October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on CHATTER: Gas pains on Harbord, Tabares honoured (Sept. 2019)
Last spring, long-time Harbord Village business owner Tino Tabares learned that the building that housed his gas station, Torreira Import Auto Service, was going up for sale. With the business under threat, the neighbourhood stepped up to help, but in the end, it was not enough.
The chair of Harbord Village Resident’s Association (HVRA) Gus Sinclair says that over the years, he witnessed Tabares go above and beyond for his customers, and for the community. Like the countless times he would deliver or even pick up cars from customer’s houses, just to provide them with great service and make their lives a little easier. It was something he did not need to do, but did so anyway because it was “just the way he was” with people in the community.
Torreira Import Auto Service operated out of a building on the corner of Harbord and Major for 34 years, and was a rare example of a downtown gas station.
“He was really special for the community. You have no idea what kind of luxury, you could drive up there, walk home, and then very soon he would call you and tell you that the work was done or sometimes he even delivered the car,” says Sinclair. “He was honest, and he was good. I had every confidence that when my car was getting fixed by him, it was getting done right.”
This was all part of the reason that the HRVA wanted to honour him with a Community Builder Award. Before they did, they learned that Tabares and his business were in trouble.
The owners of the property at Harbord and Major had been content, for years, to rent their property to Tabares. When that changed, they offered to sell it to him, but the price was out of reach.
When he declined to purchase the property, the owners gave Tabares two months notice. Many people including the HVRA tried to intervene on his behalf in response to the timeline. Yet, despite these efforts they received no response from the property owner.
Gus Sinclair says he felt terrible and decided to set up a “Go Fund Me” page for Tabares.
“I sent emails to thirty people I knew were his clients and asked them to pass it on to other people,” says Sinclair. “In the end we got 85 people and they all contributed to the fund which we called ‘The Tino Fund.’”
The fund managed to raise $4,300 dollars, which was presented to Tino Tabares alongside his Community Builder Award.
As of right now Tino has plans for opening up a new shop; however, he does not yet have a location or timeline for when this is going to happen. The old signs are still up at his former location, which is empty at the moment. The building was sold to an unknown party and the buyer has been very private about what is going to happen with that location.
—Juan Romero, Gleaner News
Comments Off on CHATTER: Gas pains on Harbord, Tabares honoured (Sept. 2019)Tags:Annex · News
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on CHATTER: ARA Cornfest Delights (Sept. 2019)
The Annual Annex Residents’ Association Cornfest took place at Jean Sibelius Park on Sept. 15. Joey, pictured above, enjoyed a free sweet cob! TERRI CHU/GLEANER NEWS
Comments Off on CHATTER: ARA Cornfest Delights (Sept. 2019)Tags:Annex · News
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on CHATTER: Heart Garden to honour residential school victims (Sept. 2019)
The congregation at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church at 427 Bloor St. is awaiting an overhaul of its garden. Located at the corner of Major Street and Bloor, the new garden will be dedicated to victims of the residential school system and the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
More than 80 similar gardens, known as Heart Gardens, have already been planted across the country. Hearts are scattered throughout these gardens, each one representing a child who attended residential school. In 2017, more than 4,500 hearts were placed in gardens across the country.
At the closing ceremony of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015, Marjie Calla said a prayer in to explain the purpose of Heart Gardens:
“Help us open our hearts to others, pay attention to our thoughts, words, and actions, notice when we have hurt others and change our behaviour in the future. With this Heart Garden we honour the children who were lost or survived the Indian Residential System.”
The design of the new Heart Garden at Trinity-St. Paul’s was done by Annishinaabe artist and designer Solomon King. The garden will have a wooden screen behind it designed in a wave pattern to symbolize energy waves shaped by the circle of creation. It will also have poetry of regeneration written by various Indigenous writers inscribed into it.
The Church had planned for the landscaping to begin in August of this year but the large number of construction projects on Bloor Street have forced a delay. Lynn Jondreville, a member of Trinity-St. Paul’s Indigenous Rights Solidarity group, expressed disappointment over this delay but says that the contractor is committed to beginning work on the garden in the spring of 2020.
