Toronto Council voted down a move by Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) Councillor Rob Ford to have the Marcus Garvey Centre for Leadership and Innovation evicted from a city-owned factory this week.The Centre has been operating out of the site at 160 Rivalda Road since 2002, after the former City of North York signed an agreement to allow the group to use it in 1997, just prior to amalgamation.
The lease as finally executed would allow the community group to stay there until Dec. 31, 2016, using it as a training centre for teaching young African-Canadians skills in trades and entrepreneurship.
But the relationship has been a troubled one. The Marcus Garvey Centre board has failed to pay for maintaining the facility and utilities, and the group has used the site for late-night parties and other uses.
Ford, who had made an issue of the matter, tried to convince council to simply cut their losses, evict the group and sell the site.
"Since 2002 we've given this organization a 15-year lease and they've clearly broken the lease," said Ford. "We have a 22,000-square-foot building, we should get a million dollars for it if we sell it."
Ford maintained that the group had held another party there two weeks ago - just days after the city's Community Services and Recreation Committee had voted to let staff look into ways to keep the group there.
But it turned out, according to Ward 33 (Don Valley East) Councillor Shelley Carroll, that a staff investigation had shown the group was using the site for a dominoes tournament.
"It was the Ontario Domino League," said Carroll. "The league holds domino tournaments and bursaries are given to the higher-achieving students. Let's let our staff do their work. We aren't out to get the Domino League of Ontario. We aren't out to dismantle any community group that is actually doing good work in a priority neighbourhood."