Our communities

Toronto Pearson is Canada’s front door, an important economic enabler for our region, and a neighbour to the communities that surround us. We thrive and grow together with these communities – and we have a responsibility to connect with them, to understand their issues and concerns, and to help out. Our actions earned us a spot in Corporate Knights’ 2018 Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada report.

Economic impact

The number of direct jobs at the airport has grown from 40,000 to nearly 50,000 since 2011. In total, Toronto Pearson generates or facilitates 332,000 jobs in Ontario, which accounts for about $42 billion, or 6.3%, of Ontario’s GDP. By 2030, it’s estimated that Toronto Pearson could generate and facilitate 542,000 jobs in Ontario.

What’s more, Toronto Pearson’s ability to access the world is critical for Canada’s future and necessary to ensure a diverse, creative and innovative economy.

Learn more about our economic impact.

Community outreach

For the communities around Toronto Pearson, we’re more than just an airport – we’re also a neighbour. We connect with these communities in a number of ways, including:

Community event sponsorships that align with our corporate vision and mission, increase brand recognition, and enable us to engage with attendees and build relationships in neighbouring communities.
Partnerships with organizations that are doing meaningful work in the areas of environmental sustainability, community vitality, community-building activities, accessibility enhancements or education.
One-on-one opportunities to engage in conversations about noise, environment, transit and more.
Pop-up booths that enable us to build relationships with local organizations and elected officials while meeting our neighbours in hubs such as libraries and community centres.

“The experience with the Propeller Project allowed us to make important connections in an underserved community and provided meaningful arts opportunities to youth. Our experience with this project provided a deeper understanding into the mandate of the GTAA.” — Arts Etobicoke

2018 highlights

Our Street Team met more than 5,000 of our neighbours at 60 community events, such as farmers’ markets and ribfests. For the first time, we worked with ACCES Employment and hired local youth to be part of the Team. One of the team members was a Syrian refugee who fondly remembered Toronto Pearson as his first place of welcome to Canada.
Final Approach – Danville Terminal officially opened for viewing. We partnered with the City of Mississauga to sponsor this unique aviation-themed park space that serves as a tribute to Malton’s aviation history and features a sleek overhead airplane and limestone from the former Avro Arrow building. Danville Terminal sits 25 metres above the surrounding area, enabling park goers to see planes travelling to and from the airport.
Nearly 2,400 neighbours participated in an airside tour to see behind the scenes at Toronto Pearson and get a glimpse of the different aircraft and equipment used.
As a founding member of Partners in Project Green, we celebrated the organization’s 10th anniversary by hosting restoration events in Claireville Conservation Area and Danville Park. Learn more about our work with Partners in Project Green in the Environment section of this report.
To help revitalize the local SEVA Food Bank and ensure that it can continue to meet the needs of the people it serves, we connected the food bank to some of our trades partners.
Among our 2018 partnerships, the GTAA was the lead sponsor at the Streetsville Bread and Honey Festival, supported the zero-waste program at the Etobicoke Rotary Ribfest, hosted the kick-off ride for the annual Mississauga Community Rides and engaged with families at the Oakville Children’s Festival.

Community Investment

While nearly two million people live in the area surrounding Toronto Pearson, which is the second largest employment zone in the country, we face an underemployment rate that's higher than that of the Greater Toronto Area. Approximately 43 per cent of our neighbours with post-secondary degrees are working in jobs that are well below their education or skill level.

That's why our signature community investment program – the Propeller Project – is championing on-the-ground solutions to underemployment by directly investing in local organizations that foster talent and connect people to the right opportunities.

Our key commitments under the Propeller Project are to:

Give back to neighbourhoods directly and indirectly impacted by Toronto Pearson operations
Invest one per cent of the GTAA’s net income annually in community building initiatives
Foster growth and prosperity in our regions, communities and among local residents

Through the Propeller Project’s Uplift Fund, Toronto Pearson helps local area residents gain the skills, connections and opportunities needed to be meaningfully employed. This funding stream supports research, advocacy and programming focused on understanding, addressing and reducing underemployment.

Through the Nest Fund, we support programs and organizations that will have a positive impact on communities surrounding Toronto Pearson. This funding stream assists a select number of initiatives in local neighbourhoods that create stronger, healthier and happier communities with priorities in environmental sustainability, community vitality and employment.

Learn more about how we’ve reoriented the Propeller Project.

