Fifty-two Years of Advocacy Led to Success

We owe a massive congratulations to Land Over Landings for their 53-year citizen-led campaign. I’m certain the original organizers of People Over Planes back in 1972 didn’t anticipate a half-century fight with the Federal government—but their persistence finally paid off.

This journey began when the Federal government expropriated 18,600 acres of mostly Class 1 farmland, sparking a resistance that eventually saw the project shelved. The momentum shifted significantly between 2013 and 2017, when a portion of those lands was handed over to Parks Canada to create the Rouge National Urban Park. This set the stage for the stunning January 2025 announcement: the official cancellation of the airport project due to the clear conflict between a major airport and an adjacent National Park.

While the effort to protect all of this prime farmland continues through upcoming public consultations, we can finally celebrate this historic victory for the community and the environment.

Want the full story? You can view the complete, year-by-year history of this movement on the Land Over Landings Timeline.

The Fight for Food Security Continues

The victory at Pickering is closely aligned with the efforts to protect the Greenbelt. While there is a strong political focus on “buying Canadian,” we must remember that without Ontario farmland, there will be no local produce in our grocery stores.

Food security is becoming a critical issue, especially with a changing climate and shifting trade relationships. Yet, the numbers are staggering:

  • Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland every single day.
  • In the last 35 years, we have lost 2.8 million acres of farmland and 1,000 active farms.
  • This loss also threatens at-risk species like the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark, which rely on these agricultural ecosystems.

How You Can Help Today:

We’ve seen what half a century of persistence can achieve; let’s not wait another fifty years to realize that once our prime farmland is paved over, it is gone forever.

-Pete Smith

Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.