ABOUT US

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The Community Benefits Agreements South Etobicoke was formed due to the overwhelming need of our vibrant community, defined primarily as Ward 3, Etobicoke Lakeshore for equity of development.

 South Etobicoke has a collective of powerful community leaders, agencies, neighbourhood businesses, health promoters, food networks, workforce development agencies, academic   and concerned citizens. Formed as a community partnership from a research study at Humber College and now led by Co-Director Vanessa Keall-Vejar,  Toronto Community Benefits Network and LAMP CHC Lead team members.  

We have been educating and  mobilizing since 2019 to have a direct and ongoing, inclusive impact on how the development process works.  We aim for equity for all community stakeholders. 

As mentioned, we are fortunate to have a working partnership as we develop with the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN) to be guided on our foundation principles and vision for South Etobicoke. 

We envision South Etobicoke as a complete community, an inclusive, equity driven and thriving area within our boundaries in which all residents and stakeholders have agency and feel empowered to contribute to a healthy community and a prospering and stable economy.

Several pressing concerns have been identified as priority focus areas within South Etobicoke, such as the pace of development, affordable housing shortages, food insecurity, environmental protections and citizen safety. We are also seeing movement within the City of Toronto’s inclusionary zoning policies, expansion of transit now happening in Toronto with the Go Stations.

This will ultimately provide us with the opportunity to help inform and set the conditions for economic growth and intensification of urban areas around a network of mobility hubs within our community. 

These developments with consultation and binding agreement will ultimately result in opportunities for good jobs and create markets for new businesses. 

We firmly believe that all members of South Etobicoke should have access to these opportunities stemming from ecologically sound infrastructure investments.