Photography credit: Toronto Downtown West BIA
Artist and novelist Douglas Coupland’s Red Canoe became one of Toronto’s most beloved (and photographed) public artworks after its installation at Canoe Landing Park in 2009. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the iconic sculpture was destroyed by fire.
The Red Canoe (aka Tom Thomson’s Canoe) commemorates legendary Canadian landscape painter Tom Thomson, who disappeared during a canoeing trip in Algonquin Provincial Park in 1917. So famous was the steel and resin artwork that, for many years, Canoe Landing Park was better known as ‘Coupland Park’ and ‘Red Canoe Park’. From its prominent position near Fort York Boulevard and Dan Leckie Way, it has been viewed by millions of motorists travelling along the Gardiner Expressway.
According to the Toronto Star, the sculpture was completely destroyed by the blaze and arson is suspected, with Toronto Police asking the public for information. No injuries were reported.
