2. City of Toronto Sports Fields Process. Jim Hart, General Manager of the City's Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division introduced several City staff who were in attendance and invited participants to attend a November 29 session hosted by the City at North Toronto Memorial Community Centre at which time the City will be seeking representation to sit on three working groups: field maintenance standards; permit issues; and capital plan. As well, a sport organization reference group will be developed by the City. Ray Stukas, Parks Manager for the Toronto & East York District, was introduced as the Manager lead for the City-wide Sport Field Group. The City is developing a template for a field audit. Ray will be leading a team of staff with representation from each District in addressing the Council motion related to outdoor sports fields.
   Key points resulting from the Sports Fields discussion included:
   Fines experienced by some groups for excess garbage and the need for the City to install more garbage receptacles closer to high use areas in the park. It was noted that Toronto Solid Waste was now responsible for removing the garbage from the parks and that parks staff need to be notified if more garbage receptacles are needed.

• An interest was expressed in having the community sport groups participate in the audit oftheir local sports field.
• The City would like to be notified by permit groups if they are being charged a permit rate for a field that they feel is wrongly classified.
• Affordable access to fields for some groups was expressed as an ongoing concern. Also expressed was the need for the City to consider a waterfront access plan for on-water sports including sailing.

3. Toronto District School Board Permit Fees. Much concern was expressed with the significant increase in permit fees for use of Toronto District School Board (TDSB) facilities.
   Key points resulting from this discussion included:
   

• Concern was expressed by several organizations negatively impacted by a 22% increase in 2012 and an even greater increase in 2013 as the result of TDSB changes to how they classify not-for-profit organizations.
• Questioned was the accuracy of the TDSB audit report that identified an $11million deficit in permit operations.
• It was suggested that the TDSB needs to defer its decisions on permit fees and group classification until a comprehensive review is completed.
• Emphasized was the importance of community sport organizations to attend the 'Community Use of Schools Advisory Committee' (CUSAC) meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for November 22, 10:00 am, 5050 Yonge Street.
• It was noted that sport groups are run by volunteers and daytime meetings are difficult/impossible for most to attend.
• Identified was the need to consolidate any response to the TDSB with a transparent solution based approach.
• It was agreed that the TSC can speak collectively on behalf of the community sport organizations but that each organization should also be expressing their concerns independently.
• It was suggested that the media become involved if the TDSB does not demonstrate a willingness to address the issues expressed by participants.

2011 Sport Conference, a huge success!

TSC 2011 Sport Workshop

Over 40 people participated in the Toronto Sports Council 2011 Conference. Participants represented a number of different sport organizations (locally and provincially) as well as educational institutions (e.g. Seneca College ), Sport 4Ontario, the 2015 Pan Am Games and the 2012 Ontario Summer Games. Meeting Summary. . In addition, over 100 sport organizations completed the online survey. Survey Results. Discussion focused on the following two questions: What are the 3-5 highest priority issues facing Toronto 's sport community? What suggestions do you have on how these issues can be addressed? If you have comments on the meeting summary or survey results please let us know at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Proposal Writing Workshop

The TSC North Branch, host of the Proposal Writing Workshop would like to thank Michael Van Dusen, speaker from the Disabled Sailing Association for his 3 hour interactive presentation. Special appreciation goes out to Kevin Humphrey from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for attending the event and answering many questions from the sport and recreation groups in attendance. Kevin Arnsdorf, TSC North Branch Chair was pleased with the turnout and discussion and said, “we hope the workshop today provided groups with the knowledge and resources to create more successful grant proposals”. A special thank you to Starbucks and Boston Pizza for their support.

Interested in resources available from this workshop? i.e. TSC Funding Sources (Updated Oct 11, 2011) go to TSC Sport Resources Link.