Was the street named for a tireless English abolitionist?

Painting by George Clint from the British Museum courtesy of Wendy Smith.

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. “I’ve lived in Harbord Village for almost 20 years, but nobody knew about [how the street got its name]. It’s really been a mystery.”

A mystery, but an irresistible one for the amateur historian, who after approximately three years, has come to theorize that Harbord Street is named for Edward Harbord, the 3rd Lord Suffield.

Suffield was born in England in 1781. A second son who gained financial independence through an advantageous marriage, he represented Shaftesbury in the House of Commons, becoming a member of the House of Lords when he succeeded his elder brother in the barony. A self-described liberal who was a Whig, Suffield made his mark as a member of a parliamentary committee investigating “the condition and treatment of slaves”. He was the only abolitionist on a committee that mostly comprised owners of plantations in the West Indies, and came close to collapse during the committee hearings.

Suffield’s role in getting the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 passed, relates Smith, cannot be understated. She quotes one of his contemporaries, who said “his voice, single as it often was, could not but be listened to.”

The abolitionist never visited Toronto, but Smith believes many on this side of the pond would have been aware of him, including the heads of the Crookshank, Denison, and Baldwin families, prominent landowners who also were active in the politics of the day.

“I like to imagine them in front of the fireplace in one of their homes, brandies in hand, talking over things,” says Smith. Things like what to name the “ramrod straight street” south of Bloor Street that traversed their adjacent properties.

She argues that the abolition movement was regularly chronicled in the newspapers and memoirs of the day, and many British abolitionists moved to Canada bringing with them their stories.

Among them was author Susanna Moodie, who in England knew the secretary of the abolitionist movement, and became very good friends with Robert Baldwin after her arrival in Upper Canada. Perhaps Smith’s most exciting — and recent — discovery is that in 1834, Suffield sponsored the immigration of a group of farm labourers to Upper Canada. A decade later, in 1854, Harbord Street had its name.

Smith is still developing her theory; she hopes to travel to England to find the records of those who resettled here, perhaps uncovering a more conclusive connection.

“It’s a splendid piece of research,” says David Raymont, the president of the York Pioneer and Historical Society. Known as the York Pioneers, the city’s oldest heritage group was founded in 1869 by a group of men — many of whom where veterans of the War of 1812 — who could remember when Toronto was still called the Town of York.

Smith, a member and former board member, presented her theory at the society’s December meeting.

The avid student of Toronto’s early history, as well as the history of Upper Canada, won a Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence (Media) in 2014 for the Toronto Park Lot Project: an interactive online map with clickable layers that allows users to uncover how history and geography intersect.

“It’s important going forward to know where we came from,” says Smith. “As I have learned [more and more], I am just astonished at how profoundly ignorant I have been all my life about the place I live.”

“There’s so much to be learned about the development of this city,” adds Raymont. “People who did things didn’t keep records or share why they did things, and that disconnects us from the roots and concepts of people who shaped it.”

Wendy Smith will present Edward Harbord, 3rd Lord Suffield, at the Palmerston Branch of the Toronto Public Library on May 26 at 7 p.m. To learn more about the Park Lot Project, please visit http://wendysmithtoronto.com/parklotproject/.

To learn more about the York Pioneer and Historical Society, please visit www.yorkpioneers.org.

This article has been updated since it was originally posted: 1844 was corrected to 1854, and Edward Suffied, 3rd Lord Suffield, was corrected to Edward Harbord, 3rd Lord Suffield. The Gleaner regrets the error.

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 before the First World War. His time in Toronto’s first immigrant neighbourhood — what some called a slum — is recounted in The Ward, which was reviewed in a previous issue, and features in our Year in Review.

Part of Hart House’s permanent collection at U of T, Red House, Winter (Oil on canvas, 88 x 103 cm) “fuses Harris’s early, post-war subject matter — derelict buildings in Toronto — with his increasingly abstract impulses, as well as his long-standing interest in what he romanticized as the Great White North,” writes Elizabeth Went in A Story of Canadian Art: As Told by the Hart House Collection. “The acquisition of this work was no doubt a clear response to the growing backlash against the Group of Seven, founded on the notion that they were self-indulgent painters unconcerned with everyday Canadian life. It also, however, fulfilled a very practical need: it filled a gap in the collection, both in terms of Harris’s work, and in terms of depictions of Toronto.”

