Indigenous-led protest not backing down to save trees from Metrolinx construction

A sacred fire has continued to burn for the last five months in the Mount Dennis neighbourhood as an Indigenous-led coalition continues to protest the construction of the Eglinton Crosstown West LRT.

A plan to elevate a 1.5-kilometre portion of the transit line between Jane Street and Scarlett Road would see almost 1,500 trees cut down.

A protest that began on a bitterly cold day back in January has now stretched into June and those fighting to save the trees say they are not about to back down.

“It’s been good, there’s been rain and snow and sun but for the most part we are trying to be optimistic here,” said Jamie-Lee Mcquaig, one of those tending the sacred fire at Pearen Park.

One by one every tree in jeopardy is being honoured and wrapped in ribbon while tipis have also been erected in strategic locations in an effort to block construction.

“I think it has delayed the construction,” Neiland Brissenden of the Stop The Trains in our Parks coalition group tells CityNews. “Metrolinx originally told us they wanted to remove all the trees – about 300 hundred trees – by April 1st which is the migratory bird deadline. Obviously, the trees are still standing.

The coalition has been calling on Metrolinx to tunnel the tracks instead of building an overpass in order to save the urban green space. Metrolinx says tunnelling the tracks under the Humber River would take longer, cost more, and would lead to ongoing flooding issues.

Despite endless attempts to engage in meaningful talks and compromise with decision-makers, the provincial transit agency is not budging.

“We are nowhere where we should be had they come to the table,” Cynthia Bell with the ENAGB Indigenous Youth Agency tells CityNews. “We could have had this conversation and we could have been somewhere today but we are still at the start, we are still at the beginning.”

Metrolinx recently expropriated the land from the City of Toronto and according to protesters other, more subtle moves, have been made to try and get them to leave such as removing a portable toilet from the area which had been provided by the City for the fire keepers.

Porta potty or not, the group says the sacred fire will continue until compromises are made.

“A win-win situation would be to slow it down and the first thing would be to do an environmental assessment through an Indigenous lens like we’ve asked,” said Brissenden.

Metrolinx says tree cutting is scheduled to begin this fall and the city has so far issued permits for the removal of 145 trees. Metrolinx adds it plans to plant 8,500 new trees to compensate for the removal of trees during construction.