Public Commons

• The 18,600 acres of land expropriated for an airport in 1972 stand today as an oasis in the midst of urban sprawl.

Part of Pickering Farmland

In 1972, the federal government expropriated almost 30 sq. miles of prime farmland in North Pickering for an international airport. Fierce opposition by the grassroots movement People or Planes succeeded in stopping the project in 1975. But the site remains in federal hands, and Transport Canada continues to pursue a systematic policy of depopulation there, even though no airport plan has ever been revived.

In early 2005, opposition to a new round of demolition and eviction notices on the Lands prompted the creation of Land Over Landings, which started out – and remains – part protest group, part advocacy group, but with one overriding goal: to preserve this priceless agricultural asset.

We represent the tenants who live on the Lands as well as concerned residents in surrounding communities. We believe that protecting a safe and reliable food resource within the boundaries of Canada’s largest urban area unquestionably trumps any non-agricultural plan that might surface for this irreplaceable farmland.

Through speaking engagements, special events, demonstrations, and more, we keep the issue in the public eye and advocate for the protection, in perpetuity, of this class 1 land by means of a Land Trust. To expand on a People or Planes slogan from 1972: Varying small percentages of the local population might gain some benefit from an airport, factories, shopping malls, or office blocks on the Lands, but 100% of the population needs – and will always need – food.

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