Dear neighbours,

I'd like to begin by reminding everyone about the return of the Davenport Easter Egg Hunt which will be taking place on April 16th, 2022 at Dufferin Grove Park! After the challenges of the past two years, we're all looking forward to having our community come together in person and reconnect for this well-loved annual event. In order to ensure that we have enough treats for all, I encourage everyone to RSVP here. We all look forward to seeing you at the Easter Egg Hunt!

Over the past few days, the City of Toronto, in partnership with the TTC, has been hosting pop-up vaccination clinics at subway stations across the City, including at Dufferin Station. This is a part of the City's Vax and Ride imitative, to make access to the vaccine as easy and convenient as possible for residents in our City. This great initiative is another way the City is working to ensure the vaccine is as accessible to residents as possible. I encourage everyone to get their vaccination or booster shot.

Similarly, with support from my office, the Abrigo Centre will also be hosting a vaccination clinic on April 7th from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Casa das Beiras Community Centre at 32 Caledonia Road. Residents can also continue to book a vaccine through the provincial portal here, or by visiting one of the City-run clinics.

We all know that housing affordability continues to be a major concern for many people in our City.  On Friday, March 25th, I joined Mayor John Tory, Minister Ahmed Hussen, and others, to announce that the City of Toronto had received $201.2 million under Phase Two of the federal government's Rapid Housing Initiative and will create more than 400 new affordable and supportive homes in Toronto. This important investment by the Government of Canada will help our City build much-needed affordable housing, and brings us one step closer to meeting our objective of ending chronic homelessness in Toronto. During this announcement, we broke ground at the modular housing site at 150 Dunn Avenue, that will provide affordable homes for more than 50 people while supporting their health and well-being, in partnership with the University Health Network. I have provided more information about this announcement below.

To further support housing access, earlier today, I joined Habitat for Humanity GTA, Diamond Corp, and the Kilmer Group to break ground on 20 new affordable homes at 423 Old Weston Rd in Davenport! While there, I had the pleasure of meeting two of the families who will live in these homes when the development is complete! Moments like these are special because they illustrate the real world positive impact that building affordable housing can have for people in our communities!

This past Monday, along with Mayor John Tory and other guests, I visited "The Baby G" in our Davenport community to recognize the resiliency of Toronto's music industry, and announce the return of live music in our City!  Musicians and music venues contribute immensely to our City's culture, but over the past two years they have faced enormous challenges during the pandemic.  We are all pleased to see that live-music venues will begin opening their doors once again, and I encourage residents to go to a live music show and support our local musicians and artists as well as our music venues.

On Tuesday, March 29th, the Infrastructure and Environment Committee received a report on the City's Cycling Network Plan, which included the Bartlett-Havelock-Gladstone Cycling Connections Project. During the Committee meeting, we heard from a number of residents, some of whom expressed their reservations about the plan. To respond to some of the concerns, I asked the Committee to move a motion to recover a number of the parking spaces along Gladstone Avenue between College Street and Lindsay Avenue that were proposed to be removed. My motion was based on the ongoing community feedback that we received during and after the public meeting held on February 10th. As always, I welcome the community's comments and feedback on this and any other initiative taking place in our community, and I sincerely thank all of you who shared your views. Below, I have provided information on the consultation process. I also want to note that the City has committed to monitoring the project on an ongoing basis to determine if additional modifications to improve safety should be recommended.

Yesterday, the City's Executive Committee, of which I am a member met to deal with a number of important items including the City's Actions to Advance Truth and Justice for Indigenous People through the Reconciliation Action Plan. While the City of Toronto has made efforts over the past 10 years to improve relationships with Indigenous People, including statements of commitment to advance the calls to action and calls to justice from key inquiries, the City must do more to advance truth and reconciliation. The City must take concrete actions, and have concrete processes in place that ensure accountability to Indigenous community members and organizations, and commit resources to achieve these goals. The Reconciliation Action Plan is intended to do just that. You can learn more about the Action Plan here.

I would also like to remind residents that on April 13th the City will be hosting a community consultation for the planning application at 0, 119-125, 160 & 200 Benny Stark Street and 116-122 Turnberry Avenue. I have provided more information. 

As always please do not hesitate to contact my office if we can be of any assistance. You can contact my office by email at [email protected] or by phone at 416.392.7012.

In community,

Ana

Table of Contents