Hello fellow petition supporters,

It's  been a little bit since my last update and I was hoping I would have a more positive update at this time.

Before I go into detail, I'd like to ask you to email the following stakeholders and ask they vociferously support Toronto Staff's recommendation to end Toronto Humber Yacht Club's lease at 101 Humber Valley Road:

Lauren.Grosberg@toronto.ca, Joseph.Sergnese@toronto.ca, Councillor_Morley@toronto.ca, thomas.kakamousias@toronto.ca, mayor_chow@toronto.ca, Mohamed.Osman@toronto.ca, Councillor_Perks@toronto.ca, karyn.lau@toronto.ca

Just a quick note on the process that must be worked through before the lease is officially ended. Once the staff report with it's recommendation to end THYC's lease is completed, it is put forth to the General Government Committee to be reviewed before the report is presented to City Council for final approval. Only once council votes to adopt the report is THYC's lease officially ended.

On the positive side at the moment:

1/ The city has presented a letter of non-renewal to THYC (June '25).

2/ I have been assured by pretty much all my contacts that the staff report does in fact recommend THYC's lease come to an end.

On the negative side:

1/ The staff report was to be put forth to the General Government this fall and has now been delayed until Dec 8. I'm not sure if this is due to understaffing on the part of the city or if the boat club leases are not important to city staff. But it should be noted the city has known the lease renewal date for the Boat Club Leases for the past 20+ years so it's not like they didn't have time to prepare the report in a timely fashion. The delay might also be caused by City Councilors interfering in the process either for simple egotistical reason (needing to put their thumb on all issues) or worse for nefarious reasons (wanting to benefit themselves or their friends). Regardless having the staff report delayed is concerning.

2/ The current Commodore has made it very clear to his members that he fully expects the lease to be renewed. According to him, his lawyers are having much success in negotiating new terms. It should be noted this Commodore is the very same man who created all of the issues the club is currently facing with it's lease. This gentleman forced through an aggressive expansionist agenda against the wishes of the community, the city and TRCA. This gentleman also showed zero regard for the clubs mandated role to be good stewards to the environment. This gentleman is also responsible for creating the aggressive and abuse attitudes of club members took toward the general public both on the water and on land. It's clear there is not enough paper on which to create a lease this gentleman will honor. As has historically happened, once signed he will hire lawyers to start ripping the lease apart and as has been the case historically the city will rollover and play dead rather than fight the for rights and benefits of Torontonians. So it's vital THYC is not successful with their legal wranglings. 

My fear is now that the '25 boating season on the Humber has come to and end and things are quieter, the city will take the easiest path and just acquiesce to THYC's demands to have their lease renewed. 

Even if the lease does end, I'm very concerned the ongoing delays on the part of the city will lead to the city extending THYC's lease through the '26 season. This is concerning for a few reason. First by granting THYC an extension of even one year, it will strengthen their claim they have a right to the land. Secondly, the '25 season was by far the safest season on the Humber in the past 6-7 years and this was due to the club members knowing they were under close scrutiny and they hoped being on good behavior would lead to the city reversing it's decision to end their lease. If club members know next year is their last year on the property you can be sure they will do all they can to reap havoc on the Humber to punish those they feel are the cause of their lease ending, by this I mean paddlers.

If you've made it this far, I think you can understand why it is important that we keep raising our voices so that city staff and city politicians know that even though it's now quiet on the Humber, we are still very much in the fight to end THYC's abuses to the land, the river and the public.

With is in mind, please take a few minutes to email the stakeholders listed above to remind them of their duty to work to protect the public spaces for all Torontonians. 

Thanks for your time and I hope you're all making the most of the autumn.

Jason Sills