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on FOCUS: Annex’s own little Italy (Sept. 2019)
Institute promotes Italian culture for all
Not just another former Annex mansion, this building located at 496 Huron Street (just north of Bloor) houses the Italian Cultural Institute of Toronto. Sponsored by the government of Italy, the centre offers a rich array of programming. JUAN ROMERO/GLEANER NEWS
By Juan Romero
If you have ever been fascinated by Italian culture then you are in luck, because your opportunity to immerse yourself into it is closer than you think.
The Italian Cultural Institute of Toronto (Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto) was established in 1976 and is located at 496 Huron Street near Bloor Street. It is an office of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they are funded by the Italian government. It serves as a centre for cultural and academic activities related to Italian culture. According to the 2016 census there are 182,500 people of Italian heritage living in Toronto alone.
“30 per cent of students have Italian background… The other 70 per cent want to learn the language mostly for cultural reasons I would say”
—director of the Institute Alessandro Ruggera
The current director of the Institute, Alessandro Ruggera, explained what their purpose is.
“What we do is promote Italian culture to the Canadian public. We promote the culture, promote the study of the language, and also support the collaboration of Canadian and Italian culture,” he says.
The institute contains classrooms, an Italian library, and an art gallery. The gallery hosts exhibitions, lectures, films, and video screenings throughout the year. The exhibitions are always a collaboration of Italian and Canadian artists and aim to facilitate a cultural exchange through art.
“The main goal is to present Italian culture here and to support institutions that are interested in inviting Italian artists,” says Ruggera, “whether they are visual artists, musicians, or scholars. We work with the institutions that invite them to Canada to participate in conferences or different events.”
Non-Italians are always welcome to visit and get a taste of the culture. Their most popular offering is Italian language lessons. The institute offers four sessions of classes throughout the year, one during each season and they run for the entirety of each season. Classes are usually twice a week; these have usually a maximum of 13 students and are taught by qualified instructors who are native Italian speakers.
Ruggera says the classes are usually formed by a mix of Italians and non-Italians.
“I would say 30 per cent of students have Italian background. These are people who may want to improve their language or maybe they have lost the language. Maybe they were never taught by their parents. The other 70 per cent are Canadians who want to learn the language mostly for cultural reasons I would say.”
Ruggera adds that throughout the year, between 1,200 to 1,400 students enroll in Italian language classes.
If you are interested in taking part of these sessions, or finding out about other educational opportunities, check out the institute’s website or pop by in person at 496 Huron St.
Comments Off on FOCUS: Annex’s own little Italy (Sept. 2019)Tags:Annex · News
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: How not to manage the retail sale of pot (Sept. 2019)
Just ask Doug Ford. Ford lost $42 million selling pot last year. Then he botched the roll-out of retail licences so badly that it is now under judicial review. Illegal pot is widely available and is in fact necessary to satisfy the market demand that the province has failed to meet.
New figures released about the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) show that despite revenues of $104 million from the online sale and distribution of weed, the Ontario government found a way to lose over $40 million. That the loss comes without a brick and mortar investment and when the government essentially held a monopoloy is quite an achievement, really. The province also lost customer data in a cyber-theft that they blamed on Canada Post. Curiously, other provinces did not suffer the same fate. Hmmm….
Recall that Ontario’s plan, right from the start, was to hand retail sales to the LCBO which had an existing network with a professional and accountable approach to doing business. Then Doug Ford got elected, threw that Liberal plan out of the window, and started applying his own business prowess to the new industry.
To be fair, Canada is only the second country, after Uruguay, to legalize marijuana. So there’s no guidebook on how to launch the sale of legal marijuana. There have been challenges, such as a lack of legal cannabis, across the country, but the absence of stores is a Doug Ford made-in-Ontario problem.
In January, the province held a lottery for the first licences for retail stores, offering up 25 stores for a province with 14 million people. The winners of that lottery did not require any relevant experience. In late August the province announced the results of a second lottery to apply for a retail store licence. Potential store owners were required to set aside $300,000 to be able to apply and 42 applicants were given the green light to proceed to the next level. Innisfil, a bedroom community of Barrie, scored three winners. One winner in our area was 11180673 Canada Incorporated, which proposes to set up shop at 104 Harbord Street, the site of a unlicensed pot dispensary called CAFE which has been raided numerous times by police who ultimately blocked its doors with large concrete barricades.
