Ila Bossons, former Chair of the Annex Resident’s Association, died December 7 at the age of 83. Bossons served as a Metro and Toronto city councillor from 1988-2000, serving four terms through the turbulent period of Toronto’s amalgamation.

Metro Councillor Bossons represented Midtown, an area that included the Annex, but extended North to Eglinton. She was concerned with enhancing the city’s liveability, and known as a progressive who was independent of the unofficial NDP coalition.  

An early advocate of recycling and bike lanes on Bloor Street, Bossons worked with the Toronto Conservation Authority to enhance protection of the city’s ravines. She also campaigned for provincial permission to let the city install cameras to catch people running red-lights.

Ila Bossons voted against Toronto’s 1996 bid to host the Summer Olympics. Again in 2000, she was one of only two councillors who voted against approving Toronto’s bid to host the 2008 Olympics, along with Michael Walker of North Toronto. At the time, bid chair David Crombie called the 54-2 vote a “ringing endorsement,” though Toronto ultimately lost to Beijing. Bossons argued the money would have been better spent on schools, housing and hospitals.

Ila Bossons was born in Germany in 1937. She attended schools in Munich, Madrid, Pittsburgh and New York. She leaves John, her husband of 56 years, her son Miles, and her brother Walter Haeberle. A full obituary will appear in an upcoming issue of the Gleaner.

—Nicole Stoffman/Gleaner News