When the School of Medicine took over a Brampton community centre, giving back the 400-seat theatre inside was part of the deal—now, locals say that’s not what’s happening

By Zanoah Plummer

Matt Simpson is astonished when he learns the Bramalea Civic Centre is being given away. 

He’s the treasurer at Brampton Music Theatre (BMT) which has been performing in the building’s Lester B. Pearson Memorial Theatre (LBP) for decades—and now its future is up in the air.

BMT is Brampton’s only community theatre group. Formed in 1963, the volunteer-run organization hosts both junior and adult productions around the city. Before moving their adult performances to downtown Brampton’s Rose Theatre within the past 10 years, nearly all their shows were staged at LBP. After that, LBP became home to the massive seasonal shows from their youth troupe—starring young performers aged eight to 16 years old.

BMT wasn’t the only one who loved the civic centre—Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) also had its sights on the building for a very different purpose—a home for its brand-new medical school.

TMU had been exploring potential homes for its Brampton campus since 2021 when it was announced they were pursuing the city for an expansion beyond their small, downtown Toronto campus.  

Before the civic centre was selected in 2023, Simpson didn’t even think a community centre would be on the table.

However, this wasn’t a curtain call on BMT’s relationship with the theatre. Alongside the announcement was news that LBP would be spared and leased back to the city on a 99-year term. The venue’s hours would be split between the university and rentals managed by the city. Lectures would take place during the day and live performances in the evenings and on weekends, according to the city. In fact, BMT would still be able to use the space during much of the construction. However, what ensued was anything but smooth. And now, BMT worries their time at the theatre has come to an end.

Scaffolding for the modernized lobby obstructs the foyer, reducing the spacious entryway down to a thin hall at BMT’s late 2024 production of Newsies Jr. The concession stands typically set up outside of the theatre are absent and during intermission, audience members and performers struggle to intermingle outside the doors. 

The junior show wound up being the last they performed at LBP. The state of the building during the conversion had been a harbinger of BMT’s uncertain future with the theatre.

While the young performers are onstage, banging noises are heard as the construction crew upstairs is working. Work is supposed to have paused during the hours of the show, but due to an alleged ‘communication error’, the hammering continues above. Dust covered set pieces and props are hastily cleaned off before being moved onstage. Performers dressed in newsboy caps and oversized slacks wait backstage for their cue, but are met with remnants of the ceiling caught on their costumes.

Little pieces of debris are falling onto the children.

For Bel Archer, the facilities manager of BMT, this was an upsetting sight.  

“I know for a lot of people that have come to see the show, this was their first time being in there since our last show so they hadn’t seen the construction.” says Archer. Seeing parts of the building gutted was a wake up call to many attendees, says Archer. “I think that’s when it really cemented that ‘wow, we won’t have this space anymore. Where are you guys gonna go?’”

BMT had a production scheduled for late November to early December 2025, several months after the school’s opening date in September 2025. In May, however, Brampton on Stage—the city-run organization which manages the venue—refused their booking of the theatre without reason, says Simpson.

“Since then, we have tried to book the facility and we were told that we would only be able to rent that facility one day at a time,” he says. 

BMT’s junior performers spend up to a year preparing for their shows and were met with disappointment when the show had to be cancelled.

With bookings at the mercy of school hours, only able to be held during time slots in the evening and weekends—and can seemingly be cancelled on a whim—the future for Simpson, Archer and the rest of their troupe is uncertain.

The Bramalea Civic Centre is a bulky brutalist-style building along Queen Street, one of Brampton’s busiest thoroughfares. It’s clad in concrete brick and sandwiched between a bus terminal, Peel Region’s administrative offices and Bramalea City Centre—the city’s largest mall with over 300 stores. The building has stood in this spot since it was constructed in the late 1970s as a multipurpose community centre for the then-new neighbourhood. Its central location was also one of the reasons TMU selected it in early 2023.

The other reason was proximity to hospitals. TMU cited the closeness to Brampton Civic Hospital, Peel Memorial Hospital and Brampton’s need for physicians as reasons why the Civic Centre was selected for the school. The city of Brampton is also one of the worst victims of Ontario’s doctor shortage, with a staggering 70 family doctors per 100,000 residents. 

Where there’s now a ‘TMU’ sign on the building, there was once  one reading “Brampton Library.” Before being handed over to the university, the civic centre housed the Chinguacousy Library, one of Brampton’s flagship branches. Chinguacousy had undergone a $2-million renovation in 2017 which, in addition to a facelift, introduced an audio recording studio, a makerspace and doubled the computer lab space. Residents in Bramalea—which is one of the city’s lowest-income neighbourhoods according to the 2021 Canadian Census—welcomed the investment in their community. 

Residents were promised a replacement for the library in April 2023 after TMU came onto the scene. Plans were unveiled in January 2025 to move the library into an expanded Howden Recreation Centre, but construction on that project has yet to begin. The library is temporarily being housed in the significantly-smaller Chinguacousy Park Ski Chalet. The City of Brampton has the lowest number of branches and library space per capita among Canada’s 10 largest cities according to a 2022 report from Brampton Library.

As one of only three indoor theatres in the city, LBP has been an important cultural space since it opened. It’s where many of Brampton’s performers got their start. Big names have appeared there—like internationally-celebrated Brampton-born poet Rupi Kaur.

In 2019, it underwent a $2.6-million renovation. With the COVID-19 pandemic pausing live events, Brampton residents never really got a chance to use it before the transfer to TMU.

Adyan Owusu*, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at TMU has lived in Brampton his whole life. He says the building was a staple in the neighbourhood.

