On November 12, 2025, Toronto Council voted on a motion to demolish Toronto’s unique Weston Lions Arena and build a new facility without an ice rink. This came as a shock to many in the community.

A January 20, 2026 report from the senior Manager of Heritage Planning recommended adding the Weston Lions Arena to Toronto’s Heritage Register. At today’s meeting of the Etobicoke York Community Council, all five councillors voted in favour of adding Weston Lions Arena to the Register. Interestingly, Councillor Frances Nunziata, who has been the driving force behind the demolition of the arena and the turfing of the Weston Minor Hockey League, voted with the majority claiming she had wanted heritage status all along.

No fewer than 34 people wrote email submissions and five four spoke to the Community Council online or in person in favour of the Heritage Register addition. What was supposed to be a public relations exercise for Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment has turned into a public relations disaster for them. Many in and outside the Weston community expressed their opposition to November’s Toronto Council vote to demolish the arena.

What happens next?

The Heritage Register designation will be voted on during a meeting of all Toronto councillors on March 26 and 27. If successful, the designation will protect the arena for two years.

If Councillor Nunziata has any political savvy, she and MLSE should back off on demolition plans and Weston Lions Arena should be allowed to continue providing services to the Weston community and the several hockey organizations currently using it – with better funding for maintenance and upkeep. MLSE should have known their history better – the company’s founder, Conn Smythe donated the sand under the Weston ice in exchange for allowing one of the Maple Leafs’ farm teams to use the arena. If MLSE wants to build a new facility, there are no doubt other sites in the area where they can do so without destroying a precious community heritage building.

Read more about Weston Lions Arena here and in this New York Times article.

Update:

Looking at the meeting on YouTube, it’s clear what’s going on. Councillor Amber Morely through a point of order, stopped one of the speakers from advocating for a continued use of the ice surface. She later stated that the community is more diverse now and that other members of the community should have an opportunity to use the space. Along the same lines, Councillor Nunziata claimed she wanted heritage status for the arena all along but wants the building to be ‘open to the public’. Bizarrely she scolded the Weston Historical Society for having the Plank Road Building designated as a building of historical importance but doing nothing with the building since that time. (The building is privately owned).

Amber Morely: “We can do better to better serve the local communities.”

Translation: Hockey is not a diverse enough sport and we will pit one community against another in order to support the removal of the ice surface in Weston.

It seems that the designation is smoke and mirrors and will not protect the arena. The direction is now clarified. Weston Lions Arena may be worthy of preservation but its historic ice surface is of no value to future communities.

Read more here.