The Gleaner wishes to thank Rebecca Gimmi and Marsya Maharani from the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at the University of Toronto Art Centre for their help in producing this cover.

—Annemarie Brissenden/Gleaner News

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 the action takes place in the “Lab”, the Labyrinth Lounge on Brunswick Avenue.

“Girls and Star Wars quotes. They usually don’t go together, but in our movie they do,” said McIntyre, who in the film coaches Chapman on what and what not to do.

Chapman and McIntyre, who also run Kessel Run Studios, through which they help actors create tapes and scene-studies to send to casting directors, drew on their close network for support in making Bar Wars.

“We are so lucky to have so many talented friends,” added Chapman, explaining that their friends made up the entire cast and crew for the film, which was shot entirely in the neighbourhood.

“It’s almost like a little love letter to the Annex,” said Chapman.

The film, also an homage that celebrates the latest instalment of the science fiction franchise Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will be released Dec. 14 via YouTube, and on www.facebook.com/KesselRunStudios.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

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 sexual assault, and is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 16 at Old City Hall. Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers have reason to believe that there may be more victims. If you have any knowledge regarding this or any other incidents, please call the TPS at 416-808-1400, or Toronto Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477.

—Corrina King/Gleaner News

Private school to renew lease for 50 years

Parents and students are relieved that UTS will remain in the Bloor Street building it has called home since 1910 well into the foreseeable future. The lease also includes provisions for physical improvements to the building, heritage restoration, and the addition of a multi-use auditorium. Marielle Torrefranca, Gleaner News

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 is expected to be discussed further on Dec. 15, said Jim Fleck, chair of UTS’s board of directors.

The lease includes provisions for physical improvements to the 105-year-old building, heritage restoration, and a new 700-seat multi-use auditorium. UTS would also contribute $1.5 million to the redevelopment of the university’s Robert Street playing field into an open air athletic field, said Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice-president, university operations.

While UTS would pay construction and operating costs, U of T would retain ownership of the land and is still actively planning to develop the rest of the site.

“The amount of work to date is more notional, so we can work at a project agreement [to] ensure the partnership and decision making moving forward,” said Mabury, explaining that these plans are still in their infancy and there has been very little work on detail.

“I can’t tell you what it’s going to look like yet, because nobody knows,” he added.

Fleck, who noted that they’ve still to find an architect, said that if the deal is finalized, the next step would be to lay out the construction plans. Depending on fundraising and building permits, redevelopments could start as soon as the summer of 2017.

“Whatever we do will respect the neighbourhood,” said Fleck. “I think we’ve always got along with everyone there and the surroundings [and we] hope to retain that positive relationship.”

This renewal is a change of course for the university. In 2011, U of T rejected a $48-million proposal to refurbish the affiliated high school and gave UTS a 10-year eviction notice, stating it would need to be out of its current location by 2021.

At that time, funding UTS was perceived as too big a financial burden for the university, said Fleck. “It’s certainly not part of their core strategy to help a high school.”

But UTS has now shown it can survive on its own, and the past three years of developing strategies and creating relationships with different parts of the university have been fruitful.

He explained that the school’s significant tuition fees ($23,590 for the 2015-16 academic year, with an enrolment fee of $2,500) provide the capital it needs to operate.

“We’re running a positive operation that is not in deficit,” said Fleck. “So we then sort of initiated a new conversation with the university – not only on the basis that we can support ourselves, but that we can make a major contribution to the mission of the university.”

For U of T, it was a matter of considering the value of the space occupied by UTS, and having shared access to the new and improved facilities was a large component of the conversation.

“We are receiving cash and receiving assets we will have access to, like the auditorium,” Mabury said. “I believe that both sides think we’ve come up with a pretty good fit.”

UTS has been calling the building on 371 Bloor St. W. home since 1910.

In light of the eviction notice in 2011, the board underwent an extensive search, but it was unable to find a viable alternate location, said Fleck.

UTS’s current location is one of the school’s key assets, said Ramona Rea, whose daughter Emily graduated last year.

