On September 5, children were going to walk in Downsview Park to raise money for children in Gaza.

Registration was free. Each child was asked to raise $150. There were going to be medals and certificates. The poster had cartoon balloons on it. The organizers — Forgotten Women, a registered charity that sends food, water, medical care and shelter to women and children in Gaza — state on every walk in this series that the event is not political in nature.

In the space of two days, both of York Centre's elected officials moved against it.

August 27. Roman Baber, our Member of Parliament, wrote to the Canada Lands Company, the federal Crown corporation that owns Downsview Park. He called the walk "highly inflammatory." He asked them to "reconsider allowing this event to proceed," and demanded a written reply by September 1.

August 28. James Pasternak, our City Councillor and Chair of North York Community Council, urged the Toronto Police Service to monitor the same event. He called a children's walk "likely a form of indoctrination on young minds." He quoted the organizers' own words — that the walk is not political — and argued they should be set aside.

Their constituency offices are in the same building, at 2800 Keele Street. It isn't the first time they've acted together: in November 2025 they jointly called on Toronto Police to end the weekly gatherings at Bathurst and Sheppard.

Then the event disappeared

The listing is gone. You cannot find it anywhere.

Every other walk in this series is still advertised — Ajax, Mississauga, a dozen across Britain. Only the Downsview one vanished.

On Monday, August 31, I emailed and telephoned several Canada Lands staff — including the official to whom Mr. Baber's letter was addressed — to ask two simple questions: is the walk going ahead, and have you replied to the MP. I left messages. I have had no reply.

On September 1, Mr. Baber posted publicly that Canada Lands had told him it "has not provided permission for this event and had no prior knowledge of it."

So Canada Lands has spoken to the Member of Parliament who lobbied against this event. It has not said one word publicly, to anyone else. Everything the public knows about Canada Lands' position, it knows because Mr. Baber said it.

We are not claiming the walk was cancelled. We are saying nobody will tell us what happened, and that is the problem. This is what pressure looks like when it works: no ban, no order, nothing to appeal — an event simply stops being available, and no one will explain why.

And then this

In the same post, Mr. Baber wrote:

"Why not go to City Hall/Queen's Park or Embassy to chant against Jews? Let families enjoy the Park!"

A children's charity walk, with medals and certificates and a $150 target, described by a sitting Member of Parliament as chanting against Jews. And "let families enjoy the Park" — as though the families who were going to walk were not families.

That is not a comment about foreign policy. It is a Member of Parliament telling the public that Palestinian children and their parents are not welcome in a park.

Who the money was for

In June 2026 the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry published its findings on Palestinian children. It documented at least 20,179 children killed and 44,143 injured since October 2023, and concluded they were deliberately targeted as part of a genocide. Paediatric hospitals were forced to close. Children were operated on without anaesthesia. Gaza now has the highest concentration of child amputees in the world.

Since February 2026, medical evacuations out of Gaza have been paused. Children cleared by their doctors to leave for treatment are not being allowed to go.

That is who a nine-year-old in Downsview Park wanted to raise $150 for.

What we are asking

Of the Canada Lands Company:

1. Speak for yourselves. Publicly and in writing — not through the MP who lobbied you. What did you actually tell Mr. Baber, and when?
2. State plainly whether any permission for this event was declined, withdrawn or cancelled, and why. Downsview Park's own published FAQ says a permit is not required for a gathering of fewer than 49 people. Did this event need permission at all?
3. State that Canada Lands does not treat events differently on the basis of political viewpoint.
4. Confirm whether Canada Lands responded to Mr. Baber's letter, and make any such response public. Residents should not have to learn a Crown corporation's position from the politician who lobbied it.

Of MP Roman Baber: 5. Withdraw the letter of August 27, and withdraw the statement that this walk amounts to chanting against Jews. Apologize to the constituents it was written about.

Of Councillor James Pasternak: 6. Withdraw the statement of August 28 and apologize.

Of Mayor Olivia Chow: 7. Review whether Councillor Pasternak should continue to hold the appointment of Mayor's Envoy in Promoting Social Cohesion and Fighting Hate. An official who urges police scrutiny of a children's fundraiser, and calls it indoctrination, is not doing the work of social cohesion.

Of the Toronto Police Services Board: 8. Confirm that police resources are not deployed against lawful children's charity events at the request of an elected official.

This is already in motion

On September 1, residents gathered peacefully outside 2800 Keele Street. Nothing hateful was said by anyone. Police attended in numbers.

Access to information requests have been filed with Parc Downsview Park Inc. and with the Toronto Police Service for every communication about this event. Whatever anyone chooses to say publicly, the records will come out.

Sign this, and share it. In October, this ward votes.