On November 21, 2024, the Regent Park Social Development Plan (SDP) Planning Committee hosted a meeting with mediators involved with the Community Benefits Oversight Working Group.

Adonis Huggins – Local Journalism Initiative

The Planning Committee meeting was facilitated by Joel Klassen, an agency member of the SDP. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from mediators on their progress in resolving the year-long dispute between the various members and parties of the Community Benefits Oversight Working Group, also known as CBOWG.

CBOWG is a 20-member advisory group comprised of Regent Park residents representing the neighborhood’s diverse voices. Membership also includes representation from Toronto Community Housing, Tridel, local agencies and subject matter experts who serve as non-voting members. The role of CBOWG is to shape and oversee the $26.8 million community benefit fund, established as part of TCHC’s partnership with Tridel for Phases 4 and 5 of the Regent Park revitalization.

At the meeting, the CBOWG mediators, Kaydeen Bankasingh and Shawn Conway, provided a background on their involvement and presented on their work with the disputed parties. Following their presentation Kaydeen and Shawn answered questions from the planning committee. Although Kaydeen and Shawn were not able to provide details into the nature of the dispute or timeline of when these issues could be resolved, they were of the opinion that more conflict resolution training and work needs to be done with the disputing parties separately, before CBOWG can continue its work together.