The Canadian National Newspaper: Thornhill Green Co-op residents get to have their say

Residents of the Thornhill Green Co-Op will get to tell their story in their battle to prevent York Region from assuming control of their neighbourhood, thanks to a recent judicial decision.

“Are we jubilant? No. Are we optimistic? Yes,” co-op board president Jim Common said of the decision.

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the Divisional Court convened to hear the co-op’s appeal of an earlier decision and, instead, for a judicial review of the case.

“I’m not chalking it up as a victory, but we can definitely say we’re pleased,” Mr. Common said.

“We’re pleased that we think we will get our full day in court,” said Harvey Cooper, government relations manager with the Co-Op Housing Federation of Canada.

The federation came on board in the spring, expressing concerns about the unique move by a government to convert a co-op into a public project.

The 101-unit co-op was self-managed until placed into receivership by the region, citing financial and management problems, in 2006.

Residents say they thought the co-op would be returned to them when it was stabilized. In May, however, they received a notice the region was to purchase the facility from the receiver.

Forty of the units are subsidized housing and while co-ops are already governed by the Social Housing Act, residents fear the takeover means their neigbourhood becomes a housing project.

In September, Justice Geoffrey Morawetz, of the Commercial Court, turned down and injunction by which they hoped to see the receivership quashed.

Even that decision came late, after a summer during which the region hoped to do repair work at the co-op.

It was this decision the co-op and federation hoped to have overturned before the review was ordered.

Residents feared the Commercial Court would expedite the case and deny them the chance to tell their side of the story.

“Nothing has changed as far as we’re concerned,” the region’s housing manger, Sylvia Patterson said.

“The group had been talking about a judicial review for a while and we’re pleased to see a timeframe for that.”

Judges were surprised that the receiver kept the co-op board out of the loop during its two-year reign and that regional council made their decisions in-camera, only letting residents know at the last minute, Mr. Common said.

With court dates now piling up late into the fall, Mr. Cooper said the federation will re-double efforts to talk with regional council members and staff about less severe alternatives to solving the region’s concerns.

“We’ve waved the flag several times but they don’t want to talk to us at all,” Mr. Common said.

Because the receiver effectively owns the co-op, and because it is their motion the court must consider, it is to them co-op members should be speaking, Ms Patterson said.

Legal wrangling has focused a lot on dollars and cents but the co-op is an active, concerned community and “the judicial review is a venue for us to tell our side of the story,” Mr. Common said.

The review is not in court until Dec. 5, however, and, on Oct. 23, Justice Morawetz hears arguments regarding the motion of sale by the receiver, Mintz and Partners.

If that happens, the sale will not be concluded until after the review, meaning the final outcome is anything but a foregone conclusion.

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