Local groups from the Miles Road community are proud to be working with Heritage Toronto to install an official Heritage Plaque in honour of A.W. Miles, a remarkable figure in Mimico’s early history.

A.W. Miles built his Mimico summer estate in 1912, which included Miles Park, a zoo, and an amusement area. In a spirit of generosity that left a lasting mark on our neighbourhood, Mr. Miles opened his park free of charge to residents of Mimico and visitors from beyond the community.

Beyond his local legacy, A.W. Miles was also a prominent Toronto funeral director. His funeral homes served many notable Canadians, and he introduced Ontario’s first motorized hearse, an innovation that changed funeral services across the province.

We are also working toward renaming the park as A.W. Miles Parkette in recognition of his contributions.

The Miles Road End Parkette is scheduled to undergo Phase 2 renovations in spring 2026, and the Heritage Toronto committee approved the plaque project in summer 2025. The plaque will be installed in the parkette as part of these improvements.

The total cost of the heritage plaque is $6,000. We are currently seeking community support to help bring this important recognition to life. If you are interested in making a donation or pledge toward the plaque, please contact:

Berta Pavlov – bpavlov@bell.net
CCFEW Treasurer – treasurer@ccfew.org

Every contribution, large or small, helps preserve and celebrate an important piece of Mimico’s history for future generations.

Humber River Boat Launches  - April 2, 2026

Now that the yacht club is (almost) gone, maybe it’s time to rethink the boat launches on the Humber River as well? We sent the following to Councillor Amber Morley, with copies to Councillor Gord Perks and Lauren Grosberg at Toronto Parks & Recreation:

Dear Councillor Morley,

Thank you for all the time and effort from you and your staff to ensure that the Toronto Humber Yacht Club’s lease was not renewed. This is a big win for the Humber River's health.

As we embark on the process of reimagining this site, we think it is also the appropriate time to reassess the use and purpose of the two boat launches on the Humber River. These launches have been relatively unchanged for decades. It’s time to reassess the purpose and design of these facilities, just as it was time to reassess the appropriateness of the yacht club. The boat launches are designed to facilitate launching boats from trailers, which, on the river, would be motorized boats. If the City wants to discourage the use of motorized boats on the river, disabling that functionality would be a good start. This could be accomplished quite effectively and economically by placing a small floating dock across the end of each ramp. This would make it impossible to back a trailer into the river, while making it easier to launch canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards.

There is a boat ramp a short distance away, at Humber Bay Park West, on Lake Ontario. This is a much more appropriate location to launch motorized watercraft.
 

Toronto Humber Yacht Club - March 26, 2026

This afternoon, Toronto City Council accepted the staff recommendation to not renew the lease of the Toronto Humber Yacht Club. They rejected the “last chance” ammendment adopted by the General Governance Committee, and replaced it with the following ammendment put forward by Councillor Amber Morley:

“City Council direct the General Manager, Parks and Recreation, in consultation with the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management, and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, to develop a plan, including public engagement, for a lower-impact, publicly accessible interim- and long-term use for the land currently occupied by Toronto Humber Yacht Club, that balances recreational opportunities with ecological protection, flood risk management, and the long-term resilience of the Humber River, with a target for implementation of interim uses for the Summer 2026 season, and a report to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee in the first quarter of 2027 with at status update on interim uses and long-term options.”

The Staff Report was also revised and expanded to more fully explain the reasons for the non renewal of the lease. You can find the full report here.
 

Toronto Humber Yacht Club Update - March 10, 2026

On March 9, General Governance Committee considered item GG27.14 - Renewal of Various Boat Club Leases. The committee largely accepted the staff report but had issues with the rationale behind the following recommendation:

Toronto Humber Yacht Club
The THYC is not being offered a further lease term. The THYC’s lease expired on July 31, 2025. Following expiry, the City has permitted a temporary month-to-month overhold to allow for an orderly wind-down of operations and to facilitate removal of private property and fulfillment of end-of-lease obligations. The decision not to renew follows extensive review by City staff in consultation with the TRCA, the landowner. Through this work, it was determined that a less intensive land use at this location would better support river valley health, ecological management objectives, and long-term resilience to flooding and erosion. Given the environmental sensitivity of the site, the operational history, and TRCA’s support for restoration-focused outcomes, staff determined that renewal of the lease would not be in the public interest.

Staff have communicated this direction to the THYC in the past year, including site visit and written notice in advance of lease expiry, and follow up communication in the fall. Staff continue to meet with the organization regarding timelines for vacating the site.