In addition to being close to both major subway lines, being located on a university campus is appropriate for a university preparatory school, said Rea.

“Being on the university campus also brings that extra element of being amongst other kids that are at a higher academic level,” she said. “Having access to the [U of T] libraries is a big benefit.”

“[Emily] loved it,” Rea said of her daughter, who is now in her second year of a business program at McGill University. “I feel it was a great educational experience for her and she has just recently expressed the same thing — that she feels very well prepared for university.”

Notable UTS alumni include Mayor John Tory, former immigration minister Chris Alexander, and Olympian Laurie Graham.

Notorious bar on month-to-month lease

The Brunny’s lease expires at the end of December. Corrina King, Gleaner News

By Annemarie Brissenden

Larry Sdao’s late November confirmation that he would not renew The Brunswick House’s lease has galvanized the community into a discussion about the future of the notorious landmark. It’s also become a catalyst for a broader discussion about the future of the neighbourhood, and revealed disconnects between residents, business-owners, and the city itself.

It’s but the latest step in Sdao’s long struggle to rehabilitate the student dive bar — a party venue known for cheap alcohol, late night noise, and police visits resulting from drunken crime — into something more community oriented. He purchased the building at 481 Bloor St. W. in 2003, and initially ran the venue himself. He tried to raise standards, adding security and increasing liquor prices, but wasn’t successful, so in 2005, Sdao leased the first floor to Abbis Mahmoud.

Reports dating to that period indicate that Mahmoud met with community residents to explain his plan to renovate the space and create a family restaurant. But his business model contemplated a patio, something neither the neighbourhood nor the City of Toronto would countenance. Since then, Mahmoud, who appears to be based in Ottawa, where he runs his Urban Male Magazine, has operated the bar through his Dreammind Entertainment Group. Only open Thursday to Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2.30 a.m., The Brunswick House continues to cater to a young, rowdy crowd.

Sdao, meanwhile, was hamstrung by an automatic renewal clause in his lease with Mahmoud. It’s a clause that would take a court order to break, something that Sdao finally received a couple of years ago. Though he’s been searching for a different tenant ever since, Sdao only recently confirmed publicly that he will not renew Mahmoud’s lease when it expires at the end of December, and The Brunswick House, as with the gambling business on the upper floors, will keep its tenancy on a month-to-month basis for now.

However, finding a new tenant for the 107-year-old building (although the bar dates its earliest incarnation as a saloon at a stagecoach stop in 1876, the Toronto Historical Board reports the building as being constructed in 1908) will be a challenge.

Sources suggest that Rexall Pharma Plus was prepared to take over the first floor, but walked away after Heritage Preservation Services denied a preliminary application to make the heritage-listed building more accessible by creating a level entrance at the corner of Bloor Street and Brunswick Avenue. It was a proposed tenant that would have also suited the Bloor Annex Business Improvement Area (Bloor Annex BIA), which has been acting on an established plan to turn the right-of-way on Brunswick Avenue into a parkette stretching from the edge of the building to the sidewalk and Bloor Street south to the laneway. The Bloor Annex BIA, which together with the city is funding the parkette, has already selected a designer to create the potential green space.

But when Rexall pulled out, Sdao was forced to go back to the drawing board.

Enter Boston Pizza, and its proposal to replace the Brunswick with its sports bar-restaurant-patio combination that is the hallmark of the brand. It would the fourth franchise located in Toronto for the Canadian chain.

Representatives pitched their plan at a packed community meeting hosted by the Harbord Village and Annex residents’ associations on Nov. 30. Boston Pizza’s team presented a conceptual drawing that would downsize the venue’s current capacity of approximately 600 to 369, spread over 140 seats in the dining room, 157 in the bar, and 72 on the patio.

“[Boston Pizza’s] presentation was excellent,” said Tim Grant, chair of the Harbord Village Residents’ Association. “But there was considerable skepticism that the sound trespass from the patio could be properly mitigated.”

At this point, Boston Pizza has not made a formal application to the city, and is just exploring whether it could get buy in from the neighbourhood. Any application for a patio would have to go through City Hall, with the local councillor requiring that it be accompanied by a petition showing popular support from the residents who live in the immediate area.