The rules of the lotteries were supposed to exclude applicants who had been running illegal operations, but not here, apparently. Now they operate on the sidewalk, in full view, causing much hardship for the community according to the residents’ association and their BIA. Highlife is another applicant who submitted bids, some six hundred, apparently for the same 15 addresses in Northern Ontario, despite having contravened the rules. If Highlife had $300,000 set aside for each application, they would have required $180 million in speculative investment. This is not Doug Ford allowing mom-and-pop retailers into the marketplace. This is the myth of Doug Ford supporting the little guy.
Not all successful lottery winners in round two made it through initial scrutiny. The Alcohol Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) emailed each winner telling them they won the lottery and what they needed to do next. Eleven of the winner’s emails bounced back, so the AGCO sent them the same message by registered mail. Those winners tried to comply with the requirements of these letters but were then told that registered mail was meaningless and they were disqualified because their email was not deliverable. The government appears to be making things up as they go along.
Now the courts have entered the fray, halting the roll-out of the lottery’s second round while it attempts to unravel yet another Ford-spun mess. How sad, and unsurprising.
Throughout my time at City Hall I have worked hard to increase the quality of life for Toronto residents and to make living here more affordable. This year, the Ford government has been going out of its way to reduce quality of life and make it more unaffordable to live in Toronto, through their many service cuts and downloading.
They need to explain why they are allowing for the destabilization of our childcare system.
The cuts which will have the greatest impact on families in our ward will be to childcare provisions, to which the Conservatives have confirmed significant cuts are coming in 2020. These will come in the form of eliminating subsidies to low-income families, subsequently making costs higher for all parents, and cancelling plans for thousands of new childcare spaces.
Toronto is already one of the most expensive cities to live in in Canada. As it is, there aren’t enough affordable spots for the families that need them, but Ford has put a plan in motion that will raise fees for the limited spaces we already have, and will also eliminate many more.
With their most recent announcement made this August, the province has officially backed away from funding 51 new daycare capital projects that were already planned, and that families were counting on. This means we will lose 3,049 new childcare spaces, on top of cuts to occupancy grants that have been in place since 1998 and have helped countless families afford childcare and allowed them to return to the workplace.
What is especially troubling about these cuts is that they do not represent any savings for Ontario residents. The plan, in reality, moves the source of funding away from the provincial government, which raises most of its money through income taxes, and pushes it onto municipal governments, which raise most of their money through property taxes. It is a move that gives the province a false sense of accomplishment. They are acting as if they have cut the deficit, when they are really just transferring the costs to a system that has less equitable resources to draw from.
After the initial announcement in May about these cuts, the City Manager shared that this situation will create additional budgetary pressures that may put other vital city services at risk. In the coming year, the city will be forced into a position of making increases to our capital budget and potentially raising property taxes simply to maintain services, while continuing to fight back against a government that refuses to prioritize vital services.
Childcare advocates, parents, and local politicians are working together to raise awareness of the cuts and to pressure the province to stop them. This pressure led to a delay in implementation, and continued advocacy will make an impact again.
I put forward two motions at the July City Council meeting on Occupancy Agreements and Capital Funding for Childcare, directing council to tell the province to restore funding to support all future provincially-funded childcare projects. This included funding for the 51 daycare capital projects that are now at risk of not proceeding, and proposed finding a way to fund these programs if provincial funding is not restored.
On a council where most items are divisive, these motions both carried unanimously. I am proud to be able to bring all sides of this debate together to improve quality of life for our residents.
As a parent and ardent childcare advocate, I know that these cuts are forcing families to make tough choices in wards across the city. They are harmful and fiscally irresponsible.
I want to stress that we cannot let Toronto Conservative MPPs off the hook — they need to explain why they are allowing for the destabilization of our childcare system, and why they are supporting a future that will push young families out of our city. I will continue to work to find a way to make childcare more affordable for the residents of Toronto, and encourage you to join me.
Mike Layton is city councillor for Ward 11 University—Rosedale.
