To Our Local MPs & Landlord at 152 Augusta Ave.

After 15 years of business serving the Kensington Market community, we have been locked out of our business and issued an eviction notice.  We run an amazing martial arts studio that is home to so many. It is a place where people come to find health, support, community, and family. Inside these walls, people have rebuilt their lives, become champions and leaders in various communities, healed from mental illness, met their spouses, got jobs, gained mentorship, support and love. 

This eviction notice arrived after being shut down for 7 months due to health orders, and 8 months of trying to convince our landlord to participate in the rent relief program, which he did not. Since the start of the lockdown, we managed to collect our pennies to pay 4 months full rent despite the fact that we were forced closed by the province due to health orders. We did so to protect our staff and students, to show our support and cooperation with our local leaders, to try our best for our landlord. We understand that we are all in this together.

When the provincial commercial eviction ban ended, our landlord changed the locks, seized our assets, pushing us to the curb due to an impossible situation that was completely out of our control. While our business is forced closed, his building is for sale. 

He has now left us, our family, our staff, and our community in a very vulnerable position, many of whom depend on our gym for their livelihoods. Not to forget, the impact and traffic that our community brings to the streets of Kensington Market. We have been good tenants for years, and invested a significant amount of money in leasehold improvements. We have taken care of his property as if it were our own.  

Unfortunately, we are also still waiting for the new federal rent relief program to become available. The new rent relief program will put monetary assistance directly into the hands of the tenants. This support would have saved us from this situation.

We have 5 days remaining or we face a permanent loss of our business home at 152 Augusta Ave. We face eviction, at the same time we are not allowed to open our business due to health orders, nor is the new rent relief program in place.

But this is not just about us, there are 100s of other small businesses across the country in a similar position, and 100s of people that depend on those businesses.

We are writing this petition to request our MPs (The Honourable Mrs. Chrystia Freeland and Mrs. Jessica Bell) for assistance. We need two immediate actions:

1) Extend the commercial eviction ban until the new rent relief program is in place, especially for businesses that have faced a 2nd lockdown.

2) Launch the new rent relief program and make it retroactive to the beginning for tenants whose landlords declined to participate in the first program.

Please join us in signing this petition. We know that we are not alone, there are several other small businesses struggling as we are and these measures are the deciding factors between staying open or closing forever.

We thank our leaders for their continued work and their belief in small business. We trust they will find ways to help. And we encourage anyone who may find themselves in a position of power, to lend a hand if they can. There are many in need at this time.

We thank you for your support, inspiration, and love. 

Darwin & Danica Miranda

Owners, Krudar Muay Thai
152 Augusta Ave
Toronto, ON

www.krudar.com