MIGUEL AVILA-VELARDE – A portrait of a Regent Park Community Activist
Miguel is a long-time resident of Regent Park area. He is also a member of the Regent Park Neighborhood Association, the Coalition for Community Benefits, and the Tenant Representative for 220 Oak St, a Toronto Community Housing building. Miguel is also an Indigenous man originally from Peru. Miguel’s activism is born from his personal lived experience as an indigenous person, and as someone who is living with physical and mental issues. In his own words, Miguel has said, “my life long project.. is to leave a better society, a better place for everyone, and a living legacy.” In May of 2021, with the discovery of residential school burial grounds of indigenous children, Canadian society was rudely awakened to a history that had remained hidden, forgotten and set aside… a history of oppression, and some say genocide. “The remains of 215 children, some as young as 3 years old, have been found buried on the site of what was once Canada's largest Indigenous residential school —