Decisions

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council receive the report (August 28, 2025) from the Fire Chief and General Manager, Toronto Fire Services for information.

The Fire Chief and General Manager, Fire Services, gave a presentation on Toronto Fire Services 2024 Annual Report

The Toronto Fire Services (TFS) 2024 Annual Report provides an overview of the fire protection services provided to Toronto's residents and visitors, along with a clear and transparent reporting of outcomes and service level performance. Toronto Fire Services provides Toronto residents, visitors, and businesses with world-class fire protection services, through public education, fire prevention and all-hazards emergency response services.

Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 79, Fire Services, requires the Fire Chief to prepare and present an annual report to Council. This report fulfills that requirement and provides Council with an update on fire protection service levels, service level performance, and an overview of the numerous achievements and accomplishments in 2024.

The Economic and Community Development Committee:

1. Received the report (September 2, 2025) from the Interim General Manager, Parks and Recreation for information.

Parks and Recreation is committed to improving the quality of life for Toronto residents through the provision of high-quality recreational spaces, programs and services that are welcoming, affordable, accessible and equitable for all ages and stages at:

-128 community recreation centres

- 20 enhanced youth spaces

- 41 indoor arenas

- 54 outdoor artificial ice rinks

- 64 indoor pools

- 59 outdoor pools

- 85 wading pools

- 10 supervised swimming beaches

Parks and Recreation offers high quality recreational programs and services to meet the needs of the diverse communities across the city and supports youth development and employment through certification opportunities and employment readiness programs. These include Building Skills Through Recreation and Enhanced Youth Spaces, which lead to thousands of newly employed youth into Parks and Recreation job opportunities across the city every year. 

This report outlines how Parks and Recreation Division ensures equitable access to recreational, leisure and leadership opportunities, and specifically responds to recommendation 8 under EX23.5, adopted by City Council on May 20 and 21, 2025, which requested staff to report back on:

- which swim and other programs are not covered by the existing Welcome Policy and options to make them available under the Welcome Policy; and

- whether the lack of access to programs under the Welcome Policy may have had an impact on youth not pursuing a path to lifeguarding and other jobs with City of Toronto and, if so, what measures would need to be taken to encourage youth to pursue swimming accreditation levels.

The Welcome Policy subsidy can be applied to all registered Parks and Recreation programs including but not limited to learn to swim, sports, and certification and leadership courses. Residents who do not qualify for Welcome Policy and/or continue to face financial barriers can access programs and services through other measures, as described in this report.

The Welcome Policy represents one key component under a multi-pronged approach used by Parks and Recreation to reduce financial barriers and increase access to recreation for Toronto residents. Other components include:

- Place-based subsidy at 39 Free Centres across the City of Toronto.

- Low-cost options for primary and introductory recreation programs.

- Universally subsidized free drop-in and leisure programs.

Parks and Recreation delivers a variety of programs in a growing network of recreation facilities that offer drop-in and instructional programs, swimming, camps and after-school care, seniors' activities, youth programs and spaces that foster leadership, life skills, and provide youth employment readiness and hiring opportunities. Over 1.2 million hours of recreation programs are being offered in 2025 including registered and drop-in programming opportunities. 

The Economic and Community Development Committee:  

1. Received the report (September 2, 2025) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture for information.

This report responds to direction from the Economic and Community Development Committee to develop a plan to ensure fully functional lighting along the Luminous Veil, the public artwork integrated in the upper deck of the Prince Edward Viaduct. This landmark installation, now over a decade old, is exhibiting system failures due to environmental damage, age, and gaps in maintenance and monitoring systems.

This report outlines an immediate repair plan to restore functionality and maintenance activities to the Luminous Veil by June 2026. City staff will work with Dereck Revington, the artist who designed the Luminous Veil, and qualified professional partners to execute repairs including the replacement of key infrastructure that will eliminate lighting outages. A maintenance schedule, including regular inspections, remote monitoring, and emergency response, will be developed to ensure that the lighting remains operational and that any issues can be promptly addressed. Following immediate repairs, City staff will consider recommendations from technical experts to implement a full asset renewal to ensure long-term sustainability, improve reliability and monitoring, and restore artistic intent.

