We are looking for a Finance Specialist and a Manager of Administration in the Greater Toronto Area.
Meet the Ontario Community Changemakers and learn more about their inspiring initiatives transforming parks across the province.
Creative ways to connect people to nature, community, and care for ravines in Toronto.
A guidance and resources to measure the impact of your park work on community health and wellbeing, integrating a social equity lens.
Shakeera Solomon from the Vision of Hope Resource Centre in Brampton, a recipient of a TD Park People Grant, shares valuable tips on transitioning indoor programs to the outdoors.
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TD Park People Grants is a nation-wide program that builds vital connections between people and parks.
Each year, we support over 70 community groups across 21 urban areas to animate their local green spaces with engaging events. From Indigenous plant medicine workshops to nature walks, we’re looking for unique ideas that centre environmental education, sustainability, or stewardship, and are designed with accessibility and inclusivity in mind.
In 2025, event organizers are eligible to receive $2,000 to bring their park vision to life.
Need some inspiration for your park event? Read on to learn about three of the incredible groups that received TD Park People Grants in 2024!
La Boussole is a Francophone nonprofit organization based in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. They support people experiencing poverty or marginalization to access health services, housing, and employment in French, while uniting their voices to raise awareness of the issues that face the community.
Through their 2024 TD Park People grant, La Boussole sought to reduce the barriers that prevent Downtown Eastside residents from enjoying nature in their city—such as transportation costs and the stigmatization that unhoused people face when in green spaces—and create restorative experiences that supported their participants’ mental health and wellbeing.
La Boussole organized two events, starting with a nature walk in Spirit Pacific Trail. Participants were led by a facilitator who shared knowledge of natural preservation, Indigenous land rights, and climate justice as they explored the lush forest together. Next, they held an eco-art-therapy session in Stanley Park, where participants were guided to create art using natural elements without damaging the environment.
“These kinds of events are crucial for our audience as the Downtown Eastside area is extremely urban,” noted La Boussole’s facilitators. “The population is suffering from extreme heat in summer and losing its connection to nature.”
Thanks to their efforts, 28 participants had the chance to deepen their connections to the environment, and to one another, through restorative experiences in their local forests.
”I really enjoyed this outing in the forest. It was nice to return to the Pacific Spirit Park, it’s been a long time since I’ve been there. I love forest smells, pine smells and it was cool to go on the walk with Aloïs because there were lots of things we learned that I didn’t know. Being with the whole group, everyone was able to share a little bit of their little anecdotes, the little information they had on their side so it was a great experience.”
Event participant
LifeSchoolHouse is a network of barter-based “folkschools” that create connections through skill-sharing across Nova Scotia. Folkschools are informal learning spaces, usually held in a person’s home, where neighbors become teachers as they share their skills in small group workshops.
LifeSchoolHouse breaks down the financial barriers many people face when trying to access education, and helps to connect neighbours in simple but meaningful ways. In this vein, organizers at the LifeSchool House in Spryfield, Nova Scotia used their 2024 TD Park People grant to organize two free outdoor events where neighbours shared knowledge of environmental education, sustainability, and stewardship with fellow community members.
These immersive experiences included guided nature walks for 43 participants of all ages to explore their surrounding environment. 16 volunteer teachers assisted them in identifying flora and fauna, while offering tips on sustainable practices for preservation.
After their walk, the groups enjoyed a locally-sourced lunch followed by a litter clean-up session—offering a tangible way for participants to keep contributing to the wellbeing of the local green spaces.
“These parks are right in our backyards and we don’t even realize all the treasure they hold.”
“Thank you so much for putting this together! We expected it would be fun, but it far exceeded all expectations. Everyone was so kind, especially with the sort of chaos that comes with little people. It meant so much that my child was welcome. We loved getting to meet everyone, and feel like this is our community!”
The Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest Winnipeg is a living memorial to Indigenous children lost to or affected by the residential school system. It was the second Healing Forest developed in Canada, and is part of a growing network of sites linked by the National Healing Forest Initiative.
A place for healing and contemplation, the Winnipeg forest is an open-air, land-based classroom for elders to share teachings and ceremony. These Keepers of the Forest have hosted dozens of teachings and ceremonies since the site was developed in 2017.
In 2024, they used their TD Park People grant to partner with local schools to bring together children and educators to reflect upon Truth and Reconciliation and the value of environmental conservation. Their land-based learning experience incorporated Indigenous Ways of Knowing, showing children the healing power of connecting with the land and traditional plants like the sage which grows in the forest.