Residents have also expressed concerns about losing The Brunswick House’s rich heritage — it’s been a working class tavern, a noted jazz venue, and a gathering place for local literary lions — and wondered how the chain will integrate into Bloor Street’s stretch of independently-owned businesses.

At the heart of these competing priorities and divergent agendas, then, is The Brunswick House, a building with a past as storied as the city itself, and just as deserving of a brighter future.

Trap-Neuter-Return reduces feral feline population

Some feral cats can be domesticated, like Ossington Avenue resident James Beaton’s cat Boo. Courtesy Barbara Isherwood

By Summer Reid

The City of Toronto has begun funding a program aimed at controlling its growing feral cat population. Under the Trap-Neuter-Return program, feral cats are trapped and brought to a veterinary clinic, where they are spayed or neutered and treated for any diseases, after which the cats are returned to the area in which they were found.

“We use the same kind of trap you would use to trap a raccoon,” explains Barbara Isherwood, a local volunteer from Annex Cat Rescue, which has been rescuing cats since 1997. “It’s a wild animal trap. It has a sensitive plate and once the cat walks in, attracted by food, when it gets to a certain point there’s a mechanism that shuts the door behind it.”

There are estimated to be anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 feral felines roaming the city, using yards as litter boxes, picking fights with house cats, and creating a harsh smell by spraying.

“The bottom line is there’s a lot of them and they become an issue when people complain,” says Dr. Esther Attard, a veterinarian with Toronto Animal Service.?She added that living out on the streets isn’t good for the cats themselves.

These are not stray cats or cats that have been lost or left outside accidentally. Strays may become feral over time, but under the right circumstances they can be reintroduced back into a domestic environment.

Feral cats are a different animal altogether. A feral cat has never been socialized, because it has never had any contact with humans or its contact with humans has decreased drastically over time, explains Joanna Reading, chair of Annex Cat Rescue. Most feral cats do not like to be inside and are unlikely to become lap cats.

Isherwood is currently caring for an eight-year-old with an injured leg that was recently trapped. The veterinarian didn’t think the older feral cat — they have an average lifespan of about three years — would make it through the winter.

“She’s in my front room; she’s not very happy about that,” said Isherwood, who hopes the cat will eventually come around.

Some feral cats can adjust to a new environment, so there is hope for Isherwood’s house guest. Feral cats may have kittens that can be socialized at a young age and eventually adopted.

After the spay/neuter process, the cats are placed in a recovery centre where their capability to socialize is evaluated. If the cat seems likely to be able to adjust to the conditions of living indoors and around humans as well as other animals, they are brought into foster homes. If the cats are able to adapt, they are domesticated and can even become adoptable, but if the felines remain feral even after being indoors for so long, they are returned to the wild, but not before being microchipped for tracking.

The cats are also treated for parasites and given a round of vaccinations against rabies and feline diseases such as bordetella bronchiseptica (which can cause severe bronchitis in cats, dogs, and other animals), feline distemper (sometimes referred to as cat plague), feline calicivirus (a respiratory infection), feline immunodeficiency virus (feline AIDS), and feline herpes virus.

If you suspect that there are feral or stray cats in your neighbourhood, please contact Annex Cat Rescue by email at ferals@annexcatrescue.ca, and a volunteer will respond as soon as possible.

Laneways untapped realm of urban design

In April 2014, then federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau visited Scadding Court Community Centre’s innovative street food and retail market, housed in retrofitted shipping containers. Market 707 is one of the models consultants are studying as part of their research to develop a business plan for Westbank’s Honest Ed’s Alley.
Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

By Annemarie Brissenden

How do you create a micro-retail hub that will attract shoppers, incubate new businesses, and be self-sustaining? Developers at Westbank Projects Corp. are hoping that Honest Ed’s Alley will embody the answer to that question.

Planning for the new laneway, which is part of the company’s Mirvish Village redevelopment and will run parallel to Bathurst and Lennox streets, is tapping into a broader urban planning campaign that aims to do everything from increasing public space to adding density while preserving a neighbourhood’s character.

“There’s a growing movement in Toronto around laneways,” said Michelle Senayah, co-director of The Laneway Project at Laneway Confessions, a Nov. 26 summit about laneway transformations. Toronto has approximately 2,400 laneways, or 250 acres of space, primarily concentrated in the city’s downtown and midtown neighbourhoods.

