Sacrifice the largest dog park in Montreal? It would certainly be a way of stifling the desire to see its exemplary model reproduced elsewhere… Dogs have always been part of our lives in cities. We have privileged them as companions for their intelligence, their loyalty and their many interpersonal skills. The years of the recent pandemic have also helped to reveal the great value of this relationship and the many physical and psychological benefits that can be derived from it.
Many are also new owners of city dogs. In this context, if a healthy and harmonious cohabitation is desired, we must take into account that a dog is a social animal that needs daily energy expenditure and that will display inappropriate behavior on several levels if these needs are not satisfied.
This is one of the reasons why we must offer them large spaces, ideally equipped with nature, where they can run, play, meet humans and fellow creatures in a less stressful and anxiety-provoking context than when they are kept on a leash. In this sense, the vast majority of dog parks in Montreal do not adequately meet the needs of dogs, neither in terms of surface area, nor in terms of layout and safety.
But in Montreal there is Mali Park. A dog park with 80 mature trees. A park cited as an example by experts, among others, for its ideal size and its natural and safe layout. A vast green space used by thousands of dog owners, with a 220-meter ambulatory ring around which an intense social life develops, something quite rare in urban areas. And not insignificantly, this place represents the only place of nature in Montreal where people can walk with their dog without a leash. And it is these assets that make this place widely used by people from other boroughs of Montreal.
The Mali park is therefore a destination park. Unfortunately, everything suggests that his days are numbered. A redevelopment of the sector where it is located is currently decided, and the decision-makers in this file refuse to commit to maintaining it in full, despite the numerous representations of its association, and this, since 2009. However, the unique development of this place promotes intergenerational encounters where the social fabric of a community develops, and the many benefits of its abundant canopy on the mental health of its users no longer need to be proven (Greening cities for population health, INSPQ). Their well-being is also at stake. Montreal must take these major arguments into account.
Destroying trees over 25 years old that contribute to lowering the temperature of the place by several degrees, and therefore to combating Montreal’s heat islands, would be a gesture to be denounced in these times of global warming. Let’s keep the entire park and redevelop everything around! It’s possible. All that is missing is the political will. Would we have lacked solutions to avoid depriving citizens of such a precious park if it had not been for dogs? And if the voice calling for its maintenance was not that of dog owners?
Animals and their humans have a voice, and the City must take this into account. We do not claim out of whim, but out of real need. In the name of respect for citizens who own dogs and for all those who support them in this cause, protection must be granted to the largest dog park in Montreal.