'The park belongs to the people': Protesters decry Tennis Canada's plan for new stadium in Jarry Park

“Fais ton stade dans un parking,” said the poster Matías Vazquez-Levi attached to his bicycle on Sunday. “Not another inch: no expansion,” said another poster. “Tout le monde mérite un jardin,” said another.

“Tennis Canada: voleur,” someone had written in pink chalk on a walkway near Jarry Park’s IGA Stadium, where the men’s National Bank Open ATP Masters 1000 tournament, organized by Tennis Canada, started Aug. 1 and runs until Aug. 13.

Vazquez-Levi was one of well over 1,000 Montrealers who turned up at Jarry Park to protest Tennis Canada’s proposal to expand its footprint in the park with a new stadium. Many, like him, had posters. There was even a catchy tune written by some protesters and posted on Facebook, along with a video; it asked: “À qui le parc?” And it answered: “À nous le parc.”

On June 23, Tennis Canada announced plans to build a new stadium with a retractable roof and increased seating capacity as part of a major modernization of its facilities in the 360,000-square-metre park in Montreal’s Villeray—St-Michel—Parc-Extension borough — an expansion it says is essential to meet the growing needs of professional circuits. The stadium capacity would be 15,000, up from the current 11,991 seats.

Michel Lafleur, president of the Coalition des amis du parc Jarry, said in a weekend interview that opposition to the proposal has grown since its introduction. People are saying the expansion proposal “is impossible,” he said. “Everyone is getting involved.”

A July 13 meeting held by the coalition drew more than 160 people — four times as many as Lafleur said he had expected. The Front commun pour la protection du parc Jarry, which involves about 20 groups and organizations, was formed and involved in organizing Sunday’s event, billed as a festive gathering — music and food were featured — followed by a demonstration.

Vazquez-Levi asked: “Why does the stadium have to be in a public park? Why not go elsewhere? A park is a green space, a place people come to have barbecues, not play competitive sports. And it’s not just tennis but all sorts of events that would take place there,” he said.

On Friday, Jean François Lalonde, mayor of the Villeray—St-Michel—Parc-Extension borough, said in a Facebook post that “Jarry Park occupies an important place in the life of our borough.”

As borough mayor, “my position is simple,” he said. “The park must remain public, accessible to all, and expanding the current footprint of Tennis Canada is out of the question. I am open to modernizing the facilities and believe in the importance of supporting excellence in sports. But it must be done with respect for the park, its balance and, most of all, the needs of the people who visit it often and live around it.”

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said in a Radio-Canada interview last week she wants to keep big events such as the National Bank Open in Montreal, but not at all costs.

Tennis Canada already occupies more than one-fifth of the park, Lafleur said, and the proposed expansion would increase the proportion to more than one-fourth. The proposal is to build the new stadium north of the current one, on the site of a baseball diamond. Aside from the fact that eliminating the diamond would deprive those who now use it of a place to play, it would be replaced with a heat island, Lafleur said.

Jarry Park is within the Villeray neighbourhood, near Parc-Extension: The placement of the proposed new stadium would make access to the park more difficult for Parc-Extension residents, Lafleur said. Already, they must cross railroad tracks to get to the park. The new stadium “corresponds to a building of four to five storeys. So when they cross the tracks, they will come right up against a building that size.”

As well, a retractable roof means the new stadium would be usable during three seasons and “will multiply events in the park,” drawing up to 15,000 spectators for sporting and other events. This would bring added traffic and “it is incompatible with the mission of the park,” Lafleur said.

Louise Trépanier and Guy Latreille, who live on the border with the park, said they turned out at Sunday’s event to express their objection to the noise that would invariably accompany the events that would be held at a new, three-season stadium in addition to tennis.

They were also there in solidarity with “the young people of Parc-Extension who use the park as their backyard because they don’t have any yards of their own at home. They come to the park to have picnics and to be close to nature,” said Trépanier.

Residents of the densely populated neighbourhood of Parc-Extension — nearly 35,000 people in an area of just 1.6 square kilometres, almost 80 per cent of them tenants — are already exposed to the effects on their health of urban heat islands and are at risk of losing out on important green space with an expansion, “so it’s a public health issue,” Lafleur said.

Eighty per cent of Parc-Ex residents have no yard or balcony, he said. “The park is their garden, a place where they can be close to nature, so making access to the park more difficult goes against good sense.”

Wassyla Hadjabi said she attended Sunday’s event to protest any expansion by Tennis Canada “because the park belongs to the people who live here,” she said. “I have nothing against tennis, but Tennis Canada is not thinking about climate change or about how densely populated Parc-Ex is. Let them know there is resistance. We are here and we can speak up.”

Tennis Canada should look at the effects of climate change and at the project’s social acceptability, Lafleur said.

The organization “did not consult us in their feasibility studies. They never spoke to the citizens,” he said.

“Our mission is to safeguard the park,” Lafleur said. Citizens should have a voice in deciding on the future vision for Jarry Park, he added. “Is it an urban oasis in a densely populated area, or is it a park with attractions and all kinds of events?”