“This is one of the things that everyone in Brampton knows about. If you go to any school that’s within that area, that’s the main spot you’re going to after school to study,” Owusu says.

In high school, Owusu spent long afternoons at the library to study with his friends. He was a part of a choir which performed at LBP in the past. His first performance ever was there and with his mother and sister in attendance, he got his first feel of what the limelight feels like. When he sees the theatre now, Owusu reminisces on his first and favourite performance.

Brampton’s arts scene has had stagnant growth compared to other cities and the lack of venues and rehearsal spaces may be a factor. Theatre groups in Brampton have slowly been disappearing, with Peel Panto Players closing the curtain for the last time in 2018. 

Brampton Arts Organization (BAO) is a non-profit created to support the arts in Brampton. Resources for the performing arts are noticeably absent from recent reports publicized on its website. BAO was previously housed inside the civic centre but has since moved downtown. The organization supports artists with access to spaces and recording studio hours, but with limited stage access, performance artists are practicing for an audience that may never arrive.

The university says it’s aware of the importance of arts in Brampton, and doesn’t think the theatre’s new ownership will impact the scene.

“Toronto Metropolitan University recognizes the importance of the Lester B. Pearson Theatre as a valued arts and community space in Brampton and continues to work collaboratively with the City on scheduling to support ongoing artistic and community use.” said the university in a statement to The Eyeopener. “While TMU’s academic programming is generally scheduled during weekday daytime hours, TMU and the City work closely and collaboratively to coordinate schedules in advance and to minimize conflicts.”

BMT wasn’t the only frustrated party at the time of the handover. 

Councillor Rowena Santos, who was elected in 2018 and represents wards 1 and 5 says she wasn’t aware the civic centre was even being considered. Santos has come forward in recent years as a supporter of the arts. In 2023, she was outspoken in her concern over TMU’s overtaking of the theatre.

“Are they willing to make sure that they work with the arts community so that we don’t lose that space and see a further decrease in our per-capita investment in the arts?” asked Santos in a March 2023 council meeting. Santos continued, “As a theatre production company, how do you prepare for a week run of shows if you can’t set your stage?”

At one point, she called out TMU’s president, “I’m happy to have a direct call with president Lachemi about the importance of maintaining performing arts in the City of Brampton,” she said.

“Sometimes I think to myself, if Bramalea Civic Centre was some sort of ice rink or indoor recreation centre for sports, whether or not we would even consider turning it into a medical school.”

When BMT moved operations to Mississauga, Ont. in 2024, they never intended it to be permanent. The construction at the civic centre had become overwhelming, so BMT began hosting its junior shows at the Maja Prentice Theatre in Mississauga. While inconvenient, there was an expectation that this was temporary and Archer says the theatre has been courteous. Now, due to the scheduling fiasco at LBP, they’re remaining there for the time being.

Maja Prentice is half the size of LBP, with a 198-seat auditorium. While it’s the same size as Brampton’s Cyril Clark Theatre, Cyril Clark has a smaller stage and just one dressing room. For a large cast composed of over 30 young performers, Maja Prentice better fits the needs of BMT, says Simpson

“We did use Cyril Clark for a bit, but we had to drastically reduce our cast size. Which goes against our mandate, especially for junior shows and for all community theatre. And you’ll find this across all community theatres.” 

The relocation has come with issues, as some members of the cast are from neighbouring smaller towns and have a longer commute to Mississauga. LBP’s proximity to the bus terminal also made it convenient for audiences and cast members who did not have access to a vehicle, according to Archer.

“I think it’s a deterrent for a lot of our children’s friends to come see them because now it’s not in the city,” she says. 

Performers from BMT’s youth troupe often go on to join the adult troupe when they age out, according to Archer. So the potential consequences of losing LBP are significant for the operations of the entire organization—and the future of theatre in Brampton. Without a space to explore the art when they’re young, getting a foot in the door could be a challenge for performers in the future

Bizarrely, while Santos mentioned BMT by name several times during the 2023 council meeting, BMT says they have not received much response from Santos nor city council about the theatre.

Simpson says questions the group posed at a special arts-focused roundtable for the 2026 city budget chaired by councilor Santos were not answered.

Brampton on Stage did not get back to The Eye in time for publication and Santos’ team—originally willing to go on the record—withdrew their offer for comment.

Having been in the area for five decades, the civic centre is as iconic to the Bramalea neighbourhood as Gage Park is to downtown Brampton. But to city council, Simpson says, the building may be as small as the daffodils planted around its entrance with the lack of attention paid to it in recent years.

Santos nor any other member of city council has brought up the theatre in the past few years. However, the city’s 2026 budget unveiled $30 million in funding towards building a new arts & culture centre. 

Despite an initial announcement in 2023, little has been publicized on plans for the centre, including whether or not the centre will feature a stage and performance space.

Archer says seeing this happen to a space where she grew is the hardest part.

“Being backstage for the whole week, those memories I’ll always cherish. But when I was a child, I used to dance and we used to perform at Lester B. Pearson before the Rose Theatre was constructed,” she says.

One of Archer’s first memories of dance was at LBP. She had worn a white tutu, in the backstage illuminated by black light. When she looked down at herself the tutu glowed purple, her favorite color. 

In her teen years, she used the library as a study spot and a place to wait for the GO bus. The civic centre’s multipurpose use allowed for it to grow with its visitors. Simpson’s wife attended prenatal classes at the centre and the library was adored by all ages. 

“We would love the opportunity for Lester B. Pearson to take us back. We love performing in our city. We’re Brampton Music Theatre, not Mississauga Music Theatre,” says Archer. 

*This source is a member of The Eyeopener’s Board of Directors. They are not a journalism student and had no involvement in the production of this story.