ABOUT

✓ Executive Director of the Friends of Allan Gardens.

✓ A proven community builder, fostering inclusivity in horticulture & landscape architecture.

✓ I love growing native plants from Ontario, and cultural plants from all over the world that remind us of home.

✓ A leading advocate for establishing a true botanical garden in Toronto—one that honours the city's collective aspirations and celebrates cultural connections to the land, regardless of origin.

✓ Student Research: Documenting and visualizing the relationship between sunlight, the built-from, microclimates, and urban life.

RESUME

Contact

Professional: matt@friendsofallangardens.ca

Personal: mattcanaran@gmail.com

Education

University of Guelph, Master of Landscape Architecture. Class of 2022.

University of Waterloo, Bachelor of Environmental Studies. Class of 2014.

McGill University, Visiting Student, Department of Geography, 2011.

George Brown College, working towards the Garden Design Certificate in conjunction with Toronto Botanical Gardens.

Skills & Tools

Gardening & Plant Propagation

Graphics & Infographics (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Drafting & 3D Rendering (Rhino, AutoCAD, SketchUp)

Cartography (GIS)

Landscape Construction & Project Management

Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

Billing & Invoicing (Quickbooks)

Professional Experience

Friends of Allan Gardens, Toronto, ON, Executive Director, 2024 – Present

  • Champion fundraising and community engagement initiatives outlined in Growing with the City, our strategic plan to build resources and develop a shared vision for the gardens.

  • Manage a team of staff to deliver public programs, including a farmers’ market, plant sales, volunteer gardening, and food-growing initiatives that donate to local food banks.

  • Lead a team of consultants to develop a landscape plan for the park, a horticultural plan for plant collections, and a capital development plan to expand the greenhouse conservatory—ensuring Toronto, the world's most diverse city, has the botanical garden it deserves.

  • Collaborate with the City Councillor’s office, community support organizations, Indigenous organizations, and Parks & Recreation staff to co-design, promote, and deliver programming focused on community development and collective uplift.

  • Secure grants and long-term funding to expand the staff team and build the organization’s capacity. Since joining, I have doubled the staff team, tripled the annual operating budget, and increased program participation from 6,000 to 24,000 people per year. We aim to quadruple that number again.

Friends of Allan Gardens, Toronto, ON, Program Manager & Volunteer Coordinator, 2022 – 2024

  • Developed Growing with the City, a strategic planning, engagement, and fundraising document outlining a vision for Allan Gardens’ future. This plan focuses on strengthening community partnerships, expanding programming, restoring the historic greenhouse conservatory, and exploring alternative governance and financing models to realize the park’s potential.

  • Managed a team of 150 volunteers, matching their skills and interests to projects that supported organizational growth, park beautification, and horticultural initiatives.

  • Oversaw the care of several community gardens within the park, including a City of Toronto PollinateTO-funded garden and multiple gardens co-managed with Indigenous organizations.

  • Cultivated respectful, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers by supporting Indigenous-led initiatives in the park, such as the installation of bike racks designed by Raylah Moonias and a tree interpretation project led by Elder Donna Powless.

Can Bros Landscaping, Toronto, ON, Owner & Operator, 2019 – Present

  • Co-founded and operated a garden design and construction business with my brother, Sean, emphasizing biodiversity, sustainable material reuse, and support for local suppliers. 

  • Designed and built gardens for residential, commercial, and institutional clients across Toronto and surrounding areas.

  • Developed detailed design plans, including site plans, perspective drawings, and section diagrams, both by hand and digitally.

  • Installed and maintained gardens to ensure long-term resilience.

  • Since transitioning to full-time work with Friends of Allan Gardens, we have scaled down the business to focus on existing clients.

Liquid Analytics, Toronto, ON, User Experience Manager, 2016 – 2019

  • Led client engagement to define project requirements and oversee the design and development of multiple iPhone and iPad applications. As of 2023, over $10 billion in sales have passed through one of the sales platforms I designed.

