Community outreach suffers with TDSB ban on SROs By Brian Burchell It was a novel idea: one cellphone, a shoestring budget, and a few bikes. All shared by the four police constables who made up 14 Division’s School Watch Officer (SWO) program. Together, they served ten schools west of Spadina Avenue, including Central Technical School, […]

[Read more →]

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustees are poised to accept a staff recommendation to permanently discontinue its 10-year relationship with the Toronto Police Service (TPS). Instituted after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot and killed in a stairwell at C. W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute, the School Resource Officer (SRO) program was developed after a report on […]

[Read more →]

A dedication to reconciliation and Aboriginal issues By Joe Cressy and Mike Layton We gratefully acknowledge that the City of Toronto is located on the traditional lands of the Ojibwa, Hodenosaunee, and the Huron Wendat and is part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit. These words we hear at […]

[Read more →]

Gearing up for the season By Heather Kelly Game changers and trail blazers At key moments in history, remarkable individuals find the courage to reinvent the world as we know it. Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema presents the popular series, Game Changers, which pays tribute to the cultural visionaries who point the way forward. Films that tell […]

[Read more →]

Researchers shouldn’t have to spend their time asking for money The federal government recently announced that it provided $1.6 million to the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) to great fanfare. It is enough to keep it running through 2019. It seems like such a paltry amount considering we spent half a billion dollars to […]

[Read more →]

Dutch Dreams owner recalls Nazi terror, jubilation after liberation In honour of Remembrance Day, we’re reprinting the story of Theo Aben, co-owner of Dutch Dreams. It first appeared in November 2004. By Jessica Shulman Eight-year-old Theo Aben stood rapt as Canadian troops descended upon his town of Amersfoort, Holland. He fought hard to suppress a […]

[Read more →]

The Annex played host to several installations late last month for Nuit Blanche Toronto. Nine artists contributed to OnePath Toronto, a group exhibition that explored ideas of identity and nationhood through large-scale and interactive installations on the grounds of Spadina Museum. In Ephemerality (above), a multi-media installation founded on the Greek concept of all things […]

[Read more →]

Committee votes in favour of Bloor Street bike lanes By Geremy Bordonaro It’s been a little over a year since bike lanes were installed on a trial basis on Bloor Street between University and Shaw avenues, and it’s looking more and more like they are here to stay. On October 19, Toronto City Council’s Public Works […]

[Read more →]

Residents balk at tall tower plan By Emilie Jones Local residents got their first look at plans to renovate Bloor Street United Church late last month. The proposal calls for a 38-storey mixed-use building, a renovation, and partial demolition of the church, as well as a new promenade. Located at the corner of Bloor and […]

[Read more →]

Kensington Health chief executive officer Bill O’Neill, Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and members of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association celebrated the opening of Doctors Parkette on October 14 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Formerly Brunswick-College Parkette, the space has been redeveloped from a pokey park into something bright, modern, and functional.   READ MORE:  […]

[Read more →]

Marco Cupido and Gary Bloch help their children cut the ribbon to mark the official reopening of Margaret Fairley Park, also on October 14. They were joined by Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), and Harbord Village Residents’ Association chairs past and present, Gail Misra, Gus Sinclair, and Tim Grant. Children are the forefront of the […]

[Read more →]

Mirvish Village icon finds new life By Geremy Bordonaro What are some Annex icons? The Hot Docs Ted Rogers (formerly Bloor) cinema perhaps, or the Trinity St. Paul’s Centre. Some might point to the University of Toronto, or the streets lined with bay and gable style houses. Until recently, surely one would have said Honest […]

[Read more →]