Chris Moise is learning to skate backward.
The Toronto Centre councillor gave up his quest to disband the volunteer board at Moss Park Arena on Tuesday, with a change to a motion that came so late that the executive committee struggled to get the details in front of those present at the meeting.
The discussion was punctuated by an apparent admonishment of Moise by Councillor Josh Matlow, who said he was “uncomfortable” with the approach taken both at Moss Park and the Sankofa Square renaming.
“I just can’t in good conscience stay silent about this feeling that I have about this process. Every bone in my body feels like this isn’t how we as a city should be engaging with volunteer boards, and the fault is ours,” Matlow said.
Moise had sought last year urged Toronto council to put the hockey rink under city control and dismiss the board. Councillors instead opted to study the issue, and a report on that prompted the executive committee to give the matter a second look Tuesday.
“Last night, the councillor joined our board meeting for the first time in nine months … and told us that there was a change to the motion, and it was no longer being put forward as a motion to transition the rink to a city-run rink, but now there’s recommendations being put forward,” Andy Marcus, chairman of the Moss Park board, told the meeting.
The motion that was approved by the committee instead proposes broad governance guidelines for the rink and tweaks the composition of the board. It includes direction to “enhance revenue,” which Marcus said is outside the board’s mandate.
“This whole process should be under scrutiny … These recommendations feel like nonsense,” Marcus said. “The motion didn’t go where he wanted it to go, so he’s looking at something else to drive a change in the board.”
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In explaining the change, Moise said “extensive conversations,” including with the community, “have broadened my perspective and helped me see a different path forward for the Moss Park Arena.”
“As councillors, we do not possess all the answers and must adapt our perspectives and be open to new strategies,” he said.
But he was not entirely apologetic. He called the board’s rejection of his fundraising ideas “one example of the resistance I’ve received” from the group, and pressed a city staffer about $500,000 in emergency funding given to the arena over the last two years.
The committee heard from a number of concerned citizens, including hockey players, an African immigrant who spoke with pride about her son’s experience at the rink, and activist Daniel Tate, dressed in a hockey helmet and jersey. Councillors were told repeatedly about the diverse clientele at the arena, the quality of the ice and the role the facility plays in its downtown community.
Paul Dineen, who served on the board for years, said the rink is “like an oasis in this difficult area.”
The committee seemed grateful to be done with the idea of dismissing a board of volunteers.
“I’m very happy the councillor changed the motion from getting rid of a local board to working with a local board,” Paula Fletcher said.
Mayor Olivia Chow thanked “the many volunteers through the years” and hoped that with a review, Moss Park can “still maintain that sense of belonging but also provide the best services.”
Matlow was more critical, saying he needed to “voice some concern about what we’ve seen displayed today.”
If “we are to make changes” to something like a community board, he said, the city should “do it with them rather than at them.”
He drew a parallel with another of Moise’s projects.
“I felt equally as uncomfortable with the way, even if you agreed with the destination, the way that the (Yonge-)Dundas Square issue was handled, where people felt like they were surprised by things, even if there were valid disagreements. And I’m sure there’s experiences across the city that we could point to.”
(After news of the renaming broke in 2023, the leaders of the YDS board resigned in a letter addressed to a number of people, including Matlow, but not Moise, who sits on both that board and Moss Park.)
Last year, Marcus told the Sun that Moise had treated the board “like crap.” Moise denied that, but expressed frustration with the poor state of the crumbling arena and a desire for greater “equity.” He told council in June 2024 that “none of the local kids actually use the arena as the way that it should be used.”