Preparations underway to settle Syrian refugees By Summer Reid and Annemarie Brissenden As waves of Syrian refugees continue to arrive at Toronto Pearson International Airport to great fanfare, grassroots organizations from the Annex are anxiously waiting to welcome the families they have sponsored as they continue to raise money and prepare for the new arrivals. […]

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The newly minted Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, wasted no time in announcing rules further restricting the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) ability to “backstop” loans to homebuyers. Effective Feb. 15, 2016, purchasers of homes whose purchase price exceeds $500,000 will be required to put at least 10 per cent down, which is up […]

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Harris Huron alum Re: Red House, Winter by Lawren Harris (December 2015 Cover) Thanks Gleaner for that lovely Lawren Harris cover. In addition to the local ties and contributions mentioned in the article, Harris was also an alumnus of local Huron Street Public School. Happy New Year, —Simon Wright Sales Representative Wright Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage […]

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Meeting the prohibitive cost of child care first-hand By Mike Layton It’s 5 a.m., it’s dark, and I just changed my baby’s diaper. Why won’t she go back to sleep? Is she hungry? She’s been fed. Maybe gassy? She’s been burped. What do I do now? Phoebe just celebrated her one-month birthday and our lives […]

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Bloor St. Culture Corridor participates in strategy consultations By Heather Kelly The diverse arts organizations that make up the Bloor St. Culture Corridor are playing an active role in setting the province’s cultural priorities by participating in a series of town halls and online forums, and by responding to requests for comment. The consultation process […]

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An environmental case for less meat on the table By Terri Chu With the holidays behind us and some of us going vegetarian until we recover from the gluttony, it is a good time to reflect on the environmental and social impact of the meat on our table. As the environmental atrocities related to our […]

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Was the street named for a tireless English abolitionist? By Annemarie Brissenden Harbord Street may have been named for an early nineteenth-century advocate of parliamentary reform and tireless crusader to end slavery, says a past board member of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association. “I started asking the question a few years ago,” explains Wendy Smith. […]

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Group of Seven member Lawren Harris, who painted Red House, Winter, shown on this year’s holiday cover, not only has many links to the Annex, but to this issue as well. He attended the University of Toronto, taught visual art for a time at the Central Technical School, and painted several depictions of the Ward […]

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Imagine an alternate reality where everyone speaks in quotes from Star Wars films. That’s the world Annex residents Mark McIntyre and Andrew Chapman — who describe it as “every fanboy’s fantasy” — have created in their upcoming film, Bar Wars, a live-action short that follows Chapman as he tries to pick up women. Most of […]

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An alternative medicine practitioner has been charged with sexually assaulting a patient at his independently-owned Natural Healings Health Solutions clinic on Bloor Street West. A 22-year-old woman has alleged that 53-year-old Mark Lennard assaulted her while receiving treatment at the clinic for back pain. He was arrested on Nov. 9, charged with two counts of […]

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Private school to renew lease for 50 years By Marielle Torrefranca The University of Toronto Schools (UTS), an independent high school for high achievers, is staving off eviction after reaching a 50-year lease renewal agreement with the University of Toronto. The deal is still dependent on the approval of U of T’s governing council and […]

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