Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre

Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre The simple act of walking through our doors is what makes a person a PARC member.

PARC works with members on individual issues of poverty, mental health, addictions, homelessness and food security. The simple act of walking through our doors is what makes a person a PARC member and choosing to give back, create and grow is how PARC members contribute and help build our community.

Last week we got PARCabana 2026 in the books!250 plates of jerk chicken, rice and peas, and carrot slaw. These events st...
09/04/2026

Last week we got PARCabana 2026 in the books!

250 plates of jerk chicken, rice and peas, and carrot slaw. These events start with our incredible kitchen staff who start prepping well in advance. This annual celebration is one of the busiest days of the year for our team. PARCabana is our own small tribute to Toronto's Caribbean festival.

Thank you to everyone who cooked, plated, served, hauled tables, ran the music, and showed up. Special shout out to DJ Erik Flow for always showing up for PARC!

----
*Member photos are shared with consent.

09/03/2026

Part two of our overdose response series with Nurse Emily of Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre. Throughout this series Emily walks you through the SAVE ME steps: Stimulate, Airway, Ventilate, Evaluate, Medication, Evaluate and support.

You don't need medical training to save a life. But becoming First Aid and CPR certified builds confidence in how to respond. Courses run across the province through the Canadian Red Cross: redcross.ca/findacourse

Carrying naloxone is how you can be prepared today. Our next two videos show how to administer it, nasal and injectable.

PARC's September Activities Calendar is live.Join us September 10th for the People Over Portfolio Community Forum. PARC ...
09/01/2026

PARC's September Activities Calendar is live.

Join us September 10th for the People Over Portfolio Community Forum. PARC members, staff, and our broader community will have the floor to share what they're seeing and experiencing, and what all levels of government need to hear about the need for affordable housing in Toronto and across the country.

Drop-in hours:
Monday–Thursday: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Friday: 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday & holidays*: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

*Holiday hours: Labour Day, Monday, September 7th

View our programs and activities calendar: https://parc.on.ca/parc-programs/activities-calendar/

08/31/2026

Part one of a four-part series with our registered nurse from Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre on responding to a toxic drug overdose.

First step is figuring out whether an overdose is happening at all.

This video walks through what to look for. We are seeing the effects of a toxic drug supply in public areas, and we can all do our part to keep our community safe.

Meet Tyde, the Parkdale artist who makes beauty out of what the neighbourhood throws away. Almost nothing in Tyde's work...
08/28/2026

Meet Tyde, the Parkdale artist who makes beauty out of what the neighbourhood throws away. Almost nothing in Tyde's work is bought new. "I like making art and I like using the stuff that would otherwise go in the garbage.” Scrap metal, salvaged leather, donated paper, roof slate, beads, wire, found objects picked up off the sidewalk. She has been working this way for over two decades.

Recycled materials inspire Tyde. A bookbinder friend gave her leather. A carpenter friend gave her wood offcuts. A piece of roof slate was combined with beads and wire. Out of recycled materials she created ten-foot-tall flowers. "My drill and I are very close." Free is what let her start, and donations from her community keep her creating.

Tyde first lived in Parkdale in the 1990s and it was the first neighbourhood where she felt at home. She still has friends she met her first week here. It is where she found good housing, and where she gave herself room to heal.

She describes Parkdale as "her place."

Read Tyde's full story: https://parc.on.ca/parc-story-tyde/

08/27/2026

Meet Patrick, PARC's Harm Reduction and Restorative Justice Worker.

Thank you to the Robert Kerr Foundation for backing the launch of our Member Employee Supported Homes (MESH) pilot.Many ...
08/25/2026

Thank you to the Robert Kerr Foundation for backing the launch of our Member Employee Supported Homes (MESH) pilot.

Many specialized cleaning and de-hoarding services in Ontario require an N5 eviction notice before a tenant can access them. Support arrives only after the eviction process has started, which is the most expensive, most re-traumatizing, least likely moment for anything to work.

