Transcript - Licensing Reforms and Equity Advances - Economic and Community Development Committee

Licensing Reforms and Equity Advances - Economic and Community Development Committee - April 9, 2026

Canderville, could I ask you to test your audio? Could I ask you to check your audio please? So, please stay on the line and we're going to proceed with the meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh, good morning everyone. I'm councelor Alejandra Bravo. I'm the chair of economic and community development committee. Um, we have quorum. I now call meeting 27 to order. Today's meeting is being held uh by video conference and in person at city hall in committee room 1. This meeting is also being livereamed online at youtube.com/tronoronto city councsil live. Um, I'd like to start the the meeting by maybe doing a different kind of land acknowledgement in addition to recognizing that these are the ancestral lands of the Missagas of the Credit, Anishnab, Chipua um, Honosonyi and Wendat peoples and that there is a city of Toronto um, obligation uh to iny 13 with the Missagas of the Credit. Um this is a place where we actually talk about um how to take care of each other from social services to questions of the economy. Um and the economy is a a way that we can think about how we enact our obligations to take care of each other. Uh so with that I I want to just focus on um on the meeting itself. U if you're registered to speak at today's meeting, please listen for me to call your name. I will call speakers in the order they appear on the list. The list of speakers can be viewed online by visiting the economic and community development committee page at toronto.ca/counsel and clicking the speakers box for today's meeting. Uh members, the city clerk has provided all agenda materials on toronto.ca/counsel and on uh cmp the uh clerk's meeting portal. Clerk's IT staff are available to members if you need help with your devices. I also want to remind you to please submit and approve your motions by email. staff are available at ecd toronto.ca to help with motions. Um, are there any declarations of interest under the municipal conflict of interest act at this time? Madam Chair, councelor Mantis. Yes, council Mantis. I have a I have an interest for the second item for the uh the food vendor um policy. Uh Julie noted. So um we will excuse you for that. Uh can you please share the sorry councelor to declare the interest we need to um hear a family member operates uh a food vending truck. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other declarations of interest? Um no seeing none. Uh thank you. May I have a motion to confirm the minutes from our meeting on February 24, 2026? Uh Deputy Mayor Malik moves that. All those in favor um opposed. That's carried. And now we're going to move on to the agenda review. So, a lot of paper here. Um, so E EC27.1 update on the business license and permit applications action plan and other outstanding directives. Uh, we're going to hold um, uh, for staff presentations and hold for speakers. EC27 uh.2 review of Toronto Street Vending and Artists bylaw. That's held for speakers. EC27.3 city of Toronto inclusive economic development framework that's held for speakers. EC27.4 Toronto action plan to confront anti-black racism year 5 update that's held for speakers. EC27.5 Rexdale Casino Woodbine Community Benefits Agreement 2025 progress update that's held for speakers. EC27.6 6 Apple Grove Community Complex update on relocation options. That's held for speakers. Um in a and EC27.7 refreshing food and beverage offerings and park and recreation spaces that's held for speakers. EC27.8 business improvement areas 2026 operating budgets report two. Would anybody like to hold that? I'll move I'll move it. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was just going to move it. Moved by councelor Moyes. All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. EC27.9 uh Toronto franophhone affairs advisory committee request for term uh progress report. Would anyone like to hold that item? I'd like to move that as chair of that committee. All those in favor prove that's carried. EC27.10 request for a report on existing services available to Frank uh French speaking Torononians transmitted from the Toronto for Franophones Affairs Advisory Committee. Um I have a motion if the clerks could display that. Yeah. Oh, okay. Great. So, the motion is displayed and um it indicates that this will come to at the June 18, 2026 meeting. All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Thank you. EC27 uh.11 further direction on report on rejoining the association of franophhone uh associ and I have a motion on that we're going to come back to that EC27.12 advancing community development through evidence-based planning that's held for speakers EC27.13 addressing evictions through disagree ated racebased data and social housing that's held for speakers. Um and there's a I guess we'll hold the the next one as well. And um at this time we have a motion to add new business. Councelor. Yeah. Uh if I can add the sirens motion on behalf of councelor Saxs. Um we're displaying that. Councelor Candel is adding um a sleep disruption noise motion. Uh and on behalf of councelor Sachs, all those in favor of adding this to the agenda? Opposed? Yeah, I'm sorry. The there is a sorry this that that motion does not carry. Add to the agenda. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Um so now that we have reviewed the agenda, um I do want to indicate that um there will be uh reordering of the agenda. Um we're going to have EC27.7 move to um um EC27.2 as the staff questions will be similar and we require the same staff to be present and we don't want to make them wait all day because they have work to do. So thank you everyone for that. We are going to proceed with um EC27 uh.1 um and there will be a short presentation. speaking. Are you speaking? Oh, sorry. Before we move, uh, thank you. The clerks have reminded me that, uh, because we are closing in on 40, uh, deputants and we will lose quorum at 5:00 p.m., um, I have to move the following motion, which is to not um for close the agenda at 10:00 a.m. for those who have not pre-registered to speak um on by 10 a.m. on April 9th today. uh and so we won't be adding anyone else after 10. Um that the length of public presentations be limited to three minutes for all items and that questions of public speakers by members of council um including members and visiting members would be limited to three minutes uh per round of question. Um the reason that we have to do this is that to get through the agenda and to allow everyone to be able to um speak do their deputation for there to be questions of staff answers and to allow questions of the deputants as well. We we need to um finish by 5:00 p.m. and that's the only way we're going to achieve this. Um all those in favor oppose. That's carried. Thank you. So, we're going to move on to um our presentation and I'm going to invite us uh staff from municipal licensing and standard to introduce yourselves before you speak. Thank you. Uh thank you. Good morning, chair and uh to the committee. Uh my name is Gotti Katz. I'm the acting executive director of MLS. Uh with me is Joanna Hazelton, who is our acting director of policy. I'm just going to stop you right there. Can uh can we get that microphone turned up please? a little bit. It's really difficult to or does that help? Yes. Thank you. Okay. MLS is here uh this morning to provide uh an update on the work we've done on our business license and permit applications action plan and also other outstanding council directives. The license and permit applications action plan was adopted by council in July of 2025 and is MLS's roadmap for reviewing all license categories under the licensing bylaw chapter 545 and enhancing the administration of licensing and permits uh through to 2029. This staff report advances the action plan by outlining new businessfriendly customer service initiatives and describing operational enhancements for licensing food, beverage, and entertainment businesses. It also proposes minor bylaw amendments to reduce regulatory burden and improve clarity for businesses. Altogether, these initiatives are part of an ongoing customer service improvements uh aligned with MLS's core function to support businesses by delivering licensing services for the city of Toronto. I'll first review some of our new and enhanced customer service initiatives. Working with our colleagues in uh technology services to modernize the business licensing renewal uh system has been a priority for MLS. The upgraded system launched on January 19th, 2026. Renewals account for about 85% of the division's licensing activities in 2025. So staff have prioritized rolling out this customer service initiative first. We've heard positive feedback from clients about the new system and how it reduces the need for back and forth communications between clients and staff. We'll demonstrate some of the new features of the in the following slides, but overall the new renewal system eliminates the limitations uh many of the limitations that were existing in the pro in the previous system. Clients now will have a better and more efficient experience when renewing their licenses. Previously, clients could not update information submitted on renewal unless they directly contacted licensing or permitting staff. Now, clients can create a secure account which allows them to manage and update their renewal information online on their own. Previously, also clients could not view their information online after submitting their renewal. Our new system allows clients to monitor information after submission. So they can view their license, permit, personal and corporate details, licensing histories, and status of their licenses, including expiry date. And that's all displayed on a dashboard that's easily understood. Another feature of the new renewal system enables clients to view multiple licenses on one dashboard for a cohesive experience. We've heard directly from clients. For those that hold multiple licenses, the ability to view and manage all licenses through this one streamlined dashboard has been a significant improvement in their efficiency. One of the sort of constant major complaints that we've heard from clients uh involves the requirement to submit and upload documents uh at the time of renewal to our system. The upgraded system now prompts clients to submit only the specific documents required for their renewal as opposed to the previous system which due to limitations was unable to perform this analysis and required clients to upload all documents at the time of renewal. the new system. And although staff will continue to mail out licenses to clients, the new system will allow clients to pay for multiple licenses and permit renewals through the dashboard and also download and print electronic copies of their licenses at any time that they require it. And these new features will be available to clients uh through the city of Toronto uh login. On January 16th, 2026, MLS also launched a business licensing information phone line to provide clients and prospective businesses with access to real time flexible support from licensing and permitting staff. The phone line is available weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. On average, the phone line receives about 53 calls per day. These are 53 clients or potential clients per day that didn't have to email city staff and wait several days for a response or make arrangements during their business hours to visit a city office and speak to a licensing staff member in person. Data collected from these phone calls shows that on average, clients waited about 3 minutes and 16 seconds to connect with a staff member and spent almost 12 minutes in conversation to receive information or resolve their issue. In the first two months of a soft launch, the phone line received over 2400 calls from clients. We've promoted the service through communications to counselors and through industry channels such as businessto and tabia and have social and a social media campaign planned for later in 2026 to advertise the service further. On January 1st, 2025, updated licensing and zoning regulations for bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues also came into effect following council approval. Staff used 2025 as a transition year to support clients in understanding the updated rules and in changing to a different license category were um in changing to a different license category where required. Following staff efforts, 209 clients changed license types based on self assessment. 142 businesses no longer required a license and a total of 14,824 licenses were issued and renewed by MLS in 2025. Through implementation, staff identified several lessons learned. First, to streamline the process to change licenses for clients who are required to make the change. Second, clients may better understand how changes apply to them when they can access clear and timely information. Third, consistent messaging supports clients in understanding whether they are appropriately licensed. Based on these learnings and from direction provided by councelor Fletcher and adopted by council in 2025, staff developed a streamlined process for food, beverage, and entertainment venue clients who need to change license types. This process applies to clients who renewed incorrectly in 2025. Staff are engaging affected clients before their next renewal date to bring them into the new licensing framework, which was designed to reduce administrative burden on low impact businesses while continuing to mitigate health, safety, and nuisance concerns. This streamlined process resulted in the following changes. Most clients who need to change license types can do so at their next renewal. Licensing and permitting staff will be the ones to lead communications to clients and provide step-by-step support. Clients will submit only documents needed to change licenses rather than a full application package. And in some cases where clients may need to change their license sooner, a prorated fee will applied based on um investigation results. Our report also will outline some minor uh today will outline some minor bylaw amendments being proposed to reduce regulatory burden and improved uh clarity for businesses. We're proposing some operating restrictions and requirements for secondhand goods businesses. These changes are designed to reduce burdens uh in in advance of a wholesome review of this license category which will be done in 2027. Also based on stakeholder feedback, staff are proposing minor changes to the definition of a nightclub to clarify the criteria for entertainment establish for an entertainment establishment ightclub license to distinguish it from other licenses. Staff will continue to engage with stakeholders and report back on any further changes in 2027. Finally, staff are recommending repealing chapter 832 videotape stores as there have been no licenses issued uh under it. If adopted by council, the implementation of the proposed changes will take effect on September 30th, 2026. Lastly, next steps on the action plan. To complete the business license permits application action plan, MLS has several license reviews and customer service improvements planned through to 2029. In 2026, staff will implement changes to pet establishment and street vendors with a focus pending council approval and discussion on this committee. later today. We'll also conduct research on general licensing experience with focus on equity deserving communities, launch an upgraded uh license application portal, and enhance resource sharing and training with economic development and cultural division. 2027 staff will review several license categories from secondhand goods to trade licenses and more and also report on a regulatory sandbox framework. In 2028, we are proposing to review clothing dropbox operators and some retail businesses. In 2029, staff will also review automobile and parking businesses, loans and goods exchange businesses, and precious metal shops. Through these continued implement the continued implementation of the action plan, staff are committed to enhancing Toronto's business environment to drive new investment, employment growth, and economic resilience. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh we are going to now go to deputations and um but don't go far because we have questions of staff maybe. Uh so the first deputent is Jason Hendelis. Is Jason here? Welcome to committee sir. You have five uh three minutes. I'll give you um a warning just in case at around 15 seconds to your time. Um look, it sounds like we need some help with uh slides here, please. There we go. We're getting some help for you. Thanks. Yeah, I think we might have to um proceed without the slides. es because uh of time. So you can always email that uh presentation to committee members. Sometimes technology doesn't favor us, but we do have to move ahead if we have a lot of other items and a lot of speakers. No, not at all. So, I'm going to start your time. Yeah. Thank you. Three minutes. Green is on. Okay. Good morning um uh chair, members of the committee. My name is Jason Einstein Handelus. I'm speaking on item uh on this uh issue of recommerce. I want to start with not one big number. $500. That's how much a Toronto retailer loses on every $1,300 luxury item sold through existing US platforms. Mostly the seller takes home roughly $700 before rent, labor, HST, insurance, security, or profit. The breakdowns on the slides um in front of you. And of the $500 lost, $190 is caused directly by the city's mandated 15-day hold period. That single line item has, you know, the city's powers in it to fix. The rest of that money goes to eBay, PayPal, UPS, Google AdWords, and American tech companies. And none of them pay taxes. None of them follow the rules of licensing. Here's why this matters. Not just the 15-day hold, but chapter 545 was designed for an error of physical pawn shops and paper ledgers. It forces retailers to act as free uncompensated storage for the city, absorbing all depreciation, all risk, and all the costs. Once cleared, sellers are pushed into US platforms that just do not comply with the chapter and do not pay or provide chain of custody or follow the rules. The platforms that Canadians compete against are destroying margins and that money could and should be going to Canadians. It's also a security crisis. Retailers are where retailers are warehousing high value goods for more than 15 days and we know how significantly crime has increased across the city. That involves breakins, robberies, insurance premiums. Those are exponentially increasing costs. The longer the inventory sits, the greater the target. There is an alternative. Um, we've been I my team and I have been talking about what what is called a Canadian recommerce protocol that replaces this analog quarantine with digital chain of custody. This allows intakes to drop from 15 days to 15 seconds. items can be authenticated and cross referenced with the police department and matched against the most efficient liquidity path zero foreign extraction. 15 seconds. My recommendation and what we the presentation is about to talk about is how we can move um we can empower Torononians over tech monopolies and we can pay that $500 towards Canadians. We've been working to talk to retired police officers, RCMP and retail stakeholders and specialists about piloting a working group that can talk to digital chain of custody and reporting systems and a better system to use not just artificial intelligence but to completely avoid and circumvent US platforms. Um, you're over time. Any questions of the deputent? Seeing none, thank you for coming to committee. The next uh U speaker is Michael Peshi. Is Michael here or online? Welcome to committee, sir. You have three minutes. I'm going to have to be a little bit more enforcing of the limit if that's okay. I'll give you a reminder at uh 2:45. Thank you very much. Hi. Testing. Hi. Good morning, chair and members of committee. My name is uh Michael Peshy. I've owned and operated a small bar in Toronto for the past 14 years. It's an intimate space where people come to have a drink, hear music, and connect. It's also where many musicians got their start. Many went on to become Juno Award winners. For the past six months, my business has been under review to determine what new license category it should be permitted to operate as under municipal code 545. that would be nightclub or expanded activity eating and drinking. With no indication of when this decision will be made, it's been increasingly difficult to plan, invest, and operate with confidence. The industry has shifted. Many small bars now incorporate music and cultural programming to stay viable. But there is no clear fit for these types of mixed use spaces within the current categories. In practice, the line between both categories overlaps, but each have very different outcomes. This isn't This issue isn't whether music matters here. It does. What matters is the kind of place this is. A small bar built around music community intentional programming is very different from a large high-capacity nightclub as we commonly recognize them. The difference in format, scale, and risk needs to be recognized by these categories. In a smaller space, it's easier to be intentional, accountable, and create an environment where people feel safe, especially for communities that don't always feel safe in traditional nightclub settings. And an practical issue from this is that if a long-standing compliant business is classified in a way zoning doesn't allow, is suddenly can't comply. That's a policy problem with real consequences. It can affect insurance not just for the business but for the landlord and ultimately whether the business can continue at all. As a responsible and compliant operator of 14 years feeling pressure to downplay or hide what the space actually is under threat of being pushed into a higher risk category that doesn't reflect how we operate is extremely disappointing. These are these businesses are an important part of the city's cultural ecosystem. Smaller scale culturallydriven establishments should not be considered the same as large format nightclubs. Broadening the nightclub category criteria that's being tabled risks lumping in small low-risk bars with high-risisk environments like nightclubs. I call on this committee to consider broadening the criteria for expanded activity eating and drinking uh or consider a new licensing category to better encompass smaller culturally driven establishments through consultation with creative community stakeholders, promoters and operators. Thank you. Second. Oh, thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? Thank you for coming to committee. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Caleum Shidi. Callum Callum Shidi online. Yes. Hello. Hi. Welcome to committee. Uh you have three minutes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um my name is Callum Shidi. I represent um independent promoters and artists within the nightlife community and I'm here today to speak on um recommendation onee on today's agenda item that we're addressing. Um, I wanted to talk about the way that this amendment to the definition of nightclub could negatively impact um culture in the city, particularly smallcale independent promoters um that serve um marginalized communities and um independent music scenes. The current nightlife license as it stands places a particularly ownorous um regulatory burden on the owners that um are deemed necessary to obtain this license. Um, as the previous speaker noted, the difference between a large-scale nightclub to whom this uh regulatory impact would be manageable and a smallcale business for whom already runs on a incredibly tight margin um can be a matter of life and death in terms of like the business's viability. And I'm concerned that if this um if this amendment is made to the definition, um a lot of smallcale bars and culture-driven establishments that welcome independent artists um and that open up their spaces to communities that don't feel safe in other places. um that could have a devastating effect because they meet the uh at least three of the um requirements needed to be seen as a as a nightclub. Um and I think there needs to be a greater distinction between a large scale nightclub that has the capacity to take on the owner's responsibility of the regulation and smaller nightclubs that would be destroyed by it. um in terms of the fines, the um security requirements and otherwise. Um as an independent promoter, I work a lot with smallcale uh nightlife venues. It's where I began my career as an electronic musician and it's also where I began my career as an independent promoter. I do a lot of my work around opening spaces up to um the to usgq plus community which often don't feel safe in these larger scale venues because the crowd is not necessarily welcoming. Um we need these independent spaces not just because they help drive the independent and underground culture of the city which starts is a starting place for 15 seconds artists that go on to become larger but also because these are safe community gathering spaces. Um and I think we need to see an amendment to the um nightlife definition at least in the short term that all four of the um requirements are met which I think would lift the burden from um smaller independent venues. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you uh for coming to committee. Are there any questions of the deputent? Seeing none, uh we are going to um go on to the last speaker who is Rey Abunala. Sur Abunala here online. Uh welcome to committee. Uh you have uh 3 minutes. Hi folks. Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak. My name is Ray. I represent uh Buddies in Bad Times Theater as a nightlife programmer and event producer as well as someone who owns my own um events business called Gay Rights in the City. Um both of which primarily attend to LGBT specifically queer marginalized demographics. Um, but he's in bad times. For some context, while it is a theater, has a long history of over two decades being one of um the most uh community- centered clubs in Toronto and in an attempt to um increase revenue streams and support the theater, which is a nonforprofit and a charity um and also a queer organization which has um famously been receiving less funding over the last two years. they are relying on some nightlife revenue streams to support the overall charity. Um I mostly am in charge of curating and um attending to like the needs of the community by throwing these events and I would say similar points to the folks who have spoken before me. Um the way that Buddies operates as a club or as a nightlife third space attends to a different community. The prices for the drinks and the tickets are very cheap. Our margins are al also very slim which makes it hard to I guess meet the regulations or the requirements of this new licensing. Um I think the increased cost costs to this would essentially shut Buddy's nightlife down and not overall support the charity. Um, I would concur as well that amendments to this potential um, licensing that might come up or allowing for different types of licenses or nightclubs to exist considering the scale and the size and the communities it attends to. I will also say it has seen great success in the last 3 months since we've started. We've brought over 1,000 to 2,000 people through our doors every single weekend since the middle of February, which has been um, amazing. again, most of which who are LGBT queer youth. Um, yeah, and I'll I'll pause here. I have not much else to say, but thank you so much for the time. Thank you so much for coming to committee. Are there any questions of the deputent? Yes. Uh, yes. Uh, councelor Fletcher, questions of the deput. Good morning. I I seem to recall that the building is actually a city building. Is that correct, buddies in bad times? That is correct. Yeah. So the city has an interest in uh because you're you hold the lease in making sure you're successful. So we'll make we're working going to work all this out. Thank you for being here today. Thank you. Question. There's more questions of the uh vice chair of the committee councelor Carol. Yes. I I apologize if my members already know this. I haven't had a briefing on this particular aspect of the overall changes. So if you could just tell us could you quantify the change for us that that you know someone uh named it a matter of life and death uh of the business. So what was the licensing burden before the change is proposed and what do you understand it to be once the change is proposed if it was proposed? Um my I'm not an expert on the matter. I've just come because the community has urged me to come and speak on this, but my understanding of it is that um the license requirements would apply more specifically to larger clubs that have perhaps bottle service, really steep prices in terms of um door cover or ticketing, um have higher security needs, um and overall just need more um staffing to mitigate the risks involved. whereas like a smaller queer or gay club doesn't necessarily need that level of um regulation around it and would be subject to um just getting caught and getting a into a lot of trouble should an inspector or so it's not it's not just the cost of the license yes correct okay okay now I understand a little more thank you thank you for coming to committee uh that concludes our deputation s and we are now going to go to questions of staff. You would like to lead off? Um, uh, councelor Moyes, questions of staff. Yes, thank you. So, again, I wasn't briefed on this item. Um, so I do have a few questions. Um, so the deputants brought up a few important points about uh the bars, the the small venues versus the large venues. How does this change would impact uh those communities that uh which is here is speaking to this? Uh thank you for the question through the chair. Maybe I'll start the question. I can pass it to my colleague if there's anything that needs to be added. The exercise that MLS has done uh in consultation with stakeholders is an attempt to clarify the definition and distinguish it from other eating and drinking establishments. Um the the definition that's proposed in the in the report today in fact reduces the pool of um businesses that would have fit into the category of a nightclub. Uh so the the rules will apply to less places. Um there is still continued work that needs to be done and we're we're uh open and and are in fact planning on continuing the work and reporting back on how to better uh capture these sort of outlying situations and specific situations. Um but that's an ongoing work that we have committed to doing and are doing as we speak. So why is it brought before us today if it's not complete? Because the the the exercise of reducing or or distinguishing the license categories and and and ensuring that those that are more closely associated with nightclubs fit into a definition that associates with nightclub helps in streamlining the licensing process for a wider population of businesses. So having that distinguishing be clearer uh makes things easier for those businesses that maybe kind of overlap a little bit between two place two kinds of categories. And to the deput's point that uh some um some groups may be uh disenfranchised or disadvantaged as a result of these changes. What are your thoughts about that? So, we're very conscious of the the impacts of licensing requirements on businesses. Uh, and as I said, I think our our goal is to to work with these businesses, to work with our partners in EDC and planning and uh and elsewhere on how do we address the issues that are being raised here better uh through our regime. Okay. I Okay, I'll leave you for I know councelor Brad was working in a motion and if if I may have to defer the item but I will wait and see what you you have. Thank you. Uh councelor go ahead with questions of staff. Councelor Carol. Yeah. Um it it feels like we we haven't really um had the issues all spelled out for us here. I I wish I had a briefing on this because it if I cast my mind back to some of the reasons we asked this area of licensing to be to be looked at. Um what we were frustrated with um neighborhoods that seem to be out of control uh with these types of establishments are are people think of them as the bigger ones but but I I always say it it all dates back to the dawn of bottle service. So, we talked about that being one of the biggest problems. So, why not just separate it out and say there's a special license if you're going to uh provide bottle service instead of putting it into a category here? because correct me if I'm wrong, it feels like um you have to meet three of these criteria, but a small operator who wants to provide a venue for for uh uh you know, emerging artists and musicians would meet all the other three criteria pretty easily. And they could be very small. They could be a hole-in-the-wall bar, uh, but still, uh, a good little music venue, but they're now subject to to to all of these requirements, cuz just those three things made them meet the the, uh, requirement of a nightclub. So, tell me what all they're now subject to, dollars and cents of it, and new regulations of it, um, if they now meet this category and they didn't before, what has changed for them? So I have an understanding of the magnitude of the impact. Um okay maybe I can start. Uh so through the chair currently the definition of a nightclub requires uh an establishment to either provide amplified music for entertainment and dancing or meet three of four criteria if amplified music is not present. So that definition captures a wide variety of of locations. What we're proposing today is uh a streamlining of that to require that they meet both criteria that that they meet three criteria and also play amplified music. So that by now making it and rather than or we are reducing the population that fits into this license category. So a lot of places that were sort of on the on the fringes uh would no longer be a nightclub and would have uh different regulations. Um but we are conscious and of the further work that needs to be done. So I don't have an answer to my question. I'm sorry to interrupt, Madam Chair, but I'm asking and and what will that now cost them? And what will they have to do to operate their business that they didn't have to do before once they have qual once they meet these new criteria? If they didn't meet it before, but now they do, what are what are the actions they now have to take on a regular basis? And what is the cost to them? What why am I being told this is a matter of life and death of the business? That's that's the answer I want. what what what happens to them as a result of meeting this criteria? So there are no changes as far as as the costs are concerned. And what I would added there there wouldn't be any ones who didn't meet it before that do now. Right? So this isn't adding. But if that happens, what's the impact? I still haven't heard the impact. We're arguing about who meets it and who doesn't. But if you do, if you didn't before and you do now, what changes in your business model? Right. So you would have to meet some zoning requirements. you would have to meet security requirements, noise control plans, um, and patron management plans, uh, so there's a bit more business to do. There's there may some be some cost to creating those plans, those sorts of things. But once you once you meet those requirements, then you're then you're in business. You have a license and you're in business, right? As long as you pass all the in the the requirements for zoning and those other requirements, then yes, you would have Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff? Um I'm going to um hold down this item because it uh we are working on a motion to clarify uh some of the uh pain points that have been identified by the deputants. Um and uh councelor Moyes has indicated uh that an interest in deferring this item. So we're going to hold this down um if that's okay. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to the next item uh which is EC27 uh.2 review of Toronto Street Vending and Artists bylaw. and we don't have a presentation, so we're going to go straight to um speakers uh from deputations from the public. Pat James. Pat James, welcome to committee, sir. You have three minutes. I I just want to remind councelor Mantis that um we're at the item where you've declared an interest and you should remove yourself from the meeting. Sorry, sir. Hello everyone. I'm Pat James, a professional events entertainer, caricature artist. I've also been a street artist for over 35 years across Canada. In this time, I've represented street artist ventures in association with city halls in Old Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto, and at the Harbor Harbor Front Center. Today, I strongly uh re recommend and advocate you implement MLS policy staff recommendations for the desired proactive changes. Um the MLS policy staffers involved worked hard to make this concise report and we the street permit holders involved also did our part investing much time and energy in contributing to the process. So now it's you the council committee which needs to facilitate the speedy adoption of the report re recommendations. In my personal agenda, I'd like to interact directly with a counselor who is interested in starting a zone of operations dedicated to just caricature artists, similar to such zones that exist in old Montreal and Quebec City and across European cities. Without going into too much detail at this point, I must stress we overhaul the currently redundant strategy and tactics of bylaw enforcement. There are over 2,000 street permit holders. This is substantial income revenue for the city. Yet, the council seems to ignore our existence. Why have we been ignored by downtown Counselors who are supposed to be serving the citizens? I'd like to ask, how many counselors have actually walked downtown and spoken with street permit activity holders? Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? Oh, thank you. Seeing none, we are going to continue with Cameron Pounder. Welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Good morning. Thank you very much. So, I'm a current food truck owner and I operate under uh chapter 740. I spoke to council in 2018 when the expiry date for R55 permits were being established. I'm here today because that commitment is being broken. Regarding food trucks specifically, this report does three things. It improves conditions. It extends the hours, which I do support, but it also removes the expiry on R55 permits completely, which fundamentally changes the system. Those two things are not equal in impact. The issue has never been about hours or dollars and cents. It's about equitable access to public space regardless of the date you started your business. We now have two systems. A small group with permanent fixed locations and like me over a 100 mobile vendors competing daily for limited curb access. We pay the same fees but we operate under two very different systems. Curblanes are public assets and this decision grants long-term exclusive use of that space to a small number of permit holding corporations. There is no expiry, no review, no pathway for others to access similar opportunities. With no expiry, access to public space becomes a highly tradable, valuable asset. This is not Toronto. Imagine this opportunity. Paying $5,000 a year, $416 a month. An average food truck's around 200 ft². You're paying $26 a square foot for exclusive access to city property. Normal rents, councelor Moyes, you know, around 40 to 100 bucks a square foot. When you started your business in 2006, did you receive protection from the city, competing retailers starting after you 10 years later? I I'm going to ask you not to speak directly to speak. Thank you. I'll add your time. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. I won't talk about councelor Carol either. Um, so we'll keep it simple and say the city's commitment to modernization and harmonization is very commendable and we really appreciate it. The removal of R55 permit expiry neither modernizes nor harmonizes this system. It locks it into a two-tiered system. This isn't about me, an R54 permit holder versus the old Guard R55. This is about whether access to public space is equitable and whether the commitments made by council are being maintained. Giving public assets to private corporations behind closed doors is appalling. Thank you for your deputation. Are there any questions of the deputent uh visiting uh councelor Saxs? Yes, thank you. Thank you very much for making this presentation. I really appreciate it. Um, can you think of any reason, any public policy reason why this small group of private for-profit corporations should be exempt from the rules that apply to you and all of your colleagues? To be honest, for 12 years, I've wondered that exact question. Why? Because they asked, can I please continue my business? And for some reason, a report was written every time that says, we'll give them a transition time. we'll give them time to modernize their business and yet every time they're given an excuse and said because we want to is kind of the answer I've heard. Okay. So I haven't seen any reason being given. Um most of these private corporations with the special exemptions are in my ward. No reason been given to me as to why they should have a separate set of rules and privileged access to the roads. Have you been told of any? Absolutely not. I've asked for years that same question. Right. If we I suspect I suspect because there's a a conflict of interest that they've been excused behind closed doors, I think that has something to do with it. Well, I'm certainly not going there. Um, if the current 55 holders were required to hold a 54 like everybody else, uh, would that provide more variety in food options for the faculty, staff, and students at the University of Toronto? Absolutely. It would, uh, it would open it up to businesses who are successful uh, by the quality of their food. I make dumplings with my partner, Adah Mock. You could get arapas. You can get all sorts of stuff. So the businesses that would succeed are those that like try harder or creative rather than because they started 40 years ago. Okay. Um and what are you asking this committee to do? I'm asking them to look at the line where it says we will remove the expiry date of R55 permits. So currently they're set to expire January 1st, 2027. And I think we should leave that in place and not remove that line. All right. And they these people have had 12 years notice that their permits were going to expire. Right. Absolutely. Okay. And so you're asking this committee to delete recommendation three in the staff report. Is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. I have a question. Uh sir, sir, just a quick question. Um would it be helpful from your view if there was a a lens or a frame to look at these uh commercial activities that included um equity and access like equitable access and other social and economic goals that the city has espoused previously to to look at this piece from that perspective. Absolutely. And I think MLS and the report has done a really good job so far of introducing this new framework in 2014. And then they actually went a step further and did new focus groups and new testing of which I was a part of. Um with all of those aspects in mind, diversity, equal access. So we all contributed our ideas, you know, and you you took feedback that like you know three hours here and there it's kind of not enough time. Sure. the so the I think that the the question I'm asking is we have an item on the agenda later that's inclusive economic development framework and this isn't a tool that hasn't been available to city staff before. So perhaps if we can um what I'm asking is if if if on a principal basis what we're talking about really is looking at this kind of like business licensing policy through that lens uh could clarify some of the issues that are being brought up here as we've done with other uh pieces of work. So, it sounds like you're asenting and I really appreciate the chance to ask you this question. Thank you. The the next speaker is Stuart um Brnull online. Welcome to committee. Stuart, are you um are you here? Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. You have three minutes. Thank you so much. Um yes. My name is Stuart Brign, professional saxoponist, band leader, international performing and recording artist, and a Juno Award nominee. I'm just here kind of representing musicians and professional performing artists in Toronto and that we are very much in support of some of the laxing of some of the regulations when it comes to street performers that MLS has put forward especially when it the allowance in certain situations of amplified sound which makes a massive difference when it comes to being like a street performer. I've bused and performed, you know, on the streets in many different cities across Europe and in the States. And I've noticed myself personally that when amplified sound is permitted, we can make easily two to three times more money than if it's, you know, me just playing solo in the air with no harmony behind it, no backing tracks. It's sort of obscure. People don't really connect to it. So, I'm just here to say that we're in support of that. Um, busking creates a very unique economic opportunity for us where we choose when to monetize and work on an in- demand basis. Aside from a regular gig economy where you have to wait for the phone to ring to get a call for a gig. It's like we can choose to go out and make money, make opportunities happen. It's not just the busking income, but it's also I get called for people. They see me playing in the street and they want me to play at their restaurant or they want me to play their wedding. like it creates a lot of economic opportunities that that allowance of the amplified sound would just kind of enhance all that. Um, in this economy, especially for up and cominging musicians, this unique stance busking offers is a serious economic benefit for us and the laxing of some of these regulations as proposed positively impacts our situations. Um, it must be made clear also that professional performing artists are an at risk community due to financial volatility, especially in this economy, and we need all of the revenue sources we can get, especially since the recording industry is largely bottomed out due to tech company commodification and streaming. Um, also I still have a bit of time. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm also just making the case for buskers and street performers, not just musicians, but dancers and um any sort of like performing art. It breathes a lot of muchneeded life into the city and also creates vibrant street culture which we know and I know as I've always lived in Toronto in other cities that this implementation improves quality of life and happiness for its habitants having vibrant street culture. In this case, Toronto has a lot of room for improvement, in which case some of these laxing regulations when it comes to the street performance and amplified sound would help to facilitate. The only other thing I would comment is maybe I know that um there is a separate license for busking required on the Toronto Island and I'm just seeing if MLS would be open to taking a look at that and either lumping it in with the city of Toronto or finding a way to uh facilitate you know the licensing on the island to be a bit simpler to get or maybe just making it be a part of the same one license separate. Yeah, that's my time. Thank you. Thank you. Um questions of the deputent. I I do have a a a question. Uh Stuart, um the the question of you being a working musician and the ability to be able to control your um your own labor in a sense by uh performing when it when you are available and recouping uh all the gains. How important is that to maintaining you um in as a working musician in in a sort of a a creative and uh industry? So, I'm quite established now, so I'm not busting as much as I used to, but when I was up and coming, it was very vital because there might be, you know, slow weeks. You'll have slow weeks in this sort of gig economy thing. So, I'm like, if I don't have any other performances or concerts and I can go out every day and and choose, like I said, on demand to bus and make money and then get it. It is a massive massive help to because no other space in our industry is there that choice of like you want to go out and make money today. You can go and hustle and make it happen. Everything else you have to wait for a call to come in or you know what I mean? So it is it is massively it's a gamecher and these laxings would really help our community a lot. So yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. We're going to go to the next speaker uh uh Gabrielle Blanc. Gabriel Blanc, welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Thank you. Good morning, chair. Uh, counselors, members of staff, and the public. Uh, my name is Gabe Bl. I am a resident of W 11 University Rosedale. You may recognize me. I used to work in this building. Uh, though this is my first deputation as a private citizen. When I worked at city hall, I often made use of the nearby food trucks and street vendors, more often maybe than I care to admit. Uh, I know I was not alone among the public, excuse me, I know that I was uh not alone among the public servants and staffers who work in this building who had a favorite spot or maybe a rapport with a particular vendor. By James and Albert, there's a man named Maron who sells a delicious spicy Italian sausage. He told me one day about his family in Iran and his journey to Canada by way of Belgium when we were speaking. It was also one of the rare opportunities that I get to speak French with a stranger in Toronto. Myan has served sausages for 35 years. Uh his favorite customers included David Miller and Jack Leighton. Food carts, trucks, other wheeled vendors uh including non-motorized vendors like uh Beans and Wheels, which was p piloted in my home word of W 11 are sort of representative of the promise of this city. Food carts are a place of economic opportunity for entrepreneurial newcomers and they have the power to bring people together as Maron and I demonstrated. Lifting the moratorium on new permits will contribute to community building and economic opportunity in our city. Public space should be used to bring people together and healthy competition, not arbitrary limits that are more than two decades old should keep food affordable. On Meeron, former mayor David Miller uh once wrote that a moment shared with him reminds Torononians exactly where they are. permitting more street vendors will remind us that we live in a beautiful city, a kind of place where we can have more uh if we share more. So for that reason, I'd urge you to adopt the first two recommendations uh in this report. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? Um councelor Saxs, three minutes. Uh yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for your deputation. Um, do I understand correctly that you're also asking this committee not to adopt recommendation three, which is the special rules for this small number of uh privileged corporations? I'm not making a specific recommendation on recommendation three. I think it's to the committee to discuss that. Uh, of course I am taking note that there is seems to be a two-tiered system with the old 55 permits. And I wonder if there's a way that that can be adjusted that does not create additional and unnecessary red tape while creating a level playing field for all food vendors. Okay. But to be clear, you're asking for a level playing field for all food vendors. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Um the next speaker is uh Spencer Skir. Spencer, welcome to committee. Thank you. And I'll repeat, you have three minutes. Thank you. Uh I have performed magic as a busker on the streets of Toronto for the last 12 years. It's where I've gotten to grow as a performer and learn from the more experienced buskers. From my experience, the Toronto busking permits are more of a liability than an asset to the ones who could hold them. that doesn't need to be the case. Uh, one of the biggest issues that I face as a busking permit holder is the restriction on amplified sound. I can't perform for a full day while shouting to be heard over traffic, crowds, and most problematically the many unlicensed performers and vendors that aren't bound by such restrictions. These rules right now are only hurting the people trying to play by the rules. I've talked to many of the folks that don't hold permits and they say bylaw almost never checks these permits and when they do they're always let off with a warning every time. Licensed performers meanwhile seem to be easier to be ticketed by bylaw. So anyone who's trying to be heard is risking being fined with no consideration for the actual performance volume. A drum kit at full volume is allowed. An unlicensed performer with the speaker is going to get a warning. A small speaker from a permit holder just trying to be heard from 3 meters away gets a ticket. In addition to holding a City of Toronto busking permit, I also perform under the busking programs at the Toronto Harbor Front Center, the Distillery District, and the Fairy Docks BIA. All three of these allow amplification with reasonable restrictions on performance volume. I've yet to see anyone perform at a disruptive or unreasonable volume at any of these locations. The only place that I find myself competing with loud amplifiers is ironically when I'm using my Toronto busing permit. The crowd control is a crucial skill for any street performer. If I'm drawing an audience, I need to make sure I don't block a through fair or spill have my crowd spill on the road. I can shout all day, but it doesn't carry the same authority if I'm trying to talk like this. So, for these reasons, I'm recommending that the ban on amplification be listed as per the MLS recommendations. Um, it's much better to go with a reasonable decibel limit. If the busking bylaws remain unchanged, I will likely turn my focus to busking in other areas such as corporate shows. And uh between these issues and disappearing public performing spaces, I've seen a lot of performers make these similar changes where at 34, I'm one of the oldest buskers that I know on the streets. Without a change from the city, um I'm afraid that uh there won't really be a next generation of street performers in Toronto. And uh I thank you all for your time and consideration. Thank you very much for being here. Are there any questions of the deputent? Seeing none, uh we'll go on to the next uh speaker, Michael Mujanis. He left. He had to go. Okay. Thank you very much. So, that concludes our list. Um now we go to questions of staff. Councelor Saxs, we'll start with you. Five minutes. Uh yes, thank you. Um, first of all, most of the R55 holders are in Ward 11, correct? Uh, through the chair. Yes. And every other food vendor in the city is required to move their trucks at night. They're not allowed to just park and stay there for months or years. Correct. Correct. And the the rule for um the the R55 holders, they're also supposed to move at night, are they not? That is correct. But they don't. You're aware that they for for months and years, they've simply stayed in place and there's been no effective response by MLS. Uh through the chair, we are aware that uh some instances they do not move their vehicles. Yes. Well, in fact, along St. George, the snow banks against the vehicles stayed in place for many weeks after January 25th and they didn't need to be removed because the vehicles don't move. Isn't that so? Uh through the chair again, as I said, uh we are aware that these vehicles uh do not move. Right. So, you're aware that they're not in compliance with the bylaw even with the extension they've received. Uh have you prosecuted any of them for not moving their vehicles? uh through the chair. I don't have those numbers uh off hand. Uh we are uh we do make efforts to enforce uh along with u police parking enforcement. Well, um, if you have any evidence that there's been any enforcement against these folks, I'd like to know because I've been asking for years and I haven't seen any evidence of any enforcement at all and nor have I seen any of these vehicles move. Um, what is your justification for proposing that after they've had 10 years of notice that they're or I guess eight years of notice that their permits are going to expire in 2026 or giving these same people the right to keep occupying public space uh through the chair the we're dealing with about 15 or so license holders um in bringing this uh report. Uh we did not feel that this was the time to um require uh such a substantial change in their operations given that they've been operating under this uh licensing regime for a long period of time. Um there is an inability to transfer these licenses to anyone but the current operator. Uh so therefore we are anticipating that um the population of these licenses will reduce uh naturally over time. Right. What is the justification for allowing these particular corporations to have different rules than every other food vendor in the city? Uh through the chair. The initial justification uh it was a a different license type at the time when it was uh uh installed. Uh we have over time identified that uh need for more mobile uh vending is the the proper approach. uh as I said earlier uh at this time moving the remaining 15 um wasn't seen as a as a necessary uh thing to do now where they will naturally um reduce the in numbers uh over the coming years. Right. Uh would do you agree with the deputent that requiring the current corporations to hold the same 54 license as everybody else would a create a level playing field and b would provide greater variety of food options for the students, staff and faculty of the University of Toronto? uh through the chair. It's our goal to not have uh two systems and that is why um part of the the the sort of restrictions around the the licenses that we're speaking of is that they're non-transferable. Uh so that naturally uh the the two distinct uh operating models will merge into the new model in uh in an attempt to also further uh improve the opportunities and business opportunities of um new licences. Uh we are proposing extending operating hours uh reducing other burdens. Uh so there is an attempt to balance the playing field and then naturally to then end up in a position where there's just one set of rules, right? And the quickest and uh way to achieve the a one set of rules and getting rid of the two-tier system is to honor the the 10 years notice that these folks have had and to have the the 55s expire. They could then compete on a level playing field with everyone else. They wouldn't be put out of the business. they would just have to comply with everyone else's rules. Right? That's the last question. Uh so through the chair again uh that is one way to address it. Uh as I uh answered previously, that was not the way that we um saw as necessary given the natural decline in the number of licenses, the non-ransferability of them, and just the natural um end of this license category. Thank you. Any other uh questions of staff? I have a couple of questions. Um, in terms of the the issues raised around um, equitable access to this kind of economic opportunity, would it be helpful to be able to look at business licensing from a framework that considers um, you know, that actually directs consideration of these things uh, which we we have on the agenda later in the day. Uh absolutely uh I will just note also that it is uh applying an equity lens is uh something that we do naturally as well but always looking to improve on that but having the overarching framework that's that considers how you know people should be able to um that we should have a variety of entrepreneurs um able to access these opportunities. It's a little bit takes it a little bit further. Correct. Absolutely. Right. It's the difference between an equity impact statement and an equity um approach being embedded into how we measure our economy. So, thank you. Um are there any other questions? Oh, sorry. I did have one more quick question uh before I go to deputy mayor. Um uh there was a a deputant who spoke about the need to or or suggested that there's a need to have some kind of um coherence with the busking uh license on the Toronto Islands. Can you just comment on that? Yeah. So um I believe that is a a parks permit perhaps my colleagues. Yeah. to the speaker. Um, currently the the existing contract uh with Beasley Group is uh provides an exclusivity around food and beverage on Toronto Islands. I saw the comments. I think we're we're looking into the existing agreement whether it would allow for expansion of busking on the islands and if it does, I think it's a fantastic idea. We should Okay. Thank you. That's all for me. Um, Deputy Mayor Malik. Thank you very much. Um uh my question um my first question is around the changes to allow for more street busking opportunities and just to hear a little bit more about the engagement process on the proposed changes um with local advocates with folks who um have you know been a part of some of the discussions around our noise bylaws um and anything that's upcoming or planned in terms of that ongoing engagement. and to the chair. Thank you for the question. So, we uh undertook a year-long engagement process that would involve focus groups. It involves survey. We spoke to over 800 1,800 people. There's an extensive report um in the appendices attached to the item. um the planned engagement uh uh in including with noise stakeholders as well. Um as you can imagine this is uh the issue around um busking and amplified sound is something that came up quite a bit during the consultations and um the our recommendations reflect the feedback that we heard. Um, do we currently have information on the number or percentage of like noise concerns or complaints that are received from street busking? Uh, it's about 1 and a.5% of all noise complaints. Okay. And how many noise complaints do we have? A year. Yeah. a year from busing 286 a year from busking and we've got about I want to say almost 18,000 noise complaints. Okay. So just to give us the scale of what the what the concern um is and is that spread across the city or is it concentrated in certain areas? Uh it's certainly concentrated in the downtown area. It just reflects where the buskers are. Um so we did hear from uh some of the speakers around um a bit of um an uneven application of enforcement when it comes to street uh busking and um and with some of these changes that are coming forward. How is that being addressed? Uh thank you for the question through the chair. Um we are uh conscious and and agree uh that enforcement is a major part of um addressing busking concerns and vending concerns. Um part of the recommendations that we have today are to permit amplified noise but also to require um buskers uh to display their uh permits and identification uh while they're performing. This will allow us to to better uh be able to field complaints as well as to investigate those noise complaints on specific individuals because um uh by their nature uh these types of businesses can move around and being able to trace back who the individual was uh is a very helpful tool for us in investigation. And I guess to the point that the speaker was making also ensure that the uh performers who have uh made the effort and gone through the steps to um get the appropriate permits are not being unduly kind of um hassled. Right. And uh and I agree with that and there it is a we do have a lot of sort of proactive enforcement around this uh this area to ensure that um those that are unlicensed or not um uh complying with the obligations are a primary focus. And so to that point, what um has the public education experience been uh when it comes to street performers and buskers to ensure that any changes to the rules, access to permits, to the information that is required is easy and accessible. Um so that you know uh we can have um many more folks who are in compliance rather than having to spend uh the time in the way that you described. Uh part of the reason we're not phasing in these changes until March 2027 is to allow for that uh robust public education uh campaign including targeted uh communication to our vendor community including buskers. So we have we have quite a comprehensive plan um to educate people on the new rules. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff? Um, we have I I will be moving a motion um on this item. Uh, but we are working on it with staff to reflect the concerns that were raised by um, councelor Sachs and also the deputent around um, ensuring that opportunities are fairly available. So, we are going to just hold that with the indulgence of committee um, along with item number one and we're working on those motions. Um, councelor Moyes, you were you were interested in that. So, we'll continue to work with you on item one. And, uh, following the reordering of the agenda, we are now going to EC27.7, refreshing food and beverage offerings in parks, uh, park and recreation spaces. And for that one, we're holding for speakers. So, we're going directly to speakers on this item. I will call your name. Um second the first speaker is Gil Pinoloa. Is Gil Penolsa here or online? Okay. The next speaker is Nicole Curado. Nicole Curado here online. Uh Nicole, you have three minutes. Hello. Yes, you have three minutes. Well, I was um I think it's great that you're pushing for more local food vendors. What I would suggest is how about promote that these food vendors be plant-based that they they'll it's a plant-based diet is a lot healthier for the environment. It's a lot healthier for humans. It ac it accommodates all religious food restrictions and it accommodates people like myself who are ethical vegans and it everybody everybody can eat plant-based food. So, this is something that I would suggest that Toronto have it be that every restaurant have a plant-based default so that the plant-based items are first on the menu and also invest in 100% plant-based or vegan restaurants or venues because, you know, it better for better for the planet, better for health, better for everybody. I think that's the direction the world's going in. That's what Toronto needs to do. I would love to see more plant-based food food venues. Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? Seeing none, uh questions of staff. Do any members wish to ask questions of staff? Um, I'll go to councelor Carol and then to councelor Candville. Just a quick one just to give uh staff a a chance to uh outline in terms of of the the program we're here today. There was consultation not just with vendors but also with park users. I understand uh to the speaker that's correct. We Yes. So so the offerings that we have the fact that we're not limiting ourselves to plant-based is is based on some of that feedback. Absolutely, counselor. It's okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh councelor Candville, questions of staff. Uh thank you, chair. Um I wanted staff to um quickly elaborate on the objectives behind the uh this pilot approach. What are we looking to achieve? uh to the speaker the the the fundamental objective we're trying to approach so it's being directed from the fact that widespread people are asking for more options more food and beverage options within our park spaces. Um they are looking to activate those uh those spaces and and provide more offerings. And so the outcomes that we're seeking to achieve is number one, expand the availability of both motorized and non-motorized food trucks to be able to do business and offer food and beverage in parks. Number two, um number two, quite frankly, make it easier for the small medium-siz businesses to do business with the city. Um and number three, as part of this pilot program, help inform what the future of our food and beverage strategy will be long term. Right. is is the sense that these pilot programs will give us a real time understanding of of how we inform the four-year framework. Uh to the speaker, that's correct. So, as part of this, we will be doing both customer satisfaction surveys where we we be asking questions around things like um customer experience, menu, pricing, offerings as well as connecting with the the vendors themselves. Gotcha. And what are staff's strategies around um attracting you know um a diverse range of food option? I mean the the obvious critique we all are aware of is like we just have hot dogs in Toronto, right? So what what's the strategy to track those those vendors? uh to the speaker. Of course, part of this uh strategy um the initial as as we think about the initial part of it is is to engage with both the local communities, the local BAS, um work with our colleagues in EDC in order to be able to attract ultimately what we're seeking to do is offer small and medium-sized businesses the opportunities to do this in in in our in our park system. And so through working collaboratively through those local communities, we're looking to get spread the word of how they how how those uh how those operators can attract. Are we looking at investing in different communication strategies to put that out there that we're looking at this this expansion? Uh to the speaker, there will be uh communications and information packages sent out to uh to to um to all vendors who would qualify under the MLS list. uh are we uh investing in paid ads or um certain marketing strategies that that expand beyond the the the usual reach? Yeah. to the speaker. I think we're looking at this as uh this is something that the public has been asking for and so as part of that we are looking to to obviously promote and market the program through things like uh paid ads uh um um both uh both online and static ads. Um excellent. Thank you. Those are my questions. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff? Um I have um a question. Um this do you consider this an opportunity uh for the city of Toronto to use its own leavers uh to generate local economic opportunity that helps you know thinking about three audiences, local entrepreneurs, not forprofits, social enterprises um to get into this u this system um to be able to have better livelihoods. uh to the speaker. Absolutely. And that's that's one of the outcomes we're seeking to do here is is fundamentally to make it easier for for small medium-siz nonprofits to do business with the city. And so what we're doing is is is removing a lot of the the application sort of the the the stage gates, if you will, while maintaining the integrity of the system, but also expanding the environment and the scope of which of which uh these these businesses will be able to operate in. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff speakers? Can you just Uh, we have uh the clerk has Sorry, we're in item seven, right? Yes. Can you hold it down? I have a minute. Yes. And um the clerk has alerted me that one of the speakers who registered has been engaging online. Um I'm going to vary the procedure uh to lighten the load on the clerks uh to allow Gil Gil Penolosa his three minutes. So, welcome to committee, sir. You have three minutes online. Thank you. Um, how do I share uh screen? Okay. Okay. Now, do you see my presentation? Yes, we do. You have three minutes, sir. Okay. Can you restart? Thank you. Uh, well, thank you very much for having me listening to this. Um, I think that basically what if what if Toronto council decided to make living healthier and happier the easy choice? This is really important. For example, side we might say, "Hey, go walk." But if one out of four street do not have side, we cannot walk. So when we talk about food and beverage, we're talking about health, physical, mental, and social health. And that's what parks do. That's why parks are so critical. And we have a public health crisis in Toronto. Overweight and obesity. One out of four people are all obese. Another one out of four are overweight. There's diabetes, lack of physical activity. And all of this is causing strokes, heart attacks, various types of cancers, depression, anxiety. So this what you're talking about refreshing food is also the street vendors is about public health. So today I want to mention three I three things on the two minutes left. Um so one is nutrition, one is variety and one is the service hours. Nutrition. I think that the city should ban the sale of sugar drinks. There is not one single ingredient in a Coca-Cola that is good for you. None. And we have an obesity and we have a a overweight and we have diabetes and all of this. So not to ban the drink. You can bring it from home. You can bring it for outside. But you would make it a lot easier for people to live healthier if there is no sugar drinks for sale in everything that is public. the parks, the library, the community centers, the schools. Same thing fried foods. Get the foods, fried foods out. I mean, there are many countries around the world doing it. In Mexico, they they got rid of sugar drinks and fried foods in all of the schools and there are others, but the sugar drinks is something that you will send a message that in Toronto the health matters, variety. I think you should have competition for quality. For example, there should be no single vendors in in in large parts. The people for example in High Park are very nice people but they have had exclusive to all of High Park and the waterfront by the high park for over 20 years. Why? Why exclusivity also you should stop not allowed any more junk food on street vendors. Keep the one that are but the new ones make money for healthy food such as New York did the new ones. Welcome. If you are going to sell fruits or fruit juices or smoothies or so on and service hours, set minimum hours. Yes, it's set minimum hours. So, they got to open 52 weeks of the year and that's really really important. So, Toronto Council, please make living healthy, the easy choice. Thank you for your deputation. Are there any questions of the deputent? Seeing none, um I think to speak, uh we are uh councelor Moyes is working on a motion. So, we're going to hold this one down as well and come back to it. Not not 100% ready. So, the the clerks don't don't have it yet. Uh so, we're going to hold this one down as well. Um and continue with our very full agenda. So, um, we are going to go to, um, EC27.4, uh, Toronto action plan to confront anti-black racism, year five update. And we have deput. Uh so we have a list of speakers for that and I will call you in order. Um the first speaker is Amanda um Utley. Welcome to committee. Hi. Thank you. Three minutes. Thank you. Okay. Chair members of the committee. My name is Amanda Otley and I will be honest with you. I am heartbroken that I have to sit here today not because I don't believe in this process but because I should not have to spend 3 minutes convincing anyone in this room that feeding black children is a priority. This city has already made the decision and I'm asking you to honor it. On December 17th, 2024, Toronto City Council declared food security a municipal emergency. Not a concern, not a long-term priority, an emergency. And in that same declaration, council directive MM24.42, the city manager was directed to account for food security in all ongoing and future work. This report is ongoing work and this report does not mention MM24.42 not once 36.6% of black children in Toronto are living in food insecure household three and a half times the rate for white children. After a Scarra family on minimum wage pays market rent, they have $181 a day for food, not per meal, per day. So, I looked at what this report plans to do in 2026 for food security in the black community. Priority work point two, the food security section lists two items for this year. Black data capacity building and ecosystem integration. That is the city's answer to a food emergency for children living on $181 a day. More data, more ecosystem. Not one intervention that puts food on a table. Not one action that feeds a black child next week. You declared an emergency. This report does not reflect that decision because when a child is hungry, waiting is not neutral. Waiting is the decision. I am asking a member of this committee to move the amendment I have submitted. The full text is in your package. It is a pivot within existing resources. It does not require a new budget line. It requires political will. Because you do not measure a child's hunger, you interrupt it. Move the amendment. Feed our black kids. Let history record that when this committee knew you did not look away. Thank you. Thank you. Um I have just a quick question of you. Um, did you get a chance to look at the amendment on So, is Amanda still with us? Oh, yes. I'm still here. I'm sorry. Sorry. Um, I have a quick question which is did you get a chance there's an uh um an um attachment or an appendix that talks about black food sovereignty? Did you look at that? Cuz it is it in the the report itself has um is massive. So, has a number of different elements to it. Uh yes, thank you for your question. I did absolutely have a look at the black food sovereignty report as well as um the other documentation that was submitted and um I would direct you to have a look at um the growing together report. It actually differentiates between food sovereignty and food security. Yes. Okay. So food sovereignty is a long-term intervention and a long-term intervention is not a emergency response. So it's not a question of replacing food sovereignty. It's saying that this council declared food insecurity an municipal emergency. Thank you. Ongoing Oh, sorry. I thought I had three minutes to respond. Sorry. We have in total 3 minutes. So, so my my next question is around um so the I think the greatest investment that's been made in food security I think municipally in Canada has been the mayor championing the uh creation of universal school food program. Um do you would you consider that part of acting on food security particularly since it it it does respond to kind of all the work that you've been um referring to and championing for a long time. Absolutely. Thank you for that question. Um I think it is amazing what um the city has done in terms of uh making sure that I believe it is 330,000 children at school will now be able to access food um at 185 of city camps kids will uh receive meals and that's great for school age children. The amendment that I have asked and I am begging someone on this committee to move is for those kids 0 to five who will not be able to benefit from uh that expansion in support. So kids 0 to 5 aren't in school yet. They're not going to campus yet and they are the ones most at risk of facing the long-term burden of not having enough to eat. Thank you. So yes, I Oh, sorry. Oh, no. Thank you. Thank you for your answers. Uh, we're going to move on to the next speaker. Emanuel Melis. Emanuel, I believe you're um Emanuel, you're online. Welcome to committee. Emanuel. Um, Emanuel is not responding right now, so we're going to go to the next one. Uh, the next uh um Oh, there you are. Okay, go ahead. Thank you. You have three minutes. Oh, you have to unmute. Yeah, go ahead. Good morning, uh, Chair Bravo and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I have submitted a detailed submission and so I will focus, uh, on the areas that we may want to pay attention to. But before I say that, I just want to mention that I was one of the 12 residents that was appointed by the previous mayor to be uh in the partnership and accountability circle for the first year of the implementation of the plan. I consider the current plan a covenant of the city of Toronto with black communities, an important uh plan that tries to address barriers to economic opportunity, access to services, and participation in decision making. Um the city has laid a really a strong foundation. The report uh identifies that nearly all planned actions have been uh completed alongside investments in community programs, youth employment and improvement uh of data collection. Uh it's also uh important to note that this aligns with global efforts in terms of the alignment with the UN permanent forum for people of African descent that focus on accountability, structural change and measurable results. I want to highlight three gaps. First, governance and authority. The unit at the moment doesn't have the authority to really ensure consistent implementation across divisions. It coordinates but uh no no no capacity or authority to ensure consistent implementation across divisions. Second, economic outcomes. We need clearer public reporting on jobs, income and procurement. And third, funding. Black le organizations that are partners in solution to the city and implementing the plan uh need stable multi-year support. Uh so the question before council and this committee is will the unit in the coming years uh starting this year continue to be enabled to deliver system level structural uh changes. There are clear next steps that the city might want to consider uh going forward. Number one, publicly report progress on measurable targets for employment, income and procurement. Second, link those targets to budget decisions. so divisions are accountable for results. Third, provide multi-year funding to black organizations so that they have long-term capacity. For me, these are not symbolic changes. They are practical steps to align uh the covenant that the city has with accountability because ultimately I believe this is a a matter of credibility. So the city has said that confronting anti-black racism remains a priority. The question is whether that priority shows up in economic decisions and measurable outcomes. If the next phase builds on progress of the last 5 years while strengthening accountability and advancing structural change, then we can expect meaningful results. That I believe is what a covenant requires. Thank you and I welcome your question. Thank you very much for being here. Are there any questions of the deput? Seeing none, we're going to go to um the next speaker, Adan. Adan, is that online in the room? No. Uh the next speaker is Dane Williams. Is Dane in the room? Online? No. Alex Dao. Is Alex is not here? Is Alex online? No. Uh Kimmy Jacobs online. Kimmy. Welcome to committee. Yes, I'm here. Yeah, welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Thank you. Um, can you see me? Yes, we can. Go ahead. You have three minutes. Yeah. Hi. Greetings. Thanks for giving me this time to speak and I'll have to speak very quickly given that we have three minutes. I'm Chem Jacobs, the former ED of Delta Family, an organization in northwest Toronto which was involved in the development of Toronto's anti-black racism plan. more than 5 years ago. We have partnered with this K Cber unit and can address how the existence of the unit and the city's commitment has led to systemic differences for Toronto's black communities. We are pleased that since the the launch of the plan in 2018, more than 90% of the identified actions have been delivered. Cable has met its many of its outcomes and has been a catalyst which has facilitated and resulted in changes for Toronto's black communities in areas such as funding for two blackmandated early early centers, the mushrooming of targeted culturally responsive programming for black families in unapologetic ways. The eventual funding of Toronto's first franophhone shelter and other housing initiatives for black communities. And these are systemic changes which hadn't happened before. Investment in over a 100 predominantly black groups and organizations annually to build organizational capacity. Increase in e in culturally responsive services for diverse black communities and the creation of economic opportunities through targeted hiring and support for blackowned businesses. However, more work is needed. While we recommend that the city accepts this report, the stark reality of continued gaps in many areas also moves us to make key recommendations like my brother Emanuel did. We recommend that the next phase of act of of cber funding includes multi-year consistent funding for B3 organizations. Continued investment in culturally responsive services which provides evidence-based services that impact positively on black communities. Investments in strategies that address systemic barriers faced by black residents in areas of housing, education, food security, financial literacy, and economic empowerment, and a system for transparent public reporting. Cable's 5-year plan has been a meaningful start, but it is just that, a start. The real work is in continuing to advance towards the vision towards completing and extended the covenant which the city has made to black Torononians and creating tangible measurable targets that can be documented and measured as we attain the goal of integrating the prevention of anti-black racism into the way in which the city walks, talks, and operates. Thank you for your for your time today. Thank you very much uh for being here. Are there any questions of the uh deputent? Seeing none, uh, thank you. I'm going to go through the list of, uh, oh, sorry, Wid Kalia Ali, and then, um, I'll go through the rest of the list for one more shot. Is WI here? Yeah. Welcome. You have three minutes. Good morning, uh, members of uh, committee. Uh, my name is Wed Kgali Ali, and I am a member of the Confronting Anti-black Racism Advisory Committee uh, known as CABRAK. and I'm here to speak to this item uh the Toronto action plan to confront anti-black racism to raise a critical concern in regarding governance, accountability, and process. Let me begin by acknowledging that Toronto's action plan to confront anti-black racism represents an important and necessary commitment by the city to address systemic anti-black racism. The 5-year update is a significant milestone and the work reflected in this report matters deeply to black communities across Toronto. However, there's a serious gap that must be addressed. Despite the completion of public consultation and the direct relevance of this report to CABRA's mandate, the committee has not had an opportunity to review or provide input on this update prior to its consideration today. This is not a minor procedural issue. It's a fundamental governance concern. While it has been noted that the action plan is directed by the partnership and accountability circle as outlined in the item, CABRA has a distinct and essential role. Our mandate is to advise city council on policies, programs, and institutional efforts to confront anti-black racism and to support accountability in this work. that advisory role cannot be fulfilled after decisions are made. It must be part of the process and I will really appreciate it if members of council and city staff will pay attention to this. I'm not here for performative remarks. Um I I think we need to be very serious with anti-black racism when members of the public are not permitted to depute for example on the impact of investments in policing for example like that is truly disturbing when items uh like this just come forward to this committee without going through an advisory body. That is truly disturbing when evictions are happening in this city impacting black members of our community. 40% of TCHC tenants are black and there's no moratorium on evictions. That is systemic anti-black racism. I'm not here for performative remarks. I'm not here for performative deputations. I'm calling on this action I mean this committee to take action on anti-black racism seriously. not through referrals or procedure or excuses on process. We need action now. Black families, black communities are suffering in this city. Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? I I do have a couple of questions. Um first of all, the the the item around uh evictions, as you know, is not before us, but this plan is. But I did want to ask around the process questions. Are are you aware that there's a pack there's a there's a a committee that was created from at the outset um in terms of uh creating the confronting anti-black racism plan and that that committee has continued to advise staff throughout the process. Yes, I do. And I do know of the MOA between both bodies. And our expectation is for the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee to be to have a an have an opportunity to review the Toronto Action Plan. Uh provide input on what the final version before it comes to this committee. And I'm just hoping that we could pivot and course correct and make sure that the recommendations that will be made hopefully at the May meeting of CABRA will be uh embedded in the final version of the Toronto action uh the final version of the action plan before it goes to council because we don't we don't have minutes. So um the the the challenge of what I'm I'm I'm wrestling with here is that that committee that was created to advise on the production of a plan also is representative of the community. Is it not? Yes. And both committees should be consulted so they could provide evidence that could be considered uh at city council and through this committee. If this if the action plan was to go through CABRA theoretically and members of CABRA were to able to be engaged and involved in the final recommendations that go to city council, I think it'll meet both committees or bodies needs. So the I understand the mandate of CARARK is slightly different in that there is an intergovernmental dimension to that and it is an advisory committee at which I understand you will be like actually considering this item at your next meeting. So, are you saying that before counselors or staff see this um before counselors see it that it needs to go through the funnel of an advisory committee? Because that's I I I think I think if we don't if we want to value the input of uh the members of the public that were appointed by city council to provide that direct advice, they should have an opportunity to provide input on the plan. advice just I really want to be clear on this because I would not want there to be a misunderstanding about process. So the process has had integrity from the beginning. It's been laid out. You will have a chance at at cabrack members will have a chance to consider the item. But you're saying that before like that you that there should be some kind of holding of the pen. Um and I am challenging you to answer if you consider that to be part of the mandate because that is not the mandate of any other advisory committee and that we do have uh a set of rules here and systems to ensure that there's maximum transparency and accountability and that this is the process that guarantees that I think if both uh member the cabar and the partnership circle were consulted on the final plan before it goes to this committee and city council that will the ideal situation. So that's my position. A whole set of different rules, but that's but but thank you. That's Thank you, councelor Bravo. Yeah. Are there any questions of other questions of the deputent? Go ahead. Yeah. Could I could I just make sure that we're clear here? Is is it clear to you? What's before us is an update on the work of CARAC and the staff that work with them. And there are no recommendations here and there won't be a council either. All that is we're asked to do today is to receive an update. Uh you're receiving an update before another body that is mandated to also be consulted when it comes to the Toronto action plan hasn't received it. My point councelor Carol is a simple point and that is CABRA should also be given the opportunity to review the this Toronto action plan before it is brought to this body. I the action plan, so just so we're clear, the action plan has been adopted by council a long time ago. This is what we asked for are ongoing updates on their work. That is correct. This is an ongoing we're taking no decisions. We're not changing the plan in any way. We're just checking to make sure that the work to do that plan is continuing. I I agree with you. There are also motions that were passed by CABRACK to enhance and improve this plan and we would like to see those amendments made to the action plan before it comes to this committee. So there are proposed changes that came forward through CABRA. Ah that that that clarifies cuz that wasn't clear in your your deputation. So I was confused as to why. Thank you for asking. there's an update on your work. If there were amendments that didn't make it out of CABRA and and and to council, you're at liberty to to contact council members and say there are things in the plan we think need to be amended, but staff's hands are tied in that they're to give an update. They're not they're not asking council to change the plan. Council adopted the plan and they want it they want it completed. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of recommendations that were put forward and I hope that CABRA will be able to finalize whatever recommendations are going to come to council uh before we approve the next iteration of this action plan. Right. But this is this is this is a progress report. This is not an iteration of the plan to be changed. That would be a different type of report to council. That's not what this report I I appreciate that and this is why we will love highly unusual for that to happen. If we're if we're getting the update we ordered to then say and oh by the way council we'll update you on our work but we don't like your plan we want to change it that's a that's an entirely different piece of work. I I think it was came to a surprise to many members of CABRA including myself that this item was coming to this committee. If we were notified that there will be an opportunity to speak to the action plan at the next meeting and I'm thankful grateful uh to Muhammad Shurier who confirmed that that is going to be the case for the next uh CAPRAC meeting that will be uh ideal. Uh but that is something that I think we need to take into consideration when we're thinking about how items flow for approval at council and you you can't just not have that item not have that item discussed like I think this is okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um no. Okay. Uh any other questions of the uh speaker? Uh, we have I'm just going to do one last uh chance for Adi Aman. Uh, Dane Williams, Alex Dao. Alex is online. Hi, Alex. Welcome to committee. You have three minutes. You I'll try to be uh brief. Um, so thank you councelor Bravo and uh sorry I had the little technical snafu earlier. Um, but I'm here representing United Way Greater Toronto. I'm the director of uh the neighborhood solution strategy and uh it's been a pleasure working alongside uh the uh confronting anti-black racism unit and uh and United Way has certainly benefited from some of their um uh their uh really really outstanding work that's been influencing policy investments and bringing more B3 partners to the table. Um the blackmandated funders framework work has been really instrumental was really well done. It changed the way uh that United Way funds uh black le black uh focused and black serving organizations what we call B3 organizations and it's been an important mechanism to expand United Way's partnerships with B3 organizations in the city. Um, so I kind of wanted to paint that picture I think for committee of how this is influencing other funders, other jurisdictions to do this work uh better. Um, based on some of the groundbreaking uh pieces put in place by this unit. Um, we have expanded uh the number of B3 organizations that we fund. Um, we've built on the relationship, we've deepened the relationships with them. Uh, we do more strategic work with them. Um and uh we work with the unit um staff in the unit to deliver the black resilience cluster which brings together 70 uh B3 organizations. It's our largest cluster in the community coordination plan and I think that's uh speaks for something. Um we've also been able to invest more and more intentionally in uh more um B3 grassroots groups and emerging groups. And so we just wanted I wanted to share with the committee that it has had a lasting impact on how United Way approaches equity informed investment as well as partnership. Um a couple of examples we're working on uh Chem Jacobs um recently stepping down from Delta Family Resource Center, but an amazing uh initiative collaborative initiative with B3 agencies that we've been able to fund called the Black Agency Network to support uh black youth in care. we've working with black health alliance uh with the city um around a data governance initiative with partners. So those are just some of the examples just uh to give you some tangible tangible things that are coming out of this work. Um, I will wrap there because I know you're pressed for time, but um, yes, we we uh continue to enjoy working collaboratively with the unit and the division to, um, better understand those gaps for both the organizations and the black communities that they serve in the city. Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? Uh, councelor Shen, three minutes. Thank you. Um, through you, Madam Chair, uh, to Alex. Um uh as as you head an organization that is across the GTA uh but this work that we're doing is within the city of Toronto through CABR unit. Um has CABR unit here from city of Toronto through your work impacted how uh the service is happening across the GTA particularly in confronting anti-black racism. Uh yes definitely. I think one of the speakers that maybe wasn't here um or couldn't make it in the in the conversation. Arlene Coventry is from the region appeal. We work closely with her. We actually adapted some of the lessons from an initiative that we did um with the black resilience cluster around capacity building and uh there's some funding attached to that in the region of Peele and um and so I know she was in contact for example with the confronting anti-black racism unit um and we were able to bring some of the lessons from something we funded uh to to PEL agencies as well. So it is it is definitely uh also with York we've had the conversation uh and we're coordinating kind of co-investments or approaches uh as well with them. So that's kind of our territory but I I would imagine the unit's been contacted by others as well both in the GTA and then also beyond. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other questions of the deputent? I have a quick question. Um I you know councelor Shan also alluded to this said I don't think that there are any other um cities that United Way works with that would have something like this action like a confronting anti-black racism unit in a plan. Is that correct? That is correct. I think I think they might have um one element of the work. Um so the the blackmandated funders framework there might be for example that kind of a piece but it uh I don't think anybody has a dedicated team and a multi-year plan to my knowledge. Yeah I think to my knowledge it doesn't really exist anywhere in North America but um the the question I wanted to ask was around the the um partnership adi advisory circle to which you belong. How important is it for the plan to be informed by um organizations that have the you know the capacity and the mandate to make some changes that are more structural or systemic? You've alluded to a bit about how the funding has been realigned but how does that that kind of ethos from United Way how do you carry it through kind of down into the ground and the and the for example the the funded u partner organizations Um, so I I should just acknowledge I'm not um on the partnership uh advisory council, but I I kind of co- lead the the cluster tables. Um, and so I have line of sight there. I don't know if you wanted me to still answer part of the but United Way is at the your organization is at the table. So yes. Yeah, I think um so I mentioned it a little bit. But uh it's important that we do this work with those that are on the ground and they'll have the best um the best sense of like what are this the still unmet gaps and then also what are they what are their organizations facing in this particularly tumultuous time I think for like all of our nonprofit partners uh in the city. Uh but we know that there are acute um pressures and um and kind of historic kind of funding gaps and and things like that with B3 organizations in particular as well as indigenous organizations. And so um you know a lot of what we're doing is really creating the social what we would call the social infrastructure um in United Way speak or social development speak uh which means we're putting in place the networks we're building the relationships and the trust so that we can accomplish more together. Um so an example would be like when there is u you know a settlement crisis or something like that that we're able to kind of we've got um something like our anchors the equivalent of our anchors. You have you have folks embedded across the city um smaller partners medium-sized partners um larger partners that can then mobilize a collective response and a citywide response. That's great. Sorry, I'm I'm I'm to love to continue to talk about this, but um Arlene Coventry Bower from Region of Peele actually had incorrectly signed up for a different item, but we do want to hear from Arlene if she's here. Wonderful. Uh thank you so much for being here, Arlene. And you have three minutes. Okay. Thank you very much through the chair and members of the committee. My name is Arlene Coventry Bower. I'm the manager of the community capacity investment at the region of Peele. I'm here today as an ally and a partner in the city of Toronto's equity work with specific alignment to the black funding framework. Peele has unique demographics like the city of Toronto with 18% or one in five black Ontarians living in Peele. Despite this significant presence, black communities in Peele like Toronto still face persistent and systemic dis disparities related to housing, employment, education, and health. To respond with intention, leadership and council endorsed the region's first Peele black funding framework with co-designed with community, not for community, to address long-standing gaps in access to funding to strengthen organizational capacity and improve service delivery for black communities across Peele, which aligns to the city of Toronto's framework. Throughout Peele's unit journey, we've collaborated with the city of Toronto staff, sharing evidence, informed best practices, processes, and lessons learned, which has strengthened Peele's model, ensuring it reflects lived experiences and on the ground realities. Over the past two years, the region of Peele can successfully say they've delivered 2 million through the framework through human services division. The impact has been tangible as what is before you in the report. We've funded 43 agencies. 37% were new to the region's funding streams. We've supported more than 600,000 black resident interactions across Peele. We also see new youth employment pathways, increase support for 4,500 families who experience food insecurity. We've strengthened organizational capacity, increased partnerships, as well as new funding for services in Peele totaling over $950,000. Beyond grants, we are building sustainable notfor-profit ecosystems through a funding partnership with the United Way, which Alex just spoke about, 500 notfor-profit racialized leaders have participated in community building workshops. Earlier evidence through our evaluations show gains in program accessibility, consistency, cultural relevance, as well as improvement in governance, leadership, financial management, and sustainability within organizations. Looking ahead, the region of Peele looks forward to continue to work and collaborate with the city of Toronto community grants and confronting anti-black racism unit, sharing knowledge, building synergies, discussing gaps, aligning processes, sharing evaluation, and building systems capacity to support continued building of inclusive, diverse, thriving communities across the GTA. Thank you very much for your deputation. Are there any questions of the deputent? We have um visiting councelor Fletcher would like to ask some questions. Yes. Uh good morning. I just wonder how many community benefits agreements you have signed in Peele. You know that is not under my area but we have been working diligently with United Way and the community benefits network. I can find out that information for you to share it. Okay. I'll find CB. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um thank you Arlene for being here. And if I'll allow myself, I was um uh very active in some of the working tables about 12 years ago in Peele and it's wonderful to see the progress that you've made. Um so uh now we are on to questions of staff. Uh we've got uh councelor Moyes, councelor Carol and some questions as well. Go ahead council moyes. Thank you chair. uh what are some of the uh ongoing gaps you see you still see in regards to um some of the items that we're talking about here. So through the chair some of the key challenges we still see facing the black communities particularly around housing stability and and displacement uh we are seeing uh through the data increase in evictions and displacement of black communities but also loss of black traditionally black neighborhoods. So that part of our work through the grown in place attempts to address that. We're also seeing some food security challenges uh with the black communities facing twice the food insecurity rate. We are attempting to uh address that through the major investment made by city council in the uh school food program as well as our black food uh uh work and also the broader uh economic challenge of unemployment with uh black youth facing uh double the unemployment rate with compared to other youth. So some of the work that we're doing around youth employment is targeted towards supporting black communities. You mentioned uh evictions. I know that TCHC uh the eviction rate is 1 to 3% which is significantly low. But uh in regards to evictions in the private sector uh can you maybe talk about some of the the steps the city have taken to perhaps reduce evictions for example or sorry councelor Moyes I stopped your time or I accidentally reset it. I think that that those questions belong on a different item. Um could would you be able to ask them because it's a different staff. Okay. Unless um well, he brought it up. I just wanted to I can quickly speak to through the chair some of the work being led by our house of secretary office around uh the EPIC program to provide supports. Uh but I think more broadly um I wanted to highlight the challenge around uh black households over represented in core housing need and some of the broader investments being made around supportive housing and and building up more affordable housing the city is making are steps in the right direction. Okay. Wonderful. And just uh in regards to the 10-year renewal action plan uh I see that it's coming to before us in Q2 2027. um is that on track to happen and are there any reasons why perhaps that may not happen? I know that it was supposed to was come before us uh before now and it keeps being deferred. So through the chair uh the team has done significant community engagement with over 5,000 residents engaged and approximately 134 engagement touch points. Um, we are going to be taking the time over the next few months to deepen that engagement, work with communities, um, to validate some of the key actions, uh, and to work internally with our key divisions to secure commitments of what key actions the city can take to, uh, address some of the structural challenges and the barriers faced by black communities. And this will help us bring forward a very cohesive uh, and and strengthened report before city council in Q2 of 2027. Okay. And my final question really is about um working in partnership with other jurisdictions uh that are experiencing the same things as uh Toronto perhaps sharing best practices. Uh through the chair council, thank you for this question. As you saw with the deputent uh Arlene, we have been working with various um various uh municipal bodies as well as uh international ones. We partnered uh with uh Peele to advance some of their work. We they have a strong anti-black racism group there. We also have done trainings throughout the province, namely New Market. And we also had a learning opportunity with the Swiss government uh about two years ago. So one of the great things about this particular plan is that there's uh items available online for anyone to engage. So, we've had very formal engagements with other municipalities, but we've also had very casual ways in which people have asked us how we developed our plan. Okay. Thank you. Those are my questions. Thank you, councelor uh councelor Carol. Questions to staff. Oh, thank you. Um so, so today we're getting we're getting an update on on uh uh what's transpired thus far uh in the five years. The list the list sort of focuses on it. the list in the appendix. It focuses on achievements over those five years. Um gaps, things you're still grappling with. Um uh for instance, we we we heard about the the the struggle to get uh uh the food program brought down to the 0 to 5 years and that we were talking offline about some of the challenges there that are being grappled with. Um what we next see after this uh is coming back with a 10-year plan. Um at that time will will we get sort of a cataloging of these are things that are more complicated. These are the things that we've got to grapple with and they'll be prioritized in in the next 10-year plan. So through the chair that is correct. uh you know, city staff are reviewing the levers available to the city both around employment, around justice, around uh uh housing, and ways for us to use those levers to address some of the systemic barriers faced by black communities. And that will be embedded in the new 10-year action plan. Okay. And that's that's a significant leap. We we we set a policy. We adopted a plan and and uh agreed to fund it for 5 years, but coming back with a 10-year plan pretty much it's as good as making this a permanent unit in in City of Toronto Parliament. Am am I am I right? Are we is that the track we might be going down? Uh so through the chair uh to achieve this uh uh the work requires a major cultural shift uh and consistent efforts by city staff with community partners. Um and so the 5-year action plan has provided tremendous progress, but there's more work ahead. And so when the report comes forward uh next year, city council will be able to reconfirm that that work is critical. Right. and and that plan has got to well there has been there has been some monitoring projects of projects all through this plan. I would assume by making a 10-year plan, we could have sort of first five years and then a really robust monitoring to see if if if uh the the things we we are doing in the community that we see in the list here have had an impact to the point where it actually begins to show up in our data in a significant way. Would we would we see that built in in in an energetic way in the 10-year plan? So through the chair that is correct. I think one example I would highlight is the data for equity work. In the first five years we built the foundation for consistent data collection uh around social demographic information for different city divisions that will allow us to track outcomes for black communities and create benchmarks. And so in the next 10-year action plan uh we'll be able to use that to move forward on understanding the benchmarks and ways for improvement. We've also been able to improve uh data collected through the community sector with our partnership with United Way uh and ensuring again consistent data collection. You you can only improve what you measure and now we actually are able to uh quantify the the challenges and opportunities ahead. Okay. I I had one more question madam chair if you would mind five minutes and and that is I'm wondering if if if cabrak themselves have sat and grappled with this issue the food issue arrays and there are others like access to recreation programs things like that there's a challenge uh in that we have a policy to build access across all communities we we've had an approach a policy approach that says you you get people in by doing universal access. Universal access has been our approach to student attrition. Removes barriers, it removes stigma that uh we've tried to do that with the welcome letter. You know, if you meet the criteria and you do it, come one, come all get your welcome letter. But we've always taken a a broad sort of uh uh widen the net approach to it. But for CARAC, we're now asked to really focus in. So have they have they discussed are there are there policies where we need to have addendum attached to the policies that we have on on the books so that so that there's the universal approach but there can still be an approach to to outreach and targeting that that really begins to move the needle on on what the data show right now. So through the chair certainly targeted universalism the approach of uh ensuring that we remove barrier systemic barriers faced by certain communities such as the black community uh is an approach that uh has proven effective in for instance some of our co uh covid vaccine uptake. Uh we particularly targeted the black community and other communities that were facing uh low uh vaccination rates and was able to get the numbers up. Uh so that's an example of successful targeted universalism amongst many others and that approach that's the term targeted universalism. So that maybe that gets us that's your time. Yes. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff? Um I have a couple of questions. Um just to pick up on the on the challenges of the um Amanda Ali's uh comment about the gap for zero children 0 to five uh who are not helped by a universal school nutrition program. Um can you comment on how much for example for the city of Toronto to do this work if you're if you're a child is in child care they would be fed but if they're not in child care that's a that's a significant gap. How much of feeding in the early years or or like the taking care of social determinance of health in the early years is really an area of provincial jurisdiction that the city of Toronto has kind of taken up in some ways but that really does require like a health uh a health lens a public health a precautionary health approach. So through the chair it is is certainly an area of of provincial oversight. uh we have as best as possible uh been trying to support. So as an example, our community service partnerships. We fund roughly $4.2 million in community organizations that are providing food hampers and food supports AC to to a variety of residents including black residents. We've also worked with our colleagues in children's services to support culturally relevant food in our child care spaces, but uh more can certainly be done and there will be a requirement for provincial engagement. Right. And so and to be able to actually bridge the gap. Um there's there's some historically uh public health has had had the resources I believe with provincial partnership to fund programs that were in addition to um sort of like drop-in programs, programs for mothers and that that could be an an area. the early on program. I is that a place that could focus and provide which is a provincial program provide more support um which it's supposed to um bias and help for the best start possible and because the deputin is absolutely correct the most the most crucial health investment we can make is in uh child nutrition and particularly 0 to 5 0 to six. So through the chair that that is correct and I would just only add that the literature has shown that the the most uh viable and the most impactful way for us to address food insecurity is through income supports either increasing social assistance rates which have not increased or providing greater economic opportunity and I know on the agenda is our inclusive economic opportunity and that's one way we can build up capacity for for for folks to have ability to purchase food and to sustain themselves. Yeah, thank you. I was going to ask about that. So, thanks for getting there. First, on I'm not sure who would answer this question, but I do think that there is an important procedural question that's been raised and I want to make sure that everyone has the same uh understanding. Is it am I correct in understanding that a report by staff cannot be considered until it comes to a a a committee uh by another advisory body, a round table, a working table? Does anybody know that? like does is the report real before it comes here so through the chair I can't speak for clerks but I I'll just simply say that our standard practice has been to uh present the report after it's been considered by committee and council to the cabarak uh we have never presented the action uh the action plans before um and uh through the chair the broader um distinction between the uh responsibilities and scopes between cabar and the partner partnership accountability table are delineated in a 2021 membership memorandum of understanding that the partnership accountability table is the program advisory body that oversees the action plan whereas CAVRA is intended to focus on the international just international decade for black people African people of descent uh priorities around justice and more intergovernmental conversations right and just um uh like for example the housing rights advisory committee has uh we forwarded to them often reports from the Toronto Shelter Division that are considered at this committee. Um there've been there's been a motion to forward there um so that they can have a lens on a report that's come to ECDC. Maybe the uh the general manager of Toronto Shelter can comment on that. Thank you to you, Chair. You're correct. uh you know shelter related uh reports would traditionally come to this body first and then uh find their way through to the housing rights advisory committee for review and consideration. Okay. Thank you. So, uh just to be clear that that's this is the way that the process works and there isn't any kind of um there's there's no nefarious intent but that we have to uh make sure that there's a democratic access to information uh because the public is uh does have a right to be part of this and deputations are the way to do it. Um thank you. So I see no further uh questioners to speak. Uh councelor Moyes. Uh thank you madam chair. Um just want to just say thank you to the uh cber unit for all the work that they do uh you know uh under the leadership of Kima Bay. Um I engage with the team on a regular basis uh just because for many reasons because you know I have a vested interest in it. my community has a vested interest in it and so we want to make sure that they are supported in every possible way. Um I also sit in other organizations. I the FCM rep uh for the city um and I also sit on the anti-racism committee at FCM. And so as a result of that, I know that they're in constant uh communication with the CBREA unit asking for advice and how we do things in Toronto, best practices and so on and so forth. So when I speak at uh those tables, I I often refer to the work we're doing here in the city and people are actually quite impressed by it and want to learn from us. Um we have uh our a AGM uh in June in Edmonton and speaking to the FCM team there. They also interested perhaps in even having uh our cable unit come and perhaps uh speak to them and present to them and I've been conversation with Kima about that and I hope that uh they're able to attend and hopefully present to the team there. So, I'm also looking forward to to the 10-year um action plan that will be coming before us in in Q2 2027. I know a lot of work has gone into that. I've been at few um consultations uh and organizations that have given input on the 10-year action plan and I look forward to supporting that when that comes to to uh to uh council. So, thank you once again. Okay. Thank you. Uh, councelor Chan, you had your hand up. Thank you. Um, I also want to echo the remarks by councelor Moyes to say that uh I was fortunate to be on council when we initially passed the motion to start the 5-year plan and uh and I've seen the phenomenal amount of work that's been done um by a small but mighty team looking at a structural issue that has uh persistently uh been an issue for centuries in in our country and particularly in our city. So, thank you to all the staff and volunteers and all the affiliated organizations that work together to address uh uh systemic anti-black racism uh in the city, but also having an impact across the GTA as we heard from United Way of Greater Toronto, but but to many cities that uh are trying to address the issue. In some some cases they're not trying to address the issue but the pressure of having a successful program in one city always uh creates uh ripple effect positively across the country. Um I think my work uh of council has been around youth employment uh that I've had uh a lot of interactions with uh with a unit uh looking at uh structural ways to address uh youth unemployment particularly faced by black youth uh in in the city. So I just wanted to thank the staff and I'm also looking forward to the 10-year plan. I'm glad it's not it's 10 year not five year and so we can commit to a longer term strategy. Obviously there will be changes that are made ac throughout those periods but we need to look at this systemic issue of centuries with a bit of a long-term vision and uh looking forward to seeing uh seeing a plan but also would be very interested in seeing how the unit and their uh fabulous uh impact can be felt in more jurisdiction even within city of Toronto there are more jurisdictions and more departments within city of Toronto that can definitely benefit from the expertise and the lived uh knowledge and uh programming knowledge and policy knowledge that this unit has and so trying to find an intraurational impact and a mechanism to do that in the tenure would be an amazing thing so we can actually start to see all uh all parts of the city of Toronto change and address systemic anti-black racism. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I believe councelor Carol will speak now. Uh, yes. I I don't have a a motion uh either, but so happy to receive this report. Um, the the uh the list of of things achieved that we're looking at it. It actually is quite remarkable. I I hope as this goes to council, council will have a look at it. um some of the work going on, you know, in places like parks and the library, not even places where they're tangibly handing, you know, handing in a uh you know, a benefit such as food or income support to somebody, but just changing the mindset of the people in that space. Um that a huge amount of effort uh uh on display here um that I really appreciate. But I I I have one outstanding thing throughout this work. We get people who come to us and and I I I still look at the the the the issues within the city, things like procurement, um how our uh u social development policies uh get people forward. had someone walk into my office who who has an idea for building uh affordable modular housing, but he wants it to be is a a blackowned business that wants to do it from from outside the city of Toronto that they want to come in and do it, but they want to be able to make sure that um it they are affordable uh ownership or affordable rental opportunities for the black community. And we're still as counselors sometimes grappling with ah I want to do this, where do I start? And so I want I'm really hoping that that is the work of of of the next 10 years that it's so embedded that it's it's on the tip of every uh every counselor or staff member who might be approached with something like that. Here you go. Here's what you do and here's where you go. Um cuz I think uh I think what we've done is awakened um people thinking of those things and and wanting to advance them. Uh but I appreciate uh the enormity of some of the things that need to be done and our chair uh touched on this and asking her questions. 0 to5 uh uh uh food security requirements are are incredibly uh fraught. We have to get on with that. And yet it's not entirely in our jurisdiction. There's no question about that. You know, healthy babies are supposed to be a priority for our province. And um when we're when we're seeing in the data that we need to focus on this community above all in that respect then that is an emergency. And yet uh the our our sense of emergency is not shared with every order of government in with respect to this community. And so um we may have to as we often do front the initiative and sometimes even front the money to get it off the ground. We've had to do that in housing. But as often happens, the the the good news is it does often awaken the other orders of government and they come. So, uh I'm I'm hoping that we can look at that in the next uh 10-year plan. But, uh uh like my colleagues, I just really want to thank you for an enormous amount of work. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other speakers? Um I'll take a minute to also say thank you. I I just want to um take the moment to look back about where we started. Um there was a crisis, an opportunity and the creation of this unit and this work um has produced I think one of the most radical changes uh that I've the most material changes I've seen which is the Toronto Community Crisis Service which was the number one recommendation uh that came forward. Um the way it has been brought in in an incremental way uh you know tested, piloted deeply deeply in partnership uh with communities um and responsive uh showing success and then expanding to the rest of the city and I know uh uh west of Duffren we were we were really excited to to have that. Um I I want to also indicate how many other city processes have been influenced by this. We discussed this in our um and included this frame and um um the chair of the board of health would know that in their in our uh our strategic plan for Toronto public health. It's just like it it ripples everywhere and it has influenced um a number of different approaches including I'm um you know children's services strategic plan and the look about ensuring that there's navigation support and access so that people who have been far from the opportunity to get into that child care spot are getting real support and help. These are really significant tangible and structural changes. Um and I just want to lift up uh what um councelor Nathan said around the lessons because we are the generation of good practices here is absolutely crucial to capture to have some kind of uh like a repository a community of practice where all of the work that's been done out of this unit can ripple out and support other divisions. And I I view social development as a sort of like an um um an incubator of great ideas that sometimes end up elsewhere. and but but in this case we have a real opportunity to ensure um that in the and and I think that um councelor Shan's recommendation here that we when we look due to the next 10-year plan that there is some kind of recommendation or or some advancement on the idea of the practices because you're generating a series of solidarity practices that are really crucial and I think that's important to celebrate. Um I just want to thank everyone for their work. Uh thank you for the deputants and of course there's more to do. Uh but I am I can I can say that I it's really gratifying uh when I talk to uh um representatives from other cities and equivalent positions that this just doesn't exist anywhere else. And uh that is why the eyes of of major global cities are often on Toronto for this uh because of the way that this has rolled out and the impact it's made. So, thanks for everyone who worked on this and um with that I think we're going to go to a vote. All in favor of receiving the item opposed. That's carried. That's adopted. So, we are at 12:18. Um I think what we'll do quickly is deal with the um motions from this morning. We can go back to item one if that with the indulgence of the committee. So item one is update on the business license and permit application action plan and other outstanding directives. I have a motion on that and I um I want to thank uh the counselors or first of all I want to um what this does is essentially uh adopts um defers one element which had to do with nightclubs but adopts the rest of the report and here I must uh acknowledge um and thank uh councelor Fletcher for all of her work on this. She has been uh a real partner in this and I'm and I'm delighted to see that this uh cutting of red tape making it much easier for businesses to operate in this city. The the the dashboard that we saw is fantastic. The navigation, the support, the phone line, uh there's been an huge amount of advances in this work in the last two years. And what we're doing here is making a a friendly environment for local uh businesses, small entrepreneurs to be able to succeed. And that's an important thing to recognize. Um the there's really important uh work here that has to do with um as well with getting out of the way around, for example, the uh selling of secondhand goods. It's that's pretty important for a sustainability and circular economy. and then just continuing to clean up things that don't belong. For example, some strange and quirky exemptions like in Scarbor or or uh misaligned work. Um so this is a real this is a real labor of of uh lifting up through municipal licensing and standards and more economic opportunity and I think that's that's really crucial. Um the nightclub and uh element and the the the contribution of the deputants. I really want to thank everyone who came uh to speak about their experience of how they um interact with the the question of of this area of regulation and the tightening up of this is important. Um and uh we all I think heard that there's different kinds of organiz uh establishments and uh you know we're pro- fun pro- culture uh pro- nightlife city and we don't want to get in the way of those activities particularly when they don't require additional scrutiny. Uh so thanks everybody for that and um um thank you councelor Moyes for uh raising the the question of deferral. So I appreciated working with you on that. Um that's really important. So, all of those um any question any questions of the mover? I just want to say how great the MLS staff has been in getting all this sorted. Okay. So, yeah. So, I'll just wrap council. I should have given you the floor first. Go ahead. So, I I just want to say that that they've been exceptional, Gaddy, and your team just fantastic. always problem solving, moving to the next stage, making it uh cutting that red tape and making it happen for businesses in the transition. So, I just personally just want to thank you on behalf of all the businesses in my ward. Thanks so much. I think across the city. Apologies uh councelor Fletcher for not going to you first on that. Um I'd like to go to uh councelor Moyes as well to speak. Thank you uh councelor Bravo and thank you for uh deferring this item uh the onee item um again deputations do matter right it's because of uh the community coming here and letting us know that this impacts them in a negative way uh we took notice and actually made this change and it's going to come back at a later date um again I when I try to make decisions here I try to use an equity lens and all that I do to make sure that no one is left behind. And so I'm really happy that um Reps and Buddies Bad Times and others in the church walls and neighborhood came forth and express their um their thoughts on this and so we will look at it and make some changes and hopefully you know it's it'll be more digestible to to to our community. So thank you for that. Thank you counselor. Are there any other speakers? Uh, seeing none on on the the amendment. All in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Item as amended. All in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Great. Um, so now we're going to go to EC 27.2, review of Toronto Street Vending and Artists bylaws. Um, I think I have Oh, we're still working on the final wording of the motion. So, we're going to continue to hold that item. And we have uh two speakers at um EC27.5. I suggest that we hear from the speakers um and then go into uh questions of staff and debate when we return. So, the first speaker is Kuma Bacher. Is Kuma here? Is not here. Kumabaker. Uh the second speaker is Nicole Curado. Nicole, you have three minutes. Hi. Is this about the buying track? This is about Yes. Woodbine um the Red Steel Casino Woodbine community benefits agreement 2025 progress update. Yes. What I was going to say is there's absolutely no reason for Toronto to have horse racing anymore. Horse racing is absolutely abusive to the horses. It you know the horses so many horses die or if they don't die if they're injured or or they are slowed down they end up being being uh do it slaughtered and sometimes even there's no discussion about if there's horse racing chair there is horse racing whether we like it or not that's not what's in front of us. So the deputent must address what's in front of us. Thank you. Yeah, I'm sorry. Of us is Sorry, what's in front of us? Of us is Isn't it a Isn't it discussing about the finances of um of this uh No, that is not what's before us. What's before us is uh an update on a community benefits agreement that was signed um to ensure that there are uh employment and other opportunities in the expansion of this casino. So, uh, if you don't have anything to say to the contents of the report, we're going to move on. I was going to say I don't think I don't think that's a good place for people to be working because people are working alongside animal abuse and even if they're not working along even if they're not abusing animals, it it affects other people. Sorry, you're you're not Thank you. Um, I think that Kumsa's back, so we're going to go to our second speaker before we break. Um, that's Go ahead. You have three minutes. Go ahead. Good afternoon, uh, members of the economic and community development committee. Uh, my name is, uh, Kumabaker. I'm with the organization called the Toronto Community Benefits Network. Uh and we were essential organization in helping to advocate to ensure that if this development was going to proceed that uh that they have uh community benefit agreements that could deliver on uh local opportunities, equitable hiring and and benefits that could be shared uh broadly within our communities in Toronto. Um and so uh with today's report, we're really excited to see uh that you know many of the elements of the community benefits agreement have been achieved whether it's around uh local hiring uh equitable hiring uh also around social procurement uh as well as uh investments into the community through a new childare center uh as well as other neighborhood improvements. Uh what I would say is that uh we uh we've yet to see any um updates as regards to the proceeding of the child care center. Um uh through a lot of research that that has been done. Uh what we have seen is that uh the local community is actually uh the childcare coverage rate is below uh 30%. Uh and researchers have indicated that the area is a childcare desert. Uh and so we do want to see uh with the $5 million investment that has uh been secured as part of this childcare center that that does uh proceed. And uh as part of uh future updates, uh we do uh uh want to see uh the uh community benefit agreements uh updates be um be shared and that uh we can make sure that there's ongoing reporting uh on these outcomes. Uh we did submit a letter with uh some of our key points, but I just did want to congratulate uh the city of Toronto uh specifically the community benefits team as well as uh one Toronto gaming uh as well as uh many of the organizations and groups that have been involved in monitoring this agreement. Uh the TCBN is part of the community benefits oversight working group. Uh and so we're able to be at the table to make sure that uh the commitments in the in the agreement are uh achieved. Uh and so I I do want to just sort of share those comments today. Thank you. Thank you. Um so the the report does I just have a quick question. The report does mention that negotiations um on the agreement for the child care center are ongoing. Um but children's services is here and I will ask them for more details on that. Awesome. And and any other questions of the deputent? No. Thank you. Um so when we come back um I mean I could probably just knock off the question quickly if children services is here a ready to answer. So where are we on the childcare center that was won by community uh funding for this and the city's support uh through the chair. We are currently negotiating uh the project and funding agreement with community housing. Once the agreement is established, we'll be able to u convene the project team in order to develop a schedule uh and we'll be able to provide more detail on the schedule once the agreement is in place. Thank you. Um so are there any speakers on this item? No. Um all all in favor opposed that's carried. Um and then I I am going to do a quick release of 27 U.11 which I uh in mistakenly uh held for because I thought that there was going to be a motion and that is um EC27.11 further direction on report on rejoining the association of uh Franco uh Franco Fondo and um that is on that item. Any questions or no? All in favor? Opposed? That's carried. And with that, that brings us to the break. Um, and when we return, we will go um immediately to the ne uh we're continuing to do work on uh EC 27.2, EC27.3. So, when we return, we're going to uh continue from there. Thank you. Recess till 1:30. Recess till 1:30 p.m. going to be starting in a couple of minutes. So, if I can ask everyone to take your seats, please. Who wants this meeting to end on time? Can we just uh have our take our seats and we're going to get started. That includes members of the public service. Time to whisper. Amazing. So, uh we're going to continue here. Um we were we had concluded with uh EC um 27.5. Uh we are going to go next to EC27.6 Apple Grove Community Complex update on relocation options. So if you signed up to debute um be prepared in a moment I will um just uh review the agenda again to say that following item six we'll be going to EC27.2 review of of Toronto street vending uh artist bylaws. We will um we're still working on EC27.3 city of Toronto inclusive economic development framework with staff and u so uh after we finish point 2 I will give you an update. So uh the 27.6 Apple community complex update on relocation options. Uh the first speaker is Ven Law. Vang Law is online. Uh welcome to committee. Hi thank you. Can you hear me? You can you have three minutes. Three minutes. Okay. Hi. So, my name is Fing Law. I'm here to speak about the importance of finding and securing a permanent home for Apple Community Complex. I've been part of Apple for 27 years starting as a participant in the after school program. Growing into the team program and when I grew out of that, I started working at the summer camp and the afterchool program. When I graduated from university and found my first job in my studies, I continued to be part of Apple, volunteering as a board member, which I did for eight years. As you can tell, Apple holds a very special place in my heart. During my entire time there as a participant, a staff, and a board member, facilities was always an ongoing issue. Running an organization in a shared space with the school and a rec center comes with benefits, but also a lot of limitations. As a participant when I was a kid, I remember being very excited to check the monthly calendar of activities and cooking was always my favorite. When school ended, I would run down to the lounge only to find out cooking wasn't happening as planned because the daycare needed the kitchen. I'd be very disappointed, but the staff always did an amazing job keeping us occupied and finding something else for us to do. As a staff, I became in charge of planning and creating the monthly activity calendars. I would spend hours in program planning, making sure to maintain the variety of incredible activities I got to experience as a kid. Cooking, games, sports, arts and crafts, movies, outdoor play. They honestly do everything there. On a pretty regular basis, we would be informed often last minute. Our plans had to change. We could no longer use the gym, the lounge, the classroom, or the kitchen. We would scramble to figure out what to do before 20 kids came running down like I did when I was excited as a kid. What working at Apple really taught me was how to be a fast thinker, agile, and very accommodating. As a board member, I started to become aware of other restrictions impacting Apple. The space is actually permitted, which added significant cost. We had to make difficult decisions such as increasing program fees. Staff were constantly told to scale back on supplies and snacks for the kids. Even though the wait lists were growing, Apple couldn't afford to permit another classroom to expand the programming more services or provide more services to a growing neighborhood. It's no doubt the services Apple provides has a big impact on the community. There are programs for prenatal, children, youth, adults, and seniors. They literally cover all ages. The staff are truly the backbone of this organization that makes this possible. And it's incredible what they've been able to do without having the space of their own. Can you imagine what they can accomplish with these day-to-day inter what they can accomplish if they didn't have these day-to-day interrupt interruptions and uncertainty in programming. My story is not unique to Apple. The current program director has a very similar story to myself. We were participants and co-workers together. Kids I was a camp counselor to are now the camp counselors. The program coordinators are dedicated people who have been there since I was a kid and this is the type of community Apple builds and giving them a permanent home is providing stability and support to this amazing organization. Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? No. Thank you for coming to committee. The next uh deputent is Hamdi Abdo. Thank you. Hamdi is online. Welcome to committee. You have uh three minutes. Thank you. Uh good afternoon chairs and members of the committee. Um my name is Hamdi Abdo and I was a former member of Apple Grove, a board member of Apple Grove and a past tenant in the Dawn Somerville community. Uh during my time working and living in the neighborhood, uh I had the privilege of collaborating closely with Alper Grove and seeing firsthand uh the impacts that Alper Grove had on its residents. um from young people finding their first employment opportunity as V mentioned uh to senior citizens you know connecting and staying engaged in the community uh and for families accessing viable um support um that were crucial for their needs. Um this is just partly why I'm here today to encourage the committee to support the having a permanent home for the Appleroveve uh community complex. Um, Apple Grove has been a cornerstone in the Dons Somerville community which is on the Lesleyville Woodbine Coxwell corridors for over the last four decades. And what really separates Alper Grove apart um uh is its depth of its partnerships. Um, while on the board, I witnessed how Alper Grove worked closely with the East End community organizations, including, uh, Toronto Community Housing, um, Tomorrow, uh, Toronto, East End Arts, uh, the city of Toronto itself to coordinate services, fill gaps and needs in the community, and amplify the voices of its residents across the Lesleyville, uh, Woodbine and Coxville region. um this partnership between Alper Grove and other community organizations, you know, it wasn't really theoretical. It was pragmatic, practical, it had measured outcomes and and the model did work and um that was based on the constraints that it was dealing with in terms of servicing its community members. The challenges that Alprove has been facing for the last um few decades have principally been out of operating out of a facility that often is recognized as being undersized, you know, fragmented, restricted in hours. Um and and despite all these constraints, they've been uh doing phenomenal work and having real impacts in the community. I can only imagine what they could do uh with having a permanent home. Um and this and this means more important now than ever especially as the uh east end community has exacerbated in size with all the redevelopment in the area. Um this growth includes a myriad of people with different income levels. Um you know there there there's going to be a higher proportion of people with families in the area um and seniors themselves. So I think Alper Grove is, you know, tethered to making huge contributions in the next 10 to 20 years in the East End community and I can only imagine what it would look like uh without having a permanent home. So I think the call is quite necessary uh to bring to the board's attention of of the you know uh opportunities to expand an already um great program. Um my only last thing is um being in the community I can unequivocally and and um vehemently um shout at the rooftops that you know these partnerships between Alp Grove and other community members I've seen firsthand being very impactful my experience um I respectfully ask the committee today to support a permanent home for Apple. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions of the deputent? Uh councelor Fetcher would like to ask some questions. Go ahead, council. You have three minutes. Thank you for being here. I'll be very quick, but I think that you were part of the revitalization team for Don Somerville. Correct, Handy. Correct. Yeah. Um, did you win a scholarship from uh for that one of the tenants who won a scholarship through Yeah. Correct. Yeah. me and my my family members um each won uh scholarships as a result of this program and partnership result of the revitalization and the the zoning. Anyway, we put that in all of our things. So, councelor Carol will know about that because she had uh this a revitalization of that nature. And then I also I believe you were helping in Rivertown with the Rivertown Youth Council because that's where you moved uh to you relocated there from Dons Somerville. I Right. Correct. Yes. I just I just wanted to thank you for all of that community interface and all your leadership. You're a tremendous young leader in the community. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Miss Richard. Thank you, uh, counselor. And yes, congratulations and thank you from all of us. I think uh the next uh speaker is Sarah Hart, uh, Toronto District School Board Trustee. Welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Okay. Oh, there we go. Hi. Thanks very much and thanks very much to the committee for having me. My name is Sarahheart. I'm the elected public school trustee for Toronto Damfor. I'm also a parent who lives in the neighborhood catchment of Apple. My child goes to school at Duka Canot and we benefit from the programs uh in the area. So I wanted to come today really to just reaffirm uh the recommendations and observations in the report. I wanted to reaffirm that our community needs more programming space. There's growth happening in the community. we would benefit enormously from more programming space for all ages and stages as our area elected school trustee. This is always reaffirmed when I was visiting schools. Um so for children and youth, but you'll also hear for seniors. Um there's been an increased uptake in programming for all all ages. I also want to note that commensurate with this uh in my time as trustee, I've heard of an uptake in the student population at Duke of Kenot School. So trustees would always meet with planning staff and look at the 10 and sometimes beyond year projections for the school community. So the growth in population in the area is also leading over time to a growing population at Duke of Kenot School in particular. And so while it doesn't pose an immediate need to the best of my knowledge for classroom space in the building, it is projected to need more classroom spaces over the medium term. And so I think it's a very timely and important thing that um this committee is considering this report and its recommendations given the importance of Apple uh to the broader community. I did also want to close by noting that Appleroveve like all school space users have been facing challenges. The loss of provincial funding for community subsidies for use of schools that took place in 2019 has had long and lasting impacts on all community space users. I have have had the privilege of serving as a co-chair of the community use of schools community advisory committee at the Tdsb and so heard firsthand from many space users as uh and also served as the appointed representative for the Applerove board of management. So I saw firsthand the challenges that Appleroveve has been navigating and sought to work collaboratively within the TDSB to facilitate challenges with the board under supervision that local community representation and ability to lies has been suspended. And so while the challenges predate supervision uh and have been growing, supervision now puts a great deal of uncertainty on how we will navigate the challenges currently and into the future. Uh I want to thank you uh for having me here today and thank you for considering this report and its recommendations. Thank you so much. Are there any questions of the deputy councelor Fletcher? Just to confirm that the uh lease that Appleroveve has in Duke of Canot is well over 10 years in overhold. It's well over 10 years in overhold and so uh spacing costs were going up for community use of schools and there it's well on overhold and so one could anticipate that there would be challenges to navigate that into the future as well. Yes. Thank you counselor. Any other uh questions of the deputent? No. Thank you for coming to committee today. Um and the next speaker is Sandra Knap or Kotap. NAP. Okay. Got it right the first time. Welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Thank you. Welcome everybody. Thank you for your attention. Uh, my name is Sandra Knap and I'm here as a senior community member. When my children were young, we all attended programs in the school. SH Armstrong and a small building located on land that is part of the Ash was part of the Ashbridge estate. When they tore that building down, we were left with gaps and services that people needed. At the time, it was a lowincome area with many workingclass families. This was recognized by residents, city staff, and the principles of the junior and senior Duke of Kat schools. A group was formed who met regularly to map out what was needed with city staff and the principles involved. Everyone brought something to the table and barely anyone missed the meeting. My husband, Alfred Arnold Nap, became one of the founding directors of Apple when it was incorporated in 1979. He was born on Woodfield Road and this aligned with his lifelong interest in supporting the neighborhood. I lived in my grandmother's house on Apple Avenue which became Dundas Street East. In its early days, Apple was part of a true community. Parks and recreation staff and the school principles worked with Apple and provided access to various schools and SH Armstrong spaces. But over time, the facilities kept getting reduced. Eventually, we were restricted to a small number of spaces and many types of programs were lost. I saw Apple Grove space shrink over time, limiting what it could do and what I felt that this is still happening to this day. It is a testament to the committed board and staff that Apple has found ways to offer programs at various community locations. I enjoy being at Apple, but see the impact of the current space limitations. Programs like movie matineese, celebrations, and workshops have limits on how many people can attend because the rooms are small and there is simply enough space. It's become untenable. The facility is also difficult to access. No matter where you enter, there are multiple sets of heavy doors, none of which are automated. The senior's room is on the second floor, but the only elevator has low capacity and is not always reliable. For people using a wheelchair, walker, or with trouble walking, these are very real barriers to accessibility. The school location worked well in its time, but is no longer adequate. I personally will be sorely pressed to keep my attendance going in the future because the building does not function well for seniors. Can I just stop you for one sec? Oh, I did it again. I I accidentally did not start your time on time. So you you're almost at your three minutes. We have a new machine here. I don't know if others are thrown by it. I only have one paragraph. We are happy to hear. Go ahead. Okay. I am here today to to share my thoughts and ask that you please think of us when it comes down to providing Apple with a home that is appropriate for its many activities. Thank you very much. Thank you. You're welcome. Are there any um are there any questions of the deputent? No. No. Are do we have questions of staff? No. Confirm the overhauled status of this lease with the Toronto Lands Corporation. Actually, it's not with the Toronto District School Board. It's with Toronto Lands Corporation, which has been spun off now from the Tdsb. The length of overhold on this lease. to you, Madam Chair. That is that is correct. Councelor, how many years do you happen to know, Mr. Mutoso? Uh to you, Madam Chair. Um it's been in overhold since uh December of 2011, sorry. Oh, 20 15 years. So 50 coming up on 15 years. Okay. All right. And we all know what overhold means. Um and in so that's one thing. And then you looked at a whole number of options and there's one that you think is preferable that is in the uh report. Correct. Do you madame chair? Uh as noted in the report that is correct. The one in in um that's noted in the report. And one of the things I'd asked for previously was to double up with Apple and SH Armstrong in the building, but that's been looked at. and for recreation for our parks and recreation that simply would now we'd lessen the amount of programming that we were able to deliver to the community. I believe that's the case to you madam chair that is correct as per the report but I'll get um parks and recreation to confirm that. Yeah, we found that's not feasible. Correct. Sure. That's correct. Okay, great. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you councelor. Do we have any speakers on this? Yes, we're going to go to councelor Fletcher first. Thank you. I'm just going to speak and counselor. Is this different than Yes. Yes. It's not Carol has the motion. Known each other for 28 years. Trusty Carrie Mer. Anyway, excusable. That's that's an inside joke. Um, I just have here with me today and thank the deputants and everybody for being here today a petition of over almost 900 names from the community in support of a permanent home for Apple Grove. And uh that's from volunteers, board members doortodoor. It's really quite an effort. So that's amazing. And this of course is one of the AOS. We have 11 and I know some counselors here have them but and we're looking to expand them. This is one that has not had that home and this would be the first time that it we would make them whole. The uh as mentioned the old I don't think everybody knows but in the old city of Toronto which had AOX it had what was called a neighborhood services committee and under that the capital program was under for recreation for libraries and for AOS but with the new amalgamated city that all got redistributed and AOK were not in the stream. So, I'm hoping that next month we're going to figure out how we're going to be able to add some AOC and as well keep a very robust recreation division because that is uh the desire of a num counselors. We have three models standalone mixed which is Lawrence Heights and then a standalone AO. The notion of the 10 years on overhold that's sorry 15 years with a lease that's on overhold. I don't think anybody could say that was a great a great um situation to be in. I really want to note our first two deputants and thank all of the deputants the uh that Hamdi and and Vi, they came up through Apple. They ended up on the Appleroveve board and Vice ended up on staff uh at East View as well. The new executive director went to East View and came onto the board and now he is the executive director. So this is a great model and both of those are tied into um TCHC communities making sure that there's a lot of access there. So I'm very proud of the work that Apple has done. I'll note that Appleroveve has been instrumental because we spent a lot of time talking about food today in being one of the founders and developmental partners in the food hub at Gerard and Coxwell which has not just a food bank that feeds over 30,000 people a year um but is instrumental in the programs, cooking programs, sandwich club, all of the various things. It's got a lot of room to grow and this would be an an initiative that would allow that to happen and I think SDFA does note that this is a tremendous model around food. I do want to really say uh thank you to a number of people. Suzanne Birkhart who's the executive director of Appleroveve just amazing her contribution constantly in development of programming and al all also just development of all the great youth that are there and recognizing the work around seniors during the during the co Apple took it upon itself to call regularly all the seniors in the community so that they weren't feeling alone and thank you very much for being here today to speak on behalf of Apple Grove. Then there's the staff at city staff at Apple. So many people. And lastly, thank you all the volunteers. And thank you very much uh councelor Carol for carrying this motion forward for this really historic moment that we hope we'll get support here and then at council. Thank you, councelor Fletcher. Uh we're going to go next to councelor Carol. Okay. Thank you. Uh, I'll put the the motion on the uh the the floor that I'm moving on behalf of councelor Fletcher. Uh, lots of work with staff to to come up with this, but it it gives actions to a number of things in the uh specifically relating to the confidential attachment. I'll tell you a couple of reasons, Madam Chair, why I'm happy to move this motion. Um, in the olden days when we when we uh did the budget process in a different way, uh, councelor Ray, a predecessor of councelor Moyes and I used to convene the table of the the AOS. We we we also did the same with the Reeds Arena Boards of Management and it was the most uh amazing exercise because there were very few pennies to go around. Didn't have land transfer tax in those days. Didn't have the New Deal. Um, and so to watch them cooperatively figure out how to prioritize amongst themselves and who was going next and all of that, but in that mix, Appleroveve was always kind of a mystery to me. And uh, Miss Knap uh, in in giving that wonderful history lesson made it clear to me how we got to them. I thought, what is Applerove? Where exactly is it? How's it come to be in a little corner of a school? What and and then and yet everywhere? uh because it was a little different than the others who sort of took over a headquarters like Swansea or Ralph Thornton and and uh had a hub and uh so it was an interesting animal uh this will take care of that the potion that I'm moving but to counselor Fletcher's point um that uh that there is a future for for expansion of AOX I think it's going to be a big surprise to the counselors in their their wards who start new ones ones because the strength and the culture around these took a long time to develop and it you don't just say here's a building voila it it to to develop the kind of spirit around it that was described by the deputants is a really deeply embedded in the community thing that takes time to develop and a lot of attention uh uh I got through those uh convening those meetings for seven years annually to know a little bit more about how each one did it. We did the 519 expansion during that time with the a similar motion to this and it's going to be a tremendous boulder to push up hill to expand these and see them in suburban cultures, but boy do we ever need them. Uh I tried to get one going a number of years ago uh and it it wasn't going to gel. So, we went ahead with the community recreation center using section 37 funds, but it would be a boon to some of our our uh neighborhood improvement areas and and uh uh uh communities deep in the suburbs. So, I I hope we honor the ones that exist so that those people always have the ability to come and understand how they work. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Are there any other speakers? Um I before we move on to the um vote on the motion, I just wanted to thank all the deputants. Uh thank councelor Fletcher for bringing this forward and vice chair Carol uh for moving the motion. This is clearly a an approach that meets a number of goals of the city of Toronto. social development goals. The ability of people to come in off the street uh use a service and then be developed personally uh in within their own community to start to acquire more uh informed participation, more knowledge, more influence to the point of sitting on the board uh governing an asset that they relied on that they experienced and then going on to lead and to be an executive. This is a a very different thing than what we do so well in recreation um at the city of Toronto. And this uh community development approach, social development goals is something that we need a lot more of because it shows that a a dollar invested by this city can have multiple uh payoffs. It's about using the levers that we have already and the resources that we have already to to uh tackle other issues, other challenges based on the real asset that is the people who themselves are using the service that we provide. So I think there's something really beautiful here and I appreciate um both um uh counselors who spoke former school trustees understand this very well in relation and we had a school trustee here uh who highlighted how challenging it is to do this work at this time in partnership with the school board that's under takeover. It's not democratic. So there's an additional layer that I think brings some urgency to this work. So I I think I'm the last speaker on that. I would like to um request for the motion to be put up. Could you do so this community that's waited 40 years to have its own home, could you do a recorded vote here today? Absolutely. On the motion recorded vote on the amendment before he before you move by councelor Carol all those in favor councelor Malik, councelor Carol, councelor Bravo, councelor Moyes, councelor Shen was there. Councelor Candal. That motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Um was motion to receive item as amended. All in favor? Uh and that is also adopted. Thank you very much. We are going to continue. Um just so people understand where we are. Uh 27.2. We're still working on the motion. Yes. But there have been some changes. Your motion is ready, but there's another motion that's being prepared and we need to consider them as a package. But it'll be fast, counselor. I I promise. Um 27.3 um still working on that, but the the speakers are also speaking to other items. So um so just so you know the new or the next order is EC27.7 refreshing food and beverage offerings in park and recreation spaces which we had started. Then we're going to go to EC27.3 on inclusive economic development framework. Then e then we'll go back to the regular order EC27.12 advancing community development through evidence-based planning. And then EC27.13 addressing evictions through disagregated racebased data and social housing. So on EC27.7 refreshing uh food and beverage offerings in park and recreation spaces. We had already heard from the deputants. And now we are at questions of staff. Members of committee do you have questions of staff on EC27.7? Oh councelor Candville, please. questions of staff. Yes. Uh, sorry, just give me one second. Uh, there we go. Um, oh, sorry. Did we not do these earlier? 27.7. I think I asked my questions already. Sorry. Okay. Did anybody else have questions on 27.7? Um, just to speak to speak on 27.7. Councelor Moyes, go ahead. Uh, thank you. I do have a motion. if staff can put on screen. It's really to really just consult with local business improvement areas and uh um and park user groups as well. Um I do support having more of these uh refreshing food and beverage offerings in our parks. I think that's important especially in the downtown core. Many people come in and uh lay in the park and hang out with their kids. this it would be nice to have snacks and beverages, healthy snacks and beverages uh in our parks. I also I was briefed by this uh on this item by staff I think last week and I talked asked you know are these uh food trucks you don't call them that going to be in on the park itself on the grass they said no it'll be on the periphery which is important because we don't want to destroy our parks in regards to the grass and all these other things but um I know that speaking to some of my BAS they they do would like have some safeguards uh on these um on this change. So this is why I'm bringing this motion forth. In particular, I know that the downtown young BIA is also interested in having some input on this as well. So I hope this uh amendment will capture uh those voices. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Are there any questions of the mover uh to speak? One question at the mover. Yeah, I'm not too sure if this is a friendly amendment or it might be a note to just include is that uh to uh in addition to BIA to have conversations with other business associations that the city is in connection with uh like the local business associations and networks that exist uh within different regions. Um um I I understand BIA have a formal relationship with the city of Toronto. So it it happens that way. Uh but uh but if it's not an amendment, I just want to make a point to say that that okay to be clear though, it also says uh park user groups were applicable. So I mean it could be the groups you're talking about. So it's not solely uh BIA's that I'm asking to u consult with. Okay. Thank you. I believe councelor Shan would like to speak next. Go ahead councelor. Thank you, Madam Chair. I I understand uh councelor Kanderville has a motion as well. I I I think it's important um to make sure that as we expand this program uh we take into consideration the diversity of options that are available that reflects the uh makeup of the city. uh as we do selection process I think uh you know we might have uh more uh requests than we are able to accommodate and if that's the case uh that's a good problem to have and when selections are being made it'll be prudent to make sure that both uh um equity is used not only in the choices of what is being offered but also who owns those as well. uh if it's owned by equity deserving communities, woman led businesses uh uh you know not somebody who has chain of 50 trucks across the city as opposed to someone uh who's actually a young entrepreneur uh looking at innovation. I know some of them might have some difficulty in processes around some of the guidelines, Toronto public health guidelines and other things. But if we can make sure that we are able to support uh this, it will probably be truly beneficial to the uh uh to both communities to have an option but also for economic development to be distributed to communities that deserve it. No. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Are there any other speakers on this item? Councelor Carol. Well, Jeff just just briefly I don't think we need to to move a motion about this because in in my view uh when we proceed with it um just as we would with procurement in terms of attracting people for license we can we can put a sort of inclusive economic development/social procurement lens on it and that should be the result of it the exactly what councelor Shan is talking about that should be the net effect of putting that lens on the the whole process that we do uh uh make sure that we're we're opening the door wider in in that respect and and helping to enable. Um I I'm for one am happy with this approach because we're we're not going all the way to the other extreme which is to say well we'll just have to do the card program ourselves. H it's a matter of putting that social procurement lens and inclusive lens on this type of structure I think and and I think I think we're getting better and better at proving that we can. Yeah. Thank you. Are there any other speakers? I chair Bravo. Go ahead. Councelor Candle to speak. Yeah. Uh if staff can share my motion, which is to request the general manager to consider approaches that attract new vendors that reflect diverse and local lowcost options. Um, in addition to comments shared by colleagues and uh with staff's own reflection, um, I think the this motion is to reflect the the bigger desire of Torononians to have a variety of choices when it comes to food and beverage in in our parks. So, um, hoping I think we're all hoping to see that come through, especially with next year's road map. Thank you. Are there any questions of the mover? Seeing none, any other final call for speakers? Nope. Thank you. Uh on the first motion by uh councelor Moyes. All those in favor? Opposed. That's carried. On the second um motion by councelor Candville. All those in favor? Opposed. That's carried. And that's one another item down. Uh item as amended. All in favor? Opposed. That's carried. Now it's really done. Um, thank you. So, right now we're still update. We're still working on 27.2. So, we're going to go next to um 27.3 uh city of Toronto inclusive economic development framework. Uh the first speaker is Kumsa Backer. Welcome to committee. Uh, you have three minutes. Sorry, I think you have to turn your mic on. Can you hear me? Go ahead. Uh, yeah. Good afternoon, uh, members of the economic and community development committee. I'm here to speak on behalf of the Toronto Community Benefits Network in regards to the inclusive economic development framework. Uh firstly, I would like to congratulate the social development and economic development division. Uh this is a really uh foundational report uh that has come forward. uh Toronto is only uh part of a handful of cities across North America that have developed such framework and approach uh to economic development and as an organization uh that is focused on uh inclusive economic development and community wealth building in Toronto uh we think that this is a really important and essential approach to how we look at economic development and including everyone in our economy here in Toronto. uh we have submitted a letter but I did want to highlight maybe three key areas uh uh that we want want to look to going forward as part of this framework. Uh the first thing is strengthening our city levers. Uh so we know that the city has done some really fantastic work when the city buys when it builds uh when it does procurement and even you know large uh scale events like FIFA to embed uh inclusive economic development. And so uh we want to see these uh levers continue to be strengthened uh and also with the with the monitoring so that we're able to track uh these outcomes and be able to get the data in terms of you know with this work you know what are some of the outcomes that have come out of that. Uh the second thing is is related to the um secondary plans. Um you know it's really great to see that there is a recommendations to explore uh inclusive economic development as part of the development of secondary plans. uh we think that that's very essential and we support that recommendation. Uh I would want to highlight also that um you know this is a good opportunity to also go beyond just secondary plans because we know that that's not something that's going to be applicable in every community. Uh one of the things that we do see is that especially in areas that are being impact impacted by new transit projects that is there's a lot of growth and development happening especially in these neighborhoods and we think this type of model could be uh extended to these neighborhoods that are undergoing uh massive growth and and and development to make sure that uh you know things like um mitigation of uh of impacts around uh uh rents around affordability around uh keep making sure businesses and communities are able to afford to continue to in these communities are very critical. And uh we were part of the community development plan as part of the uh Downsu secondary plan. Uh and we thought it was a very fantastic process. Uh very uh engage uh the the engagement was very deep and a lot of what came out of that was a reflection of the input from uh black and indigenous communities uh in and around the down area. So we think that this is a very fantastic model. And so, uh, the last thing I want to highlight is going forward with the monitoring. The TCBN wants to be involved in the monitoring of this framework, the the IED framework. And, uh, we want to make sure that, you know, that we're able to have, uh, the ability to provide input on how it's how it's, uh, the progress of this, um, framework and how it does. And so, yeah, again, I would just like to congratulate everyone for this uh, really foundational report and to everyone that's been involved. I know it's been a lot of work over the past year. Thank you. Thank you. Um and thank you for being part of the as an organization part of the working table to develop it. Um the next uh speaker is Wid uh um Kali Ali. Okay. Good afternoon everyone. Uh my name is Wed Kali Ali and uh uh I'm here um to first of all uh acknowledge that this is a great uh record set of recommendations. Um, and I want to acknowledge the important work of city staff in advancing this framework uh, and building on prior efforts uh, such as the inclusive economic development approach and the sidewalks to site to skyline 10-year economic action plan. Uh, so this is an important step forward. However, the key question before us today is not only what we are advancing but how we will deliver it. uh because inclusive economic development cannot be achieved through strategy alone. Uh it must be realized through community-led placebased implementation. From our experiences in Regent Park, we have seen that when residents are meaningfully engaged and supported, the results are transformative. We've seen stronger pathways to employment. We've seen youth gain access to skills and opportunities. We've seen trust build between institutions and communities. And importantly, we've seen how addressing systemic barriers, whether related to housing, income, or access, can unlock economic participation. This is not theoretical. It is proven. That is why I'm here today to emphasize one key recommendation. The city must, in my opinion, embed social development plans as core delivery mechanisms within the inclusive economic development framework. Social development plans are not just programs. They're community infrastructure. They provide the governance, coordination, and accountability needed to translate policy into real outcomes on the ground. As highlighted in our submission, their success depends on sustained investment. resident leadership and integrate integration across city divisions. To make this framework meaningful and effective, I urge the committee to take the following steps. First, commit to multi-year sustainable funding for communityled implementation on in the order of 250 to half a million dollars annually per neighborhood. Second, align economic development with community benefits and local hiring, ensuring that residents in equity deserving communities directly benefit from the growth happening in their city. Thirdly, strengthen accountability through disegrated neighborhood level data. Uh so we can measure whether we are actually advancing equity, not just intending to. And fourthly, recognize that economic inclusion and housing stability are inseparable. If residents are facing eviction or displacement, they cannot meaningfully participate in the economy. Housing stability must be treated as an economic priority. Ultimately, this is about whether Toronto is prepared to move from intention to impact. We have the policy framework. We have the evidence. We have successful models like in region spark social development plan. What we now need now is the political will to invest in community-led solutions at scale. Finally, I just want to uh say that uh I respectfully urge the committee to adopt items 27.3 and to strengthen its implementation by embedding social development plans and investing in community leadership. Thank you for your time and consideration. I welcome any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions? Seeing none, uh we go on to the next speaker, Miguel Vae. Welcome to committee and you have three minutes. One second, please. Yes, I'm holding your time until you're ready. All right. Thank you for your opportunity to speak on this important item, the social development plan. um implementation new new new priority uh uh for our developing communities in Wii just explained you know the region park social development plan um requires a certain level of funding and monitoring. uh Kunga uh strength um stress the importance of community benefits agreements and we in region park we have a social development plan and we are also evaluating the investment of $26.8 million uh in region park. So um what he needs is um as Wisa says many many residents are being moved out of our community due to evictions and that has to end so that we have a meaningful participatory community at this at this at this at this conditions uh our community we are losing members of our community and that is not fair. Um that's all I had to say about this uh social development plan. I I see Johnny Smith going by. Um we have talked to him many times about when we going to see funding in 2026. Perhaps you guys you guys can ask a question