Their two events in 2024 brought together over 300 attendees (students, teachers, and community members), and included a nourishing meal of bannock and jam.
“The schools we work with have large numbers of Indigenous children. Many have relatives who are still dealing with the intergenerational trauma of residential schools. These events honour their lived experience and provide a path to healing based upon Indigenous Ways of Knowing.”
Event organizers
Have these events inspired you?
Visit our TD Park People Grants page for more information, and full eligibility criteria, for this year’s program. Applications are open now and close on February 24, 2025.
This case study is part of the 2023 Canadian City Parks Report, showcasing Inspiring projects, people, and policies from across Canada that offer tangible solutions to the most pressing challenges facing city parks.
In Park People’s recent survey of stewardship program participants in large urban parks, 97% said stewardship contributes to their mental well-being, and 90% to their physical health. Yet, our survey also hinted at critical gaps in who has access to these benefits, with participants disproportionately identifying as cis-gendered women, able-bodied and white.
In North Vancouver, the city was noticing similar gaps in its City Park Stewards program—a city-led initiative established in 2001 that offers monthly volunteer events where residents can engage in activities like invasive pulls, native plantings, and educational workshops. To help reach under-represented groups, the city applied for a $5000 grant from BC Healthy Communities intended to support upstream health benefits in the community.
“We applied with the idea that we could enhance community cohesion and sense of belonging through the park stewardship program by increasing inclusivity and diversity.”
Anu Garcha, Planning Assistant at the City of North Vancouver
When the grant was successful, the city began outreach to partner organizations that serve diverse populations including underhoused communities, newcomers, and at-risk youth, as well as promoting through other city programs like English classes at the public library.
“Building these relationships is very important because it helps us connect with different people in the community.”
Anu Garcha
At the end of the events, city staff invite participants to share feedback about their experience in a voluntary exit interview. The interview includes prompts about whether participants felt welcome and included, the impact of the events on their sense of connection to others and the environment, and ideas for improvement. Importantly, interview participants are offered honoraria in recognition of their time and insights.
Participants have shared many benefits from the program, including discovering new green spaces, learning more about local ecology, and making new friends.
City staff are taking direction from the interviews to continue maximizing these benefits, said Angela Negenman, Environmental Coordinator at the City of North Vancouver.
“For those experiencing homelessness, maybe this is something that could give them an edge to get a landscaping job, right? If we are able to figure out what those things are through this process, we’ll be able to improve the program.”
Angela Negenman, Environmental Coordinator at the City of North Vancouver
The conversations have also unearthed important barriers. For example, city staff learned that getting to the events can be a challenge—not just in terms of accessing transportation, but also feeling comfortable venturing to new parts of the city. In response, the city has provided free bus passes to participants, and when possible, a staff member from the partner organization accompanies participants to the park.
“I wouldn’t have thought of [these barriers] if they hadn’t been shared with us. It’s definitely eye-opening.”
Angela Negenman
The city held a community meeting with residents who selected a smaller 10,000 square foot space in the park to be a programmed pollinator habitat, which would be stewarded by the community group Cianchino created with ongoing support from the city. In the future Cianchino said she wants to implement a QR code system in locations identified for potential naturalization asking residents to let the city know how they currently use the space.
Supporting community stewards will be a key part of the project’s ongoing success. Working with volunteers, Cianchino led the group’s first “bio blitz,” where residents measure the number of pollinators before the planting of native species this fall. Cianchino also works with the group to discuss what people can do in their own yards to support naturalization efforts. The core of the Eco Park Strategy, she said, is a series of linked habitats and green corridors,
“and you can’t just do that through public land. It’s critical that we educate landowners and help them build capacity to naturalize their spaces in a manner that works for them.”
Karley Cianchino, City of Brampton Environmental Project Specialist
Another learning is that outreach is more effective ‘offline,’ through posters and in-person visits, and must be ongoing, as there is high turnover at many of these organizations. For example, participants from a local shelter are often only there for short-term stays.
It’s not just participants who benefit from the park stewards program. For the city, the program is important in educating the public, building ongoing stewardship habits, and restoring degraded natural areas.
Another unexpected benefit is a morale boost for parks staff. Negenman noted that for operations staff involved with the program, engaging directly with the community and seeing public education in action “just gives them a different perspective on the work.”
