In case you missed it, the Toronto Star‘s Ben Spurr on the weekend published a deep dive into the brawl that took place at Moss Park Arena — not on the ice, but between the local councillor, Chris Moise, and the volunteers on the arena’s board of management.
Moise, according to Spurr, as well as earlier accounts, sought to push out existing directors, complained about the lack of diversity on the board, and demanded they pull together a fundraising strategy to pay for repairs — which strikes me as a ridiculous way to address state-of-good-repair issues in an aging arena that belongs to the City. He also tabled a motion in council, later withdrawn, rescinding the appointments of seven directors.
“We’re volunteers,” Andy Marcus, the outgoing chair told Spurr. “We didn’t sign up for any of this shit.” As the story points out, “At stake is more than the future of the Moss Park facility, as some councillors warn the negativity caused by the feud could dissuade residents from volunteering with the city.”
Moise wouldn’t be the first rookie councillor to become unhelpfully pre-occupied with a local arena. Dianne Saxe last year tried to get council to approve an absurd scheme to put Green-P machines on the residential streets around Bill Bolton Arena, which has no parking lot, in order to deal with local street parking conflicts allegedly caused by arena users. She backed down after what she presented as a “pilot project” was almost universally panned by arena patrons and residents alike. (Full disclosure: I play hockey at Bill Bolton, and have to drive there.)
While memory of Saxe’s stunt will fade rapidly, Moise’s well-publicized power play with the Moss Park board could have far-reaching ripple effects across the numerous city boards and programs that invite Torontonians to give their time and energy for no reward other than a sense of having contributed to some neighbourhood organization or civic cause.
According to the City’s website, there are 19 programs that draw on volunteers, from Nuit Blanche to tree planting events. Additionally, and more relevant to the Moss Park situation, council appoints 427 Toronto residents to 51 separate committees, boards and tribunals, drawing from a current pool of about 2,900 applicants (as of February, 2024). These include everything from community centres and arena boards of management to the Toronto Parking Authority, the CNE and the Toronto Music Advisory Committee.
The bar to participate is easy to clear. You have to be over 18 and a Toronto resident (but not a city employee). If you apply, you will be interviewed and asked for a CV and references. Some appointments include a stipend and are more high profile, but most of them yield neither income nor opportunities for glory.
Are they sought after? Well, look at the numbers above. We live in a city with 3 million people, with an extensive system of local governance, and yet only one tenth of one percent of the population is willing to step up. Yes, lots of Torontonians volunteer in other ways — through local NGOs, retirement homes, school councils, and so on. But most of these organizations, like the City itself, rarely face an over-abundance of volunteers, especially for board level duties.
Indeed, when they find someone prepared to dedicate their off-work hours to attending board meetings or running charitable events, they often hang on tight.
I don’t want to argue here that everyone who volunteers does so out of the best civic intentions, which is why the City uses a screening process. But in an environment where volunteers are exceedingly scarce at the best of times, the spectacle of a local councillor who, per media reports, publicly berates the board members of a local arena sends a terrible message to others who might be considering whether to give up their time for some community organization. After all, who wants to be treated like a door mat when they’re not at work?
Among his complaints, Moise said that the Moss Park board wasn’t sufficiently diverse. Perhaps, although volunteer directors aren’t exactly breaking down the doors. What’s more, it’s worth noting that the City does pay attention to diversity across its public appointments process, which is overseen by a council committee.
According to its policy statement, “City Council recognizes that the City of Toronto is best served by boards, committees, and tribunals which reflect the diversity of our communities.”
To that end, the city keeps track of applicant metrics like age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation/gender identity and disability, using voluntary and confidential surveys.
Based on this data, the appointments process seems to reflect the city’s overall demographics — not perfect, but pretty good. Some groups are somewhat over-represented and others are somewhat under-represented. Taken as a whole, however, the demographics of the applicant and appointee pool don’t substantially diverge from the city’s 2016 census data.
Stepping back from the particulars, I’d also argue that this moment confers a particular responsibility on the city and members of council to ensure that the municipality is actually open and inclusive.
The chaos south of the border has generated an epic amount of anxiety, and that’s even before the tariffs kick in. Torontonians will endure the economic fall-out, which means we all need to pay attention to social cohesion, and instill in these local organizations as much positive energy as possible. I know this sounds kind of kumbaya, but the truth is that the fraying of the civic institutions that we take for granted, like volunteerism, is a very real threat in such moments.
Moise and other councillors inclined to lord it over ordinary citizens should take note. In times like these, their first job is to build community, not tear it apart.
