This year again, local leaders gathered their neighbours, built connections, and restored nature in projects big and small. The movement continues to expand, and we're pleased to share just some of these impacts in our 2025 Impact Report.
This guide walks you through how to start and grow a park group in Toronto, from planning your first meeting to organizing activities, reaching new people, and navigating City permits, funding, and support.
Explore low-cost, high-impact supports that park-based organizations can provide to equity-deserving communities to help make nature spaces and programs more accessible and enjoyable.
Parc Jarry in Montreal, Toronto’s waterfront, CRAB Park in Vancouver… People are coming together to protect the places they love.
What could Toronto’s parks look like in the years ahead? Our 2026 Parks Platform brings together ideas from Torontonians and four priorities for a more resilient, joyful and connected city.
Host free, community-led park activities in Toronto with the No-Fee Community Activations Booking. This hour-long virtual session will walk you through the booking: what's eligible, and how to apply step by step.
Hosted by Park People and World Urban Parks, this global gathering will bring together 450+ park leaders from Canada and around the world to share and explore practical and creative park and public space ideas, and seed new relationships, collaborations, and ways of working.
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
Park People
Jul 3, 2025 Canada-wide
Activating parks, building community and creating change across Canada.
“We often have limits in our heads, where we don’t always feel capable of taking action. I overcame this barrier by meeting other people who are doing great things in the parks. Thanks to the Park People program, I was able to get the myth out of my head that I am limited. Everything is possible!”
Program participant, Montreal Urban Park Champions
As we face some of the most significant challenges in generations, parks remain relevant in addressing climate change, social cohesion, and political polarization. Parks and public spaces are more than physical landscapes; they’re where we learn to share, to compromise, and to adapt to the needs of people we don’t yet know.
From the community leaders we support in activating their local parks to the municipalities that use our insights to create better park policy, the movement continues to expand. We’re pleased to share just some of these impacts in our 2024 Impact Report.
Small actions in parks often lead to unexpected change. A senior in Vancouver might become inspired to start organizing her own community events via our TD Park People Grants, or an Arts in the Parks participant who discovers a new path as an artist.
Park People’s future is rooted in connection. We’ll continue to support the people and ideas that help public spaces thrive.
As urban parks face growing demands amid climate change, inequality and shrinking resources, the people shaping their future need space to reconnect, share ideas and imagine new ways of working together.
From reduced parkland requirements and changes to municipal planning powers to bike lane removals, provincial decisions are having lasting impacts on Toronto’s parks and public spaces.