These are benefits that Negenman knows firsthand, too: “it’s definitely inspiring, it fills my bucket.”
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, children and youth in grades 6 to 10 report playing outdoors for just 15 minutes per day on average.
This has serious consequences for their health and wellbeing: children spending less time outdoors has been linked to decreased appreciation of the environment, health problems including obesity and vitamin D deficiency, attention difficulties, and higher rates of emotional illnesses like anxiety and depression.
Moving youth programming outdoors to a park is a wonderful opportunity to connect kids with nature, foster creativity, and encourage physical activity. So, how can we encourage young people to leave the couch and reconnect with nature?
We spoke with Shakeera Solomon from Vision of Hope Resource Centre in Brampton—who received a TD Park People Grant in 2019—about what they learned when they brought their monthly Youth Council programming outdoors into the park.
Here are Shakeera’s tips for moving your indoor programming outside.
First up, observe your local park to see which aspects could be appealing for youth and suitable for your programs. Check for amenities like restrooms, shaded areas, picnic tables, and open spaces. Identify any potential safety hazards (such as bodies of water or uneven ground) that might require extra supervision for youth participants.
Next, take note of the surrounding area: are you near a school, convenience store, or other location that youth are already drawn to? If so, this could make your park a great spot for outreach!
When Vision of Hope chose to move their monthly Youth Council meetings from the east Brampton Resource Centre, they picked Anne Nash Park—a small, local park with just a modest play area because of its prime location beside an elementary school. This way, the Youth Council caught the attention of kids from the elementary school and those passing by on their way home from school. Their new visibility helped the Youth Council attract many more members who now regularly attend meetings and events.
Tips:
Hosting a gathering in a park is a great way to deepen relationships in your community. By involving parents, park staff, and other partner organizations in your outdoor programming, you can help create stronger community bounds.
As Shakeera explains, when youth-focused programs happened indoors, parents would wait on the sidelines and kill time on their own. But when programming moved into the park, parents interacted in a whole new way. In the small park, it became awkward for parents not to talk, and so they started chatting and getting to know one another. When parents connect, there are many benefits, particularly in an underserved community. Parents who know one another are much more likely to support each other and build resilience in times of need.
Adapting indoor activities to the outdoor environment offers incredible opportunities to get creative. For example, storytelling can become a nature scavenger hunt, and art projects can use natural materials. Think about how you’ll use the unique character of your park to inspire your youth participants, and how you might encourage them to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility towards the space.
Shakeera told us bringing programming to the park helped the youth feel that the space was truly theirs. She was even surprised when her group eagerly suggested organizing a park clean-up. That’s when she realized the park had really become “their place.”
“They were so proud of what they accomplished for their park.”
Shakeera Solomon, Vision of Hope Resource Centre
She observed their pride when they posed for a team photo with gloves and garbage bags.
Tips
Parks are vibrant spaces where we can connect to nature, ecology, and sustainability—right within Canada’s urban centres.
Parks are also delicate ecosystems. As visitors, we all have a role to play in protecting plants and wildlife and ensuring that we leave no waste behind.
We’ve prepared this planning guide to help you plan a fabulous zero-waste event that leaves your park just as healthy as you found it.
Each community has different opportunities and challenges when it comes to reducing its waste at park events. For example, some parks may have fewer garbage cans and recycling facilities for people to use, while others may have residents who feel more comfortable using single-serve packaging when at public events.
Before you start planning your event, ask yourself:
Once you’ve determined what information or resources your community might need to support your zero-waste goal, it’s time to make a plan!
The exact details of your zero-waste plan will be different depending on your community’s needs, but the following checklist provides a handy template for you to start with.
To go the extra mile, combine your zero-waste event with engaging and informative waste education activities. For example, at Park People’s end-of-season potluck celebration, we invited participants to decide whether common household waste items should be put into the garbage, recycling, or food waste bins.You might choose to host eco-friendly workshops on topics like upcycling, gardening, or composting demonstrations, or incorporate nature-focused activities like guided walks or clean-ups.Your goal is to show how fun, easy, and accessible zero-waste activities can be!
It takes a village to make a park look beautiful! While picking up garbage might not seem like an appealing activity at first, people enjoy cleanups because they get to see the tangible results of their efforts and feel more connected to their local park.As our Earth Day webinar made clear, cleanup events are a great way to inspire a collective love and commitment to your park among your neighbours—one that can have lasting effects on your community and on the environment.Here’s a 5-step plan to make your park clean-up a great community event.
