Access to community recreation in Toronto backgrounder and action points

Access to community recreation in Toronto

Backgrounder and action points
Communi ty Recreati on for Al l i s a group of communi ty workers and resi dents
worki ng to i mprove access to recreati on programs and communi ty centres i n
Toronto. We can be reached at communi tyrecreati onforal l @gmai l . com
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grams?
Its getting haiuei anu haiuei to get into oui community centies The Paiks Foiestiy
anu Recieation PFR subsiuy piogiam the Welcome Policy is uificult to access anu una
vailable foi months at a time The city has incieaseu usei fees intiouuceu new usei fees
like leisuie swim in inuooi pools anu cut many fiee piogiams Anu if we uont take ac
tion iight now its about to get much woise
What is the history of access to recreation in Toronto?
Piioi to city-iun iecieation piogiams anu community centies in the olu City of
Toionto weie all fiee 0thei municipalities like Noith Yoik hau theii own systems that in
cluueu both usei fees anu subsiuy piogiams In the piovincial goveinment put sev
eial municipalities togethei to cieate the new mega-city of Toionto Recieation usei fees
weie intiouuceu acioss the mega-city
What are Priority Centres?
Shoitly aftei amalgamation the city cieateu fiee Piioiity community centies The
plan was to expanu these ovei time Cuiiently theie aie community centies in Toion
to 0nly of these aie Piioiity Centies
In }anuaiy City Council voteu to cut fiee auult piogiams fiom the Piioiity
Centies This change will be implementeu in fall As of Naich theie weie
inuiviuuals iegisteieu in auult piogiams acioss Piioiity Centies This coulu incluue youth
anu seniois iegisteieu foi auult piogiams The aveiage cost of a nine-week auult couise
is appioximately
What is the Welcome Policy?
Shoitly aftei amalgamation the city also cieateu a subsiuy piogiam foi iecieation pio
giams calleu the Welcome Policy with the goal of extenuing yeai-iounu access to quality
iecieation piogiams to all Toionto iesiuents iegaiuless of theii ability to pay The Wel
come Policy is supposeu to be available to eveiyone whose income falls below the Low
Income Cut-off anu entitles auults to one iecieation piogiam pei season anu chiluien
anu youth to thiee to foui piogiams pei season theie aie foui seasons
In ieality the Welcome Policy is buugeteu to seive appioximately peicent of Toionto
iesiuents with incomes that fall below to the Low Income Cut-off As a iesult the piogiam
is fiequently fiozen Even people who have maue it thiough the complicateu anu often hu
miliating application piocess cannot iegistei foi piogiams using the Welcome Policy uui
ing a fieeze In the spiing anu summei of the Welcome Policy was fiozen foi months
at a time meaning no chilu oi youth anywheie in the City of Toionto coulu iegistei foi
summei camps oi piogiams using the subsiuy

Access to community recreation in Toronto backgrounder and action points
What is happening now?
Access to community centies anu iecieation piogiams coulu get much woise Its pos
sible that City Council is consiueiing uiamatic usei fee incieases the enu of Piioiity Cen
ties anu the piivatization of oui community centies At the same time as people get oiga
nizeu aiounu community iecieation acioss the city we aie builuing a new vision one that
incluues community iecieation foi all
What can I do?
Contact youi City Councilloi Nayoi Foiu anu the membeis of the Executive Commit
tee as soon as possible If you can call oi meet with them iathei than email this woulu be
the most effective To inu theii contact infoimation please call oi visit http
apptoiontocaimcouncilcouncilloisjsp
You can also iegistei to make a ueputation at the Septembei
th
meeting of the Com
munity Bevelopment anu Recieation Committee This committee ueals speciically with
iecieation among othei issues like housing anu chilu caie To iegistei please call -
- oi email cuictoiontoca You can also iegistei to make a ueputation to the
Nayois Executive Committee on Septembei th To iegistei please call --
oi email exctoiontoca
Finally you can wiite letteis to the euitoi at newspapeis incluuing the Toronto Stor
the Toronto Sun anu the 6lobe onJ Hoil explaining that as City Council consiueis cuts to
seivices you want to make suie that theie aie no cuts to access to community iecieation
Please share the following points:
x You want to know your City Councillor will support access to recreation dur
ing tbe budget process This means speciic suppoit foi Piioiity Centies It
also means voting against iecieation usei fee incieases anu new usei fees
x You want your City Councillor to pledge tbat tbey will work towards commu
nity recreation for all in tbe montbs and years to come This means biinging
fiee auult piogiams back to Piioiity Centies expanuing Piioiity Centies anu ie
veising uamaging new usei fees like the one on leisuie swim in inuooi pools It also
means iesouicing the Welcome Policy to the point that eveiyone who qualiies has
access to the piogiam Finally it means woiking closely with communities to builu
a iecieation system that woiks foi eveiyone
Please blind copy communityrecreationforallgmailcom on any communica
tions And please email us to |oin our mailing list for updates and action items