if we going to have money in 2026 for SCP. Thank you. Thank you for your deputation. Uh any questions of the deputent? No. Thank you. Um questions of staff. I have a couple of questions of staff. Um start my time. Um I I would like to know uh for the benefit of the committee and um those who are paying attention right now, what's the importance of this framework? What does it do uh that it if adopted that we weren't doing before? Thank you for the question uh Madame Chair. So what the framework is about is really any way to look at a problem. Uh so if the framework is adopted today, what the city of Toronto is reaffirming is its commitment to see economic success as going beyond economic growth and also account for um residents being able to participate in uh that growth and uh to to have the benefits of that growth as well. So that would be the first time that the city of Toronto would be embedding uh the idea of inclusive an inclusive economy as part of uh what is the economic action plan for the city of Toronto. So sidewalks to skylines was adopted at the end of 2024. That's the 10-year economic development action plan for the city of Toronto. The idea of this framework is that it's going to be embedded in that action plan making it not just about growth but also about how inclusive the economy is when it comes to measuring that success. So that I would say that's the key thing that this framework is doing. Great. Thank you. So we're um have a long-term uh economic action plan that always contemplated having an inclusive economic development framework. And in terms of the process, can you describe um what it has meant to have a process to build up to the framework or how it was done um and resulting in what we have before us today? So through the chair I can uh speak on the process. We established a working group that had engaged over 20 organizations across labor, community, nonforprofit, phil philanthropic, academic and advocacy sectors. Um and through the chair we had uh engagement from the foundation as well as uh your chair and councelor Bravo. Um through seven in-person meetings, we were able to develop the scope of the IED framework, determine indicators of the inclusive economy, highlight the need for the city's role, and help uh help us bring rigor to the proposed the staff report before you today. And the the working table was convened to provide advice um in terms of uh and insight and to in into how um the decisions captured in the report would be made. Is that correct? The chair. That's correct. And there would have been a a cumulative like monthtomonth. This is what we decided last month. This is where we're going next. So through the chair at the beginning of each meeting we re recap the discussions and actions decided by the group. Yes. And economic development and culture would deliver uh all of the documents. That's great. Um, so I I really um I don't have much more to ask except to say that how many are are there references already within uh certain uh policy uh directions by council to staff that are already making mention of this inclusive economic development framework? Like is it already uh even before adoption something that is beginning to be socialized broadly within the public service? So through the chair, it's already uh seen Oh, there's a baby in in the house. So sorry. Through the chair. Um the the actions underway through uh major initiatives like universal school food program as one initiative which is seeking to build out a school food hub as well as an employment pathway. Um the existing work considered by this committee around the community benefits framework. Um also city's social procurement uh work as well as um our broader um fair wage work that's underway are some uh live examples of the inclusive economic uh framework in place and the framework now gives us uh a general direction to group this work and to expand and build upon. Thank you. I I I I neglected to ask a question about data collection um and about what is what is it that um we're doing in terms of uh using data sets and and uh how how are um the new indicators that the framework represents being um shared and what is their potential use in terms of uh not just policy development but um program uh design and implementation. through the chair. Uh as part of the accountability for this inclusive economic development framework, what is being proposed today before you is for about 12 new indicators to be added to the city of Toronto public facing economic dashboard. So at this time we have about 30 economic indicators that are uh in the economic dashboard and most of them are about economic growth. So with the working table we have identified 12 inclusive economic development indicators to be part of that dashboard. In addition to that um because we're limited in terms of the data that we have available to us and to be able to have breakdown by population which is extremely important for this work. We are also proposing a polarization inclusion report based on census to be shared with city counselors every five years and with that data we'll be able to break down by population and also by neighborhood and word. Thank you very much. Uh are there any other questions of staff? Seeing none are there any speakers? Uh council sorry Bravo I had questions of staff. Oh okay. Sorry I didn't see you there counselor. Yeah. No, just getting off of mute. Go ahead whenever you're ready. Thank you, chair. And through you. Um I think uh my understanding is this work was done uh as part including part of this work was um hosting a stakeholder table and I was wondering through those stakeholder tables was there any conversation about uh the correlation between inclusive economic development and the availability of public transit high order public transit. through the chair. Uh yes, there were conversations about that. But um the the goal of the framework uh is really to be something that can be used for different sectors, different projects, different divisions, not specific to a a specific project or you know like transit or housing etc. but also understanding that housing and mobility those are things that are essential for economic development are foundational for an economy to be inclusive. So the way that this is treated in the framework is really as a foundation for the levers to operate properly on employment and entrepreneurship and then in addition to that uh hoping that this framework will also help impact the working housing mobility in the future as well. Uh, thank you. And just to kind of dig deeper, um, is is it staff's opinion through this work and through the involvement of other, um, subject matter experts, the, um, that by having higher order transit, the ability to have not just economic development in areas of a city that are lacking it, that it becomes uh, clear in a framework to grow inclusive economic develop- velment um or the opportunity for that for inclusive economic development becomes heightened that so through the chair um the the uh answer is yes we've seen this actually through the uh inclusive local economic opportunities initiatives that we launched with United Way particularly around the economic opportunities that were built out in Golden Mile and so certainly there are opportunities around transit projects to find economic growth that benefits communities Mhm. Um, is this something that we've seen with recent transit projects, whether it's the cross town you mentioned with Golden Mile, that has that the the data and that experience um give us the ability to have this as a foundational piece for future transit projects. I I'm going to uh stop your time there for a second because I'm while I know where you're going, perhaps you address that to speak, it's not in scope with what's before us. So the uh um the action plan for Toronto's economy is not before us and the questions about transit and whether an inclusive economic development frame is informing transit decisions. Um I it's a great question to bring to TTC but um as a um committee member I can board member um I can I think it's a it would be an important question to bring there but equitable distribution of is is one of the things that we do in the city that GTC does. So I I think it may be this is an important conversation to be had but perhaps it's not the right venue. If could you um maybe refocus the rest of your time? I see your point Cheru. I I think there is still a correlation that if we're advocating for an inclusive economic framework um that we have to acknowledge the the handinhand nature that transit plays in unlocking opportunity. Can you just for that? Remember you're in questions of staff. So if you could just formulate the question of the staff that are here, their economic development and culture and social development who worked on producing this framework and and I regret having to squeeze but if you could do that. Uhhuh. Uh so as part of the framework, what tools do you think um that could be made readily available to decision makers in relation to growing the relationship between transit expansion and planning to meet the goals of the inclusive framework through the chair? the goals of the inclusive economic development framework. Uh so that's about making sure that incomes are rising with the cost of living uh reducing demographic disparity, reducing employment procarity, um ensuring there is employment and training that is leading to career pathways and also that there is new business formation and reduce business displacement. So uh what we're hoping to achieve with this framework is you know more alignment coordination and also more centralized accountability when it comes to different projects across the city that can support that overall goal for the economy. There are no specific new levers that are being made available through this framework because it is more of a strategic vision to be applied to existing work and to upcoming work. Okay. Um I I think the the current plan does speak to impacts on roads from from construction sites as an example. Do you think that at committee or council we should consider the the building in uh the opportunity for transit expansion as part of uh the the 10-year economic plan? Okay. Um sorry counselor I realize that you want to have this conversation but it really is not before us to you know what we're what we're the questions should be around what's in the report and I think the members of committee who are in the room are um wanting me to okay endorse that. Thank you. Uh is it last question? Okay. Oh no that's it chair. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. um to so now I think we're on we're on speakers and um councelor Carol would like to speak. Go ahead. Thanks madam chair. I I think maybe I can help counselor candal um because if you if you look at attachment to well while well the report this is about the inclusive economic development framework which is not the whole of economic development. It it it is about layering on a very deliberate and targeted approach to making sure that that is inclusive. But if you look at attachment two, it really shows you the crosswalk between IED, which we are looking at today, and sidewalks to skyline, the entire 10-year plan writ large. And both are important, but chapter one of Sidewalks to Skylines is uh what we acknowledge right up front is that getting the basis getting the basics right in this city, running a good city with fabulous mobility is is absolutely crucial to having a thriving economy in the city. And so, uh, mobility, transit, and car, bike, and otherwise is is all really highlighted there. And and you're on, uh, you're on you're in lock with, uh, the entire business community, small and large, because that came out of their their advising, too. If you don't acknowledge upfront that without those things, you can string together all the businesses you like, people still won't find opportunity in them. So, it's there, but it's in sidewalks to skylines. But I I I really uh um applaud the work here um and and you, Madam Chair, because early on in in the term when we brought uh an update on developing the 10-year plan and then separately uh inclusive economic development, it was you who said, "Wait a second, we need to do some more work on this. How are they going to relate?" and one can't be separate and and it it can't be too easy to put it in a drawer and and so that work got done and I think we're really seeing it today. If you look at attachment to you'll think about uh the fact that we've had economic uh development items moving through council throughout this term of office that really help us on both fronts. uh the Downy volunteer community benefits plan. That's that's uh that's continuing that work of creating community benefit plans. And we made such a a loud uh noise about the fact that uh that those needed to be part of the picture and growth that the developer voluntarily engaged in that work and and that's what we want. It was a little more uh was a little more uh pulling needed to do that out at Woodbine initially. um opportunities for youth getting funding and uh uh uh working with the federal government to make them understand that they couldn't abandon that. The mayor made that announcement uh last week that they are still engaged in it so we can do that work here. Um uh building uh uh community wealth by making local uh employment opportunities. That is the work we're doing on on a number of fronts including um uh making that decision at council that uh we have to acknowledge the impact of cross town and double down on the cultural district work for Little Jamaica and Little Jamaica economic development that that comes out of both places IED and the overall sidewalks to skylines. But it we're starting to see that they do align and they do intersect with one another and that was the goal. That's the achievement that that you're saying wait a second early in this process. Uh madam chair I think that's that's the impact that it's had. So I want to applaud the work that's going on and uh uh the framework now allows us to take it with that recommendation that says that this has to become part of secondary plans all over the city. That's what will make sure that we got a transit growth neighborhood. It will be far better served. I'm here to tell you far better served than my neighborhood was served years ago with the opening of the Shepherd subway. We didn't have this kind of strategy. So the kind of impact we should be having, I had to do after the fact. Councelor Fillian and now councelor Chang are trying to do after the fact and that's not the way to do it. And so having this in place is a minor miracle uh but should have major impact. So, uh, really want to applaud it and and, uh, really council needs to shout loud and clear because one of the things we heard again and again in developing both these plans, the IED plan and the larger plan, Sidewalks to Skylines, is that somewhere along the line, the easy conversation between economic development and planning and the chief planning policy office kind of afraid and it needs to be much stronger if we're really going to leverage and protect our employment lands and make sure that the people that benefit from that leverage are the IED types of businesses. Those are my those are my remarks. 5 minutes and 8 seconds. Thank you, councelor. Um I see uh Deputy Mayor Malik would like to speak. I see councelor Canderville and um go ahead. Oh, Councelor Kandell, Deputy Mayor Malik would like to um let you go first graciously. Okay, correct. Um thank you chair and if I can have my motion put on the screen and I want to appreciate the work uh from asset social development um uh acadev and transit expansion in um in helping craft language to um advance the ability to use data and the inclusive framework in the consideration of their work going forward. I appreciate councelor Carol's um historical context and how we can uh ensure that this inclusive framework is is aligned and supporting um uh good transit development across our city. Thank you. Are there any uh questions of the mover? Uh no. And thank you for your remarks. I see Deputy Mayor Malik now to speak. whatever. Thank you very much. Um, and I want to begin by echoing uh the gratitude uh first to our chair uh to councelor Bravo um who has been uh giving leadership to bringing us um an inclusive economic development framework um that is reflective of our goals um and our practices and our policies that already exist at the city and also the direction that we want to be going. um and being able to see this in front of us today and work together to pass it is a tremendous um it is a tremendous piece of work and thank you for uh for uh continuing to champion it and move it move it forward. I also want to thank um Colette Murphy um who chaired uh this table um and brought uh a tremendous amount of u experience uh skill community connections uh into shaping uh this framework into something uh that we can really be proud of as as a city. And of course to all of the table participants and to city staff who have worked to bring this forward who have brought their incredible experience in community at policy tables in the practices of the city and its relationship uh with community stakeholders um to ensure that this framework is something that we can actually work with. And as this framework lays out, as a city, we've been doing a lot of work to advance inclusive economic development through our procurement policies, our action plans to confront anti-black racism, our work to move forward um justice and and reconciliation, our poverty reduction strategy, and through those very locally rooted community development plans as well. And bringing this all together and situating it within our city's overall economic action plan ensures that as the saying goes, we are baking an inclusive economic development uh approach into everything we do as a city. Um not and I will have to give my Atkinson colleagues um credit for this, not simply just sprinkling it on. And I do think that that is our goal and our ambition um as a city to be able to demonstrate what that looks like to show how it's done in connection with community and also to demonstrate how it does benefit us when it comes to economic growth and our outcomes, what it does to our social impact measures, and how we continue to innovate and push forward uh with a tool like this in hand. And we've long known that investing in people is an investment in our economy. It's an investment in our safety. It's an an investment in our sustainability as a city as well. And as we continue to face and support our residents and our communities in in the in the um in the face of an affordability uh crisis and and you know also course correcting on I think uh many years of policy choices and decisions uh that have made it more challenging uh to imagine a future in the city of Toronto. we find ourselves here and particularly as we look to um approve this framework making sure that we are taking those very real and concrete steps that in Toronto we have an economy that benefits everyone. I'm very excited to see this move forward. Thank you again to everyone who has been a part of it and I'm looking forward to the work to continue to strengthen this framework and make sure that it is well used and continues to set the bar high for what we do here in Toronto. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um I believe I'm the last speaker. Um so I'll uh reset my time. Um I have a motion and while it's displayed I want to thank the um comments made by my colleagues here at committee and their own work. Everyone here who's a member of committee. This motion essentially uh directs u the general manager of economic development and culture to ensure that some of the work continues um and as as it will anyway. But we want to lift up a few things here. Uh that um leveraging the interdivisional working group um which is created in the um in the process of creating this inclusive economic development framework to track relevant external partnerships and how um this inclusive economic development indicator tool has being uh is being used by city division divisions identifying good practices and lessons learned. Um and secondly that when um the report back through sidewalks to skylines annual progress reports um um continue to review potential additional inclusive economic uh um indicators to be added to the city of Toronto um economic dashboard and this is about monitoring whether inclusive economic development objectives are being achieved. So this isn't uh an an end point um but the start of something different and new and I I I really want to lift up what um the staff from social development and economic uh development and culture have have indicated here is that this is something uh new and different. So instead of uh the reports that you see that say here's an equity impact on a piece of work um as a deputy mayor Malik has said it's baked in. It's an assumption that a way to measure uh the health of an economy has to include its equitable distribution in terms of of benefits. Um this is about ensuring that as the economic uh pie grows that everyone gets a fair share of that pie because the economy is all of us. It's not just some of us. Um this is a a a measurable way to track and capture um in addition to the 30 um measures that already exist in the Toronto dashboard which in which really just measure growth to add those 12 measures of equity. So for the first time we'll be able to through very fine work that was done um by city of Toronto staff with partners at the table providing advice um and guidance in terms of what has been what is needed is to say like for example is a person precariously employed well we found a way to do that collectively which is are they involuntarily part-time for example um when we're thinking about how um as councelor Candville said the impact of transit growth for and and um as uh councelor Carol indicated, we're talking about how new transit is intended to help the people that already live there, but what is the unintended consequence of displacement? We can actually monitor that through now looking at the increases in commercial leases. it paints a different picture and and this is something that's available not just to the city of Toronto to inform policy and programs um uh but also to uh to the community so that we democratizing a piece of data that wasn't uh previously visible to everyone before. uh the creation of an interdivisional table that can be leveraged is an as a signal for how seriously the public service takes this and having 10 divisions uh review this one single report uh um more than one deputy city manager and city manager's office I think is a sign that when the action plan for Toronto's economy report comes in we are going to have a meaningful uh companion piece to assess whether we're moving in the right direction and paint a better picture of what's needed Um uh to quote uh Mariana Amote who is um by the way is going on a maternity uh parental leave um soon um that it said the foundation for ensuring that the levers operate properly. So you heard from one of the deputants saying we the city has levers make sure that we use them properly. Well this is how we will know whether we are using them properly. That's really important. And the question about the multiplier effect of a single dollar doing much more than just putting a dollar um in someone's pocket but because in inequality is palpably and powerfully expensive. You know for an individual family if you for and also for society as a whole is a different approach to how we look at how we um organize our economy for the benefit of everyone. And I want to personally say thank you to the working table. Thank you to my co-chair call Murphy and I cannot express how much work was done by staff. I can't name everyone individually, but this is a collaboration between two divisions who have worked so closely together to do something wonderful over seven meetings that took a lot of effort and I think it demonstrates an excellent practice for producing good policy that's intentional um and has a structural and systemic impact um and also that uh has the community voice, the civil society voice and expertise from outside uh in the as part of the process. Uh for me, this is a longtime labor of love and I'm very grateful to everyone that contributed to it. Thanks. I don't think there are any other speakers. I um Oh. Um so I think uh what we're going to do now is just uh vote on the motions. Um Councelor Kendville's motion. All in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Um, my motion. All in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Um, and on item as amended. All in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Thank you very much. Um, and now we are finally ready to look at the motions on EC27.2. And we're going to start with um, Councelor Moyes's motion if it's ready. Sure. staff wants to post my item. It's really an additional recommendation just um for both um MLS and transportation to consult with uh the BAS and TABIA as well as Toronto Festival Associations uh to understand issues around conflict between street vending permits and street festivals and work to improve communication, dispute resolution and enforcement where needed. Um, again I'm a huge supporter of uh street vendors and artists of course but there are areas in the downtown core where you know it is concerning uh when it comes to safety of uh people on the streets especially around Young Street for example um where the sidewalks are very narrow in some cases and thousands of people go up and down the street in a regular in a regular day and it becomes a safety issue. So, I know that um that also was brought up by the downtown Young BIA. Um in regards to that, I may have an additional amendment at council on this item. U just to reflect some of the um concerns that uh was put in the letter by downtown Young BIA. But in this case, I'll just do this minor amendment here today. Okay, those are my comments. Thank you, councelor, um to speak. Uh yes, Deputy Mayor Malik. Um thank you very much. Um I have a motion. Um and I believe clerks has this. Thank you. Um, the motion is aimed at ensuring uh that we're committing to further engagement with our local communities, with advocates on noise, with musicians and performers themselves, and improving the collecting of data on new trends, and that we're monitoring our progress and being responsive to community feedback that we are receiving. Um, I'm committed to ensuring that especially in our downtown communities, we continue to hold in the right measure, uh, local vibrancy that comes from arts and culture and performance and activity on our streets. And of course, that includes local musicians and buskers who provide the soundtrack for our daily commutes, um, our travels through the city. Um they're the ones who um as was said here uh make the experience of living in a in a big bustling city um a little bit more enjoyable and and whimsical as well. Um as well we have to hold that in the right uh measure with um with all of us who call our city in particular our downtown home to ensure that residents are able to um have the the sound and the noise uh from that activity on our streets be in the right measure, especially when it comes to amplified sound and particularly when it comes to local neighborhoods. and and that is one of the incredible things that we again always have to hold together is that some of our busiest uh downtown neighborhoods are also home uh to many of us. A lot of important work was done in 2023 and 2024 around changes to the noise bylaw to ensure that our city can be as responsive as possible to the variety of stakeholders and the many uses of our city particularly in our downtown. And we want to ensure that that work is kept on top of and up to date. Thank you. Thank you. Um and I also have a motion while we display it. I'll start to speak to it. Um so this uh motion has um three parts to it. Uh it is intended to speak to the concerns raised by deputants about the um 15 licenses or R55 uh curb lane vending which um uh have councelor Sax spoke of. So, this is uh a motion to um uh sunset uh December 31st, 2028. Um uh to be and then uh to be governed by um regulations as long as uh sorry, you can read the rest of the motion, but um as of January 1st, 2029, the R55 curblane vending permits will without notice automatically be cancelled. The second one has to do um uh with uh immediately um coming into force. R55 curb lane bending permit um is in effect under a former city um governed by the regulations in effect again in 2014 and continue to be complied with and requiring uh fees are paid in accordance with uh the chapter listed here. As of 2029, vending permits will without notice automatically be canceled. Then the third one um is about um ensuring that that uh as we move forward um new locations and additional vendors are in alignment with the inclusive economic development framework we just adopted. And that includes exploring the feasibility of preserving those locations as mobile vending zones or spaces that designated for uh specific vendors. And that speaks to the interest in ensuring that we're providing um fair access to local um economic development activities uh that are allowing for uh entrepreneurs and the realization of the more equitable outcomes we just discussed in the previous framework. Are there any questions of the motion? Season can I a question? Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. So the the the R55 uh um uh bylaws uh updating um is it your intention we'll just provide notice to to the applicable uh uh vendors and that can happen without a report to council? Correct. Okay. Okay. And then that last piece can be reported on when they have that information. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh so let's start with um recorded votes because yeah um unless there are other uh speakers we're going to move now to vote and um we need to do recorded votes because there was a declaration of interest on uh councelor Moyes's motion. All those in favor? All those in favor of councelor Moyes's motion. Councelor Malik, councelor Carol, councelor Bravo, councelor Moyes. Any opposed? I think councelor Candville. Councelor Candal. That motion. Okay. Okay. The next motion by Deputy Mayor Malik. All those in favor? Councelor Malik. Councelor Carol, Councelor Bravo, Councelor Moyes, Councelor Cannibal. That motion carries. And on the third motion, third motion by councelor Bravo. All those in favor? Councelor Malik, Councelor Carol, Councelor Bravo, Councelor Moyes, Councelor Kandival. That motion carries. And on the item as amended, all those in favor, councelor Malik, Councelor Carol, Councelor Bravo, Councelor Moyes, and Councelor Candal. That motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Congratulations to staff on a unanimous vote. Um so we are now uh at the last two items. Um returning to the order of the agenda. Um the first item is EC27.12 advancing community development through evidence-based planning. Um and the first speaker is um Asenbati. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly online. Welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Umi. Okay, we're going to go to May. Muhammad, welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Hi, good afternoon everyone. Hope everyone is doing well. My name is May Muhammad. I'm the vice chair for the confronting anti-black racism advisory committee. I actually put forward uh this motion that we are now deliberating on. So, I'm really excited uh to speak to this item. I want to highlight a critical gap in how we approach community development work in this city. Um at our last committee meeting, we had a wonderful presentation by um some city staff on the current work that's happening um in terms of community development in the city. And it seems that a lot of work is tied to either redevelopment or re revitalization or um some kind of external investment. uh which I think is more of a reactive approach um when we need to be more proactive when it comes to uh community development. Uh so the question becomes what happens to these communities that don't necessarily have these triggers? Um and the answer is is that they're left waiting. they're left waiting for resources, for funding, for attention or um oftentimes we see some kind of crisis to arise before that investment comes in. And uh this is why I believe this motion matters. It calls for a city-wide framework. Sorry, catch my breath. Uh it calls for a city-wide framework grounded in consistent equity-based investment, not one dependent on external figures. It centers something simple but powerful. Sustained residentled funding to support local leadership, planning, and solutions. Because we know that communities already know what they need. They just need the resources to make it happen. Um, they need resources to create opportunities for youth. They need support to stabilize housing uh and prevent displacement. And they need the ability to shape these decisions that do affect their everyday life. Um, if we continue relying on reactive or conditional funding models, we will continue to reproduce the same inequities that we say we want to address and do something about. And we know that the city has the capacity to invest. Uh, the Toronto Police Service Board was approved for a 1.43 billion budget for this year, which I believe was a nearly increase of 94 million from last year. and that funding is not conditional even in the face of public concerns raised earlier this year. Um, another funding and since I want to kind of point out uh uh to kind of support my argument here is in November of 2024, the city invested in something in which they knew, you know, would kind of reap the benefits of um when the Taylor Swift era tour came to Toronto, we invested about 3.6 million and we received I think 2.82 million in economic return. So we know how to invest when we see value. So the question I'm posing is if we understand the return on major investments like these, why are we still questioning the return on community and social development? Thank you. Are there any questions of the deputent? Yeah, I have uh councelor Moyes, councelor Carol, and I also have a question. Thank you for debuting today. Just to understand a little better, we were we in item four, we talked about the confronting back racism 5-year update and we also have a tenure that's coming to council in 2027. Uh the things that you have in this motion, doesn't it is doesn't it capture some of the issues or concerns that you have uh already? I mean that's the whole point I think of the cabar uh department we have here. Sorry just so I understand this is your question that this current motion um does not advocate for some of the things I'm speaking about. All I'm asking is that the five-year plan that's in place for CABRA uh antibi racism uh five-year plan and the tenure which we will hope we will approve at council in 27 27 doesn't al doesn't already in encapsulate uh the items that you've mentioned here in the recommendations. I would say that the items are related, but the ask here is for the city to fund social development plans and community development plans. I think um that budgetary ask when we put a dollar value to what we need and you know we've seen what was possible in region park with the funding that they've received. I think this specific ask is um not outside of the five-year plan, but it is, I would say, different because it is asking for that neighborhoodled um work on the grounds that would be resident led and led by the communities themselves. Does that make sense? It does. So just for clarification, the investments that we've made in the community, are you asking us to reallocate it to this rather than what we're doing now? Because we're doing a lot of things in the city. No, the ask is not to reallocate the funds that are currently going on for community development. I think what we're asking is to kind of scale up the funds and also come up with, you know, working frameworks. I know that John um and forgive me I forgot your name did a presentation in which they let us know about the to this tool that the city is developing to address this very issue. Um so I think that there is already a lot of work in play and once this tool comes out and their research is complete and we have the findings and we have the evidence to back this kind of work we can take the next step next steps from there. I'm not saying to take away funding from the ongoing work that's happening because it is very important, but I'm saying that it's not enough. We need to do more and um the times that we're in um really reflects that. So, yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Counselor Carol questions. Yeah. I'm I'm just uh um all sorts of sympathy for doing this kind of participatory work. I I' I've led participatory uh uh on the ground processes in in my ward, but they were all they were all conditional on development funds coming in as well. I as I'm not sure I don't know if anyone has come to brief uh the committee then on the city's broken funding formula. Um has has that work been done? Have we had anyone come from finance to explain some of our competing uh pressures? No, I I believe that we did have um a few questions at our last committee on a last committee meeting on how exactly these funds are broken down, which neighborhoods are getting these funds, and how much exactly. Um but I don't believe there was exact clarity to answering those questions. Yeah, but I I mean even the the the whole egg, not just community development that I I don't know of a counselor that doesn't wish that they had uh more funds in the area in the all the soft services community development at the top of the list, but to say that there are no conditions attached to other things, other increases, budget, you highlighted one, you highlighted the police budget. Um, we consider collective bargaining agreements to be pretty conditional around here. We're legally required to once negotiating them to to actually fund them. And so there are conditions to some of the other increases in the budget. So I'm just wondering if we've ever had someone come and walk through the whole of the city's finances in a presentation to CABRA. No, we haven't. And I think that's something that we would really appreciate in knowing I think it would be very helpful. Yeah. And I think that um speaking to your point of conditional things, I think that often times new conditions do arise um and we need to take that in just like how we see the Toronto Community Crisis Service and all the amazing work that they're doing, right? And how that's taking relief of off of other systems. So I think there is a bigger picture going on here and I'd love to see all the entities in the city, you know, work together, figure out what's happening with the money here and how exactly um we can leverage this type of work um to do good for our community. Right. Well, for instance, TCCS is is under is is actually uh adjacent and part of the same community development uh funding envelope. We we wish we were getting other uh government funding to do it because we're now we're now providing a mental health response system for all orders of government and not getting funding to do so. But if we did um the other parts of community development would be the benefactors because that's certainly where we'd put the dollars if we if we got our fourth first responder to be treated like a first responder by the other orders of government. It's nuances like that that I think would help because then I think in in other rooms we'd all be asking for the same thing that would that would make the this more possible more quickly. So I think maybe that's something that we can help with that in the near future because we're we're out of budget season and sometimes that's the best time to look at how how that financial structure is impacting on things so that uh it can inform discussions. I I'd be happy to help with that. Yeah, I I think that'd be great because I'm just remembering now, but I think there was a mention of about 30 or $31 million at our meeting, but it was exactly like it was kind of hard to figure out like how that's being broken down, when and where, and what projects or who exactly is is is being funded through that work. Happy to help. I'm a walking encyclopedia. Thank you. Um I have a couple of questions. I I'm I'm guessing your intention cuz the way the motion is written, I'm guessing your intention isn't for um when when it's like community-led, community based, resident led, resident based without like a real um criteria, it could end up being quite diluted and funding that you're requesting could end up not actually meeting the objective. So, do you think that it's a good thing to have staff take a look at some of these elements to make sure that we're if we're there is investment, it's actually going to uh meet the goals that have already been set out in policy and that that's already part of the um uh confronting black confronting anti-black racism action plan. It's just sort of like a a way to deliver it. Thank you for that question. I think that's a really good one. Um, I do believe that when the work is resident le when it's, you know, the boots on the ground, it's when it's the community that wakes up every day to their neighborhood to their neighbors. They know their struggles. They know their challenges. They know what's going on in the schools in their area, what's going on with the health in the area, what's going on with the gun violence in their area. They are the subject matter experts when it comes to this. With that being said, um I believe Vision Park, you know, followed a model where there were trustees and there were different working groups. It just wasn't, you know, give the money to the neighbors and, you know, let them run free. So, I think that there is a lot of opportunities for collaboration and um this is with STPs and CBDs. I believe it's something that will strengthen uh relationships between you know the city and all these different agencies with these neighborhoods as long as we like this will amplify their voices and you know bring their concerns to the for and I I agree with you. I think that the issue here is that there's as counselor Carol said it's stems out of development activity. Um and uh and what I I I think like clarifying what is meant by like coalitions uh resident le coalitions etc. to ensure equity you have to be very specific about how you're putting funding in an envelope that's intended for that population. But the second thing had to do with um the conditional I I just wanted to make sure you knew that and during the last budget process I moved a motion which council adopted that there should be um some tracking of the um savings or that the net overall cost of the the tasks that have been um taken off the uh police force plate such as uh crisis response although they do uh they are a partnership in that but certain elements of that um such as um you know uh traffic agents um school crossing guards etc. Thanks. Um and and that and that did pass. So there will be an an accounting of that just I I'm not sure if the committee knew noticed that but it but um the the police budget piece has come up. So thank you very much. Uh in terms of uh questions of staff. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, sorry. You're right. Um I we have uh is Asen Bati there. Try one more time. Uh last time for Ashen Bati and then we have Willie Kali and Cheryl Casease. Okay. Ashen uh Bati is still online but unable to activate right now. Um we'll go to W and then Cheryl. First of all, I just want to thank the brilliant uh May Muhammad uh the newly elected vice chair of CABRA for those brilliant responses to those questions. Um and I'm just going to quickly introduce myself. My name is Wed Kali Ali. the co-chair of the Regent Park Neighborhood Association and a longtime resident of Regent Park and I'm here today in strong support of this item uh 27.12 and to urge this committee to take the next critical step moving from evidence to action. I just want to acknowledge that we are not lacking data. Toronto has the data. For decades, the city has invested in research, consultations, and planning frameworks that clearly identify disparities in housing, employment, safety, and health, especially in communities like Regent Park and other neighborhood improvement areas. The challenge is not evidence. The challenge is implementation. As highlighted in our formal submission, too often community responses have been fragmented, short-term, and underresourced. And as a result, we continue to see the same inequities persist year after year. But we're not starting from scratch. We have a proven model. The region park social development plan demonstrates what is possible when planning is residentled, placebased, and supported through sustained investment. Through this model, we've seen strengthened community safety and cohesion, increased youth engagement and employment pathways, better coordination across services, and measurable outcomes, including a significant reduction in violence. Let's not forget in 2023 we had zero zero gun-related deaths in our community for the first time in our history. Um, and the quest so the question before us is today is very simple. Will we continue to study the problem or will we invest in solutions that we already know work? So on behalf of the region park neighborhood association the coalition for responsible community development I'm asking this committee to support five key actions. First commit to the citywide implementation of social development plans by 2027 prioritizing communities facing the greatest inequities. Second, provide stable multi-year funding in the range of 250,000 to half a million per neighborhood annually to ensure this work is sustained and not dependent on short-term pilot funding. Thirdly, embed social development plans into city systems across planning, budgeting and interdivisional coordination. So, this becomes core infrastructure, not an add-on. Fourth, ensure that this work is grounded in equity and anti-racism, anti-black racism, including the use of race diseed data and alignment with the Toronto action plan to confront anti-black racism. And fifth, strengthen accountability and governance by supporting resolled tables, clear outcome metrics, and transparent public reporting. This is not about just good policy, my friends. It's about making smarter investments. And this is a pivotal moment. This council has already recognized the importance of community safety, inclusive economic development, and anti-black racism. Now is the time to align those commitments with real investments in communityled infrastructure. Thank you so much, and uh I hope this motion carries. Thank you. Any questions of the deputent? Seeing none, um Cheryl Casease. Yeah. Well, we call the what we call Cheryl and her baby, which will be a f first for me. It's been a long time since I've seen a baby deputing and I love it. Um, yeah. Asen Ashen Bati. No. Okay. Sorry, Ashen. Oh, can you ask them to Can you Ashen Bati, can you unmute yourself, please, while we here? Okay, we're I'm sorry, Ashen, we can't hear you, so we won't be able to speak on this. Um, Cheryl, welcome. You have three minutes. Okay, awesome. Thank you, everybody. So, really great to be here. Um, I'm incredibly proud of the incredible work that I'm sorry, you have to turn your microphone up. pushing a little harder than the old ones. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome. Um, yes. So, I'm incredibly proud of the incredibly great work that u my collaborators and the community have put together in making this uh proposal to the uh economic and social development committee um and also of course to the confronting anti-racism advisory committee uh for putting this forward. I think they provided a very clear articulation of the need for uh funding for social and community event plans across the city of Toronto. The city of Toronto, as has brought up already today, is first of its kind in many ways with the confronting antibiot. You've done incredible work. Um, and the work that the city has done in regards to social development plans and community development plans, I'd also say is at the top of the pack in terms of great work that's being done to support communities. And so the reason I'm here today is because while there's such incredible work being done, there is such a gap between the amount of support provided to that work and the amount of time that community is able to actually be at the negotiating table with developers and with the city to to ensure that community values are integrated into how cities developed. So, uh, many counselors on this committee are aware of what I'm speaking about today. Chris Moyes with Regent Park, Shelley Carroll with the incredibly important work of the fair build a better Fair View and Oz Malik with the great work in Chinatown, right? Um, in Fair View alone, we know that and you've been to their meetings, counselor. Uh, they're looking to build about 12 new towers and there's already being a massive displacement in these in that in these neighborhoods just like your neighborhood that I noted, many other neighborhoods. And so with with that in mind um you know the criteria around community development plans I see is actually being met where there's a huge need um but there's a lack of funding for community actually be a part of planning and so we're in the position where now where we are um addressing the situation with little band-aid um attempts when really and addressing this as um crisis response instead of actually providing that upfront funding support for communities to be at the table instead of responding at the position of displacement. Um we are an incredibly talented city uh with incredibly talented people and I think we are in the place right now where there is a great awareness within our community that there is need for substantial change. Um so you know in the comments today I've heard a bit about you know where could we find some money here and there and that's why um as a coalition we've asked for not only to be uh funding for six neighborhoods in this budget um and to find the the funding to provide funding for for this budget for uh the six neighborhoods of Little Jamaica uh Regent Park, Lawrence Heights, Alex uh Alexander Park, Boss Park and uh Don Valley Don Valley village, but to establish a uh community advisory table where you can the community the city and community can work together in uh pursuing the goal that all neighborhoods can receive funding for community planning. Um where the city and community are actually working in partnership, right? I think you know Jane Finch has brought up as an example, Downs Views brought up as example. These are areas that have had ma massive redevelopments and have a secondary plan. Well, who decides when a secondary plan is going to be put forward? There are criteria that are being met in terms of the scale of development, the scale of displacement, um, and also the scale of passion that there is in terms of community to be involved. Um, and so really, I think, um, that Sorry, I I was distracted. You're I've given you an extra minute. So, your time is 3 minutes. Uh but but there's a chance to keep talking because um councelor Carol has a question. Okay. I can just go to questions. Yeah. Yeah. So um I I'm not sure that I'm not sure that uh that people understand the impact. There's a there's a u a collision happening right now between changes in provincial regulations and the economy itself. in that um you know for better or for worse the the the province changed the regulation. So some of the things that were available to me in Parkway Forest for instance are not now available to me in trying to do the same thing in Fairview Mall um uh to protect people so that there isn't a lot of displacement. Uh we don't have those levers anymore. don't even have section 37 in terms of negotiating saying okay you have to sit with the community in Parkway forest for instance we made them sit with the community for 18 months and negotiate a deal we were able to to safeguard against displacement and even negotiate a fund for uh if it was displacement through rent increases uh we we created a fund of $3 million that families could apply for all sorts of things we can't do now but here's the thing I'm not sure if it's understood in the work that's happening um uh through CARAC that part of the problem is the economy itself because um developers are not putting shovels in the ground right now. They're not putting into the replacement for section 37, which was this overall community benefit fund, which while it it it's a a smaller number of dollars, it did have an equity piece in it in that the money isn't locked into being spent in growth areas, it could be spent in the neighborhoods that may not have growth, but needed community benefit plans. Uh but the money's not coming in. The developers are not doing it. So if they don't if they don't start construction, we're stuck. Is is that economic conversation something that that CABRA is aware of and discussing? So I'm not a member of of CABRA just um um and so what what I you're you're just in support of their work. So I'm here as the founder and executive director of community in public. I apologize for not making that introduction. So Right. I've looked I've looked it up. Yeah. Yeah. Um Yes. So there's there's development happening in communities. There is the um expanding housing opportunities in neighborhoods. There's all kinds of developments at all kinds of scales happening. And that's why we're targeting for every neighborhood to receive funding because in every neighborhood there is ongoing displacement. But also there is an issue where um communities are not actually able to come together and express and to be heard by the city. lots of um communication is happening that is not being heard by the city and so that's where the community development plan provides a great bridge and having a commitment from the which plan sorry so community development plans ah yes um when you when when I review what the city has put forward in these plans and they're amazing documents they establish commitments from oh my daughter took off one of my earrings I just realized um I had one earring on um yeah So the community development plans are amazing documents that are produced through a collaborative effort from social development, city planning, economic development, and they are where the city establishes clear commitments to the community that they're going to be their partner in helping to address issues of housing, issues of access to social services, issues to being able to develop their own leadership and their own social capital. And so when you bring up the issue of developers and the economic barriers that they're facing, there are massive social capital barriers that need to be addressed in order to actually enable development to be happening, right? Because we know there's no shortage of people and labor to build. It's the lack of funding towards that. Um I know that the city's housing strategy is um in need of additional funds. And so how will we get that funds distributed? Well, that's if we can actually come together as communities and that's where the community event plan is incredibly important like a minute and a half over. I just want to I I just want to make one other thing clear. I wasn't speaking to that there's a barrier for for for developers. They they they somehow are still uh uh vacationing in France. However, they if they don't put the shovel in the ground, they're not required to make their payment of community benefit dollars to us. That's where we're in a log jam. Yes. That that I just wanted to make I want to make clear. I'm not I'm not defending developers at this point. I'm just saying we don't have their dollars that we would be forwarding on to the community. So, the community benefit we're we're two minutes over on we were you were a minute over last time and two minutes over on this exchange. So, uh we we we limited it because we need to be done soon. Okay. I just want to clarify that in terms of our No, we're going to we can't I can ask you a question, but you you can't keep talking. Sorry. That's the rules of procedure and we already bent them way beyond. Um so I think that was the last speaker. Now we can go to questions of staff. I I have a question um on this qu the the point about um community development plans and how they come about and what the triggers are. Um maybe I'll go to social development on this. Uh how can we just do a review of how community development plans are created in the city? Uh thank you for the question uh through the chair. Community development plans are triggered when there is a secondary plan. It's an opportunity to embed equity and reconciliation in the policies of a secondary plan. And it's also an opportunity for, and I think it's been stated by uh one of our speakers, for the city divisions to collaborate in a different way with community partners um with uh First Nations groups and uh with organizations and local businesses and create a plan that is monitored over time. And whereas previously what would have happened it would have been staffled on the only on the planning side. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Right. So it the the the precipitating element here is that there is um a process around around uh reasonzoning and uh rather than wait for the individual applications to come there is a a kind of a vision setting a problem statement setting a an expectation setting process and that's what community development plans do in partnership with a secondary plan. Correct. Uh correct. It it creates an opportunity not only to create a vision but actually actions that are informed by the local community and with a plan uh um actually approved by council then there's an opportunity for ongoing collaboration with the private sector with community groups uh with city services. And just to be really clear, the the energy, the ideas, the analysis of the problem, the identification of solutions uh is includes a a very locally informed community voice. We we prioritize this in areas where uh equity is is even more urgently needed. Um and then what happens is that uh the the city of Toronto joins its in corporate power with community uh voices and power to be able to set expectations and to start a dialogue with the with developers. Uh correct. there's a collaborative approach that's needed in an ongoing way and ongoing partnerships that yield uh and leverage opportunities that really uh meet the needs that the uh community has identified through the plans. I I have a a second question that's around um the you know the there's a lot of uh pre precision required when you are talking about grant making or policym and the sort of um and I it's not a criticism of the motion it's just an maybe an an ident identifying a need to do a little bit more work when we talk about every community or um uh communityled coalitions like what what is the um what equity indicators are we using uh currently uh that embed in the city's neighborhood plans and strategies and how important is it to actually be able to say this pe these people this neighborhood for this thing? So through the chair um part of our analysis uh is uh looking through the neighborhood improvement areas that looks at economic conditions of each neighborhood. It also looks at um access to transit and other conditions like that. But it also looks at resident engagement and a lot of our uh funding decisions and community engagement on the ground involves multiple different uh resident stakeholder groups that provide uh informed decisions on some of the grants that we we provide in different neighborhoods. Um and in addition, our staff work closely with various different community organizations. We have a cluster model where there are very vibrant and active community organizations that serve residents that provide us with uh valuable information on what are some of the challenges faced by residents and opportunities for us to support in funding. So there are a variety of indicators both economic indicators, social indicators, but also resident inform indicators that we use to have a a holistic picture of the of the challenges faced by various different communities but also what opportunities there are for collaboration. Thank you. So it's not just uh data without a values informed analysis of the meaning of that data which includes interpretation by the people impacted through through each other is correct. Okay. Um this item is called advancing community development through um evidence-based planning. Um can you give us a sense a little bit about what forthcoming or what current um plans, frameworks um you know strategic approaches we're taking that could align with the objectives identified or the the needs identified in this motion. Thank you. and through the chair we are currently in working on a process called the Toronto neighborhood assessment framework which uh look will look at the various different ways we do equity based placebased planning at the city and this is a evolution of previous models the urban heart at Toron urban heart at Toronto model which informed the neighborhood improvement area model uh from from a decade plus ago as well as prior to that the priority neighborhoods and so this this pro process we are in developing right now looks at all the various different learnings from previous placebased planning, equity models that various different divisions use as well as best practices globally and in other jurisdictions in order for us to uh develop something that is specific to Toronto and is involves a number of different partners and community groups and we're doing this in partnership with our great partners at United Way. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff? Councelor Moyes, there just one or two. Um maybe can you touch perhaps on the refresh of the social plan in region park and perhaps uh elsewhere in the city because I know that uh John you've been working a few uh elsewhere as well. Uh through the chair and thank you for the question. U so the learnings from region park are very important learnings in terms of community planning. One of the uh uh core uh learnings in terms of the evolution of a social development plan is that it needs to be refreshed. Uh uh and it needs to be refreshed because community members need to be involved in an update of the community development investments in that in in in the community specifically. uh and and through that refreshment process in region park, it's led to a focus on uh greater youth engagement and greater engagement of community-led groups and a better understanding of the uniqueness and the complexity of of how that community is developing. So, um all communities are very diverse and they have many different community leaders. Those community leaders are asking for in region park uh uh different platforms to be connected. not all uh not all people come to one table. And so uh with the refresh of the uh region park social development plan, it's led to a more diverse connectivity to young people in the area and to communityled groups and to look at opportunities that connect to other investments that are actually uh by other partners in the community whether private sector or or others. Thank you. Just one more. Oh, please. So um that's region park but again you're also expanding that elsewhere in the city as well right? Uh through the chair. So there are three areas where social development plans are identified. Uh they're all TCH communities because social development plans are specific to support TCH communities uh under uh going through a revitalization of their communities. Alex Park and Lawrence Heights are the other two. And so there are unique approaches in each of those communities that are connected to community development investments in those communities. I'll highlight in Lawrence Heights that one of the uh great efforts that's being made is by is championed by uh deputy mayor Cole and there is a community action plan that is actually looked looking at and being very successful in bringing community partners together and working with existing community partners at the Lawrence Heights inner organization network in Alex Park. There have been investments by local community groups as well as city supported investments in not only uh community engagement but also community capacity building activities. So each community, each of the three social development uh uh areas uh that are TCH communities have their own unique uh uh their own unique approaches. And I will say that Toronto Community Housing is the major partner. uh re without revitalization there wouldn't be the leveraging of these resources and we have to you know a social devel development plan really complements uh the investments that are grounded in uh TCH's leadership through revitalization with the developer partner thank you thank you are there any qu other questions of staff are there any speakers on this item I um I have a motion that I'm going to ask clerks to display. Um uh and the motion um um asks that this item be uh referred to uh deputy city manager of community development and social services uh for consideration as part of the uh work that's been referenced by staff the Toronto neighborhood assessment framework uh report and to include the report back um on how the inclusive economic development framework um data for equity community development plans and local uh community leadership, capacity building, strengthen community development. Um this uh you know these are important things that are being raised here about uh the capacity of communities to uh engage and participate. Uh but I would say that um in addition to some of the the questions that have been raised and the the important um supports that are needed to participate which I think we all recognize is is the definitions uh for whom for what um and and we when those of us that are committed to equity have to be very very specific about language. any program or grant that it generally names communities is not going to uh actually end up uh supporting people uh who we most want to who are furthest from the processes. Um and so that that is why we're uh referring it to staff. Um that's my my recommendation to committee members as a way to recognize that you know this important conversation that needs to be carried forward uh by the public service and and to intersect with the work that's already been directed by council which has been supported uh by and informed by the community based partnerships that have been created here at the city. Um so we uh we want to we need to make sure that as we're advancing new areas of work they're actually uh sitting inside of and reinforcing existing strategies because we've committed to a lot of things and we are very much focused uh many of us here most of us on the pro the like on delivering um and and so that is that is where that uh goes. Um, in addition, I'd say that we're not in the budget process right now. Um, so making requests outside of the budget process for specific dollar amounts is not something that that we do. Um, there is an opportunity through uh new budget processes to lift up programmatic ideas. Um, I'd say also that there's an offset that comes with every element of that and that we have to consider what it is as councelor Moyes said that we would have to not fund to fund uh additional work. Um, and and in in a and I and I finally I I want to say that a lot of the challenges that we're addressing here are not solvable on the property tax base. Um we are a unique level of government in which social services and social housing have been downloaded by the province and this is unique in Canada. every other province in Canada, it's a provincial government that takes charge of those things. And many of the challenges that communities face, particularly black communities, are systemic structural uh things that have to do with workforce, um with the uh governance and funding of child welfare, um with a whole bunch of other elements, education, health care, housing, and those are all provincial areas of responsibility. um elsewhere. Uh the city of Toronto steps in to uh take part of that property tax to make ex explicit and targeted investments in communities that are a priority because they are furthest from achieving um or realizing the benefits of the economy and being able to live a good life uh in a fair way. And so we have to I think continually remember that perhaps um some of this advocacy could there's that there having a um alongside provincial facing advocacy element is really important and finally the um uh councelor Carol who is uh also the budget chief is reminding us of the need to understand the fiscal position that the city is in. Uh we you know the it is the police budget is growing and it is large. Um there are a lot of different provincial statements and legislative changes and direction that's been made explicitly to police services boards that cuts will not be um entertained by this government and so there is also a lot of constraint there. So, it's unfortunately not the place to go. And while the question of accountability exists, um council adopted it and the uh the budget chief was also a chair of the police services board supported that motion which is to account for um the the financial impact of actually reallocating tasks to civilians. So, um if there any questions of the mover seeing none, any other speakers? No. Um on the on the motion to refer. All those in favor? Opposed? And that's carried. Okay. Now we're at the last item EC27.13. And that is um addressing evictions through disagregated race-based data and social housing. And the first speaker is um Arnold Margulis. Is Arnold online or here? Okay. Arnold, are you are you able to speak now? Hello. Yeah. Good afternoon. Do you hear me? Yes. You have 3 minutes, sir. Just just one second. Uh please stop counting. I have to switch. Uh uh we're we're ready to hear you speak, sir. Hello. Yes, we can hear you. You can speak now for three minutes. Go ahead. Okay. Uh thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. I just wanted to tell you that the motion is the subject matter was developed by anti-black racism committee and uh I understand that it was uh originally limited to uh basically to black minority and I I support this motion fully but I just wanted to uh you know to draw your attention to the fact that the Toronto is a city of other minorities that are all also subject to hate uh you know even gunshots and uh constant harassment, intimidation, including in housing, including social Toronto uh owned housing. For example, uh like uh I live in the building which is located in Bus and Shepard area heavily Jew Jewish people populated including like 60% of in our building and uh just during the recent uh u Passover celebration there was intensive contamination of the building with toxic chemicals uh indoor air indoor air in the building hallways and in my unit in particular and uh that triggered the response of security agencies and law enforcement agencies. So uh and this is a like a typical example some uh tenants were evicted at the age of like 85 years and only intervention of uh housing secret prevented the enforcement of the eviction. So the staff of the building is headdriven and the uh leadership of the corporation fails to investigate this matters and instead uh they prefer uh you know to evict tenants who report this matters including myself. They filed a totally frivolous eviction suit uh trying to evict me from the building uh for repeatedly reporting this matter to the uh board of directors and to the leadership of the corporation and the the mayor's office etc. So uh with regards to this uh I'm just uh suggesting to edit uh the motion in terms of the editing for ethnic minorities not necessarily all racialized but not only black and obviously seniors are also included but you forget to include Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation that was separated like about four years ago and uh it houses 15,000 vulnerable defenseless seniors. And this is absolutely critical to include in text in this of this motion the Toronto Senior Housing Corporation and its board of directors just like you included Toronto Community Housing and its boards of directors. So uh please uh remember that and seniors have also mentioned already. So it is just a technical issue and I'm kindly asking to submit also to uh other committees to question the leadership why they don't address this issues. There were religious items removed from doors in other buildings in Jewish community. Thank you sir. Um you are over time. I really appreciate you being here and we're going to go to the next speaker. Um the next speaker is Miguel Lava. You have three minutes. Hello. All right. Um I'm here in support of uh the Cabarak motion made um last month which is asking a very simple request to all the city councilors that are considering to run for council in 2026 is to um request a moratorum on the evictions of TCSC tenants um for the period of July to about November when uh all the um new new new faces will be elected for city council and I'm sure you won't be able to um to deal with with your constituents um that are facing a vision and in in different words around the city of Toronto um in my in my on the displays you know it's is stating that is the in the last 10 years this this number of evictions has hit a high numbered and we request this moratorum. Speaking as an indigenous person of South America origin, um I want to and let you know that I disagree with the additional report from the housing secretaria that only focus on the black members of the community. I need to know how many of us look at me look person that look like me because for the last three years I have been living a nightmare. I have an N6 notice. Uh according to the data provided by TCAC look at the numbers 2025 391 addictions. The heck? How many of of us are being evicted? I want to know how many South Americans, indigenous we are being kicked out of of TCAC, not just black people, but all of us who are make up the numbers of of the TCAC population as well as Asians as well as white people. But we know that the the biggest number of residents are black and indigenous peoples. So um asking for a moratorium is not going to break the bank of DCAC. According to a report it says oh they're going to have a facing a problem with their funding. No no no no no come on why don't you find solutions and in the presentation from TCAC they say they claim that eviction is the last resource. That's a big lie because my issue was about a door damage. It was an accident. Did you guys send me an invoice for the for the door damage in 2023? No, you're almost done. Give me that opportunity. You decide to evict my indigenous ass. Sorry. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you. Um, any questions of the deputent? Seeing none. Yes, it's true. The next speaker is May Muhammad. You didn't do nothing for me. You kicked me out. Uh, go ahead, May. Hi, my name is May. I'm the vice chair for CABRACK and I'm here to speak in strong support of this item. Toronto is in the middle of an escalating housing crisis and for many residents, social housing is truly the last line of defense. When evictions happen there, people aren't just displaced, they're pushed into homelessness. And we can't allow that to continue, especially when we know um these impacts felt um are mostly felt by black, indigenous, and racialized um low-income tenants. Um and that demands a large targeted equity-based response. The proposed temporary moratorum on uh Aras related evictions is a necessary and practical step. This is not a radical idea. It's not a new idea. It's a proven one. During the CO 19 pandemic, uh Toronto implemented an eviction moratorum um to stabilize vulnerable residents during a time of crisis. We are in another time of crisis and we should respond with that same urgency and compassion. We are also seeing leadership globally. In Spain, the prime minister took action by tableabling a pause on rent collection during difficult economic times. That is what a responsive government looks like, meeting people where they are and acting decisively to prevent harm. This motion goes even further by calling uh for disagregated race-based data. Um that's extremely difficult uh not difficult critical uh because we cannot fix what we do not measure and we cannot claim equity without understanding who is being left behind. Delaying action for more study reals um risks real consequences uh like more eviction, more instability and more people falling through the cracks. I urge council to adopt this motion, implement the moratorum, and commit to a housing system that is fair, data informed, and rooted in dignity. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other um Sorry, are there any questions of the deputent? Yeah, council moist. So, you aware that only one to 3% of people in TCAC are evicted? Yes. Okay. And are you aware that the cases that are of people being evicted are very serious in nature? It's not just because of back rent and those sort of things. I I'm aware that it's it's case by case. Yes, it's case by case. And so do you feel that under any circumstances people should not be evicted? I believe housing is a human right. I believe that people deserve a place to say this is Toronto community housing. We're talking about the last resort. This is social housing. So, it should therefore serve the social needs of people. Absolutely. And I don't uh disagree at all. But I know that in my own ward of Toronto Center, um I have many TCAC buildings and I'm very much involved in TCHC. I speak to them on a daily basis advocating for people and trying to negotiate you know tenency for people and moving them around. But it do you can you recognize though that things don't happen in isolation that you know we are responsible for all the tenants all the residents not just the one or two that you know that may be evicted for very serious uh issues. I do recognize that and I'd like to say that it's not just one or two tenants. There is a trend happening where evictions are on the rise. Um at the same time, we heard earlier today that there are, you know, parents of black children struggling to put food on the table for their kids. This is an issue we should look at with the social determinance of health in mind. Um it's not just the way I see at least is just not one or two evictions because of bad tenants. We have to pay attention to the times we're in. Um there are stories of uh of people being evicted for damage that they did not cause themselves. So there is a a lot of issues of inequity within these evictions. And if 40% of Toronto housing residents are black, then this isn't also an issue of anti-black racism. I I find that you're simplifying it, but um I I'll ask staff some questions on this. Thank you. Thank you. Um the next speaker is Siobhan Pierre. Siobhan, welcome to committee. You have three minutes. Uh good afternoon uh to the chair and the members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. Um, the Black Legal Action Center expresses our strong support for motion EC uh 27.13 addressing evictions through disegregated race-based data in social housing and the recommendations put forward by the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee at Krak. We encourage this committee to adopt these critical recommendations without delay. Firstly, uh the escalating housing crisis and anti-black racism. Black is a not for-profit community legal clinic that provides legal assistant to low or no black Ontarians. Housing, including evictions, is one of the areas in which we provide assistance to vulnerable black community members. We are a referral partner of the city's eviction prevention in the community epic program and we also work with the office of the commissioner of housing equity o to find support services for clients of facing eviction. From our internal statistics on the request for service we've received over the past year, it's evident that in Toronto is experiencing an escalating housing crisis with increasing evictions from social housing, the housing of last resort for many residents, including seniors, um, persons with disabilities, youth, and families from equity-seeking communities. This crisis disproportionately impacts black, indigenous, racialized, and lowincome tenants. The city of Toronto has made a clear mandate to confront anti-black racism as outlined in the Toronto action plan to confront anti-black racism and consistent with the United Nations International Decade for people of African descent. Anti-black racism exists in Toronto affecting the life chances of over 200,000 people of African descent all who call the city home. The Toronto Community Housing Corporation itself acknowledges that its inactions and actions contribute to anti-black racism and that black people are statistically disproportionately impacted by its policies and practices. What we're seeing is that the majority of our clients are within Toronto. Even further, a significant portion of these clients within social housing environments. The demand for our services for eviction representation support has increased following the end of the moratorum. We've also noticed that coupled with eviction for arars, we've noticed a new trend that in these environments there is a combination of arars and serious act evictions. These include um serving people multiple no notices for eviction or for safety. So even if the arars are pay paid there's still the issue of the secondary eviction mechanism for example misrepresentation in income safety um not having units being properly cleaned um and so forth. So even if the errors are addressed, there is still the secondary reason. Our statistic sorry our statistics indicate um for our Q1 an increase and surpassing our 2025 total matters. We also note the drastic increase from the moratorum uh to present. So you're at time so please wrap up. Okay. uh the critical need for disegregated racebased data. Black strongly supports the request for the TCHC to report by the fourth quarter of 2026 on the number of number and demographics of tenants facing eviction the segregated by race, gender, age, postal code, and type of eviction as well as the number of demographics of former tenants who remain unhoused or housing insecure and immediate long-term interventions to prevent in uh evictions and support rehousing. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions of the deputent? No. Um, the next deputent is Willie Kali Ali. Okay, you have three minutes. Okay. Uh, good afternoon everyone. Uh, so my name is Wed Kali Alali. I just want everyone to look at the screen. There a lot of claims by TCC staff that they've never seen the numbers from Tribunals Ontario that depict the crisis of evictions that are impacting black communities. We know that 40% of DCC tenants are black. Uh so I want you to look at the numbers. 2023 was the worst worst on record. Uh and the numbers have been increasing by over 100%. Now these are numbers from the Ontario government. So now you can you can switch it off. I just want to say that this is going to be the third motion that came from the confronting anti-black racism advisory committee that'll be referred to city staff which is a procedural way of just basically killing the motion killing the recommendations and I I actually believe that the actions clearly demonstrate the systemic anti-black racism in this city in this chamber and in this planet. We do not seem to care that they're actually black families being evicted for no cause, for no process, and you want this to continue throughout this summer in a midst of a municipal election. I find that absolutely deplorable and anti-black. And I believe that whether it was the motion related to funding our communities, but being complicit with an increase of $93.8 million in the TPS budget, not allowing a single member of the public to debute is stop your time for a minute. I'm going to stop your time. Clearly demonstrate anti-black racism in my personal time for I just stopped your time but no just wait a minute. You please speak to the item before you I am speaking to the item. I want to explain why I am saying this motion needs to pass. Okay. When people are evicted from social housing, many of them end up in jail. when you when motions are introduced that speak to the budget where we could be speaking to solutions and the impact on on black communities and that opportunity is taken away. This is what happens. It leads to more families, black families, black children, members of our black community being impacted. I am asking for a simple demonstration of good governance, faith and most importantly goodwill. Not just goodwill but action. You can today pass this motion because that other motion has been referred. We're not going to get funding for the social development plan. We're not get funding for those interventions. I restart I restarted your time so you should be wrapping up as you used. Yeah. Well, my my clear ask is if you care about black families and black residents of Toronto, if this moratorum must be endorsed by city council and if you're not, then your actions will speak to the rest of us what you care about black people. Thank you for your deputation. And uh we have one more speaker, Joanne Warner. And the indigenous too. Is Joanne online? Okay. indigenous. I am uh we're going to go to questions of staff, but I am going to address um the overall imping of all the public servants that you see here and the members of committee. Uh we just considered and adopted a five-year update on the on the confronting anti-black racism plan by the confronting black racism unit. And I would request that um in future impugning staff in particular who are deeply committed to this work um is something to consider. And I I just really think that I have as a chair have an obligation to the people that have worked on these plans for much more than 5 years um and who have pushed forward this agenda uh and have come from community themselves. I'm looking at the executive director of social development uh who has been personally implicated in this work for a long time. Ju just please in future moderate comments because you're speaking about people who don't deserve that. The questions of staff go ahead. Uh thank you for saying that Jay Bravo. It needed to be said. A lot of us uh work really hard here uh day in and day out trying to advance equity in the city. Um my first questions are for TCAC. What work is currently underway at TCHC to review collect dis aggregated identity uh identify based data and to review how this data could relate to reviewing impacts of evictions on different groups. I think I saw Chaz here earlier. Yeah, I'm still here. Thanks for the thanks for the question um counselor. So I'm going to answer it with a few different points, right? Uh so while TCHC currently isn't collecting identity based data in ways that allow the organization to gain insights on the impacts of evictions across identities, we've begun with that said, we've begun a process and that's pro that work began when I arrived last year in July at TCH to develop a data for equity impact framework and associated identity based data collection policies. Right? The aim is to ensure that the collection of identity based data within this framework will position the organization to gain deeper insights into evictions, relocations, and other relevant core services or interactive areas. We're consulting with external adviserss who have created and have created an expert table with practice leaders possessing deep experience building out these frameworks and policies for various public sector entities in the province of Ontario. Um and in doing that TCH will be in a position to a better position to review the data after the implementation of the framework and policies which will trigger the new processes of the disagregated data collection including evictions. Thank you. And what is the role of the center for advancing the interests of black people at ECHC have regarding evictions cases for tenants who are black? Yeah, again thanks for the question. So, the center continues to support black tenants uh navigating evictions as cases are brought to our attention either by TCHD staff, outside advocates or agencies, or by tenants themselves. Uh we support and coach staff to apply anti-black racism and equity lens when considering individual cases and examining not just the particulars of specific instances, but also providing broader perspectives and context to understand and to consider. um as appropriately we as appropriate we've expressly advocated on behalf of individual tenants as well right um beyond individual cases the center plays a broader role in identifying patterns tracking trends raising systemic concerns and recommending changes to policy practice and service delivery where black tenants may be experiencing uh disproportionate harm like we're currently in a process right now um to say that all to to work across divisions, particularly with legal, with ops, um to understand all cases of evictions as they start that that involve black tenants. The center will be involved in reviewing consulting on those cases. Okay, thank you. And my I do have questions for the housing secretariat. Um are they here? Okay, everyone's behind me today. What are some of the eviction prevention programs that the city of Toronto has in place? And are TCAC tenants eligible for these programs? And I do have a second question. Uh, do these programs collect sociode demographic information including racial identity? Thanks for the question. Uh, early intervention is really critical to eviction prevention and the city has several programs that support eviction prevention and there's two that I'll highlight that for which uh, TCHC tenants are eligible. One is the rent bank that provides one-time financial assistance to support tenants who are inner rears. That program does collect sociodemographic data including uh racebased data. Last year 15% of the um grant recipients uh were blackled households. Our partners in Toronto Employment and Social Services have an established protocol with TCHC that allows uh TCHC tenants to work with their OW, their Ontario works or ODSP worker to gain access to the housing stabilization fund which also provides support to TCHC tenants on social assistance in receipt of uh social assistance. Okay, thank you. Those are my questions. Thank you. Uh questions of staff councelor Carol. Yeah. Uh just quickly it it seems it feels like we have three sets of data here because we had one of the deputants show um uh a slide that that seemed to have been produced by TCHC um showing their numbers and they they I think they culminate by by 2025 at 390. Then we have another slide that we we saw during the the the speakers that um shows uh the uh uh landlord tenant tribunal showing numbers in the 600s. But we but we see in in the supplementary report that across from the pandemic until the end of 25 there's an average of 144 which is lower than the than the five years previous. So, is that 144 multiplied from one of those sets of raw data that we saw? Do we and do we know which are we are we tracking what what the tribunal is seeing or just what TCHC is reporting? Uh, thanks for the question and through the chair I can answer that question. The data was um was analyzed using TCH's uh eviction data and I'll pass it off to Lindsay to speak about why there may be a discrepancy in the LTB data versus the TCH data. Yeah. What what gives with the tribunal data? Um so likely what is happening here is that the tribunal doesn't uh report on a completed evictions. They don't have line of sight to completed evictions which is where we um any housing provider would uh enforce an order that the landlord and tenant board gives enforce an order with the sheriff and that household has to leave the unit. That's a completed eviction. The landlord tenant board reports on notices served. Okay. And numbers of processes. And numbers of processes. And they they also could report and I I can't speak to the specific data because I don't have the analysis that informs it, but they could also be reporting on the number of orders issued, right? But under the TCHC policy, sometimes an order like under the ombbudsman's recommendation where sometimes you have an actual order issued on a senior, but under those ombbudsman recommendations, you'd be working with the tenant and trying not to evict them. Absolutely. Yes. There's there's many reasons at TCHC and checks and balances why we would not proceed to enforce an order that even when an order has been given by the landlord tenant board why we might not proceed to enforce it. Okay. So you're using that TCHC data where they where they have completed an eviction and we see it even even in the the in the raw data there we see a high number in 25. Is that because of the length of time it takes you to get to a point where that you know from someone who may have been a a a challenging tenant right through the pandemic then it's a couple years process and so there's sort of a um you know cases being resolved in 25 that that took a long time getting there. Is that why we see 391 in the final year? So a couple of pieces. Yes, we did see uh an increase in all of our tenency management actions coming out of COVID as a result in the AR's um area of the eviction moratorum. Right? So there was an accumulation of files that we were continuing to deal with. That 391 number that's quoted is not a final number from TCHC. It represents an uncleaned data. Um, so there were some notices that were we were counting notices in that number as opposed to completed evictions. The numbers that we will be reporting to city council through our annual report will include the final numbers which are those numbers that were included in the deck that you have in front of you. Okay. I have one more question. I apologize if it's provocative, but it's something that we were we were concerned would happen. Um, is it possible in 2025 we see something happening that that creates problem behavior in a TCHC unit that's that's that's out of our control. The closure of SIS uh program has led to people who used to have a safe place to go and embibe and come back and then be safe in their homes, albeit a TCHC home, now don't have that luxury. And so there may be rules are having to flout and it's not of their choosing. They would rather be in that safe space. Are we accounting for that? Do we have uh some humane extra steps we're taking to try and help people where that may be the case? Because those are people who may be getting neighbors complaining about them and they just they don't have anywhere to go now to do that safely. Yeah, I would say that that's a fair question and it could be contributing. We don't have the analysis to support it, but it's absolutely something that we need to be looking at in partnership with TCHC and the city. Certainly, that's data that we need to be looking at. Okay. Thank you. Those are my question. Thank you. Um, any other questions of staff? I have a few questions. Just going to go back to the just to be really clear. Uh, the difference between uh seeing an eviction notice like an N4 um and a completed eviction. Can you just outline that quickly for me? Absolutely, I can. Um so uh I will speak to AR's evictions because that is the nature of the moratorum that's being proposed. So an N4 is a notice for a rears. It's a formal notification to the tenant that they owe a rears and it happens very early on in TCHC's eviction um eviction prevention process. Um, when we issue an N4 notice, we include information for tenants about how to contact legal counsel, their staff, and how to get back in good standing through a repayment agreement or full repayment of the aars. These are a tool to prevent eviction as they inform the tenant of the money they owe, the consequences if they don't pay, and how they can get back into good standing. A completed eviction takes many steps. It can take up to three and a half years. That's the average amount of time an AR rears eviction takes from start to end. And there it involves a referral to the office of the commissioner of housing equity. It involves the entire adjudication process at the landlord tenant board. The adjudicator can make a decision to order an eviction. They don't have to. They can set it aside. There's many outcomes at the landlord tenant board. If the landlord tenant board orders the eviction, then TCHC again has checks and balances before the eviction then finally proceeds to the sheriff and the eviction's completed. Okay. Um, so how how many completed evictions did TCHC have last year and what percentage is that? We had 200 20 completed evictions. That's 61 for a rears, 148 for other reasons, what we call for cause. And total this represents an eviction rate of approximately 0.5% across TCHC's full portfolio. Okay. 0.5%. So 61 for a rears is the number we're actually working with. Correct. How many local repayment agreements were signed with TCHC tenants who faced eviction for a rears? uh in 2025 approximately 2,000 local repayment agreements for arars. Okay. And what is OHI and how are they involved in cases where tenants are in a rears? So the office OG is the office of the commissioner of housing equity and they have a mandate to work to prevent evictions at TCHC and TSHC both. Um they serve an integral role in TCHC's AR collection process. When a tenants's arars have escalated and staff at TCHC have not been able to get the tenant into a repayment agreement, O staff provide additional support and intervention to try and stabilize the tenency. Thanks. Um I'm going to shift to um different staff. I'd like to ask legal a question. Um uh in the report from housing secretary, it notes that there's concerns from legal services moving forward on um on an eviction moratorum. What are those concerns? Uh my colleague Michael Smith is going to answer this. I would also say if you want more detailed information, I'd recommend going in camera. Thank you. The basic issues are that relating to corporate governance and the relationship between the service manager and Toronto Community Housing. Um maybe a conflict with service manager statutory duties and local housing corporation statutory duties. And then the rehousing plan may be incompatible with the RGI eligibility rules which require repayment of a rears and damages and so forth and also the right to refuse to offer if if the landlord feels that the tenant cannot pay rent. Okay. Can you explain a little bit more about um the conflict on statutory duties like what is that? And can you put the microphone more toward you? Oh, sorry. On a very bas b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b basic level, service manager is obliged under the legislation to provide a certain number of rent guarantear to income units and I question whether it's actually providing rent to income units when it's permitting tenants not to pay rent and to remain in place. These units are needed by others that are in the waiting list. Um there are programs as I understand but I'm not an expert to assist these people too. Okay, thanks. That's great. Um so then I'm going to go to the RGI rules. Um who sets the rules for rankier to income uh administration just outlined in terms of statutory duties and um including rules related to a rears and how much agency does the city of Toronto as a service manager or Toronto Community Housing Corporation have in determining how these rules are applied? Thanks for the question. Um the RGI administration rules are set out through the housing services act which is a provincial piece of legislation and the city as service manager is responsible for ensuring that those rules and regulations are implemented by housing providers. Uh landlord tenant uh issues like arars are overseen by the landlord tenant board again provincial body uh which uh enforces the residential tenencies act. I do think it's important to note that the shareholder direction between the city and TCHC requires TCHC to have evictionrevention policies. Uh and through our kind of work into um this report and the supplementary report, they they have two separate uh eviction prevention policies which is quite robust. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff? Any speakers? Councelor Moyes. Yes. Thank you. Uh, Chair Bravo, um, just want to note that again, I mentioned this in my comments already, that Toronto Center has a lot of TCAC um, housing uh, in in St. Jamestown, Regent Park, Osark, even on the Espanad. And since opening my consid office uh, in the beginning of the term, we see about maybe a 100 people a week in in my office. It's a ve very, very busy place. And I'm going to say 90 plus% of the people who come into walk through doors is housing related. It's helping people stay housed or find housing. I I I which which actually surprised me. It shouldn't, but it it does. And just advocating for people. When I first got elected back in 2022, we had three of the largest encampments in Toronto Center in in uh Allen Gardens, in Trinity Square, in Barbara Hall Park. And we took extraordinary steps to house people from the park. It took about maybe almost three years, two and a half years. And our former deputy mayor um Mckelie really helped me with that in securing about 100 units uh so that people can go from the parks to be housed, some even permanently. So I I and I know that my colleagues and the mayor, we're all trying to create as much housing as possible and keep people housed. This is a commitment that we have made and it's important to us. So I take it personally when people are saying that uh we don't really care uh to keep people housed because that's what we do each and every day. And one of the things I have championed, we've championed this council is making sure not only create housing but housing with repar so people can stay housed and be safe and stay safe. And that has worked and that is something that we've invested in. You know, if you had to factor in the much amount of money we spend on housing in the city uh to operate housing in the city a year, it's $1.7 billion a year. That's a huge number. That includes TCHC as well. It's a huge number. It's larger than the police budget which we keep referring to. So that's an investment that we continue to make. And so I not by choice but just the mere fact I'm the local counselor. I seem to be very much involved in some of these evictions that are brought to me. And there's and I have to say some of them are very serious uh incidents where it's a life and death in some cases if people remain where they are and they put other people's lives at risk and um we don't take these things very lightly. I think one to 3% is actually quite low quite frankly but I have seen I have seen firsthand uh the impact of people staying housed and how it impacts other families and other families are responsibilities too. It's not to say that when people are evicted let's say from TCAC that you know they go into the streets. We actually try and find them other places to go right where it's more appropriate. So it uh it's I don't think we have captured the whole picture here in what's being presented to us because again we are behind the scenes at at every step of the way in helping people and supporting people where we can when we can. Lots of resources go into this. So um I know councelor Bravo has a motion but uh which I'm happy to support. Thank you. Thank you. Uh I think I'm the last speaker. I am uh moving a motion to refer this item to the executive director of housing, secretariat, executive director of social development and the CEO of uh Toronto Community Housing Corporation. I think we have found through questions of staff that some of the um the uh figures being presented here in support of this uh motion are do not um are not the same figures that we're working with and and answers from staff. uh we're talking about uh 0.5 I believe uh uh eviction rate of 61 people for rears and after a 3 and 1/2 year process and this I think it's a really significant thing when we are into the public realm figures that are not um seeing the full line of sight or showing the full sight between serving um for and having a whole a constructive approach to get people back into compliance so that they can keep their unit. Um, and and when we're measuring apples to oranges and telling and inferring from there a picture which is inaccurate, I don't think it does a service to anyone. I think it actually does a disservice to not only Toronto Community Housing tenants, uh, but also to people who are on the outside waiting for housing. The majority of people on that list are desperate. uh as councelor Moyes has indicated and further I think that the answers from legal really are truly important in the sense that should we simply adopt a moratorum um and and not um comply with the rules that are set out by the provincial government for rentear to income units which governs the provision of these units then we could be in a conflict uh with regards to our statuto statutory duties which do include ensuring that we're actually providing rent gear to income units. So uh in this case being um the service manager for these uh RGI units comes with a set of expectations and a set of rules that to which we are bound and and so I I think that all of these things together amount to uh you know really important material facts that would in fact uh show that there is some real challenges with this motion and I think that's why staff need to look at Uh but I will also say that coming here uh some voices to say that uh that this committee or staff or these in the uh Toronto community housing or housing secretariat or social development staff are not concerned about anyone getting evicted. I think that's that's uh problematic given the all of the processes that have been set out and um I would say that it strengthens an advocacy campaign or an adv advocacy position to have verifiable facts that are located inside of the legal obligations to which um all of these systems are are um functioning under. So uh for that I hope that committee members will support this referral and um then we can vote on the motion. All those in favor of the motion opposed. Uh that's carried and uh that's the item and that's the um meeting conclusion. I want to thank all the staff that uh were here today, all the deputants that came. Um there's a really big some really good uh news that uh we heard today. everything from enabling a more equitable access to business activity, um the five-year update on confronting anti-black racism uh work, the inclusive economic development framework, which has got equity uh baked right into it. Um and I probably forgetting some really great stuff, but and and of course, I just really want to give a big shout out to clerks who uh worked extra hard today uh with all the different motions. Thank you very much.

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