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Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update
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Toronto’s Mimico Go Transit Station is Yet Another Metrolinx Accessibility Bungle
June 16, 2026
SUMMARY
Here is yet another illustration of the Ontario Government’s Metrolinx bungling its duty to ensure accessible public transit for people with disabilities in Ontario. It’s now called the “Mimico Accessibility Fiasco.”
Metrolinx operates “Go Transit” lines in and around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). It has not ensured that all Go transit stations are accessible to public transit riders with disabilities. One glaring example is the Mimico Go Transit stop.
There is no way for a person using a mobility aid like a wheelchair to get from the street to the trains, or vice versa. A formidable organization of local residents, the Mimico Residents’ Association, has been advocating for this to be fixed for over a decade. All they’ve gotten was a chain of broken promises. A May 27, 2026 CBC report, set out below, recounts their latest efforts. Metrolinx sent representatives to a public meeting of this Association during National AccessAbility Week, but could not give a date by when this station will be accessible. This Go station is right in the midst of a growing Toronto community.
This is a fantastic illustration of an unstoppable residents’ association taking up the cause of accessibility, and not giving up. We often report to you on accessibility advocacy by people with disabilities. Here it is an organization that was not created to undertake disability advocacy, but who see this injustice as hurting all its members.
How You Can Help
- If you live in a neighbourhood with a residents’ association, urge it to advocate for fixing disability barriers in your area. Offer to work with them on this advocacy. Remind them that everyone is bound to eventually get a disability.
- To get your residents’ association started, encourage them to listen to Disability Rights and Wrongs — The David Lepodcast to get advocacy action tips. For more on our podcast, visit the AODA Alliance website’s new podcast page.
- Write Premier Ford at premier@ontario.c.a and your local member of the Ontario Legislature. You can find your MPP’s contact information on the Ontario Legislature’s web page. Tell them Metrolinx is doing a terrible job at ensuring public transit facilities are accessible to riders with disabilities.
- Watch the AODA Alliance’s 8-minute video highlighting one accessibility barrier that Metrolinx created on Toronto’s new Eglinton Crosstown transit line.
MORE DETAILS
CBC News May 27, 2026
Originally posted at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mimico-demonstration-go-station-accessibility-1.7545455
Mimico residents vow to keep pressure on Metrolinx to make local GO station accessible
Contract has been awarded to begin design phase of planned accessibility upgrades, Metrolinx says
Muriel Draaisma, Tyler Cheese CBC News
On Tuesday, residents gathered near the Mimico GO station to demand that Metrolinx begin work as soon as possible. A Metrolinx representative told residents at the demonstration that the Ontario government has awarded a contract to begin the design phase of planned accessibility upgrades at the station.
There is no start date for construction.
Rozhen Asrani, president of the Mimico Residents Association, said Tuesday that residents have been waiting for Metrolinx to break ground on accessibility updates to the station for about a decade.
Previous projects to make the station more accessible were linked to larger developments of the area that included housing. Two projects collapsed, one in 2023 and one in 2012.
“The community is very frustrated. Patience has run out. It’s been a decade of a lack of accessibility and multiple failed promises by Metrolinx,” Asrani said.
There is no elevator at the station.
“It’s difficult to get to,” said Asrani. “There are all kinds of issues for people who use strollers, have mobility constraints, bicycles they are trying to get up and down the stairs. There are lots of barriers.”
Rozhen Asrani, president of the Mimico Residents Association, says: ‘The community is very frustrated. Patience has run out. It’s been a decade of a lack of accessibility and multiple failed promises by Metrolinx.’ (James Spalding/CBC)
Asrani said residents were promised by Metrolinx that the station would be fully accessible by 2023 but that did not happen. Now, she said, there are no new project completion dates and no clear timelines.
Asrani said that’s unacceptable and is violation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The community is growing and residents deserve to have an accessible transit station, she added.
“An announcement of a contract is great, but what we really need is shovels in the ground and actual timelines,” Asrani said.
Contract awarded to begin planning, Metrolinx says
In a statement on Tuesday, Metrolinx noted that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation announced on May 14 that a contract was awarded for “design development and construction management services to support accessibility upgrades and other enhancements at Mimico GO.”
Metrolinx added: “The station improvement project will provide better connections and improved amenities to ensure a seamless and barrier-free experience for customers travelling across the GO network.
They were supposed to get a new train station. Instead, Mimico residents are ‘staring at a hole in the ground’
Ontario was supposed to be accessible by 2025. Some advocates say it’s not even close
When the development phase is complete, Metrolinx said the contractor will submit a proposed construction schedule and associated costs. If approved, a construction contract will be awarded, at which point project timelines will be more clearly defined, Metrolinx said.
Metrolinx said it is “fully committed” to meeting its obligations under the AODA and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation.
‘People are feeling a bit disappointed,’ MPP says
Lee Fairclough, MPP for Etobicoke Lakeshore, said the community is concerned because accessibility upgrades have been delayed for years. A person who arrives at the station in a wheelchair would not be able to get down from the platform, she said. Someone using a walker or crutches would have to navigate steep stairs, she said.
“People are feeling a bit disappointed,” Fairclough said. “Glad that we’re moving ahead… But as a community and as a representative, we’re going to keep on making sure there is pressure to make it happen.”
Lee Fairclough, MPP for Etobicoke Lakeshore, says: ‘We’re going to keep on making sure there is pressure to make it happen.’ (James Spalding/CBC)
Fairclough said Metrolinx is taking full responsibility for ensuring that the station will be accessible.
“I think that gives some encouragement to the community that this is going to happen,” she said.
The residents association has gathered nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition to have Metrolinx start construction this year, and Fairclough says she plans to table the petition formally at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.
Improvements overdue, says councillor
Coun. Amber Morley, who represents Etobicoke-Lakeshore, said collaboration is needed and the accessibility improvements are overdue.
In the past three years, Morley said she has told Metrolinx repeatedly that the community is frustrated and pointed out that previous agreements with private developers have been ineffective.
“We’ve all come to a space where we understand and appreciate those challenges but are very focused on moving forward and delivering for community,” she said.
A Mimico resident gathers signatures on a petition that calls on the Ontario transportation minister to ‘direct Metrolinx to begin construction of the accessibility retrofits in 2025, and that the project swiftly moves to completion without any undue delay.’ (James Spalding/CBC)
In its statement, Metrolinx said the proposed improvements at the station include:
- A new east connection with elevator and stair access to the platform level, with customer access from both sides of the rail corridor.
- A new south entrance at Manchester Street and Blue Goose Street with elevator and stair connections to the platforms.
- Platform upgrades, including “tactile walking surface indicators” at the edge of the platform.
- Accessibility and customer experience upgrades to platforms and shelters.