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on FORUM: Defending the free press to preserve democracy (Sept. 2019)
Concrete measure protects truth, complexity, and journalists
By Chrystia Freeland
This autumn we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Those of us who lived through that time, as I did, remember it as a euphoric moment. It was hard to imagine that liberal democracy was anything less than both inevitable and eternal.
A free and independent media in all of its disputatious, cantankerous glory is one of the cornerstones of liberal democracy.
That was such a seductive idea, but it has proven to be an illusory one. It is clear today that liberal democracy and the rules-based international order are under greater threat than at any time since the Second World War.
As Robert Kagan argues in his recent book The Jungle Grows Back, “If the liberal order is like a garden, artificial and forever threatened by the forces of nature, preserving it requires a persistent unending struggle against the vines and weeds that are constantly working to undermine it from within and overwhelm it from without. Today there are signs all around us that the jungle is growing back.”
I agree with that so profoundly.
There is no part of our liberal democratic garden that is more threatened by the jungle’s resurgence than the free press. The danger is often specific and physical. The troubling reality is that journalists and other members of the media are increasingly the target of abuse and attack.
This must stop.
Journalists must be able to do their work safely and without fear of reprisal.
I’d like to pause and address the elephant in the room, the seeming paradox of elected politicians coming together to support a free press. We politicians may seem to be surprising champions for the media and that’s because of the inherent structural conflict between the press and the government.
The job of journalists, after all, is to hold our feet to the fire—and as someone who is regularly on the receiving end of that treatment I can assure you it is not a very pleasant experience. But it would be a terrible mistake for any politician, smarting perhaps from that discomfort, to conclude that journalists are the enemy; quite the contrary.
A free and independent media in all of its disputatious, cantankerous glory is one of the cornerstones of liberal democracy. The truth, to be sure, is that it is harder to be a politician, to be a government, in a country with a free and independent media. That’s the point.
By holding us—their governments—accountable, journalists make us better than we would otherwise be. Facts matter. Truth matters. Competence and honesty among elected leaders and in our public services matter. These assertions may seem so obvious as to be trite but the objective of authoritarianism is to undermine the very idea of fact, of truth. We need to fight back, with specific collective and practical steps.
The first step we have already taken is the Global Pledge for Media Freedom. We must seek accountability for crimes against journalists. That is why Canada has used sanctions as a tool to address abuses of media freedom. Following the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Canada imposed sanctions on 17 people. As an extension of the pledge, we are also launching a Media Freedom Coalition that will connect governments with civil society organizations and members of the press to save journalists and media workers at risk.
This coalition and the Media Freedom contact group are cousins to the rapid response mechanism launched during Canada’s G7 presidency last year to address malign disinformation.
On World Press Freedom Day this year, Canada announced $12 million for the organization Journalists for Human Rights. On July 11th, at the Global Conference for Media Freedom in London, I announced another $10 million annually to promote and protect democracy.
This funding will focus on supporting electoral processes, reinforcing democratic practices by combating disinformation, and strengthening civic engagement. An initial one million dollars will go to the new Global Media Defence Fund housed at UNESCO, including an independent panel of legal experts to support and advance media freedom worldwide.
I outline these actions, not as an exhaustive list, but as examples of some first concrete steps we can take together.
Canada has been delighted to co-host this year’s Media Freedom Conference with the UK and we are honoured to serve as next year’s host.
We all need to defend our independent press—even, and perhaps especially, when it criticizes us—as a central institution of democracy. We need to fight for an open society against a closed one. We need to fight for the complexity of democratic truth rather than the beguiling simplicity of authoritarian rhetoric. Then and only then will we have tended our democratic garden, preventing it from being swallowed by the persistent weeds that seek to undermine it.
Chrystia Freeland is member of parliament for University—Rosedale and serves as Canada’s Minister of External Affairs.
Comments Off on FORUM: Defending the free press to preserve democracy (Sept. 2019)Tags:Annex · Opinion
Veteran Green Party candidate aims for federal seat
By Tim Grant
This fall’s election comes at a pivotal time for Canada and the global community. Last October, the world’s climate scientists told us we have only 11 years to prevent runaway climate change. To do that, we have to meet a new internationally agreed goal of cutting carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2030 and eliminate our use of fossil fuels by 2050. If we fail, we will be condemning future generations to unspeakable hardship.
