The Ontario legislature has welcomed some unusual new residents. Honeybees have moved into two wooden hives placed on the roof of Queen's Park in Toronto. The buzzing newcomers are part of a new project that adds a small patch of nature to the seat of the province's government.
Each of the two hives is home to a large colony, with about 6,000 to 10,000 bees inside, along with a queen in each one. The numbers make the rooftop a busy place, even if most visitors to the legislature will never get close enough to notice. The hives sit quietly above the daily business of politics below.
The initiative is led by the Speaker of the legislature, Donna Skelly. She worked with a beekeeper to make the project a reality. When the bees were moved into their new location, the team used a bit of smoke to keep them calm, which meant no bee suit was required for the transfer.
The smoke serves a practical purpose. As the beekeeper explained, when bees are disturbed, the smoke acts like a blindfold, so that if one bee gets upset it does not communicate that alarm to the others. The technique allows handlers to work around the hives safely and calmly.
While it is not easy for the public to visit the bees in person, there is another way to see them. A live bee cam lets anyone watch the hives from outside, and a microphone has been added to carry the sound of the colony. Skelly, a longtime television journalist before entering politics, suggested people could simply tune in to the bee cam.
Reaching the bees in person is a bit of a trek. It involves taking the elevator to the top floor, climbing a set of stairs and finally passing through a small door to get out onto the rooftop. Skelly admitted she knew nothing about bees before the project, but said she is now learning her bee facts.
The idea was brought to the Speaker last fall by the agriculture minister, after he had spoken with beekeepers. He described being choked up when he first saw the project come to life. Next up is Queen's Park Honey, which Skelly hopes will be ready in the fall to sell in the legislature gift shop, a fitting result for a project meant to highlight that a large share of the food people eat depends on pollinators.