Did politics ensure the Yonge subway route got moved in Thornhill?

By Ben Spurr Transportation Reporter

Tue., Dec. 14, 2021

The provincial transit agency has reached a $50-million deal to help fund a new religious and community centre in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood where it’s also planning to build a controversial rail yard.

Metrolinx announced Tuesday it had completed a deal with the Islamic Society of Toronto as part of the Ontario Line project to make major upgrades to a facility at 20 Overlea Blvd., owned by the religious group.

Although Metrolinx said the agreement will provide substantial community benefits to the East York enclave, some local advocates criticized the deal, arguing it doesn’t meet the needs of the area’s economically marginalized residents and will pave the way for the completion of a rail yard many of them don’t want.

“Transit has always been a catalyst for community building, development and growth,” said Metrolinx president and CEO Phil Verster in a statement touting the deal. “Helping the Islamic Society of Toronto deliver on their vision for a new, bigger Islamic Centre will bring benefits to the community far beyond the positive impact the new Ontario Line subway will bring.”

The upgraded centre on Overlea will provide new religious facilities, including a mosque and “bigger and better prayer spaces for women,” according to Metrolinx. It will also offer spaces for educational programs, a gym, and a 24,000-square-foot business centre to which as many as 19 organizations and businesses displaced by the transit project can relocate. Metrolinx said the total value of the agreement is $49.5 million.

Metrolinx’s announcement quoted the Islamic Society of Toronto’s leadership as saying the agreement “will bring to life the dream that we have had for our community for the past two decades” and “deliver a better and bigger facility.” The new facility will be about five times larger than the society’s existing centre on Thorncliffe Park Drive, which the society had already planned to move from.

The 15.6-kilometre, $11-billion Ontario Line will run between Exhibition Place and the Ontario Science Centre, and have a stop in Thorncliffe Park expected to bring 12,800 residents within walking distance of rapid transit by 2041.

Metrolinx announced in April it planned to build a vehicle maintenance and storage facility for the line in Thorncliffe. The 175,000-square-metre yard will house 44 trains and require demolishing a plaza at 2 Thorncliffe Park Dr., that contains small businesses and community organizations, as well as the Islamic society building nearby.

The transit agency said Tuesday it’s working with affected businesses to relocate them within the neighbourhood, including the popular Iqbal Halal Foods.

The Save TPARK advocacy group opposes the rail yard plan, and has accused Metrolinx of dumping an unwanted facility on an economically marginalized and racialized community. Roughly four out of five residents in Thorncliffe Park are visible minorities, and nearly half live in poverty.

Save TPARK member Aamir Sukhera slammed the Metrolinx agreement Tuesday, arguing it’s intended to reduce opposition to the rail yard but will primarily benefit the Islamic Society of Toronto, which doesn’t speak for all 20,000 of Thorncliffe’s residents and which, to his knowledge, never consulted the wider community on the terms of the “secret deal.”

“Adding a basketball court and a few other trinkets is a small price to pay for the massive disruption Metrolinx is inflicting on the heart of our community,” Sukhera said.

His group wants Metrolinx to relocate the rail yard but said any deal with the agency should have included affordable housing. He also wanted assurances that any new community facilities will be open to all residents, including non-Muslims.

The Islamic Society of Toronto didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Metrolinx rejects claims that it chose Thorncliffe for the rail yard site for social or economic reasons, and says the location was selected after extensive study determined it was the only option that could meet technical requirements “while preserving local jobs.”

Agency spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said Metrolinx is “working with all parties” in Thorncliffe, and while the deal with the Islamic society “offers significant community benefits” the agency is “open to considering any other community benefit proposals as well.”