As a three-time provincial Green candidate, I find it very gratifying that many voters now appreciate that we are more than a single-issue party.
In spite of all the talk you will hear about climate action in this election, the Green Party is the only party with a plan to meet international goals. When we released our Mission Possible plan in the spring, some commentators said it was too ambitious and not realistic. But those commentators were silent when Denmark and the UK — two countries whose per capita emissions are already much lower than ours — committed to the same goals. It was clear to all that if Denmark and the UK can reduce their emissions by another 60 per cent by 2030, it is possible and realistic for us in Canada to do it, too. But our window of opportunity is small — 2030 will be upon us before we know it. We have to change course, starting with this election.
As a three-time provincial Green candidate, I find it very gratifying that many voters now appreciate that we are more than a single-issue party. Here is a sampling of some of the issues we’ll be championing in this election.
A New Deal for Cities When Doug Ford slashed the size of Toronto’s City Council, it was a painful reminder that cities across Canada have little control over their affairs. This lack of autonomy is accompanied by a lack of resources: cities receive only 10 per cent of all taxes collected by all levels of government. We know that is too little. The Green Party is committed to working with the provinces to ensure that cities have much more independence in decision-making and receive a greater share of overall tax revenues. In 2015, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities determined that we had the strongest urban platform of all federal parties. Check out our 2019 urban platform at www.greenparty.ca. It is even stronger.
Guaranteed Annual Income Greens are the only party in favour of a guaranteed annual income (also known as basic income). A basic income would lift many families out of poverty, remove the stigma of social assistance, and provide all adults with the financial security to retrain, take new courses, or start new businesses. At a time when precarious work affects more and more Canadians, a basic income is needed more than ever.
Electoral Reform Many Canadians voted Liberal in 2015 because Justin Trudeau promised that that election would be the last under our current voting system. After the election, he abandoned that commitment. University-Rosedale voters clearly disagreed with his decision. A 2017 poll by Strategic Directions showed that 72 per cent of voters in this riding agreed that it was time to change the voting system.
Rail Safety We have one of the busiest rail lines in Ontario running across the northern edge of our riding, one that frequently carries hazardous cargo. The Liberals promised to improve rail safety after a runaway train exploded in Lac Megantic in 2013 — a train that had passed through University-Rosedale only 36 hours earlier. Yet little has changed. The incidence of runaway trains has increased 10 per cent over the last decade. In 2017 alone, there were 62 occurrences.
To learn more about these and other reasons to vote Green — such as reconciliation with First Nations, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and expanding health care — visit www.votetimgrant.ca.
The polls strongly suggest that we will have a minority government after October 21st. More than ever, we will need strong Green voices in Ottawa. A vote for the Green Party is a vote for real change. Our future depends on it.
Conservative candidate Helen-Claire Tingling makes her case
By Helen-Claire Tingling
Canada is a beautiful country that is rich in natural resources, is home to some of the world’s most talented individuals, and has been a leader on the world stage. I am a proud Canadian, but watching the direction that Trudeau’s Liberals have taken this country worries me. Over the past four years Justin Trudeau has raised taxes, racked up debt and deficits, and made life more expensive for people like you and me. I am running to champion the people of University–Rosedale so that they can get ahead, not just get by.
When it comes to housing affordability, this Liberal government is not as advertised.
I am running as the Conservative candidate in University–Rosedale to put more money in your pocket. I am running to lower personal taxes. And I am running to make life more affordable for Canadians.
Two-thirds of Canadians feel that they either can’t pay their bills or they have nothing left over at the end of the month after they do. Gasoline. Groceries. Home heating. Real estate. Debt. Everything keeps getting more expensive. People are barely getting by. And they’re definitely not getting ahead.
Trudeau has hiked taxes on small business owners and ended tax credits that make things like dance lessons and transit passes more affordable. Another four years of Trudeau’s runaway spending and we will have an economic crisis on our hands with debt and deficits forcing either massive tax hikes or deep cuts to essential services to cover the spending. Or, some terrible combination of the two.
When it comes to housing affordability, this Liberal government is not as advertised. Their heavy-handed mortgage stress test, their raising of mortgage insurance premiums, and their punishing new taxes on middle class Canadians have made it harder to realize the dream of homeownership.
