Thorncliffe Park residents wage fierce fight against Metrolinx rail yard plan
Residents say province won’t budge, even though local politicians are on their side
A grassroots group in Thorncliffe Park that has been trying to stop Metrolinx from building a mammoth railyard in the community has won the support of the area's elected representatives at all three levels of government but says the Ford government is ignoring its pleas.
The group says of all the neighbourhoods across Toronto Metrolinx considered, theirs is the poorest and least white.
"Our community has been targeted for this train yard," said Kaynat Shaikh, 26, a member of SaveTPARK, a group made up of mostly lifelong residents that formed this past spring to fight the Metrolinx project.
- Read this article in Pashto | په پښتو کې د دې ليكنې لوستلو لپاره، دلته کلیک وکړئ
- Read this article in Urdu | اس مضمون کو اردو زبان میں پڑھنے کے لیے، یہاں کلک کریں
"If it was to be shifted to another community, perhaps even a higher socioeconomic community, would they even try to put a train yard there? Most likely not and it's very clear."
Metrolinx announced in an April blog post that Thorncliffe Park was selected for a 175,000-square-metre maintenance and storage facility.
That's roughly the size of 24 soccer fields.
The yard would service the Ontario Line, a 15-stop subway route, which is projected to run from Ontario Place to the Ontario Science Centre.
Right now, the area is home to a mix of small businesses and an industrial park, located on the north side of Overlea Boulevard, between Millwood Road and Thorncliffe Park Drive.
Since the spring announcement, SaveTPARK has put up posters and written letters to Ontario Premier Doug Ford. A petition opposing the plan now has more than 10,000 signatures.
"The majority of this community is working for survival," said Aamir Sukhera, 41.
Sighing and shaking his head, he told CBC News most people living in the area simply don't have the time "to fight a giant like Metrolinx."
"I feel like Metrolinx saw [Thorncliffe Park] as an opportunity … just because it's the path of least resistance."
Thorncliffe Park is home to some 30,000 people, many of whom are new Canadians from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. It's common for two or three families to live together in the towering rental buildings.
Space is scarce — there are about 7,000 people per square kilometre. The recently built Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy teaches only kindergarten in 23 classrooms, making it the largest school of its kind in Canada.
So losing such an enormous piece of land to a Metrolinx storage facility is hard to reconcile, said Sukhera, who grew up in the neighbourhood with his parents and continues to work and raise his own family in the area.
What the area really needs, he says, is affordable housing, an indoor pool and a community recreation centre.
Sukhera and the SaveTPARK group pitched an alternate site to Metrolinx; one that's within walking distance of the current proposal.
But like the concerns they've raised with the provincial agency — about noise, pollution, the impact on the economy and jobs — they say the suggestion went nowhere.
'Carefully considered'
Malcolm MacKay, the Metrolinx program sponsor for the Ontario Line, says the alternate site put forward by the residents was one the regional transit agency previously studied but determined too many jobs would be at risk.
"Every single idea that has been brought forward we have carefully considered," he said.
CBC Toronto asked MacKay about SaveTPARK's belief that the community was chosen for the rail yard because it lacked the resources to fight back. He didn't respond directly.
"We have no desire whatsoever to fight with the community. We want to work with the community, understand the community, understand what they are concerned about so we can help deliver better things for this community as a result of transit coming in," said MacKay.
In an open letter to the community in August, Metrolinx president Phil Verster said the decision to build in Thorncliffe Park was not based on "institutional racism" but instead on "policy-driven site selection criteria" to find the best site possible.
'Fallen on deaf ears'
But it's been nothing but a fight, according to the area's federal, provincial and municipal elected officials.
Rob Oliphant, the local member of parliament, MPP Kathleen Wynne, and Coun. Jaye Robinson together sent a letter in late August to Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, saying they were blindsided by the decision and troubled by what they say is a lack of community consultation.
Toronto city council also unanimously passed a motion in May calling for the maintenance and storage facility to be moved.
Robinson suggested creating smaller storage facilities across the entire line to minimize the impact on one neighbourhood.
"All of this has fallen on deaf ears," said Robinson, who calls the last several months dealing with Metrolinx "disillusioning and exasperating."
"They refuse to consider anything other than this mammoth facility in the heart of Thorncliffe Park, which is geographically small — one of the smallest neighbourhoods in Don Valley West or in this part of Toronto," she said.
"They're having to bear the brunt of this burden alone, completely alone. I'd like someone to explain to me why that is."
Wynne says she's invited Mulroney to several community roundtables, but the transportation minister has never attended, instead sending her chief of staff on one occasion.
"This isn't just Metrolinx, the agency of the government, that has to take the responsibility because they are given a mandate by the provincial government," said Wynne, Ontario's former premier.
"What I know reading between the lines is that they have not been given permission to make significant changes and the political arm is not engaging with the people of Thorncliffe Park."
CBC Toronto reached out to Mulroney's office, but was told she's unavailable. In an email, a spokesperson wrote, "Metrolinx is [the] best point of contact for this particular topic."
Mosque threatens legal action against group
The project has also pitted members of the community against the area mosque.
The Islamic Society of Toronto has confirmed to CBC Toronto that it is negotiating an expropriation deal with Metrolinx.
Metrolinx approached the mosque three days before publicly announcing the maintenance and storage facility in April, said Ilyas Mulla, one of the mosque's directors. He said he was unable to discuss the details because of a non-disclosure agreement.
After SaveTPARK criticized the mosque and its leadership this summer about their relationship with Metrolinx, the Islamic Society of Toronto slapped the group with a cease-and-desist order.
"They used our name without our permission because they didn't know the whole story," said Mulla.
"Three, four lawyers told us, 'You cannot win. Maybe one per cent. But you have to spend lots of money. It's no use fighting, rather go with [Metrolinx].'"
He says money from the deal will be used to renovate a building across the street to house a larger prayer space, a gym, and a community hall.
Mulla says the plan is to "develop the other side for commercial use and get good money for this. It will benefit the community."
Not ready to give up
Sukhera says despite the threat of legal action, there's no rift in the community.
And while he admits he's tired, and at times frustrated, he says he plans to keep fighting to protect the future of his community.
"There's a lot of people that feel they don't even have an opinion, and that's something that we're hoping through SaveTPARK to change and help people understand, 'Whether you rent or own, this is your community. And you have a right to decide what happens in your community.'"
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