Our Statement on Ontario Place

Ontario Place’s West Island

A Statement from Swim Drink Fish on Ontario Place

Our mandate at Swim Drink Fish is swimmable, drinkable, fishable water for everyone and we will always advocate for greater access to clean water.

We appreciate public/private partnerships to repair existing infrastructure and cover the considerable expense of cleaning up Lake Ontario, however we have not seen enough transparency to support the Province of Ontario’s plans at Ontario Place.

Governments have failed to stop untreated sewage discharges into Lake Ontario for over 25 years, so perhaps we were naïve to think it could happen so easily at Ontario Place. Swim Drink Fish is an environmental charity, not a political lobby group, and we rely on good faith interactions with all levels of government. However, the Province of Ontario’s plan for Ontario Place is simply too opaque and controversial for us to support.

Given the above, Swim Drink Fish has concluded that it can no longer be connected with, or supportive of, any element of the Province’s current plans at Ontario Place without greater transparency and public feedback.

Swim Drink Fish will reconsider its support when the Province of Ontario and City of Toronto reach an agreement to conduct a proper environmental review, engage in adequate public consultation regarding the scale of the footprint, and address the concerns of community members about appropriate uses for the site and water quality issues.

In the meantime, we will continue to remind governments of their responsibility to eliminate sewage discharges into Lake Ontario and we will continue our weekly water monitoring at Ontario Place and across Toronto’s waterfront.

The vision for accessible, swimmable water at Ontario Place is as urgent today as it has been at any other time in Toronto’s history. But, it is going to take more work to get there.

For comment, please contact Matt Brown: matt@swimdrinkfish.ca