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They Walked These Streets… We Will Remember Them is an innovative and interactive community Remembrance project that brings the stories of local soldiers back to the streets and communities where they lived.

The project began in November 2020, when two Toronto District School Board teachers and longtime friends, Katy Whitfield and Ian Da Silva, came together to create a way for their community to remember local soldiers during the pandemic, when traditional Remembrance Day ceremonies could not take place.

It started with a phone call, two young people making poppies from red pool noodles found in their garage, 13 clipboards featuring the stories of local soldiers, and a place for neighbours to pause and remember—while maintaining the required six-foot distance during the pandemic in November 2020.

Both Katy and Ian are longtime residents of Bloor West Village and former students of Runnymede Public School and Swansea Public School; they are also graduates of Humberside Collegiate. What began as a small neighbourhood project has grown into a community-wide initiative that has come to be known across the city, the province and the country.

Now in its 7th year, They Walked These Streets… has expanded to tell the stories of more than 2,000 soldiers who served in the Army, Air Force and Navy during the First World War, Second World War and Korean War. These are individuals who lived and worked in the streets and communities of Toronto’s west end and along Toronto's waterfront, Lake Ontario.

The project continues to grow and expand each year. Ian and the Da Silva family continue to host an annual installation, while Katy Whitfield serves as Project Coordinator.

They Walked These Streets ...has been recognized by Members of Parliament in the House of Commons and Members of Provincial Parliament at Queen’s Park, and has been featured by the CBC, The Toronto Star, Canada's National History Magazine and numerous local print and online publications.

Ultimately, the project is focussed on honouring their service, remembering their stories and connecting with our shared history.

Each year, They Walked These Streets… creates 13 public memorial installations throughout the community, making local military history accessible and within walking distance for residents, teachers and students.

The installations are located at: 2 family homes, 1 public library, 1 high school, 1 Community Peace Garden, 1 Town Hall and 6 churches of various denominations. The installations are up from November 1st-11th at sundown each year.  The installations were designed by Katy Whitfield and David Whitfield and are installed by an incredible team of volunteers each year! We are so grateful for their energy and commitment to bringing the 13 installations to life! 

Each installation features information cards telling the story of individual soldiers, including their name, rank, regiment, military service, age at death and Toronto address before enlistment. Where possible, the cards also identify connections to local schools, churches and community organizations through photographs, logos and other source material.

The goal is simple: to bring these stories back to the places where these individuals lived, learned, worshipped and built their lives while also helping community members to understand their service and sacrifice to our community and our country during times of war!

The installations are designed to be accessible to the community and close enough for teachers to bring their students to explore local history around Remembrance Day. They also give community members an opportunity to discover someone they can remember and honour—not just on Remembrance Day, but throughout the year.

Each year, They Walked These Streets… hosts a Community Museum Event, bringing local stories to life through exhibitions, artifacts, photographs, archival materials and presentations by local historians and public history researchers. The project has collaborated with Anthony Badame, Ontario Coordinator for Honouring Bravery--Canada Company Military History Learning Program (MHLP), the Consulate of the Netherlands, the West Toronto Junction Historical Society, the Swansea Historical Society, HMCS York and Michael Di Tomaso, local collector of historic objects and an incredible storyteller of Canadian History.

The annual museum event creates a space where community members can come together, explore local history and share their own connections and family stories to the wars.

Education has always been at the heart of They Walked These Streets…We Will Remember Them Project.

Ready-made teaching and learning materials have been developed by award-winning history educators, to support Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum expectations from K–12. These resources give elementary and secondary school teachers practical tools to make Remembrance Day relevant, engaging and meaningful for their students. Educational materials and workshops have also been facilitated annually for local Brownie, Girl Guide, Beaver, Cub, and Scouting organizations in the community. 

They Walked These Streets...  also involves high school history students in researching and interpreting the stories of local soldiers, helping a new generation discover the history that exists within their own neighbourhoods. 

The research for They Walked These Streets...We Will Remember Them is led by Katy Whitfield, an award-winning Canadian history teacher and recipient of the Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2015, with research assistant Lauren Woolfrey, educational interpreter and history educator, as well as history students from Bloor Collegiate Institute.

Research draws on military records from the Canadian Virtual War Memorial from Veterans Affairs Canada, the Canadian Great War Project, and Library and Archives Canada Service Files.

Through these source materials, the project identifies soldiers' names, addresses and military service, as well as photographs, newspaper articles, medals and other historical materials that tell the stories of their service, sacrifice and loss. Behind each soldier's story, is the story of their family members, as well as their broader connections to work and community.

The research also looks beyond military service to discover the community connections each individual had before enlistment, including the schools, churches and community organizations that were part of their lives and come to understand all that they left behind! 

The project began in Toronto's west end and continues to expand every year.

Its original research area stretched from the Humber River east to Dufferin Street, and from Lake Ontario north to the railway tracks north of Dundas Street in the Junction. It encompasses the communities of: Humbercrest • Bloor West Village • The Junction • High Park • Swansea • Roncesvalles • Parkdale

In 2026, the project expanded to include neighbourhoods in South-Etobicoke, including: Lakeview • Long Branch • Mimico • New Toronto • Humber Bay • Islington Village in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 101, Long Branch as part of a celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion. This project extension was funded in part from a Community Partnership Grant from Veterans Affairs Canada. 

In addition, the soldiers who lived and worked along Lake Ontario and on Toronto's Waterfront from Humber Bay to the ferry docks are being researched. Their story will be shared as part of an installation in October and November 2026 at Fort York Historic Site as part of a Toronto Historic Sites Community Activation Project. The installation is called: They Walked These Streets…And Answered “the Call” stories of service, industry and community along Toronto’s Waterfront during the World Wars. As the project grows, so does the opportunity to discover the people, places and stories that connect our local communities to Canada's wartime history.

They lived here. They went to school here. They worshipped here. They worked here. They built families and communities here.

And when their country called, they answered.

We remember them by bringing their stories home.

Katy Whitfield, Project Coordinator