Item - 2025.MM33.34

Mayor Olivia Chow, seconded by Councillor Neethan Shan, recommends that:

1. City Council direct the Deputy City Manager, Community Development and Social Services, in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Zoo, the Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo, and Toronto school boards, to report back as part of the 2026 budget process on the development and implementation of a Legacy of Learning program to offer complimentary weekday field trips to the Toronto Zoo for students in Toronto schools, with consideration of the following:

a. exploration of public, private, and philanthropic partnerships to support this initiative and ensure its sustainability as a long-term investment in education, environmental leadership, and civic pride;

b. consideration of mobility options for school groups from across Toronto to access the Zoo, including alignment with the Toronto Transit Corporation Field Trip Pilot Program;

c. aiming to ensure equitable access for all students and prioritizing schools in underserved communities where opportunities for nature connection are often limited; and

d. consultation with the representatives of the estates of Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Anne Innis Dagg to determine how best to acknowledge their legacies

2. City Council formally recognize Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Anne Innis Dagg for their extraordinary contributions to science, conservation, and humanity, and that the initiative in Part 1 above be created in their honour as a living legacy that benefits future generations and to honour them as Guardians of Wild.

3. City Council forward this item to the Board of Management of the Toronto Zoo for information.

The legacies of Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Anne Innis Dagg have reshaped global and Canadian understanding of wildlife and conservation. At the Toronto Zoo, young people get inspired every day to follow in their footsteps with curiosity about the natural world and how we can respect and learn from it.

Dr. Jane Goodall has inspired generations worldwide through her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees and her tireless advocacy for conservation and youth empowerment through the Roots and Shoots program. Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, a Canadian zoologist, author, and trailblazer in animal behaviour research, is internationally recognized as the pioneer of modern giraffe field research and a tireless advocate for both wildlife conservation and the advancement of women in science.

Both Dr. Goodall and Dr. Innis Dagg embody values of courage, perseverance, and hope for protecting the natural world, and their legacies can ignite passion in young people to take positive action for our future. Access to nature provides students with unique experiential learning opportunities that cannot be replicated in a classroom, fostering empathy, critical thinking, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of biodiversity and the challenges facing our planet.

Creating a “Legacy of Learning” program that provides free school field trip access for Toronto students to the Toronto Zoo will both honour the extraordinary contributions of Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Anne Innis Dagg and invest in the next generation of Guardians of Wild, ensuring that young Torontonians inherit not only knowledge but responsibility to care for the planet.

Learning through direct connection with animals aligns with the Toronto Zoo’s mission of connecting people, animals, traditional knowledge and conservation science to fight extinction, and with its Guardians of Wild Strategic Plan goal to inspire youth to become active champions for wildlife and the environment and supports the Toronto Zoo’s TZNet0 Plan. This program will also support the City of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and various City efforts to support young people.

This motion is urgent as adequate time is required to develop the program design and implementation plan to report back as part of the 2026 budget process.