Feds, province and city contribute more than $35M for new community centre in Scarborough
All three levels of government will be contributing a combined $35.9 million to build a new community centre in Scarborough meant to meet the diverse needs of the neighbourhood.
The announcement was made Friday morning by federal, provincial and local officials at Scarborough-Rouge Park.
The new Tamil Community Centre will be a multi-purpose facility and will include a gym, outdoor playing fields, a new library, museum and auditorium. It will also have multi-purpose spaces for educational and cultural events.
“This is going to be a fantastic facility,” Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters. “It will have a large gym, outdoor playing fields where people can play soccer, baseball, maybe even some cricket. It will be a hub for Tamil music and dance.”
Gary Anandasangaree, MP for Scarborough—Rouge Park, spoke at the event and said that he looks forward to having a safe and inclusive space to facilitate community events.
“I want to underscore the significance of what this space means to the community, in the context of the numerous times we've been denied space, or have had to undergo hurdles to obtain space,” he said.
“My sincere hope is that the Tamil Community Centre will bring together all of these elements to support the language, nurture the culture, support the needs of the community and provide a safe and inclusive space to remember and reflect.”
The federal government will invest $13.3 million into the project, while the Ontario government is providing nearly $12 million.
“I’m a big proponent of community centres and I said that to our caucus right across the province, nothing pulls a community together more than a community centre,” Premier Doug Ford said. “It’s used for so many different things but one is called a gathering place, a place that people can come and bring their family and bring their friends and just get together.”
The City of Toronto has contributed land for the new centre, valued at about $25 million, in the form of a long-term land lease.
“The city will continue to own it but it will be released in perpetuity to the Tamil community for $1 a year, plus HST,” Mayor John Tory said.
“It is a way the city could contribute…we all wanted to be a part of this.”
The community centre will celebrate and acknowledge the Tamil community but will be accessible to everyone in the neighbourhood, Tory added.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.