They are, as Denise Pinto, the global director of Jane’s Walk, put it at the summit, “public spaces we need to unlock”.

Presenters at the summit spoke about the different keys that can open up this untapped realm: using visual art to transform a vandalized space; replacing concrete wastelands with gardening plots and park space; gently intensifying densification; and creating a micro-retail hub.

“How do you incubate micro-retail in the city?” asked Howard Tam of ThinkFresh Group, explaining that the purpose-built Honest Ed’s Alley will provide an affordable space for the smallest of businesses.

Tam added that creating such a space is so new that there’s little data on how best to position vendors for success, or even on what constitutes micro-retail — everything from a pop-up shop to a ceviche stall to a lemonade stand.

However, what all micro-retailers have in common is their small size (both in staff and space), their brief tenure, their growth potential, and their ability to function with few services or supports.

ThinkFresh, along with the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) and The Next Practice, has been retained by Westbank to develop a model for Honest Ed’s Alley that will promote innovation and encourage incubation.

The consultants have just completed a study of 145 micro-retailers from 14 festivals, pop-up shops, and flea markets across Toronto aimed at developing an understanding of the city’s micro-retail sector.

They also hosted a Nov. 27 design charette at Markham House to canvass vendors, market managers, policy-makers, and local residents for ideas about what the future alley should look like.

“It’s still very early in the thinking phase,” said Kevin Hurley, CSI’s special projects manager. He added that the consultants are exploring how the management structure would work and what the financial model should be, so no decisions have been made yet about how the alley would operate or who would oversee the space.

“No developer has ever contemplated purposely building a space like this,” said Tam. “And that really intrigued us.”

“Westbank is trying to push the limits of what anyone is doing at the ground level of high-rise buildings in this city,” explained Jeb Brugmann, The Next Practice’s managing partner, a business innovation consultant. “There are long periods of vacancy on the ground floors of residential buildings because residential builders don’t understand local retail and commercial needs.”

The three consultants, who are all interrelated by way of CSI — ThinkFresh is a CSI member, and Brugmann sits on CSI’s board of directors — seemed like a natural fit for Westbank, said the company’s project coordinator, Jonah Letovsky.

“This is an opportunity for combining [CSI’s] model for social entrepreneurship with our model for physical space,” he said.

Letovsky added that Westbank sees micro-value as adding value to the neighbourhood, and that Honest Ed’s Alley is an “opportunity to return a fine-grain retail streetscape to this portion of Bloor and Bathurst [streets]”.

“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory,” said Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidential inaugural address in 1933.

Though spoken during the Great Depression in reference to the economic crisis, his words are strikingly applicable as we seek to respond to a refugee crisis that is often juxtaposed with terrorist acts committed abroad.

The fear that is created by the tragic events in Paris is real. It is what we choose to do with that feeling that matters. We can hide, perhaps behind a wall, or we can remember who we are, what we stand for, and act with the courage of our convictions.

Subsequent to the attacks in Paris, 31 state governors in the United States — ignoring the fact that they have no legal authority in what is essentially a federal jurisdiction — have openly stated their opposition to accepting Syrian refugees. Also ignoring the fact that none of those who committed the atrocities in Paris were refugees (rather passport-carrying French or Belgium citizens), those governors seek only to seed intolerance and distrust with their disturbingly popular anti-refugee rhetoric.

By contrast, the Annex community has taken up the challenge of sponsoring Syrian refugees with particular, and heartening, vigor. One cannot get through the day without encountering a church group, community group, neighbourhood association, or neighbour simply selling cookies on Bloor Street for the cause.

Canada has a long and proud history of accepting refugees that dates to the late eighteenth century, when Black Americans fled slavery in the United States, and Scots Highlanders escaped a century-long destruction of Gaelic culture. And in the two centuries since then, many people have sought refuge on our shores. Those people — Poles, Italians, Czechs, Jews, Arabs, Tibetans, Chileans, Khmer Cambodians, 7,000 Ismaili Muslims from Uganda in 1972, 60,000 Vietnamese in 1980, to name but a few — make a long and rich list of those who are now helping to grow our country.