The City, in collaboration with TRCA, intends to undertake public engagement to inform future uses and potential restoration or programming opportunities once the site has been secured and any required remediation is complete. This work is anticipated to begin in 2026.

This matter will be considered by City Council on March 25. Unfortunately the fate of the THYC is not yet clear. The committee voted to defer the matter of the THYC non-renewal of lease until their June 2 meeting. The committee members seemed confused by the dual issues of the repeated bad behavior of the club versus the environmental issues with that land use in that location. As a result, they were unwilling to terminate the lease of a club with a 70 year history.

March 11 edit:

The text of the amendment passed by the committee is now available. It reads:

City Council direct the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management and the General Manager, Parks and Recreation to continue the temporary month-to-month overhold to allow Toronto Humber Yacht Club to operate for the 2026 season, and request the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management, and the General Manager, Parks and Recreation to report to the June 2, 2026 meeting of the General Government Committee on:

a. A detailed analysis and explanation of the concerns relating to river valley health, ecological management objectives and long term flood and erosion resilience;

b. Opportunities to correct river valley health, ecological management objectives, and long term flood and erosion issues;

c. Consideration of closing the river to all motorized boats;

d. Public and stakeholder consultation on closing the river to motorized boats, ecological management objectives, and long term flood and erosion resilience; and

e. Opportunities for the club to mitigate any outstanding issues.

Toronto Humber Yacht Club Update - January 30, 2026

Although it might appear that the termination of Toronto Humber Yacht Club lease is final, the club apparently doesn’t see it that way.

A CBC News report yesterday quotes the club’s vice commodore, Wilson DaSilva, “We're not going to give up without trying to save this club."

You can read the article here,  and a short news video here.

Toronto Humber Yacht Club Update

It would appear that the closure of the Toronto Humber Yacht Club is official. This sign was recently posted there:

There had been concerns that the report recommending the termination of their lease had been delayed several times. Did that mean they had been given a reprieve? Apparently not. You can read more about the issue below and on the linked petition page.

CCFEW Bird Walk Report- for Feb.24, 2025 AGM

Submitted by Barbara Keaveney

We organized the following guided free community bird walks in 2024-
at Humber Bay East Park- 2 hr. walks- Jan., Feb., Dec.
 at Col. Sam Smith Pk.- 2 hr. walks- March, April, June, Sept., Oct., Nov.
May (4 x 1 hr.+ 3 x ½ hr.) at Spring Bird Festival at Col. Sam

All walks continue to be generously sponsored by “Birds and Beans Coffee Shop” in Mimico- they give the walk leader a $50 honorarium, and advertise the walks at their shop with a poster in the window.  We have added a stand-up walk poster for our walks, and indicate their sponsorship there as well.  We have been starting our Humber Bay walks at the HB west parking lot now to enable easier parking for participants. This means we have been missing out on our “coffee times” at “Birds & Beans” after our winter walks!  We will have to consider this for next winter!

I arrange for walk leaders, and follow up with a reminder phone call the week before the walk.  Brian Bailey promotes the walks by creating a beautiful poster each month.  He also advertises them on the CCFEW website, and puts pictures and bird lists from the walks there afterwards.  After the walk, he sends in our bird results to ebird.

At the beginning of our walks we indicate that they are organized by CCFEW and sponsored by “Birds and Beans”.  Brian Bailey usually gives a brief update about current issues that CCFEW is involved in.  We also appeal for membership in CCFEW, offer our pamphlets which have a membership application, and refer interested people to our Treasurer, Alan Drinnan. We also give out CCFEW Bird Checklists.  We have had very encouraging participation on our walks this year, with average numbers ranging from 20-30 people, and some walks much higher.

It has been a challenge to sign on new bird walk leaders this year, since we have lost many of our regular leaders- Don Burton, Hugh Currie, Glenn Coady, Bob Yukich, Marc Lichtenberg, and now Nancy Barrett.  However, new walk leaders have included David Creelman, Julia Zarankin and Cesar Ponce, and we have Ross Harris back as well, so it has been interesting to have new leaders!


I feel that these walks are a very successful way of creating interest in our waterfront parks, which will lead to their appreciation and preservation.

February 19, 2025

Believe it or not, another park shoreline maintenance project is planned to begin late this year. This time it’s Humber Bay Park West. A public information session was held last week. You can view the information panels here. There is more information on the TRCA’s project webpage. It looks like this one won’t be quite as disruptive as the work at Humber Bay Park East or Colonel Samuel Smith Park.