Une histoire touchante pour le nom d’un parc à Côte Saint-Luc
Le parc est ici (Park with no name)
Texte complet
Community that rallied around sick boy has a park named in his memory
What for years some Côte-St-Luc residents were already calling “Joshua’s park” is now to be made official: Joshua Ezekiel Alexander Park.
Katelyn Thomas
Montreal Gazette
Oct 24, 2022 • 3 hours ago • 3 minute read
Victoria Wignal and Jephet Alexander, parents of Joshua Ezekiel Alexander, in the newly renovated park in Côte-St-Luc that is taking on their son’s name. “All of these children, they will fly high,” Wignal says of the kids who will play there. “And Joshua will be there flying with them.” PHOTO BY JOHN MAHONEY /Montreal Gazette
The Côte-St-Luc community that wrapped its arms around a boy with health issues while he was growing up continues to hold on tight to his memory, nearly nine years after his death.
When the city asked residents where Joshua Ezekiel Alexander grew up to suggest names for a revamped park, where Emerald Ave. meets Wavell Rd., their choice was clear: For years, they had already been referring to it as “Joshua’s park” — after the boy who received a heart transplant days before he turned a year old and spent the rest of his young life in and out of hospital.
“He used (the park) a lot from a very young age and he was an inspiration for the neighbourhood with all the health issues that he had over the years,” said Mayor Mitchell Brownstein. “He overcame a lot and lived to the age of 19, and that was the centre of his life … that area and using that park.”
The gesture means a lot to Joshua’s mother, Victoria Wignal, who said the community rallied around her son during his childhood and teenage years to make sure he was always taken care of. Some community members helped with transportation, while others helped financially, she said.
“It wasn’t easy for him,” Wignal told the Montreal Gazette. “And his friends, the young guys around him, they made sure he was OK.”
Wignal shared that Joshua’s heart came from a Toronto boy who died when he was three years old.
“When I pray, I pray for him,” she said. “I pray for the family … I give God thanks, and sometimes I say, ‘you know, Victoria, you cannot be ungrateful because this little baby that died, he was three years old and he gave your son to you for 19 years.’
“Although he had a rough time. But when he had a good time, we made sure he lived his life abundantly. When he could play, go and play with your friends.”
A naming ceremony is to be held Tuesday evening to officially designate the space as the Joshua Ezekiel Alexander Park.
Soliciting name suggestions from residents for public places is new in Côte-St-Luc, Brownstein said. In the case of Joshua’s park, the city asked 238 residents in the area to choose “an exceptional person of historical and/or cultural importance to you, or someone who has directly impacted the lives of Côte-St-Luc residents for at least 15 years.”
“After getting to know Joshua through his parents Victoria and Victor, I have a much better understanding about what made this young man tick and the reasons the Emerald community rallied to have the park named in his memory,” Councillor Mitch Kujavsky said in a statement. “It is my hope that naming the park after Joshua will encourage both residents and visitors to the park to ask about his story and help keep his spirit alive.”
The city invested $112,000 in the park in 2022, bringing in a slide, climber and swing for children ages of five and 12, as well as LED lighting, a drinking fountain, a half-basketball court, protective netting, benches, picnic tables and landscaping.
While the park will have her son’s name, Wignal said it will belong to all children taken from their families too soon.
“All of these children, they will fly high,” she said. “And Joshua will be there flying with them. … And all the children that belong here, every little baby, they will go to that park. It belongs to them, and they will have fun. They will play until they’re tired, and they will go home to their parents.”
L’invitation à la cérémonie de nomination du parc