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The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council state its intention to designate the area described by Attachment 1 to the report (September 2, 2025) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, as the expanded Riverside District Business Improvement Area under Chapter 19 of the City of Toronto Municipal Code.

2. City Council direct the City Clerk to send out a notice of City Council's intention to pass a by-law designating the area described by Attachment 1 to the report (September 2, 2025) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture as the expanded Riverside District Business Improvement Area, in accordance with Chapter 19 of the City of Toronto Municipal Code.

3. City Council direct the Chief Technology Officer to prepare designation by-law maps of the area as described by Attachment 1 to the report (September 2, 2025) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, and submit them to the City Solicitor.

This report recommends that the City Clerk conduct a poll to determine if there is sufficient support to expand the boundaries of the Riverside District Improvement Area (BIA) as shown on Attachment 1.

Upon completion of the poll, the General Manager of Economic Development and Culture will report on the results to City Council through the Economic and Community Development Committee.  Subject to a positive poll result, staff shall prepare the necessary by-laws and bills to give effect thereto.

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council designate the area described by Attachment 1 to the report (September 2, 2025) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, as the amended Dupont by the Castle Business Improvement Area under the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 19, Business Improvement Areas.

2. City Council direct the Chief Technology Officer to prepare designation By-law maps of the area outlined in Attachment 1, to the report (September 2, 2025) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, and submit them to the City Solicitor.

3. City Council amend the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 19, Business Improvement Areas, as necessary to reflect the expanded boundaries of the Dupont by the Castle Business Improvement Area.

The purpose of this report is to recommend a minor expansion of the Dupont by the Castle Business Improvement Area (BIA) boundaries to include the property at 1100 Bathurst Street, a commercial retail space with offices, adjacent to the boundaries of the Business Improvement Area.

The Economic and Community Development Committee:

1. As part of the inventory of initiatives, programs, and services referenced in Toronto’s Multi-Divisional Response to the Needs of People Experiencing Homelessness, requested the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services and the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to:

a. map the various pathways from homelessness into housing, both for unsheltered and sheltered clients, through the programs and services offered by the City and community partners in order to support and improve system navigation and identify human rights-based outcomes for people experiencing homelessness; and

b. consult with the Housing Rights Advisory Committee on clarifying service pathways into housing, identifying human rights-based outcomes, and clarifying system navigation for people experiencing homelessness by the second quarter of 2026, as part of Phase Two of this work and prior to the finalization of the inventory.

Toronto continues to experience a housing and homelessness crisis driven by several complex and intersecting factors, including insufficient affordable and supportive housing supply, unmet health care needs, increased costs of living, and inadequate wage and income supports.

Key indicators such as the rise in the number of people sleeping outdoors and in public spaces, longer shelter stays, and challenges with mental health and substance use, underscore the urgent need for a coordinated, multi-sectoral, and intergovernmental approach across systems. 

At the municipal level, City divisions supporting people experiencing homelessness have established coordinating tables to enhance service integration and program delivery. It is critical that the City continues to deepen these efforts through an All-of-City response that ensures homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.

This report provides an update on efforts towards this goal, including:

- A resource inventory of City-funded homelessness services which provides a foundational understanding of the local service delivery system (Attachment 1);

- An overview of current interdivisional initiatives that provide coordinated responses to homelessness; and

- An overview of next steps towards continuing an All-of City response to homelessness.  

This report reflects an important first step in a broader, multi-phased effort to advance an All-of-City response to homelessness. Building on this foundation, further updates on this response will be provided as the City of Toronto continues to advance its work on a Five-Year Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness.

The Economic and Community Development Committe referred the item to the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services, for further consideration, including as part of the response to Council direction under PH23.3 to strengthen cross-divisional leadership and community engagement in the Homelessness Services Capital Infrastructure Strategy.

City Council on June 25 and 26, 2025, referred Motion MM31.10 to the Economic and Community Development Committee for consideration.

On Thursday May 29th 2025, staff of Toronto Shelter and Support Services, and Corporate Real Estate Management provided me a verbal statement of their intention to open a new homeless shelter in Ward 2, Etobicoke Centre. This is the second shelter to be located in the ward.

