Three years ago, our Foundation supported Park People to fill an information gap by gathering, analyzing and sharing data and stories about Canada’s city parks system. Since that time, the annual Canadian City Parks Report has become an invaluable tool for municipal staff and volunteers to highlight challenges, share best practices, and adapt to the changing needs of city parks across the country.

The 2021 Canadian City Parks Report was launched in early July featuring information from 32 cities across Canada. It also includes the results of a survey with nearly 3,500 participants who shared what parks have meant to them during the pandemic.

To read the 2021 Canadian City Parks Report, please visit parkpeople.ca

In 2013, our Foundation worked with Park People to launch the Weston Family Parks Challenge—a $5M initiative to encourage innovative and sustainable city parks projects. Twenty-six projects were supported, including the successful Scarborough Butterfly Trail, an innovative trail and meadow restoration project in the Gatineau Hydro Corridor.

In April 2018, our Foundation, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), and the City of Toronto jointly announced a ground-breaking city-building initiative to transform 16 kilometres of underutilized land into one of Canada’s largest urban linear parks. Expanding on the Scarborough Butterfly Trail, The Meadoway will restore biodiversity, connect Canadians to nature, and act as a pilot for restoration projects across the country.

Stretching from the Don River Ravine in downtown Toronto to Rouge National Urban Park, The Meadoway will become a vibrant expanse of urban greenspace and meadowlands as it develops over the next three years. It will connect four ravines, 15 parks, 34 neighbourhoods, over 500 acres and more than 1,000 diverse species of flora and fauna. The Meadoway will connect schools, businesses, hospitals, and underused parks and trails across Scarborough for the benefit of locals and visitors alike.

Our Foundation has pledged up to $25 million to help Toronto realize The Meadoway. Read more about its progress at themeadoway.ca.

The Weston Family Prairie Grasslands Initiative is a five-year collaboration to celebrate, steward and protect one of Canada’s most ecologically valuable and threatened ecosystems. Nearly $25M has been committed to five organizations to accelerate the implementation of sustainable practices and achieve landscape-level impact: Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation, Grasslands National Park (Parks Canada) and Meewasin Valley Authority.

Each organization brings additional funding and in-kind donations for a total of $70M going toward this collaboration over the next five years. The Initiative aims to improve species-at-risk habitat, enable wildlife movement, expand the amount of land protection in the prairies and ultimately increase long-term ecological and economic stability. Dozens of partners will support this work that will affect nearly four million acres of priority native grasslands in one of the largest conservation efforts in Canadian history.

For more information, please refer to the links below:

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