STOP THE TRAINS
IN OUR PARKS

OUR COMMUNITY DESERVES WORLD CLASS TRANSIT AND OUR GREENSPACE

Join us for a demonstration against Metrolinx with guest Milky Chance on May 31

Rock band Milky Chance, Sierra Club Canada and Greenpeace will join our Indigenous-led coalition in a demonstration of solidarity on May 31. We’re fighting against Metrolinx’s plan to run an elevated section of the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (ECWE) LRT line through significant urban greenspace. We’re calling for this section be built underground like the rest of the LRT line.

In January, our Indigenous-led coalition erected tipis in the parks and began holding ceremonies and burning Sacred Fire 24/7 to fight to protect Indigenous access to ancestral lands and save the parks, 1,485 trees and wildlife habitat that Metrolinx plans to destroy. Metrolinx continues to dismiss our community’s long-standing concerns about their plan for the elevated section. We believe our community deserves world-class transit and our greenspace.

Who: You’re invited to join Milky Chance, Sierra Club Canada, Greenpeace and our Indigenous-led coalition that includes ENAGB Indigenous Youth Agency, Turtle Island Carers of Fire, Edge of the Bush, American Indian Movement, Stop the Trains in Our Parks (STOP), Mount Dennis Community Association (MDCA) and the Mount Dennis eco-Neighbourhood Initiative (MDeNI). Media will be invited.

What: Demonstration of solidarity and protest against Metrolinx’s plan to build an 1.5 km elevated section of the LRT line through parkland north of Eglinton Avenue West between Scarlett Road and Weston Road. There will also be a ceremonial ribbon tying of trees with Milky Chance.

When: Wednesday, May 31, 1:30-2:30 PM

Where: Pearen Park, 30 Pearen Street in Toronto, ON

Why: To show public opposition to Metrolinx’s plan, come together in ceremony as allies in honouring the trees, and support action towards Canada’s reconciliation for First Nations Peoples.

About the parks

The parkland in question—Pearen Park, Fergy Brown Park, Eglinton Flats and the Humber River area—is a sensitive ecosystem, wildlife corridor, migratory bird route and is home to Threatened and Endangered species. The naturalized urban forest is a flood and erosion protector, natural cooler and sound barrier. The parkland is used for many cultural activities and sacred ceremonies for Indigenous Peoples, as well as recreational, sport and social activities. The Humber River is a Canadian Heritage River and an urban river valley protected by the Ontario Greenbelt.

Contact stopthetrainsinourparks@gmail.com for more information.

Metrolinx plans to cut down

1,485 trees

for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension LRT line.

Indigenous-led coalition is taking action

to protect our parks.

Metrolinx plans to clear cut 1,485 trees in Pearen Park, Fergy Brown Park, Eglinton Flats and around the Humber River to build a 1.5km section of the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (ECWE) as an elevated concrete structure running right through our parks. The City of Toronto could issue the first of three tree removal permits any day.

Indigenous youth and elders from ENAGB Indigenous Youth Agency, with support of many community allies, have erected a tipi in Pearen Park and are exercising their rights to hold a peaceful Sacred Fire and perform four-day Honouring Ceremonies for each one of the trees. Fire Keepers are keeping the Sacred Fire burning 24/7.

This parkland is a sensitive ecosystem, wildlife corridor, migratory bird route and is home to Threatened and Endangered species. The naturalized urban forest is a flood and

erosion protector, natural cooler and sound barrier for people using the parks. The parks are used for many ceremonial, recreational, sport and social activities.

Metrolinx and the Ford Government need to pause work on the elevated section and support an Indigenous-led environmental assessment and consultation on how the line will be built. Metrolinx underestimated our community when they presented their plan as a done deal. Together we’re taking action because we believe we can have world-class transit and protect our parks now and for future generations.

How can you get involved?

Have you seen the yellow cloths around trees along Eglinton? Visit the tipi in Pearen Park and ask for a cloth to tie around a tree you and your family want to protect.
Email us to volunteer with the coalition. Whether you have 20 minutes or 2 hours a week to spare, you can help. stopthetrainsinourparks@gmail.com.
Support the Indigenous youth and elders by donating at enagb-iya.ca.

About the issue

Metrolinx wants to put what amounts to a 1.5km 'Gardiner Expressway' for LRT trains through the heart of York South-Weston's parkland as part of the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (ECWE). We support the ECWE but want this section buried underground.

The train expressway would run through Eglinton Flats (including Fergy Brown Park), which is some of the most valuable parkland in the city. This parkland is designated a greenbelt zone, includes one of the city’s largest regional networks of sports fields and offers an idyllic setting to enjoy nature that is substantially buffered from roadways by large swaths of mature urban forests.

If the proposed elevated section of the ECWE were to proceed, clear cutting of large swaths of mature urban forests would be required to accommodate a massive launch portal within Fergy Brown Park, substantial concrete barriers and pillars to support the trains, and sizeable elevated transit stations over Jane Street and Scarlett Road that would require further encroachment into the parkland. This proposal also would require another massive launch portal just west of Scarlett Road that would see the train expressway pass directly in front of adjacent residential buildings in a similar way to how the Gardiner Expressway passes directly beside condominiums and other buildings in the downtown core.

Metrolinx plans to put most of the ECWE underground, but wants to run an elevated train expressway straight through our parks, rather than under them. Metrolinx's own Initial Business Case for the ECWE states that an underground solution would provide the best outcome "for livable and sustainable communities."

WHAT WE WANT

No train expressway in our parks. Period
Metrolinx to bury the trains underground in York South-Weston, like they're doing in Etobicoke.
Metrolinx to provide transparency about the project - its costs, its size, and its impact.

YORK SOUTH-WESTON DESERVES THE ECWE
AND OUR GREENSPACE!

ABOUT STOP THE TRAINS IN OUR PARKS (STOP)

We are a group of York South-Weston residents who support the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, but oppose putting a train expressway through our parks as part of the project. We believe greenspace should be for wildlife and people, not concrete and trains.

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