On Friday May 30th, 2025, staff confirmed their intentions along with some basic information in writing, including a real estate transaction closing date in the future. They advised me that the details, including the location, were confidential and commercially sensitive. On the same day I sent a letter to the public service advising of my objections to the shelter, and insisted that the shelter real estate transaction be paused so that the community may be meaningfully consulted prior to the City government committing to the decision.

On June 11th, 2025, I received a follow-up contact from staff indicating that after my letter to them, they had decided to accelerate the real estate transaction closing date, and that they had taken an intentional specific step on June 5th to commit to the real estate transaction. This information came as a surprise, and was in complete defiance of my response letter. One of the effects of accelerating the date results in a limit to the ability and utility of any public input on the new shelter because of the status of the real estate transaction.

In 2017, City Council delegated certain authority to staff in support of efficient administration of the City’s shelter system. Implicit in this decision, as later more broadly understood, is the ability for staff to open a shelter without agreement from members of Council or explicit direction. However, nothing in the delegation precludes advance community consultation, if so desired. Much has changed since that delegation, both in the world and with the City administration. There is a new shelter infrastructure plan and approach, findings by the Auditor General, competing demands, and a deeper expectation by the public to be involved in decisions which affect them.

As details of the new shelter are revealed to the public by the servants who master them, I have every expectation that trust in the municipal government by the public will be eroded further. The purpose of this motion is to try and right this course.

New shelters which omit public consultation in the early stages and commence under heavy opposition in the community start out with a disadvantage. They will face a long road of acceptance within the community, and will likely face more challenges as they operate. The City would be wise to find a better way from the beginning.

The Toronto Public Service has disclosed plans to me that conflict with the best interests of the constituents of Ward 2, they have decided not to seek input from the affected community before moving ahead, and ignored my advice. They have also censured my ability to provide timely information necessary to advance the interests of constituents, and to promote transparency and accountability in decision making. Council has the authority to fix this immediately.

The Economic and Community Development Committee:

1. Requested the General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services and the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to promote French language housing and shelter services and make information about these services more readily available to the public through City communications channels, including the City of Toronto website, social media, and information for Francophone community organizations.

At its meeting on July 11, 2025, the Toronto Francophone Affairs Advisory Committee considered Item FA5.3 and made recommendations to the Economic and Community Development Committee.

The Economic and Community Development Committee:

1. Requested the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture to publish Toronto History Museum brochures online in French.

At its meeting on July 11, 2025, the Toronto Francophone Affairs Advisory Committee considered Item FA5.2 and made a recommendation to the Economic and Community Development Committee.

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council request the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure Services and the Deputy City Manager, Community and Emergency Services to report to the February 24, 2026, meeting of Economic and Community Development Committee on:

a. a more business- friendly approach and protocols for small business licenses and permits with a focus on compliance rather than enforcement and issuing a summons for these simple matters;

b. an outline for a cross divisional training plan by Municipal Licensing and Standards and Economic Development for small businesses; and

c. options to increase the role of Economic Development and Culture in facilitating small business administrative licensing and compliance, including the feasibility of shifting or sharing the responsibility between Municipal Licensing and Standards and Economic Development and Culture, in line with the one-stop-shop business licensing approach contemplated in the Economic Action Plan.

Small business is the backbone of our main streets and neighbourhoods and an important part of our local economy. Mayor Chow’s Love Local Campaign is one way the city is working to help small businesses be successful in these challenging and uncertain economic times.

It’s not easy running a small business in today’s economy. The vast majority of small businesses operate in compliance with the city’s bylaws and without complaints, except for them meeting Municipal Licensing and Standards administrative paperwork requirements for licencing, permits, encroachments and other bylaw matters. I am writing to share concerns raised by several local business owners regarding the recent enforcement approach taken by Municipal Licensing and Standards in relation to the new small business licensing categories as well as existing permits such as marketing display permits and encroachment agreements.

An enforcement style that may risk being perceived as punitive may unintentionally discourage the very entrepreneurs who contribute so much to our local economy. Toronto has prided itself on being a business-friendly city, and our regulatory practices should reflect our commitment.

A more coordinated approach is needed that will help protect small business and foster a thriving local economy.