Another four years of Trudeau’s runaway spending and we will have an economic crisis on our hands with debt and deficits forcing either massive tax hikes or deep cuts to essential services to cover the spending.
Not only is Canada failing to hit our Paris Agreement targets, we are getting further and further away. Canadians trusted Justin Trudeau when he said he would protect the environment and lower Canada’s emissions. Instead, all they got was a carbon tax.
The good news is that we have an opportunity to change course.
A Conservative government will live within its means. Under a Conservative government, any new spending not already budgeted for must be paid for from savings within the government. Put another way, if you decide to take a family holiday, your roof repair has to wait. You can’t do both. Your bank account is not a bottomless pit, and neither is the taxpayer’s pocket.
A Conservative government has committed to working with provinces and municipalities to knock down regulatory barriers that discourage new home construction so more homes can come on the market to lower prices.
Under the Conservative plan, it will not be free to pollute – and unlike the Liberal scheme, there will be no sweetheart deals for anybody. The Conservative plan recognizes that we can create more jobs in Canada through technological growth while at the same time lowering global emissions.
It is hard enough to get by without the government making it more difficult. And if you work hard, you should be able to buy a home, save for retirement, and care for your children and your parents as they age.
Canadians families work hard; they deserve a government that will work just as hard for them.
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: Addiction to capitalism will lead to overdose (Sept. 2019)
As we take the drug of economic development, the planet burns
As the Amazon burns, we are reminded of what unfettered capitalism looks like. Greed has literally blotted out the sun in Sao Paulo. Images taken in the mid afternoon appear as dark as midnight, as smoke from the burning Amazon darkens the sky.
Farmers in Brazil feel it is within their right to burn the Amazon. Why shouldn’t they be able to herd cattle and aspire to a higher standard of living? They aren’t wrong.
This is the legacy that capitalism is leaving us. Ironic that I’m sitting in Canada’s economic capital as I write this. The planet is now literally on fire, not just with the Amazon burning but also with unprecedented Arctic wildfires this summer. Does this sound like an apocalyptic end time? If you’re living in Sao Paulo, it is. Climate change is not some far-off distant thing. The crisis is upon us now. Children born right now have increasing odds of premature death due to the planet’s inability to sustain human life. This is not hyperbole.
As city dwellers, we can take small steps: ride a bike, stop eating beef, consume less… All this is great, but useless when the ultra-elite are flying in their jets and corporations are profiting from unending ecosystem destruction. These crimes against humanity are carried out in the name of economic progress. Once upon a time we could look the other way as there were more rivers to provide us with drinking water, more forests to provide us with oxygen. As these resources begin to dwindle against a backdrop of increasing population, we have done lots to protect stock prices but nothing to protect something as fundamental as air. Our entire economic system is a positive feedback loop that requires more and more to sustain it. The more resources we take, the more the bankers expect us to take the following year. In my lifetime, not a single politician has failed to boast about “economic growth”. It’s a drug that we can’t seem to be able to wean ourselves from.
Farmers in Brazil feel it is within their right to burn the Amazon. Why should they too not be able to herd cattle and aspire to a higher standard of living? They aren’t wrong. They were promised wealth so long as they worked the land, why shouldn’t they be part of the “growth”?
The short-term gains will quickly give way to long-term pains when not only their cattle starve, but millions of people on the planet die from the consequences of climate catastrophe and ecosystem destruction. While the corporations and farmers clear land, Indigenous people in Brazil are losing their homes, and many more will die as a direct result of losing the land they depended upon for survival. Capitalism spares no one who is not part of the system.
Money pledged by world leaders at the G7 to fight the Amazon fires is woefully inadequate. While Canada is boasting about its $15 million contribution, remember that a single family (Irving) just got a $7.4 million loan forgiven. That’s right, while propping up a single family’s business ventures, we will send merely double the amount to fight for 20 per cent of the earth’s oxygen-producing capability. At the end of the day, capitalism and profits are STILL more important than the literal survival of human beings.
The system all of us depend upon is about to fall apart and none of us have any idea how to save ourselves from extinction without sacrificing our income and means of survival based on our unreal fiscal expectations of infinite growth.