Your municipality is an incredible resource for your park group to engage in your cleanup activities, and on an ongoing basis. They can help you plan and promote your event and access resources that you may need to get started.Begin by contacting your park supervisor about your plans to organize a cleanup, especially if this is your first park event. Your park supervisor can tell you what permits you might need, explain waste disposal protocols, and possibly connect you with other park enthusiasts who can join in the cleanup effort.Many municipalities also host city-wide cleanup days that new community park groups can join. Taking part in coordinated cleanup day will allow your group to access many resources that may not otherwise be available to you, like garbage bags and gloves. Plus, the city’s promotional reach will help you reach new people. Ask your park supervisor about any upcoming city-wide cleanup days.
It’s not just cities who help coordinate cleanups. For example, The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a conservation partnership by Ocean Wise and WWF-Canada. They offer support to anyone who’d like to coordinate a shoreline cleanup (if your park connects to water in any way—a creek, stream, marsh, or even storm drains—this includes you!).Do some research to see what other organizations, networks, or events might be relevant to your park, and who might want to partner up with you on your event. Your neighbourhood is likely full of non-profit groups, community organizations and individuals, all of whom could lend a hand to your clean up and bring new communities of interest to your park events. For example, you could approach a local bike co-op to offer tune-ups for cyclists at your event, or invite an environmental organization to help educate people on the steps they can take to reduce their waste footprint.Finally, consider approaching a local business to sponsor your event by offering small rewards like reusable water bottles, gift cards, or other prizes for participants.
Start your event plan with a walk through of the park space: how accessible is the environment? Are there paved paths for people to walk on, or mostly uneven terrain? Are there washrooms or water fountains open for participants to use? Approximately how much garbage is there currently, and how many volunteers might it take to clean it thoroughly? Take notes during your walkthrough and talk through your findings with your team. What information is important to pass along to your participants?Next, you may wish to use an online tool, such as Evenbrite or Google Forms, to promote your event, manage volunteers, collect RSVPs, and provide pre-event instructions such as weather updates, accessibility information, and guidance on suitable event attire (long pants and closed-toes shoes are best!). When you’re ready to launch, use social media, local bulletin boards, email newsletters, and word-of-mouth to promote your event. Ask your neighbors about their recommendations for good places to promote the event, such as any local Facebook groups. You may also want to invite journalists from a community newspaper or local bloggers/social media influencers to cover the event.
Finally, it’s time to prepare your supplies. You’ll want to consider offering:
Set up a check-in station before your event begins to welcome volunteers, distribute supplies, and provide safety briefings on what to do if they come across hazardous materials. Make sure you also use this welcome opportunity to collect information from the people who arrive: have them sign up for your park groups newsletter and chat with them about how they use the park and their vision for their shared space.Depending on how many participants you have and how large your park is, it’s best to divide volunteers into small groups assigned to specific areas during the cleanup. If possible, ensure that each group has a representative from your park group to offer support and answer questions as you clean. When you’re finished with your cleanup, separate recyclables, compostables, and landfill waste at the end of the cleanup.Finally, remember to make it fun throughout! Play music, organize a scavenger hunt, or create challenges like “Who can collect the most candy wrappers/pop cans/red-coloured items/whatever!”
When the cleanup is finished, it’s time to celebrate all that you’ve achieved! Take a group photo of your volunteers, and count the weight of the trash collected or the size of the areas cleaned to motivate your participants and promote future events.In the days following your event, be sure to email your volunteers, partners, sponsors, and the City to thank them for their participation, ask for their input to improve future events, and remind them to stay in touch with your park group—especially if they want to help you organize the next cleanup!
Park People is excited to launch the 2024 Canadian City Parks Report, our sixth annual edition highlighting the most significant trends, issues, and practices shaping Canada’s city parks.
Watch our special launch webinar to explore our findings:
The webinar features an engaging discussion on the future of city parks, with guest speakers from the City of Victoria and Greenspace Alliance. They share opportunities and challenges in their work around collaborations and partnerships, across city departments, communities, non-profits, and more.
Adri Stark is specialized in research and policy at Park People, and co-author of the annual Canadian City Parks Report.…
Joy is the Manager of Research and Partnerships at Park People and facilitates national research and network engagement that supports…
Julia is the Food Systems Coordinator for the City of Victoria. She comes to the role after over 15 years…
Nicole DesRoches, born in Ottawa and living in Chelsea Québec, part of the National Capital Region, therefore living within the…
Today Park People launches the sixth Canadian City Parks Report–and the final iteration of this report in its current form: Bridging the Gap: How the park sector can meet today’s complex challenges through partnerships and collaboration.
