News conference in Windsor on proposed National Urban Park

CBRE has announced that a 34.75-acre property at the corner of Sprucewood Avenue and Matchett Road in Windsor has been sold.

The federal Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Nature is in Windsor Monday with a news conference scheduled for 10 a.m. regarding progress on the proposed Ojibway National Urban Park.

The Honourable Julie Dabrusin will be in the city making an announcement.

Four parcels of vacant land in the area of Sprucewood and Ojibway Parkway totaling 43.39 acres, or 17.5 hectares, were listed for sale in November 2025 for $17 million.

Since then, the city has been advocating for Parks Canada to secure federal funding to buy the property and merge it into the proposed National Urban Park.

Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis says he will be at today’s news conference, but doesn’t know exactly what will be announced.

“Usually when you have announcements and ministers come down and federal representatives come down, you’re announcing good news so I’m really excited about that. I’m looking forward to the announcement, specifically on Monday and hopefully, hopefully we can move forward with an Ojibway National Urban Park,” he said.

Francis added the entire community has been pushing for the creation of the national urban park. “It really is grassroots. I’m thinking of the Friends of Ojibway group, I’m thinking about so many environmentalists and advocates who have been advocating, working for and pushing this along the goal line for really the past 30 years so it really was a wholehearted community effort.”

If it becomes official, Francis said it would be the second national urban park in Canada.

“By us being able to make this a national urban park and hopefully adding more land to it to protect even more biodiversity in the region, it really sets up generations of people in this city to enjoy what really is our central park.”

In March 2025, the federal government pledged $36.1 million over five-years to establish the park, along with $4.6 million in annual operating funds.