One particular wave of refugees, the 37,000 Hungarians who in 1956 sought refuge in Canada from Soviet tyranny, probably provides the best analogue for the Syrian refugees. The ’56-ers, who included mining magnate Peter Munk, publisher Anna Porter, financier Andy Sarlos, and journalist George Jonas, had a positive impact on our nation after they arrived. We even have local examples of their influence: Bloor Street west of Spadina Avenue was once fondly dubbed the “Goulash Archipelago”, with much of the real estate owned by “Annie-of-the-Annex” Anne Racz.

The Syrians, like the Hungarians, are highly educated, and come from a sophisticated culture with a long history that in many ways is a cradle of our civilization. Imagine what — with a little support — they could achieve here.

At this moment, we have an opportunity to make sure that we do not revisit the dark chapters of our history. In May of 1939, when an oppressive anti-Semitism had taken hold in Canada and permeated the senior levels of the government, the nation refused to welcome 907 German Jews fleeing Nazi oppression. Learning that “None is too many”, the refugees were forced back to Europe, where 254 perished in the Holocaust. It was a closed, xenophobic moment in our history that today provides us with an ethical yardstick.

During his second inaugural address in 1935, Roosevelt said that “the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.”

We should not forget our history and how it defines us, but embrace the opportunity to allow another positive defining chapter to be written.

A Ward 20 year in review

By Joe Cressy

In Ward 20, we’ve had a busy year! We’ve worked hard on the dozens of development files that populate downtown, improving our green spaces, and building liveable communities — and we have a lot to be proud of.

We worked together on 484 Spadina Ave. (The Waverley/Silver Dollar Room), and after a long appeal at the Ontario Municipal Board, we won! The proposed 22-storey building was reduced to 15, with significantly reduced shadow impact on Lord Lansdowne Public School and heritage restoration of the Silver Dollar.

We’re working with the Annex Residents’ Association, Huron-Sussex Neighbourhood Organization, and Harbord Village Residents’ Association to stand up to aggressive development on Bloor Street, east of Spadina Avenue.

We’ve initiated the Davenport Triangle Study to ensure we’re planning sustainably in the Davenport Avenue and Dupont Street area. And, we passed the Madison Avenue Heritage Conservation District, the culmination of 10 years of work by the Annex Residents’ Association and City of Toronto staff. Together, we’re building and protecting neighbourhoods across our community.

In July, news broke that the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) on College Street was being threatened by displacement. Over 1,200 people signed our letter opposing its displacement, the neighbouring residents’ associations got engaged, and our voices were heard. CAMH announced in November that a court-appointed appraiser ruled in its favour. The appraiser found that “fair market value” for the facility should be based on the existing institutional zoning, a position held by CAMH, the City of Toronto, and the surrounding community. Thanks to our collective work, CAMH is here to stay!

In Harbord Village, we’ve worked with the Residents’ Association to develop the Harbord Village Green Plan — a comprehensive action plan to green forgotten concrete spaces in the neighbourhood. The final green plan was released in late November and, starting in the new year, we’ll be working to green flankage corners and laneways and plant trees in the neighbourhood. Also in the new year, we’ll be starting consultations on improving the Huron Street playground and Ryan Russell Parkette. This spring, we’re excited to be (finally) moving forward with improvements to Margaret Fairley Park and Brunswick-College Parkette.

We have also acted to improve traffic safety in our community. In the Toronto and East York District, our community council lowered the speed limit on all local roads to 30 km/h. We’re working closely with neighbours in Seaton Village, Harbord Village, and the Annex to continue to prioritize safety for all road users.

On Bloor Street, we’ve started consultations on a bike lane pilot project to run from Shaw Street to Avenue Road. Bike lanes on Bloor Street have been discussed for years, and working with local residents, businesses, transportation experts, and schools, I’m excited to see the project taking shape for 2016.

As a community we’ve all been shaken by recent events in Syria and around the world. I was proud that Toronto City Council responded to and approved my request for the city to develop a resettlement program for Syrian refugees. The program has resulted in the creation of an inter-divisional team at the city to lead the project, an inter-agency team (including the Canadian Red Cross) to coordinate services, and the provision of continued support to Lifeline Syria and other settlement agencies. But residents of Toronto have also been leading this work: in our neighbourhoods, local groups along Major Street, Howland Avenue, Palmerston Avenue, Robert Street, and many more have stepped forward to sponsor families. Toronto at its very best, if you ask me.

