Let's Go To The Ex!
We had a great talk on December 9th on Zoom from Don Boyle, CEO of Exhibition Place, about the new plans and program ideas for our historic waterfront venue and fairground. Don's deck is here.
We had a very successful event last night, featuring Nicole Swerhun who leads a team of process facilitators at Third Party Public (formerly Swerhun Inc.) that engages many different voices in discussions about all things public - from public assets and public policies to public spaces and public services. She creates tools to broadly share information, and seeks feedback on the information shared.
Nicole brought this experience to bear in her cogent talk on how we can meaningfully and effectively talk about the future of the Island Airport. We also featured Waterfront for All board members, Ron Jenkins and Brian Iler providing short talks on Island Airport's "runway end safety area" challenges and the recent financial developments affecting Porter Airlines and the airport operators. Finally, we were pleased to have Spadina Fort York City Councillor Ausma Malik join us and participate in the evening.
A video recording of the December 13 event is now posted.
As a grassroots community organization we rely on volunteers and modest fundraising to continue being able to put on public and online events, if you can make a donation to help us please click here to donate.
Here, below, is the background information we shared on our Event Page (which everyone who RSVP'd can still access directly at https://islandairportfutures.obv.io)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION from Speaker Series 8, December 13, 2022:
TRANSPORT CANADA: RUNWAY END SAFETY AREA (RESA) REQUIREMENTS
RESA — Requirements
302.602 (1) A RESA shall have a minimum length of 150 m and shall conform to the requirements respecting location, characteristics and objects in the runway end safety area set out in 3.2 of Chapter 3 of the document entitled Aerodrome Standards and Recommended Practices, TP 312E, published by the Department of Transport.
(2) The operator of an airport may reduce the length of the ASDA, LDA or TORA in order to obtain the minimum length referred to in subsection (1).
(3) The minimum length referred to in subsection (1) does not apply if the operator of an airport installs an arresting system that is designed to stop an aeroplane in the event that the aeroplane overruns a runway and that conforms to the requirements regarding such a system set out in 3.2 of Chapter 3 of TP 312E.
(4) A RESA is not required before the starting point of the LDA if
- (a) the runway is equipped with a serviceable precision approach path indicator (PAPI) or abbreviated precision approach path indicator (APAPI); or
- (b) an instrument approach procedure with approved vertical guidance that is not restricted by a special authorization or an operations specification is available in respect of the runway.
(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(b), approved vertical guidance means glide slope deviation information provided to a pilot until the decision height is reached to assist in the carrying out of a three-dimensional instrument approach without a missed approach point, but in respect of a missed approach segment that begins at the decision height.
https://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-01-05/html/sor-dors269-eng.html
Please click here or on the "Read More" button below to see more background information on the Tripartite Agreement, the History of the Island Airport, and more ...
Background on Tripartite Agreement
On June 30, 1983, the City of Toronto, the federal Minister of Transportation and the Toronto Harbour Commissioners (now the Toronto Port Authority) signed the tripartite agreement that governs what can — and mostly what cannot — happen at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The agreement, meant to be in place until 2033, has been amended twice. The first time was in 1985, to allow the currently used Bombardier Q400 (known then as the de Havilland Dash 8) on the restrictive list of aircraft permitted to use the airport. The agreement firmly continues to state there are no jets allowed. The second time was in 2003, to allow the pedestrian tunnel to be built.
History of the Island Airport
Ron Jenkins: A History of the Island Airport
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Runway end safety area (RESA) requirements
New Porter jets will fly out of Toronto Pearson Airport to western Canada
For the first time in its 16-year history, Porter Airlines will be flying commercial jets out of Toronto Pearson International Airport. The flights will connect Toronto with Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal starting in February 2023, with the airline promising an “enjoyable economy air travel for every passenger.”
Parks Not Planes
Parks not Planes Members of Parks not Planes are your neighbours. Join us in the effort to turn the Island Airport lands into a magnificent park.
Harbour City - Zeidler vision for housing on the Islands - 1960s
Proposed in the late 1960s, the plan would have dramatically reshaped Toronto's waterfront. At the time, there was serious talk of relocating the island airport to the east end of the islands (near the Leslie St. Spit), which would have freed up the west end for urban development. But more than just a project involving the existing land on the island, Harbour City was to include mixed-use development on an additional 510 acres of artificial land.
Navy Pier - Chicago
100 years of Navy Pier
Please click here or on the "Read More" button below to see more background information on the Tripartite Agreement, the History of the Island Airport, and more ...
Latest posts
WFA Speaker Series talk on Toronto ferries.
On Tuesday November 18, 2025, Ron Jenkins delivered a fascinating Zoom talk on the ferries that have been moving people across Toronto Harbour to the Islands for the last two centuries. The deck is here.
Native seeds buried under eight metres of soil when the foot of the Don was a marsh long ago are coming back to life at Biidaasige Park. Excavation and construction for the new park exposed ancient seeds to water and sun; they woke up and started growing again.
We learned about this amazing rebirth of native plants at our October 26, 2025 Walk/Talk led by David Stonehouse of the Waterfront Secretariat, with special guests forestry expert Steve Smith of Urban Forest Associates and landscape architect Netami Stuart of Toronto Parks and Recreation. The weather was perfect. It was a great day. Many thanks to our expert speakers, and to the many people that joined us for a scenic Sunday stroll.
