OttawaA motion from Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante asks councillors to rename Emond Park after Mary Papatsie, whose remains were unearthed at a nearby construction site in 2022.Mary Papatsie’s remains were unearthed at a construction site in 2022Ben Andrews · CBC News · Posted: Sep 22, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoShirley Tessier is set to speak at a city committee meeting in favour of renaming the nearby Emond Park after Inuk woman Mary Papatsie. (Ben Andrews/CBC News)A few houses down from Emond Park in Vanier, Shirley Tessier reviews a speech she plans to read at an Ottawa city committee meeting Tuesday.She’ll be speaking in favour of renaming the park after Mary Papatsie, an Inuk woman whose remains were unearthed three years ago, just one block away on Deschamps Avenue.”All of us that knew Mary, we’re still heartbroken about it. We don’t forget people that we love,” Tessier said.Papatsie, the youngest of eight siblings and a mother of 10, was 39 years old and living on the street when she went missing in 2017.In 2022, her remains were found at a construction site just off the Vanier Parkway.Tessier knew Papatsie from seeing her around the neighbourhood, where she would often sit on a bench in Emond Park or tend a small herb garden there.Mary Papatsie is seen here before she disappeared in 2017. Her remains were found in 2022. (RCMP)Tessier believes renaming the park would both commemorate Papatsie and also recognize the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.”Every woman — it was a mother, an auntie, a grandma, a cousin, a sister,” she said. “As someone who has been in those situations, of a loved one who’s been murdered or missing — their hearts never heal.”Naming effort years in the makingPapatsie was buried at her hometown of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, in 2023.After the funeral, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante approached the family with the idea to rename the park in Papatsie’s honour.”We have a lot of great Inuit organizations, we have one of the largest Red Dress Days probably in Ontario,” said Plante, referring to a national day of awareness about violence against Indigenous women and girls.”What’s missing in Vanier is we actually don’t have any Inuit commemorative naming.”Papatsie would spend time in Emond Park before she disappeared. (Ben Andrews/CBC News)Although the family and many in the community are supportive of the idea, Plante said it took “a little extra time” to get the wheels of the city bureaucracy moving.Her motion at Tuesday’s committee meeting asks councillors to support the park’s new name and notes that Rideau-Vanier has the largest Inuit population outside of Nunavut.Despite the slow process, Plante said supporters remain “enthusiastic” about the idea.Babette Tasse, who lives a few houses down from the park, is one of them.”When I found out it was being named after Mary, I was really excited about it,” she said. “I thought that was really nice.”Tessier said renaming the park is a positive step, but she remains frustrated with the lack of results from the police investigation into Papatsie’s death.”I feel it’s quite a tragedy it’s not resolved yet,” she said.
Committee to consider renaming park after Inuk woman found dead in Vanier
