One of Toronto's most iconic bars and live music venues has new life. Sneaky Dees was facing demolition to make way for a new condominium development, but after an intense campaign by loyal patrons to save the beloved establishment, those plans are now officially dead.
News of the bar's potential closing first broke at the end of May. That is when a passionate group of community members, artists and longtime patrons launched a grassroots campaign to save it, arguing the venue was far more than just a business to the people who gathered there.
The depth of that attachment was striking. Organizers said they heard from people as far away as Yellowknife and Australia asking how they could help. One supporter, a newcomer to Canada, described the bar as the place where he first met the people he now calls family, the same people who then helped him fight to save it.
The turning point came from an unexpected detail. During the campaign, the group discovered that the condo proposal included property owned by the Royal Bank of Canada, which has a branch next door. Suspecting the developer did not actually have rights to that land, they turned to the city for answers.
A title search proved decisive. It showed the developer owned only two of the five parcels involved in the project, and in particular did not own the Royal Bank parcel. A local councillor then asked RBC to confirm whether it supported the development, and within days the bank issued a formal letter to community council explicitly denying its consent.
Once that letter was posted publicly on a Friday afternoon, the outcome came quickly. Almost right away, organizers said, the developer sent word that it was withdrawing the project. Supporters are celebrating the reversal as a major win for the community, one that ensures a cultural institution with a special place in the city of Toronto is here to stay.