Last year, we dove deep into the minds of park managers across the country, interviewing over 44 senior parks staff across 30 municipalities about the trends and challenges in the industry. One of the key insights from that process was a need to find collaboration sweet spots to achieve our many collective parks goals.
This year’s report expands on that insight by showcasing collaborative examples from across the country and through collecting data from 35 Canadian municipalities, over 2,500 residents of Canadian cities, as well as interviews with park staff and professionals.
Through that process we found six key insights related to collaborations and partnerships:
In this report you’ll find:
How does the City of Victoria’s Get Growing Victoria program take a food justice approach to provide gardening supplies to communities at risk of food insecurity, including those experiencing houselessness, Indigenous and racialized communities, seniors, and youth.
How Toronto is transforming future park spaces into temporary public areas through partnerships, letting residents enjoy them now while planning for long-term park development.
How partnerships across city departments and with local community groups helped the City of Charlottetown recover from Hurricane Fiona’s devastating winds.
How Mississauga is expanding parkland in a growing neighborhood to meet future demand through a cooperative, long-term property purchase plan.
How a temporary plaza in Montreal’s Parc Marcelin-Wilson was created to offer a gathering space for youth, with design improvements informed by Metalude’s insights through direct observations and youth engagement.
How an agreement between the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks provides a path for shared cultural planning.
How can municipalities move from awareness to action? A conversation with Jay Pitter about Black people’s experiences in parks and public spaces.
How Waterfront Toronto is raising the bar on inclusivity through their Waterfront Accessibility Design Guidelines.
How Nature Canada is building a web of partners at all scales to help Canada achieve its biodiversity conservation goals.
In questioning the future of our health and well-being, the health of our planet and how connected we feel to the rest of nature–and the equity issues inherent to all this–it’s easy to feel powerless. Multiple unique challenges suggest the need for multiple unique solutions, which may be difficult when there’s so much to pay attention to.
The new Cornerstone Parks Reports on Stewardship and Park Use allow us to change how we think. What if the same approaches that improve the planet’s health also strengthen its people’s health and happiness? And what if those activities are as within-reach as our local urban park? A growing body of evidence suggests that shared solutions to multiple challenges are at our fingertips.
The new Cornerstone Parks Reports on Stewardship and Park Use (High Park Report – Stanley Park Report – Mount Royal Report) combine findings from 796 individual survey responses throughout 2021 and 2022 to demonstrate large urban parks’ impact on communities’ connectedness to nature and–by extension–their health and happiness.
Surveys show that most park users (67%) who visit the large urban parks being studied spend their time participating in social and recreational activities rather than nature-focused ones (33%). And yet, the higher park users rate their nature-connectedness, the higher they report their physical health, mental health, and overall well-being.
People who engage in hands-on, nature-focused activities and park stewardship (over other park activities) report powerful social connections; a sense of belonging, meaning and purpose in their lives; greater physical health; and overall life satisfaction. To summarize, a healthier, happier life may begin with getting our hands dirty.
Large urban parks like High Park in Toronto, Stanley Park in Vancouver, and Mount Royal in Montreal are essential spaces for city-dwellers to access and connect with nature, including through park stewardship.
“Park stewardship” refers to park-based programs or events that invite volunteers to care for the land we’re a part of and depend on. Park stewardship can include removing invasive species, planting native species, inventorying or monitoring plants and wildlife, or removing litter, among other activities.
Among Cornerstone Park stewardship participants, 98% of those surveyed said that volunteering as stewards contributes to feeling connected to living things and the environment. Surveyed volunteers also said that participating in stewardship enables stronger feelings of nature-connectedness than engaging in recreational activities (75% vs 51%, respectively).
Knowing that there’s an association between nature connection and health suggests that participating in park stewardship could significantly impact health more than general park use.
