By Samir Abdella
(Samir is a journalist with the Focus Media Arts Centre)

Regent Park is currently in it’s last phase of revitalization. The community, once entirely composed of social housing and lacking in proper facilities, is now a mixed-income and mixed- use neighbourhood that features a number of new state-of-the-art amenities, including a new community centre, soccer fields, parks, an aquatic centre, playgrounds, and skating rinks.

The new spaces have created tremendous opportunities for Regent Presidents and their families to gather, socialize and engage with each other.  

Unfortunately, more and more Regent Park residents are voicing the opinion that the new amenities are not for them.  Furthermore, some residents have even claimed that they have been denied access. Considering that Regent Park residents spent years advocated for new facilities and participated in numerous meetings related to the building and design on these facilities, why is it that they are being accessed by more people living outside the neighbourhood?

This is because the city has a policy that allows anyone to access any facility regardless of where they live or their income.  That means anyone living in the GTA of Toronto can use facilities in Regent Park. This also means that low-income residents in Regent Park must compete for use of their facilities with higher income users – not only in Regent Park but who live elsewhere in the city.

Why is this a problem?  Let’s take the Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre as an example. The Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre is a new indoor poor located in Regent Park.  According to the city of Toronto data of postal codes, most registrations at Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre come from outside Regent Park, as space for recreation programs remain tight across the city. In order to register for family swimming lessons and the various swim programs the centre offers, users must register on-line.  For low-income Regent Park residents whom may lack computers,  internet access or have language barriers, competing with up-scale residents from other neighbourhoods may put them at a disadvantage.     

Prior to Covid, when Regent Park residents had the option of registering in person, community members could be seeing lining up at 6:00am in the morning to register for Aquatic Centre programming.

The same issues occurred with soccer fields in Regent Park. Fields are being inaccessible because of the amount of people at the field, often from members from different communities. This is what Regent Park soccer league coach, Orville Renalls, has to say on the matter.