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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 17 ,2 02 1 | 10 Did you know you can pay your tax and water bills online? We offer a number of payment options including online banking, e-post and pre-authorized payments to make it easy to pay your tax or water bills from the comfort of your home. For payment options for your water utility bills visit waterloo.ca/waterpayment and for your tax bills visit waterloo.ca/taxpayment. PAY ONLINE PAYING BY MAIL? Please remit the stub of your tax bill along with your payment to: City of Waterloo Revenue Services 100 Regina St. S. PO Box 337 Station Waterloo Waterloo, ON N2J 4A8 Did you receive your 2021 final residential property tax bill? The City of Waterloo 2021 final residential property tax due dates are July 2, 2021 and September 1, 2021. Final tax bills have been mailed or sent via e-post. Please note, you are responsible for paying your taxes on or before the due dates. Non-receipt of your property tax bill does not exempt you from taxes and/or late payment penalty charges. If you have not received your tax bill, please let us know by contacting revenue services at revenue@waterloo.ca or calling 519-747-8718. For information related to COVID-19 financial relief please visit waterloo.ca/taxpayment. PAYING IN-PERSON? Payment can be made Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at • Waterloo City Centre 100 Regina St. S. • Waterloo Service Centre 265 Lexington Crt. Visit our COVID-19 response page at waterloo.ca/covid-19 for updates on closures and changes to city services. P. 519-886-1550 TTY. 1-866-786-3941 waterloo.ca A permanent Indige- nous space that is "safe and welcoming" will be created in Victoria Park. "This is a space built for the Indigenous community and to be used by the Indig- enous community," said Niall Lobley, Kitchener's director of parks and ceme- teries. Lobley said the plan- ning is in the early stages; however, there could be some traditional planting and some form of seating in a circular pattern. "It is a space that will al- low for gatherings to occur. The intent of the space is to allow Indigenous commu- nity members to come to- gether for ceremonial, tra- ditional and teaching pur- poses and land-based edu- cation," he said. What the space would look like and where in the park is still unknown. A similar space is also planned for Waterloo Park. The initiative is in re- sponse to a call to action from the Truth and Recon- ciliation Commission of Canada. Locally, munici- palities created a Reconcil- iation Action Plan to listen and support local Indige- nous-centred initiatives. In a presentation to a re- cent Kitchener heritage committee, members were told the goal of the perma- nent space is to "improve parkland to better reflect the history and heritage of its original caretakers." Donna Dubie, executive director of The Healing of the Seven Generations, said an Indigenous-centred space in both parks is a step in the right direction. "It's a good start but they have a long way to go," she said. Dubie said municipali- ties, like most levels of gov- ernment, fear if they give a piece of land to the Indige- nous communities, "we are going to take more and more and take over the park." "They never thought twice to take that land away from us," said Dubie. "Now it's a fight to get it back." The cities and the Indig- enous community have been in discussions for more than a year. Last June, Land Back Camp started at Victoria Park as a gathering place and a safe space for Indigenous com- munities. They endured racial vi- olence and vandalism and then went to Waterloo Park in November. They recent- ly moved to Laurel Creek Conservation Area in Wa- terloo. Lobley said municipali- ties need to do better in meeting the needs of Indig- enous communities. "The city has not done the best job in relationship- building," he said. "The recognition is that we need to do a better job in build- ing place for Indigenous communities in parks and open space across all cit- ies." Lobley said the space in Victoria Park will be the first of many such spaces. "It's not one and done," he said. Lobley said dedicated cultural spaces in a public park is not unusual. "Victoria Park is quite heavily programmed al- ready and we don't have vast amounts of open space to work with," he said. Coun. Debbie Chapman, whose ward covers Victo- ria Park, said the perma- nent space is a "small at- tempt" at complying with Truth and Reconciliation guidelines laid out for mu- nicipalities. "Kudos to the Land Back community for bringing to our attention Indigenous needs and Indigenous his- tory," she said. "I commend them for that." PERMANENT INDIGENOUS SPACE PLANNED FOR VICTORIA PARK AND WATERLOO PARK This green space in Kitchener's Victoria Park is where the Land Back Camp was located. David Bebee photo NEWS LIZ MONTEIRO lmonteiro@therecord.com "It's a good start but they have a long way to go." - Donna Dubie, executive director of The Healing of the Seven Generations