Our survey findings show that:
0%
of volunteer stewards said stewardship makes them feel happy and satisfied
said stewardship contributes to their mental well-being
said stewardship contributes to their physical health
In greater detail:
of stewards agreed that stewardship contributes to them developing and maintaining social connections (only 73% said the same about recreational activities)
of stewards agreed that stewardship contributes to their sense of belonging to a community (only 69% said the same about recreational activities)
of stewards agreed that stewardship contributes to a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives (only 74% said the same about recreational activities)
Those participating in park stewardship more often rate their physical health and life satisfaction higher. People who participate in stewardship activities 20 or more times per year rate their life satisfaction the highest–even higher than those who engage in park recreation daily!
Unfortunately, our findings also show that some communities are less engaged in park stewardship. The majority of those who participate in stewardship identify as cis-gendered women (68%), able-bodied (86%) and white (76%).
With many communities under-represented in these parks and their programs, not everyone can access the health and social benefits experienced by park stewards.
Park user surveys also revealed that nature connections are weaker amongst specific demographics:
of park users who identify as a visible minority felt strongly connected to nature (73% of white park users said the same)
of park users born outside of Canada felt strongly connected to nature (73% of those born in Canada said the same)
People with a disability also felt significantly less connected to nature than their able-bodied counterparts. In both 2021 and 2022, 0% of park stewards surveyed indicated that they had a visible disability.
If certain communities are left out of stewardship programs and feel generally disconnected from nature, it’s reasonable to assume that this may impact their health.
Large urban parks have a meaningful opportunity to diversify their visitors and stewards. With current gaps in mind, founding Cornerstone Parks High Park, Stanley Park, and Mount Royal prioritize innovative programs that engage equity-deserving communities in park stewardship. The proof is in the numbers. From 2021 to 2022:
increase in the number of newcomers participating in stewardship at Cornerstone Parks
increase in the number of stewards who are BIPOC
This increase in inclusivity is thanks to innovative programs like:
The Cornerstone Parks program is currently announcing new partnerships that maximize the impact and influence of Canada’s large urban parks. They include the Darlington Ecological Corridor* in Montreal, Quebec; the Everett Crowley Park Committee and Free the Fern in Vancouver, BC; and the Meewasin Valley Authority in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The Cornerstone Parks network is excited to grow with them and measure how their stewardship work improves the lives of their diverse communities, all while helping their cities adapt to current and future crises such as climate change.
Environmental health, human health, and equity are complex. But we can work smarter, not harder, with solutions that nurture ourselves, the planet, and each other simultaneously. If we follow the evidence that participating in environmental stewardship leads to better health and greater happiness–and if we commit to extending those well-being benefits to more equity-deserving communities–the solution-seeking potential of our actions is multiplied.
To get our hands dirty is to reclaim power, especially in times of change. Canada’s large urban parks are the sites that show us how. Through innovative programs, they connect communities to nature and each other. The closer every Canadian is to a Cornerstone Park, the closer they are to tangible solutions: for now and for the future.
Dive deeper into the findings of our Cornerstone Parks Reports on Stewardship and Park Use, and follow us as we expand our network of Cornerstone Parks.
Park People launches the fifth annual Canadian City Parks Report: Surfacing Solutions: How Addressing Conflict and Reframing Challenges as Opportunities Can Create More Equitable and Sustainable Parks.
Over the past five years of the Canadian City Parks Report, our goal has always been to tell a story—the story of where city parks are going and where they need to go.
This year, we took an even deeper approach to gathering these stories. We sat down for interviews with 44 senior parks staff across 30 municipalities, who generously shared with us the challenges they are facing, the projects and people inspiring them, and their vision for the future of city parks.
In the report, we weave together the themes we heard from those conversations with the data we gathered from our surveys of 35 municipalities and over 2000 residents of Canadian cities.
Dive into the pdf to read about our key insights on trends and challenges in city parks:
As cities struggle to find and pay for new park space to meet growth needs, some argue that a shift towards focusing on quality is part of the solution.
Discover Vancouver’s ambitious parks and recreation master plan, using innovative mapping to guide equity-led parkland investment.
Brampton leads the way with its Eco Park Strategy, a citywide initiative focused on naturalization projects that preserve and enhance natural and cultural heritage.
How the City of North Vancouver is working to better engage equity-deserving groups in its longstanding Park Stewards program, including people who are underhoused, newcomers, and at-risk youth.
The Montreal’s Darlington Ecological Corridor bridges urban and natural spaces while addressing both ecological restoration and social needs through meaningful partnerships.
A look into the logistics of collaborative governance in a large urban park with Meewasin Valley Authority in Saskatoon.
Learn more about the District of Saanich’s collaborative approach to tackling conflict over off-leash dog parks.
