Long-delayed $3.3M sports complex officially opens in Mississauga

A new $3.3-million sports facility that’s been years in the works will officially open next week in Mississauga’s north end, city officials say.

Located at Anaka Park, next to Ascension of Our Lord Secondary School in Malton, the sports field/track and field complex is the culmination of a joint effort between the City of Mississauga, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and Ministry of Education.

After the better part of a decade of planning and construction, the well-behind-schedule facility was “finally” completed last November, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish announced at the time.

“After eight years of negotiations, an all weather track/soccer field at Anaka Park … (has been) completed,” Parrish wrote in a post to social media late last fall. “Those students have not had an outdoor sports field in their 20 years of existence … Finally.”

At the time, the mayor described the new sports facility as a “spectacular asset for the school and for the neighbourhood.”

Anaka Park improvements include a multi-use artificial turf field with a four-lane running track, a new playground and fitness facility, and buffer tree plantings along the north and west perimeters. (Image: City of Mississauga)

The joint-use facility, which features a lit artificial turf field and synthetic four-lane track, among other amenities, was given the unanimous green light by city councillors in March 2023 and was at that point expected to open to the public in 2024.

However, unspecified delays ensued and the city didn’t take plans to the public for feedback until a March 2024 open house.

Other components of the new sports complex, which will be officially opened next Tuesday, include:

• long jump and triple jump facilities
• spectator bleachers
• extra seating areas
• updated playground with new play structure, improved accessibility and a sandbox
• new outdoor fitness facility
• improved pathway connections
• newly planted trees between the park and surrounding homes

City and school board officials will be on hand the morning of June 9 to officially introduce “Mississauga’s newest sports and community complex” to the public, the city said on Thursday.

“The City of Mississauga and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board have partnered to improve Anaka Park with new amenities,” city officials said. “The revitalized park now features a fully-lit, multi‑use sports facility that has replaced the former soccer field and is designed to support both school and community use. The space also includes a multi‑use artificial turf field, a four‑lane running track, long- and triple-jump facilities, and spectator bleachers.”

An earlier aerial image shows Ascension of Our Lord Secondary School on the right and to its left, the site, undeveloped at the time, of the new track and field facility.

Additional enhancements, the city continued, include upgrades to the existing playground with a new play structure, improved accessibility features and a sandbox, as well as the addition of a new outdoor fitness facility.

“Visitors can also enjoy new seating areas, improved pathway connections and expanded tree plantings that provide a visual buffer for neighbouring homes while enhancing the overall park setting.”

The field is used by Ascension of Our Lord Secondary School during regular school hours and can be booked by the public on evenings and weekends through the city’s permit process.

The new-look facility “provides students with a modern, accessible space that supports learning, recreation and athletic development,” city officials noted. “At the same time, it offers the surrounding community a welcoming, multi‑use park that encourages active living, social connection and improved health and wellness for residents of all ages.”

Construction officially began on April 29, 2025 when city and school board officials gathered for the groundbreaking of the joint-use complex.

While Parrish applauded that milestone at the time, she also said the project took much too long to come together and, in the end, the plan took shape because the city offered one of its parks as part of the deal.

She added at the time the major project should have been completed sooner but for the school board dragging its heels for years.

Parrish also gave credit, though, to the chair of the Dufferin-Peel board at the time, Luz del Rosario.

“She’s the one that finally pushed it through, so that we got the Dufferin-Peel money,” Parrish said in 2025.