Moss Park & Metrolinx: A complicated history

Ahsen Bhatti, Moss Park Coalition –

To say that Moss Park and Metrolinx have had a fractured and contentious relationship would be an understatement. Over the past four years, the Moss Park Coalition has been advocating for a communi­ty benefits agreement with Metrolinx for the Moss Park Station, which is under con­struction as part of the Ontario Line subway.

However, the coalition’s ef­forts to engage Metrolinx on this topic and other communi­ty impacts have often proven fruitless. Consistently, requests for local jobs, art on the hoard­ing surrounding the station and other community benefits have fallen on deaf ears, with emp­ty promises for future updates rarely followed up.

The announcement that the Ontario Line would go through Moss Park provided a tremen­dous opportunity for investment in the neighbourhood. Accord­ingly, the Toronto Community Benefits Network and the Moss Park Coalition started to work with Metrolinx on an agree­ment. The goal was to integrate investment into social infra­structure alongside the transit construction, ensuring that the development would not displace existing residents.

Community members have been frustrated by the lack of transparency or accountability around much of the work being done at the Moss Park Station. Metrolinx committed to holding quarterly meetings of a Stake­holders’ Working Group – but has not convened it for the past two years. Multiple attempts to have community art on the hoarding around the construc­tion have been ignored until re­cently.

Much has been said about the 61 trees that Metrolinx cut down without local consultation. The original Community Liaison Committee was replaced by a Construction Liaison Com­mittee, which barred questions regarding community benefits or jobs. And despite Metrolinx claiming that jobs have been created in the area, attempts to advocate for community-centric hiring were given short shrift.

Throughout the process, con­do development anticipating the subway has been in full swing in Moss Park, with multiple buildings nearing completion. A spree of condo development projects were proposed soon after the Metrolinx project was announced, spurring grave concern about gentrification to Moss Park community mem­bers, many of whom live in Toronto Community Housing buildings.

With a populace primarily consisting of low- to middle-in­come racialized communities and multitudinous social ser­vices, Moss Park has long re­sisted the rapid gentrification that has affected other Toronto neighbourhoods. The Ontario Line changed this situation al­most immediately; and while new public transit development is rarely a bad thing, who will this transit benefit and what harm might it bring to vulner­able people?

The Ontario Line could be built with equitable transporta­tion planning and cooperation with the neighbourhood on local priorities regarding jobs, busi­nesses and art. The Crosstown Extension exemplifies how this sort of large-scale development can have immense positive so­cial impact on a community.

Looking forward, there is some positive news. Metrolinx has made commitments to hold a job fair in Moss Park in 2026, bring back the Stakeholder’s Working Group, have art up on the hoarding by this summer and identify local businesses for procurement of goods and services. Through this kind of grassroots collaboration with community groups, Metrolinx can ensure that the Ontario Line benefits people in our commu­nities.

We need to bring public, pri­vate and community stakehold­ers to the table and collectively design holistic solutions that address pressing needs like jobs and housing. Public investment should be advantageous for all our neighbours.