  • Managed development teams to ensure timely project delivery while maintaining budget and scope, earning a reputation for delivering functional products on time and within budget.

  • Worked closely with company executives on goal setting, strategic planning, and resource allocation.

  • Established a new Toronto office, hiring eight employees and doubling the company’s staff to meet the demands of newly awarded projects.

Metrolinx, Toronto, ON, Research Analyst, 2014-2016

  • Designed and implemented a demand-responsive shuttle pilot project to connect people between their homes and GO Transit stations. The project assessed the extent to which a demand-responsive shuttle could reduce the need to expand the parking supply at stations.

  • Evaluated the performance of different transit interventions including new stations and a bike-share expansion, and recommended the options that had the highest return on investment and economic benefit.

  • Worked collaboratively with different departments such as rail operations to determine the feasibility and potential costs for transit proposals.

Community Work

Taiaiako’n Historical Preservation Society, Project Support, 2023 to Present

  • Work with Elders and Knowledge Keepers Donna Powless and Catherine Tammaro on preserving and sharing. Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) culture in Toronto, their ancestral homeland. This included securing funding to support ongoing projects such as the renaming of the riding Parkdale-High Park to Taiaiako’n-Parkdale-High Park, to include reference to the historic Haudenosaunee village in the riding. 

Save Smalls Creek, Graphics & Communications Support, 2020 to Present

  • Created graphics to communicate the impact of Metrolinx’s construction work on Smalls Creek and the Don watersheds, and pushed for and participated in workshops with Metrolinx to negotiate a positive outcome for the community. 

In the Media

From Suffragette Rallies To Encampments, Allan Gardens Tells Toronto's History, 2023. Toronto Storyes feature by Christopher Hume. See here.

How A Park Stewardship Group Makes Space, 2023. Ground Magazine feature by Matt Lundsrom & Ryan De Jong. See here.

The Line between Native and Invasive Blurs, 2022. LocalTO feature by Steph Wong Ken. See here.

Reports & Documents

Growing with the City, 2023. Friends of Allan Gardens. Editor, and primary contributor. See here. 

Documenting and Visualizing Sunlight in Toronto’s Core, 2022. Author, Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis Document. See here. 

Treaty City: Revealing Toronto’s Storied Past in the Contemporary Urban Landscape, 2020. Research Paper for the University of Guelph. See here. 

Presentations

Parks, Gentrification, and Urban Justice: Spotlight on Homeless Encampments in Toronto’s Allan Gardens, 2025. Presentation to the Canadian Municipal Round Table of Landscape Architects. 45 people in attendance. 

Emerging Practitioners in Landscape Architecture, 2024. Presentation at the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects Annual Conference. 300 people in attendance. 

Friends of Allan Gardens: A Model of Stewardship, 2023. Presentation to the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry, and Recreation Department. 70 people in attendance. 

Documenting and Visualizing Sunlight in Toronto’s Core, 2023. Presentation to the OALA with 140 people in attendance. 

Growing with the City & the Friends of Allan Gardens Model for Stewardship, 2022, Presentation at the National Trust for Canada Annual Conference. 120 people in attendance. 

Documenting and Visualizing Sunlight in Toronto’s Core, 2023. Presentation to the City of Toronto’s City Planning Department  with over 200 people in attendance. 

Awards

Keys to the Ward, 2024. Awarded by Toronto City Councillor for Friends of Allan Gardens community building work. Awarded to the Friends of Allan Gardens.

Community Service to the Environment, 2024. Awarded by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Awarded to the Friends of Allan Gardens.

Decolonizing the Arboretum Research Grant, 2023. Awarded by the Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture.

Community Service to the Environment, 2022. Awarded by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Awarded to the Friends of Smalls Creek.

Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation Regional Scholarship, 2022

Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2019-2022

The Fun Stuff

  • PADI-certified scuba diver

  • Blackbelt in karate

  • Aspires to see as many botanical gardens as possible!