Thanks to support from the Robert Kerr Foundation - MESH intervenes before that. A PARC Member Employee, working alongside Housing Support Workers, goes into units at the tenant's pace, on the tenant's terms. Sorting a corner. Clearing a counter. Building the skills and the trust that keep a unit liveable long after the visit ends.

Thank you to our partners at RKF.

From 2017-2025, Toronto’s supervised consumption sites managed 4,334 overdose cases with ZERO deaths on site. Every one ...
08/20/2026

From 2017-2025, Toronto’s supervised consumption sites managed 4,334 overdose cases with ZERO deaths on site. Every one of those people lived to continue their journey thanks to harm reduction.

When Toronto’s largest supervised consumption site closed in March 2025 nearly half of former clients reported higher overdose risk. The people who relied on it still need a safe place to go.

The province's current model for addiction recovery and supportive housing includes an estimated 540 new supportive housing units across 27 sites province-wide. Toronto's own MHA supportive housing wait list is at 28,936 people, and growing. That list has more than doubled since 2018.

The average wait time is over 8 years in Toronto, while only 2-3% of people on Ontario wait lists get placed each year.

Harm reduction keeps people alive and connected to essential services. For many, it may be the first step toward recovery. But we need accessible pathways to the next stage of care. When treatment beds, housing, or support services are unavailable, the failure lies in the system, not in the harm reduction approach itself.

PARC provides safety today and a path toward stability tomorrow.

Sources:
Toronto Public Health, Toronto Overdose Information System dashboard; Ontario CRISM/CAMH, TPH Supervised Consumption Site Closure Evaluation (2025); Addictions and Mental Health Ontario, Unlocking Solutions (2025).

This Saturday PARC member artists are setting up right outside our drop-in at 1499 Queen St W. From 2 to 5 PM, come brow...
08/19/2026

This Saturday PARC member artists are setting up right outside our drop-in at 1499 Queen St W. From 2 to 5 PM, come browse original paintings, crafts, and handmade goods, all made by our members. Every sale goes directly to the artist who made the piece.

We're tabling as part of the Parkdale Music Crawl & Street Festival, running 11 AM to 9 PM along Queen St W from Dufferin to Roncesvalles. Live bands, food vendors, buskers, and neighbourhood sidewalk sales fill the strip all day. Stop by our table and explore!

Two things: housing need, and a need for support to keep that housing. The people waiting to access supportive housing d...
08/06/2026

Two things: housing need, and a need for support to keep that housing.

The people waiting to access supportive housing don't look the way most Torontonians picture them. Between 13 and 33 per cent of people on Ontario's mental health and addictions supportive housing wait lists are over the age of 65 (AMHO, 2025). Nationally, 38 per cent of people with disabilities say they don't get the help they need to live independently, including help with bathing, cooking, cleaning, and shopping (Canadian Human Rights Commission and Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, 2024). That's the gap supportive housing fills, and why it should be invested in.

Seniors. People with disabilities. Newcomers. Youth leaving care. People discharged from hospitals, jails, and long-term care. The model works across all of them, because what it provides is housing plus the supports that make housing hold.

The problem is how few homes exist. At least 28,936 people are on the wait list for mental health and addictions supportive housing in Toronto, and the average wait is 8.1 years (AMHO, 2025).

Building more supportive housing means shorter waits and healthier homes for everyone on that list.

Sources
Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (2025). Unlocking Solutions: Understanding and Addressing Ontario's Mental Health and Addictions Supportive Housing Needs.

Canadian Human Rights Commission & Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (2024). New data highlights troubling housing inequalities for people with disabilities.

Address

1499 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON
M6R1A3

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 1pm
Tuesday 9am - 1pm
Wednesday 9am - 1pm
Thursday 9am - 1pm
Friday 12:30pm - 4:30pm
Saturday 11am - 3pm
Sunday 11am - 3pm

Telephone

+14165372262

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category