MARGARET FAIRLEY
Parkette,
monument
and plaque, southwest corner of Ulster St. and Brunswick Ave.,
Toronto
The
monument,
unveiled in 1973, is a highly polished black marble plinth,
topped by the sculptured head and shoulders of Margaret Fairley
(1885-1968). A
large granite boulder with a plaque reads “a citizen who
cared for
her community.” Fairley, who lived nearby in the heart of
working-class Toronto, was an active member of the local Communist
Party club, which along with neighbours took up petitions to block
construction of an apartment block in an area which suffered a lack
of recreational space for youngsters. A modest parkette was finally
won for the neighbourhood and is now part of a network of such small
park areas across Toronto.
Margaret
Fairley
was a longtime cultural worker, editor of the magazine New
Frontiers
and two books, The Spirit of Canadian Democracy
(1946) and Selected Writings of William Lyon Mackenzie (Oxford
1960).
Photo
Credit: Mel Johnston