How cities are navigating the benefits and challenges of privately owned public spaces (POPS) through creative policies and guidelines on design, stewardship, and public programming.
Restoring the Don River’s natural flow, Toronto’s renaturalization project enhances biodiversity, mitigates flooding, and reconnects the city with its waterways.
Public washrooms are a park necessity.. Discover Edmonton’s approach to creating safe, inclusive public washrooms.
Bill 23: A conversation with Michelle Dobbie, Manager Park and Natural Heritage Planning, City of Richmond Hill.
Happy reading!
This case study is part of the 2024 Canadian City Parks Report, showcasing Inspiring projects, people, and policies from across Canada that offer tangible solutions to the most pressing challenges facing city parks.
Cities are in dire need of new park space. Despite that need, however, sometimes funding challenges, environmental contamination, and ownership issues mean that sites slated to become parks won’t actually be designed and built in their final form for several years.
To address this challenge, Toronto’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division is collaborating with the City’s Economic Development and Cultural Division and external cultural and economic development organizations to provide and animate much-needed public space in the immediate term.
Toronto’s Director of Parks Planning, Paul Farish, said that rather than waiting sometimes years to go through a formal process that includes design and procurement–all while the space remains vacant–the City is “opening a public space that people can access and enjoy and even shape themselves at the front end.”
He added the City’s Economic Development and Culture Division has been a “very useful partner” because they bring “ideas and third parties who can introduce programming and run events” until Parks, Forestry and Recreation is ready to turn it into a fully operational park.
One example is a future park space at Front and Bathurst Streets where environmental contamination issues meant it would be several years before the City could turn the land into a public park. In the meantime, the City is working with Stackt Market, which has run a successful shipping container market–North America’s largest–and outdoor event space on the site since 2019. The partnership brings thousands of people to the space for free and ticketed events, provides space for local businesses in pop-up shops, includes food and drink options and prioritizes community programming.
“It’s a kind of quasi-public space,” said Farish, adding that it’s “important to be flexible and acknowledge that there’s different ways in which a property can achieve its objectives, including public space objectives.”
Parking lots represent another opportunity. Farish said that the City has plans to convert a number of parking lots to parkland over the next few years, but due to funding or other factors they are not going to become parks tomorrow.
“In the meantime, we need to get a little bit creative and bring in partners to animate them and make them as engaging as possible.”
Paul Farish, Toronto’s Director of Parks Planning
One challenge is that people may get attached to the interim uses so much that when it’s time to design the actual park, there is push back. “We’re conscious of it,” Farish said. In some places, the City is floating the idea of putting in a pickleball or basketball court in a parking lot–uses that could become entrenched in people’s minds even if they’re meant to be interim uses. “But you grapple with it,” he said. “It’s less of a concern because it’s still within the range of what was intended to be a public space with some sort of recreational or environmental benefit to the community.”
In Midtown Toronto, a city-owned parking lot is poised to become the largest park addition in the Yonge-Eglinton area in decades, providing much needed public space in the rapidly intensifying neighbourhood. There the City is installing pickleball and basketball courts as well as tables, seating, and other amenities as an immediate “phase one” approach in advance of full park design and construction.
In Toronto’s parkland-deficient Downtown, the City purchased one of the last undeveloped parking lots. As environmental work and park design processes take place, the site has been temporarily programmed as a popular restaurant patio. A known landmark in the city, the property was a part of a design competition that secured an innovative design and approved budget of $10 million.
At another site, along the waterfront, a recently closed parking garage at Spadina Pier is being planned for refurbishment as a site to host cultural and special events in the near term to showcase its potential as a future permanent park. Farish noted a number of local organizations that could serve as programming partners.
The first was a partnership with The Bentway–the park conservancy that operates a public space underneath a nearby elevated highway–to activate the site as part of Toronto’s 2023 Nuit Blanche. The Bentway’s installation (delivered in partnership with the City) helped to test and build awareness for the planned waterfront park, including art projections on the recently restored 100-year old Canada Malting silos.
“The phased approach helps City staff, residents and partners to develop the long-term vision for the park through temporary activations, fluid programming and on-the-ground experimentation”
Lessons are learned during this process about what works on a specific site that can inform future designs and operational needs for the park.
The approach also provides “flexibility in terms of partnership and operating models,” he said, “furthering the creativity and experimentation while maintaining an emphasis on the benefits of public space and publicly-owned lands.”