As parents we would do most anything to give our children the opportunities they need to live health productive lives.  Having access to community services for children is essential in fulfilling this promise we make to our children.  Yet, depending where you live in Toronto some children have far greater access to children’s services than others. This is the conclusion reached by a report released by Community First Toronto.

In the updated report for 2006/07 on the state of children’s services across the city, Etobicoke and Toronto continue to dominate Scarborough and North York both in the number of community facilities and hours of programming for children.  This inequity is made more acute when you consider Scarborough has 36,000 more children than Toronto and East York combined.    Download full report on Children's Programs (2006/07)...

According to the City of Toronto’s FUN Guide put out by the Parks and Recreation Department, in 2001/02 there was a fairly equal distribution of children’s programs across the city for preschool, sports, skating and swimming programs.   However, since then Toronto received double the number community facilities compared to Scarborough, while Etobicoke offers twice as many hours of children and youth programs. 

Making matters worse is the fact that this inequity continues to grow.   Under the current Mayor’s administration North York lost 14% of its children’s services with Scarborough losing 3%.  Etobicoke and Toronto continue to see increases (2%) in their programming.

This inequity is not limited to a specific program or age group, but extends across all facilities and programs delivered to Toronto’s children, including preschool, skating, sports, swimming programs and even childcare, early years programs and family resources centres.

Despite the Mayor and local councilors being informed of this situation at its November 2005 meeting of the Policy and Finance Committee, this situation continues.  The graph illustrates the differences in facilities across Toronto’s various wards. 

Without a doubt, place matters.  After nine years of amalgamation, residents might have expected a gradual equalization of services across the city.  Yet this has not happened. Instead, some communities continue to receive a far greater proportion of publicly funded children’s programs than neighbouring communities with similar numbers of children.  This situation cannot be attributed to a carry-over from pre-amalgamation days, since most of the increase in programming occurred after amalgamation.

The report suggests that if we wish to fulfill the promise to our children of an active, healthy and productive life, the City needs to redress this situation.   Our children deserve better.