Toronto’s Ravines: How Community-led Programming Changes Everything

The InTO the Ravines program changed that. A City of Toronto and Park People partnership program that brings the principles of the City’s Ravine Strategy – Protect, Connect, Celebrate, Invest, Partner – to life, InTO the Ravines has trained more than 100 ravine champions, and welcomed over 7000 people to participate in hands-on ravines activities. Nearly 2000 of them were visiting the ravines for the first time. 

This post is about what happens after Torontonians take part in the program — how champions like Gary and Geri and Nawal Ateeq are making the case for continued investment in community-led nature programming and in the ravines that make it all possible. 

Ravines for Health

Time in nature is critical to our mental and physical health. But for communities living in high-density tower neighbourhoods with little private green space, access to nature is not guaranteed. Ravines aren’t just recreational infrastructure. For many residents, they are health infrastructure.

Nawal Ateeq from Flemingdon Community Support Services put it plainly: 

InTO the Ravines creates structured access — not just to the physical space, but to the knowledge, confidence, and sense of ownership that make that space usable. Geri describes watching participants’ “initial uncertainty transform into curiosity, confidence, and appreciation.”

Ravines for Civic Engagement

Geri and Gary now run a restoration site, organize turtle protection efforts, and have personally walked their MP, MPP, and City Councillor through their local ravine. Nawal’s organization trains new Ravine Champions who guide their own neighbours. 

7000 ravine program participants are seven thousand potential constituents who understand why ravines matter. They are a new political constituency poised to support sustained investment in these critical natural spaces. 

Ravines for Social Belonging and Equity

Limited wayfinding, steep paths, entrances that aren’t obvious or welcoming. The Ravine Strategy is designed to address these challenges so that the people who need our ravines the most face fewer barriers to visiting them. 

inTO the Ravines supports these physical changes by adding the social infrastructure that is key to making people feel welcome.

In Flemingdon Park, Nawal shares, “the program began with stay-at-home mothers who had never worked in Canada and had never entered the ravine visible from their homes. Four park events gathered eighty residents for a first visit to the ravine. Those events built confidence, leadership, and belonging.”

What looks like a simple nature walk is a starting point towards building environmental leaders, strengthening social infrastructure, and advancing climate equity, all at the same time.

A Collective Responsibility 

Community programming is an effective way to maximize the social value of every dollar of infrastructure investment — but without full funding, both the ravines and the communities that rely on them are not able to realize their full potential. 

We currently face over $50 million in unmet capital investment needs in Priority Investment Areas alone, across a 300-kilometre system absorbing increasing climate stress every year. The 2026 update on the Ravine Strategy painted a picture of the joint contributions of City staff, councillors, community leaders and non-profits in advancing the strategy’s goals since 2017. 

But with municipalities responsible for maintaining over 60% of Canada’s infrastructure on 10 cents of every tax dollar, Toronto can’t do it alone.

The case for intergovernmental investment is clear. Seven thousand constituents. Trained community advocates. Champions prepared to walk their elected officials through the ecosystems they helped restore. 

The future that InTO the Ravines is trying to grow is already here in small ways: newcomers discovering that the green space outside their window is for them. Seniors on trails they once hesitated to enter. Community organizations with the capacity and confidence to shape the places they steward. 

Nawal, Geri and Gary are sharing an invitation to our provincial and federal partners to invest with us in bringing this future to life for all Torontonians.