Historic Toronto Church Fire Marks Beginning of Ford Government's New Urban Controlled Burn Program

By Jessica K

Toronto - On June 9th, 2024, a fire gutted a historic church in Toronto leaving the community devastated but land developers excited. This fire marks the launch of a program developed by the Ford government to use controlled burns at historic sites to rejuvenate the soil and promote new residential growth and housing development. 

Said one particularly enthusiastic developer “Who needs murals painted by the Group of Seven when there is money to be made?”. 

Proponents of the program argue that much like how forests and savannas can benefit from fire cycles, cities can also thrive through a similar process. The theory is that the ashes of culturally significant institutions and “mom and pop” shops will provide nutrients that enrich the soil, creating fertile ground for developers to build new, profitable, expensive, cookie-cutter luxury condominiums. You know nature is healing when you see yuppie couples walk around a gentrified neighborhood with their tiny yappy dogs.

Many other world class cities have used fires as a means of urban renewal such as Chicago, San Francisco, and London.

The program emerged after the development of the Greenbelt was canceled due to RCMP investigations into ethics violations but Premier Ford still owed his land development buddies some favours.

The bill was able to pass the Legislative Assembly because people don’t really pay attention to provincial politics. 

Jessica exists in the ether. She is best described as an outdoor cat. She is neither her nor there. She lacks la joie de vivre but doesn’t really think that’s a problem. I like to believe that there is a little bit of Jessica in us all and that there is a little bit of s a;; in Jessica. A priest and a rabbit walk into a bar. The priest says, “Sorry, I think I walked into the wrong joke. I was supposed to meet a rabbi here.”