Debra Gervais

The Province of Ontario, Canada is prepared to update their transportation infrastructure to accommodate a projected increase in the province's population, with particular focus on transit development in the Toronto area. Upgrading this infrastructure is a vital undertaking for every community; however, decision makers do not always take into consideration the effects these projects have on people from racialized and/or low-income persons in their communities. When making plans for communities, decision makers should first ask. Will everyone benefit from these networks? Studies examining neighbourhood change are numerous. Also studied are the effects both negative and positive, and their outcomes of transit development. In this context, this study considers which neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) be affected through transit development, with specific focus on Light Rail Transit (LRT). To do so, this study looks at marginalization of communities (as defined in the Ontario Marginalization Index) in the GTA, in relation to light rail transit development in construction or planned, to see if, at a regional level, these communities are more likely to be impacted by transit development. Spatial patterns of these populations are explored through Global and Local Moran’s I. While the study takes a regional view, it also explores the local case of Cooksville, Mississauga to understand a local example, by considering the impacts the Hurontario Light Rail Transit line (HLRT) may impose on this community.