This is the crux of the crisis. Most of us have become very comfortable living on a system that we know is on borrowed time. Without infinite growth, our economic model collapses, and right now, the entire earth is reminding us that the planet is finite.
This is the harsh reality. We can drastically slow down climate change if we tell everybody to stop shopping for clothes they don’t need, going on vacations they can’t afford, and wasting food they don’t eat. What would happen to the stock prices around the world? What would happen to the prosperity of major financial hubs? What would happen to your own income?
We are addicted and we can’t stop. The overdose is coming. Our reality of finite resources is pushing against the economic models of infinite resources. So are we willing to go through withdrawal or just go over cliff when we get there?
Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy use, and help distinguish environmental truths from myths. Send questions, comments, and ideas for future columns to Terri at terri.chu@whyshouldicare.ca.
October 8th, 2019 · Comments Off on ARTS: Indigenous arts revealed (Sept. 2019)
The Bickford Centre hosted a celebration of Indigenous culture and arts for the second summer in a row. Sue Crow Eagle (centre) showcased her corn husk figures alongside 15 other indigenous artisans as well as dancers and drummers. NABAHAT HUSSAIN/GLEANER NEWS
First Nations come together for arts and crafts festival
By Nabahat Hussain
On Saturday, July 20, the second annual Indigenous Harvesters and Artisans Market took place at Bickford Centre, just south of Christie Pits Park. Visitors were afforded a glimpse of a rich native cultural history through the prism of arts and crafts.
Fifteen stalls were featured including handmade crafts and art pieces made by Indigenous artists from all around the country. This year boasted a mural reveal, with a tour and explanation from the various past and present artists at the event.
The festival started off with a prayer recited by Elder Pauline Shirt while tobacco was handed out and recollected after the prayer. “Tobacco is our connection from the physical to the spiritual world,” says Shirt.
Opening remarks were made by many people including artist Phil Cote, who said, “It’s important that Indigenous people begin to tell their own story, we’ve had our story told from outsiders for a long time.” Councillor Mike Layton made a brief appearance, thanking Nish Dish restaurant owner Johl Ringuette for enabling the murals at the centre to become a reality.
Mike Izzo from the TDSB, Catherine Campbell from Street ARToronto, Chief LaFormel of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and Elder Cindy White also spoke.
There were many drum and singing performances from the All Nations Big Drum group and Eagle Woman Singers. Originally from Alberta, Sue Crow Eagle re-created the group in Ontario: “It’s all ceremonial songs for the dancers to dance to.”
Many dances took place, listed as “Jingle dance, Traditional dance, and Fancy Shawl” on the itinerary. Local Indigenous restaurant Nish Dish at 690 Bloor Street West, just east of Christie, was popular at the event, with a long line at its tent.
Many notable artists were present, with unique and popular pieces. Wesley Lori Havill, an Ojibway, Batchewana First Nation artist is best known for working with moose, deer and elk antlers, carving art into them. One antler sells at over one thousand dollars, Havill says. “I have to stare at an antler for a long time before inspiration comes to me,” and that his ideas come from nature.
Saskatchewan-raised artist, Ren Lonechild says his upbringing played a vital role in his life. Lonechild works mainly with watercolour, his heritage being the main theme of all his pieces.
The third shoutout-worthy artist is Trip Phoenix of Sunheart Rises Designs, whose stall boasted variety in its jewellery, decorative pieces, and cultural keepsakes. After a financial crisis in his life, Phoenix says, “I met a woman at a powwow who urged me to learn to make crafts, and I expanded from there,” explaining how it helped him get back on his feet.
Event-goer Karen said, “I came to support Indigenous artists and the Indigenous community, they’ve come from all over Ontario including from the reserves. Many people here I’ve already bought art from.”While the dances and shopping was going on, so was an educational program at the school’s medicine garden. The speakers told stories and gave tips on how to take care of certain plants in the space. Once all mural reveals, performances, music, selling, and programs were over, a closing prayer by Elder Pauline Shirt was said and the event closed off with a Drum Song with Dancers. The Indigenous Harvesters and Artisans market will be back next year for its third run.
Comments Off on ARTS: Indigenous arts revealed (Sept. 2019)Tags:Annex · Arts
