In fact the gully of the creek was incorporated into the forts defenses. Sadly the creek was filled in as the cities growth turned it into an open sewer and garbage tip. You have to summon a lot of imagination now to imagine a clear stream of water flowing out of the forest into Lake Ontario on a shore line where the Gardiner expressway now stands.
Recently I checked out a creek in my own neck of the woods here in Mimico. Within a short walk of my own house is Bonar Creek, a small tributary stream of Mimico Creek. I’m not sure if Bonar Creek is an original feature or if it was created after the City of Etobicoke filled in most of the wetland around the mouth of the Mimico Creek to build a sewage treatment plant (later dubbed the Humber Filtration Plant) thus altering the course of Mimico Creek.
Bonar Creek follows what I think was probably the western edge of the traditional
Mimico Creek waterway, it disappears briefly into a culvert at the entrance to the now demolished filtration plant, reappears before disappearing completely under the CN railway embankment that runs along the QEW (another buried creek). I wish I could say that the water here was clear and full of life; sadly it’s an olive green colour with nasty goop dripping off the embankment outflow. I’m sure there is hope though. Mimico Creek itself, despite nasty storm water and garbage does have little fish in it and if you look at it in the right direction you can forget you’re even in the big city for just a few moments.
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