Canada’s America250 Tree Planting in City Hall Park

Ceremony: October 12, 2026

>>>>> PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS. <<<<<

Friends of City Hall Park (FCHP), a community volunteer group since 1995, announces that 2 Canadian Red Maple Trees gifted by the Government of Canada was planted in our civic center. 

These trees are part of America250 announced by Prime Minister Carney on July 4 to mark 250 years since U.S. independence. Reflecting the enduring, vital U.S.-Canada partnership, the Government of Canada is gifting 250 Canadian maple trees to the United States, to be planted in Washington, D.C. and across the 13 states that span the U.S.-Canada border, including New York.

A Ceremony on the Plaza in front of City Hall steps, hosted by Friends of City Hall Park, thanked the Government of Canada at 4pm on Monday October 12, Canadian Thanksgiving and Indigenous Peoples Day. More Canadian maple trees will be planted throughout New York State in Spring 2027.

City Hall Park is particularly appropriate for this Sesquicentennial Celebration as the historic site of the reading of the Declaration of Independence to the assembled townspeople in General George Washington’s presence on July 9, 1776, when the public park was New York’s town commons,.

Consul General Susannah Pierce, the Government of Canada's senior representative in New York, Senior Advisor for Intergovernmental Affairs at the NYC Mayor's Office for International Affairs Fernanda Perez Villarreal, NYS Assembly candidate David Siffert, NYC Parks Lower Manhattan District Manager Terese Flores, Community Board 1 member Tammy Meltzer , and indigenous leaders from Cardoza School of Law attended.

The gift of these native trees is particularly appreciated because 22 tree stumps have been ground this year, with Parks Department budget shortages preventing rapid replacement needed for our urban forest in lower Manhattan. City Council District One ranks 39th of 51 City Council Districts citywide for land covered by tree canopy.

We native New Yorkers are so grateful that our northern friends have extended their warm generosity to celebrate our nation’s Sesquicentennial especially during the White House tariff hostility.

<<<<< Photos by Matt McDonald, Canadian Consulate and Gail Karlsson, FCHP. >>>>>