I’ve also heard from hundreds of neighbours over the past year on local and city-wide issues — and our Ward 20 team is working hard to respond, answer questions, and provide assistance. Across the ward, we’ve worked to build more affordable housing in Alexandra Park and CityPlace, we’ve secured a partnership between the city and the YMCA for a brand new community centre, we’ve initiated a $25 million project to animate space under the Gardiner, and we have stopped jets from flying from the island airport! It’s been quite a year.

There’s still lots of work to do. As I’ve discovered in my first year, in Ward 20 the work never stops. More importantly, the relentless work of our local residents (volunteer work, I might add!) also never stops. I look forward to continuing this work, together.

Joe Cressy is the councillor for Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina.

Acting on a progressive economic agenda

By Chrystia Freeland

It’s one of my favourite traditions: doing one final subway canvass the morning after an election. It’s an opportunity to connect with my constituents in person, and thank them for their support. Expressing my gratitude also reminds me of how privileged and honoured I am to be serving as the first member of Parliament for the newly created riding of University-Rosedale.

I am eager to act on a progressive economic agenda that will shore up Canada’s middle class and make sure our capitalist democracy delivers for everyone, both at home and abroad. Domestically, we will end income splitting, lower taxes for the middle class, and institute our enhanced childcare benefit, while investing in better transit, more affordable housing, and greener infrastructure.

Internationally, as the Minister of International Trade, I will promote our Canadian brand of inclusive prosperity on the global stage. Since being sworn in on Nov. 4, I have travelled to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila, and participated in a very productive meeting. I discussed enhancing trade with our APEC partners, and announced Canada’s support for globalizing micro, small, and medium enterprises. I was also energized by the commitments on inclusive growth and women’s equality. On my way home to Canada, I stopped in Los Angeles, where I met with economic leaders, spoke with Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom of California about collaborating on the environment, talked about the close economic ties between Maine and Canada with Senator Angus King, had a fruitful exchange with the California state treasurer, and discussed partnership ideas on infrastructure and a green economy.

Shortly before I left for Manila, I expressed my deepest sympathies to the families of those who were killed in terrorist attacks on Nov. 13. Even as we stand with the people of Paris and France, and with all victims of terror around the world, we cannot lose sight of our Canadian values of diversity and inclusiveness.

As the proud daughter of a Ukranian-Canadian who fled Europe after the Second World War as a displaced person, I am as committed as ever to welcoming refugees to our shores. Our government is standing by its promise to resettle 25,000 refugees in Canada, in addition to the 3,098 Syrians who arrived between Jan. 1, 2014, and Nov. 3, 2015, and are already making their homes here.

Our #WelcomeRefugees plan consists of five phases, and aims to have 10,000 of the most vulnerable Syrians resettled in Canada by the end of 2015, with the balance of the 25,000 resettled by the end of February. In the first phase, we will work with the United Nations Refugee Agency to prioritize low security risk refugees — women and complete families — already registered in Jordan and Lebanon. In the second phase, approximately 500 visa officials will process interested refugees through interviews and information collection, after which successful applicants will be transported to Montreal or Toronto on privately-chartered aircrafts in Phase 3. Phases 4 and 5 will see the arrivals processed and settled in communities across Canada. We are already preparing to welcome our new community members by ensuring we have settlement supports in place that include schools, housing, and language training.

It’s a plan that balances our humanitarian responsibilities while being mindful of the protection and safety of Canadians, and I’m delighted that so many local residents are also raising money to sponsor families and welcome them to University-Rosedale.

As with these newcomers, I’m still discovering all there is to know about this riding, and how best to represent all of my constituents, whether they voted for me or not. I’m looking forward to partnering with my colleagues at the province and the city to work on infrastructure challenges, enhance rail safety, and move our economy forward.

Thank you all for your trust.

I wish you a very happy holiday, and all the very best for 2016.

Chrystia Freeland is the member of Parliament for University-Rosedale.