“The commitment of the GTAA team to working on projects that the community has identified as a need in the area surrounding Pearson is unwavering. It is a pleasure to work with a corporate partner who supports new and innovative ideas and their commitment to Torontonians shines through with the work they do. We are truly grateful to be the recipient of this vital funding and to work with a great community partner like the GTAA.” — Toronto Public Library Foundation

2018 highlights

Through the Propeller Project, we donated $1.02 million to 24 local, non-profit organizations in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton.
We committed to investing $300,000 over three years to MABELLEarts, a community arts organization in Central Etobicoke, that has taken a leading role in developing programs geared at providing unemployed and underemployed newcomers in the Mabelle community with opportunities to take part in micro-business and community leadership skills training. See our feature story: “Creating change through art.”
Our partnership with Scientists in School is a three-year investment, ending in 2019, to provide more than 38,000 young students across the GTA with access to STEM programming. Over the three years, we’re investing $600,000 towards adopting 25 local schools in Brampton, Etobicoke and Mississauga through the Scientists in School Adopt-a-School program.
In keeping with our focus on underemployment, we partnered with new organizations such as NPower Canada and Windmill Microlending. See our Propeller Project page for more information about these partnerships.

Managing noise

Noise management is a top concern for our communities and we continually evolve our approach to addressing the issue. While aircraft noise can’t be eliminated completely, we believe that continuous improvements should be studied, discussed and implemented with communities and industry partners.

As part of regular business at the airport, we have a noise management program that guides how we work with our partners to manage noise impacts on a daily basis. The program is based on a balanced approach and includes land use planning, operation restrictions (such as limiting the number of flights at night), noise abatement procedures for planes and preferential runway systems.

Our Noise Management Office monitors noise and noise abatement procedures, and receives, analyzes and responds to public complaints. The Office periodically publishes advisories to notify residents of airfield construction, airport activities, and engagement opportunities that could have an impact on normal airport traffic operations and aircraft noise. Noise complaints can be registered through our website or by phone.

We also have noise monitoring terminals strategically located near the airport to gather objective data and assess noise levels in neighbouring communities.

Every five years, we commit to a noise management action plan, which is based on international best practices and public input, and explores ways to evolve and improve the way we manage noise. Our 2018–2022 Noise Management Action Plan currently serves as our roadmap. Created following an international best practices study of 26 comparator airports around the world and input from more than 3,000 local residents, the plan includes nine ambitious programs, which are based on 10 commitments we’ve made to our communities.

Learn more about our approach to managing noise.

There were 119,613 noise complaints from 1,471 individuals in 2018, compared to 168,676 complaints from 2,399 individuals in 2017.

2018 highlights

We started tackling short-term priorities outlined in our 2018–2022 Noise Management Action Plan; among them, the Quieter Fleet Incentive Program, which targets noise from aircraft. The program encourages airlines to bring the quietest aircraft in their fleet to Toronto Pearson and, by 2020, will offer incentives to those who retrofit the A320 family of planes. To start, we have written and engaged our carriers to advise them of our plans and ask for their support.
As part of the 2018–2022 Noise Management Action Plan, we conducted a review of the Community Environment and Noise Advisory Committee (CENAC), which for many years had been the only regular forum for community members and elected officials to advise us on how to work with the community to manage impacts. It became apparent in engaging with stakeholders and conducting research that the airport had outgrown a single committee – and the decision was made to replace CENAC, as of January 2019, with a new and expanded series of forums called the Toronto Pearson Noise Management Forums.
Following two years of technical analysis of the Six Ideas, a noise mitigation initiatives engagement plan created by NAV Canada and the GTAA, we reported back to the community on our progress and gathered additional feedback in 2018. More than 430 residents attended meetings held across the region, and more than 900 residents provided feedback. The Public Engagement Report, which was published in July 2018, outlined what we heard from the community about each idea and what would be done about it.
Many of the Six Ideas were implemented by the end of 2018. Among them, we tested a runway alternation program for eight weekends in the summer of 2018 to provide scheduled relief from aircraft noise every other weekend to residents living under final approach/initial departure of the east-west runways. Operational analysis showed that relief was possible in the early morning and late evening and survey results indicated community support for the program. As a result, we are exploring the option of a full summer trial in 2019 with continued collaboration from airline partners and NAV Canada.

Sustainability Overview