News broke recently on The Toronto Star that the future Community Hub that was planned for the Jane and Finch community as part of the Finch West LRT project was withdrawn. This came as a result of a change of position by Metrolinx and the provincial Ford government. While in the past, they had stated that they would in fact donate the land at a nominal cost for the project, earlier in the week they changed their position and stated that they are obligated to sell the property at the market rate.

The Finch West LRT has been in the works since 2006. As far back as 2014 there was already a conversation that the community benefits package included a community space built on the site of the Maintenance and Storage Facility. In 2016, Metrolinx agreed they would include a 32-metre “setback” (or area) in the LRT designs in order to later free up the land for community use.

32-M parcel of land designated for a Jane-Finch community hub. (Feasibility Report, 2019)

By 2017, the project had taken shape and a Community Hub was being planned. Over the next two years, Community Action Planning Group (CAPG), a community organization, worked in tandem with a number of different neighbourhood organizations to develop a feasibility report. The report was done after the groups received a Provincial grant to do the study. That report was completed late in 2019 and was submitted to the City.

In the Community Hub, community members looked to have a theatre, a dance studio, a recording studio, a gallery, art rooms, multipurpose rooms, game rooms, a community kitchen, a multi-use/multi-purpose room that could be home to a number of organizations and more.

While the report was preliminary, Metrolinx staff had plenty of opportunity to review the findings. In fact, CAPG members have held community consultations meetings that were attended by Metrolinx staff and vice versa. The relationship is now in question, as Metrolinx staff seem to be reneging on earlier commitments made over the past five years.

Metrolinx claims that those agreements were made under the previous provincial government and there is a new provincial mandate that directs provincial agencies on their responsibilities when selling or disposing of their property. The directive by the Ford government outlines that the land needs to be put on the market and sold to the highest bidder.

More recently, as news broke “Jane and Finch” was trending online and it seems that now Metrolinx is yet again changing their position. In a statement on social media they say that they “100% committed” to the completion of this project. So far, both the local City Councillor, Anthony Perruzza, and the local Member of Provincial Parliament, Tom Rakocevic, have come out in support of the community and demanding more from Metrolinx and the Ford government.