Farewell to the Hamilton Waterfront Trust
March 31, 2026
Today marks the final day of operations for the Hamilton Waterfront Trust. As Chair of the Trust, it’s a bittersweet moment for me.
Though I pledged to dissolve the Trust when I ran in 2018, and I feel a personal sense of accomplishment, I’ve grown fond of working with the Trust’s staff, who ran things, day in and day out, and my role as Chair to steward the organization and the Board.
We’re leaving things much better than we found them and we wrapped things up in a good way, in collaboration with our outgoing staff, still providing good summer job opportunities, but now through the City, and ensuring the programming people have come to depend on will remain in place.
For those who may not have seen it, below is the statement I released on March 12 on behalf of the Board and staff at the Hamilton Waterfront Trust.
I look forward, as Ward 2 Councillor, to continue to steward our waterfront in collaboration with City staff and welcome anyone to reach out to me, anytime, if they have concerns about its operations at Cameron.Kroetsch@hamilton.ca.
The Hamilton Waterfront Trust was established on November 24, 2000 and funded through a $6.3 million settlement with the Federal government. It has operated separately from the City of Hamilton, with its own staff, management, budgets, and Board of Trustees, which included Councillors and community members.
Over the last 25 years, the Trust has built the Hamilton Waterfront Trail; administered projects across Piers 5 through 8; operated and staffed Williams Fresh Café, Scoops, and the Discovery Centre; and offered programming through the Waterfront Outdoor Rink, Waterfront Trolley, and Hamiltonian Tour Boat.
As we announced in March 2025, the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Waterfront Trust Board decided to dissolve the Trust due to concerns about its financial sustainability. That process has now concluded. At its final meeting on March 10, 2026, the Hamilton Waterfront Trust signed dissolution papers effective March 31, 2026. This means all of the Trust’s assets and programming will be turned over to the City as of April 1, 2026.
Everything residents have come to expect from waterfront programming will continue, including during the transition. The City, which operates Bayfront and Pier 4 Parks, will now incorporate the programming and maintenance of Piers 5 through 8 into its existing responsibilities. The dissolution of the Trust comes at a time when major projects on Piers 5 through 8 have been complete, including All Our Relations, but also as a result of the Trust’s history of financial instability.
The Trust was not able to maintain its operations without annual bailouts or lease and payment agreements from the City, which totalled millions of dollars over its lifetime.
From 2015 to 2017 alone, it was subject to mounting legal costs to defend a $15 million claim from the Sarcoa Restaurant; owed $325,000 in back taxes; and had its charitable status revoked. Things didn’t significantly improve for the Trust financially, requiring the City to buyout its lease in 2018 to help keep operations afloat.
Apart from the Trust’s financial instability, there were also public concerns raised about the transparency and accountability of its governance. These concerns eventually led to complaints filed to the Ontario Ombudsman, which resulted in major changes to make meetings open to the public starting in 2020 and 2021.
When the new Board was first appointed in 2022, we were determined to get the Trust into a more profitable position, to divest ourselves of assets and programs not related to our core mandate, restore trust in the governance of the City’s waterfront programming, and to ensure residents could continue to enjoy all the waterfront has to offer. This was done with the planned goal of dissolving the Trust and handing it over to the City to operate in a more efficient and less costly manner.
The decision to divest ourselves of directly operating and staffing the Williams Fresh Café franchise was chief among the reasons we were able to right size our operations and reduce costs. These and other savings allowed us to replace our outdated Waterfront Trolley with an electric powered, modern equivalent, which will ensure children, seniors, and everyone in between can continue to enjoy the waterfront tours for many years to come.
This has been a precisely planned process, one the Board of Trustees, Hamilton Waterfront Trust staff, and the City have executed with care and due diligence on behalf of Hamilton residents. We’re proud to hand things over to the City at a time when the Trust is in a stronger financial position.
The Board wishes to thank Executive Director Christian Wiley for doing an exceptional job of consolidating operations and preparing the Trust for dissolution; Mary Ann Cuthbert, who has been with the Trust for nearly 24 years and has poured her heart and soul into making the waterfront a destination; and Ryan Cuthbert and James Bryant who have kept the waterfront running, day to day, for all Hamiltonians to enjoy.
While this marks the conclusion of the Hamilton Waterfront Trust as an organization, the waterfront itself continues to thrive. We’re confident the City will carry this work forward. Hamilton’s waterfront is a special place for our community, and we look forward to seeing residents and visitors continue to enjoy everything it has to offer.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
This section lists upcoming Ward 2 public meetings including town halls happening over the next few months. Some of this information may change closer to the meeting dates, including times and locations.To read Committee and Council Agendas and Meeting Notices, please subscribe to updates directly through the City’s website or visit the City’s Committee Calendar.
For more on what’s happening in the downtown community, check out event listings from The Vibe Hamilton, Hamilton City Magazine’s regular events listing, and the Ward 2 website’s Community Meetings page.
