‘Save our Pool’: community rallies together in support of S.H. Armstrong pool

Community members rallied Sunday to fight to save city programming for their neighbourhood pool.

The “save our pool” demonstration took place at S.H. Armstrong Community Recreation Centre/Duke of Connaught Junior and Senior Public School Sunday, raising support for the pool after the Executive Committee voted to relocate the programming from Toronto District School Board (TDSB) pools to city-owned pools in the 2017 budget last week.

After Olympic star Penny Oleksiak tweeted her support in January for the pool, Toronto Mayor John Tory tweeted back making a “gold medal promise” to save the pool.

But Tory backtracked on that promise last week, being one of the eight who voted against councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon’s motion to fund the community pool that holds an annual cost of $85,000.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

In an open letter regarding his decision to no longer back the pool, Tory assured the city that even with the funding being cut and the programming being moved elsewhere, the pool would remain open.

Tory called it a “difficult decision” but said relocating the programming to city-run pools would “still provide the recreational programming that residents rely on, and allow us to better invest the funds we presently pay to the school board to rent their pools.”

Tory’s decision shocked residents, many of whom came out to the demonstration Friday.

“What you saw today was a community supporting its community,” said community member Angie Law to Global News. “John Tory sent an open letter explaining his flip-flop decision to no longer support this pool and in his letter at the very end, he stated, that city staff believed that the closure of this pool and the closure of its programs will be of minimum impact to the community. I think what you just saw today is that the community believes otherwise.”

“The community believes that closing the pool and relocating the programming from this community pool will be a tremendous loss and will have a tremendous impact on this community.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The community believes that closing the pool and relocating the programming from this community pool will be a tremendous loss and will have a tremendous impact on this community."

Another demonstrator, Liz Lundy, told Global News that she doesn’t believe moving the programs from the neighbourhood pool to city-run pools elsewhere is “realistic.”

“We use this pool because it is part of the community,” Lundy said. “This is a life-saving skill that we need to teach our kids. It’s only $85,000, we absolutely have to keep this pool.”

“It would be a devastating cut to the community because if you cut the pool, you’ll be cutting the rest of the programs as well.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It would be a devastating cut to the community because if you cut the pool, you'll be cutting the rest of the programs as well."

The budget will be voted upon again this week and community members at the demonstration Sunday hope council members will reverse the decision.

With files from Erica Vella