By Brian Burchell

This female Eastern White Wild Turkey, dubbed “Rose” by neighbours, seems to enjoy her mini-range consisting of Christie Pits, Bickford, and Art Eggleton parks.

Though the species is more often than not shy of humans, Rose seems to like children but can be very defensive with dogs that charge her.

About the height of a 5-year-old kid, she favours the areas around playground equipment.

Eastern White Wild Turkeys were almost extinct in North America one hundred years ago but now are estimated to have a population of 7 million. Roughly 70,000 of them reside year-round in Ontario.

Many jurisdictions are to be credited with the species’ revival including the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). In the early 1980s the MNR started a wild turkey restoration project which  involved the trapping and transfer of wild turkeys from Missouri, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and New Jersey, to Ontario.

In 1984, the MNR released 4,400 wild turkeys at 275 sites across the province. In exchange, Ontario sent otters to Missouri and Nebraska, partridges to New York, and moose to Michigan.

Though Annex residents have been feeding Rose, she is also happy to scour the ground cover for nuts and seeds, though the turkeys are technically omnivorous and will consume insects and invertebrates.

Their high adaptability in terms of both landscape and diet are credited with the birds’ resurgence. The MNR now allows a limited hunting season.

­Rose’s Annex refuge appears to be a mutually satisfactory arrangement for humans and fowl alike.

Premier Doug Ford’s latest plan to restructure funding for post-secondary institutions would mean the average college student can look forward to saving $340 in tuition fees this September, while the average arts and science student in university can look forward to saving $660 per year. The plan, however, is little more than a reckless ruse that does nothing for the people it purports to help. The ten per cent cuts to tuition fees for colleges and universities effective in Sept. 2019, and locked down for 2020, are nothing but a shiny populist penny on a regressive policy pie.

About one-third of university revenues comes from tuition, which means these cuts will cost $360 million. Colleges, on the other hand, stand to lose $80 million. These losses will not be made up elsewhere by the government. It seems we may be witnessing another “buck a beer” moment, Premier Ford has not thought this through.

Merrilee Fullerton, minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, said the tuition cut and cap will “keep more money in the pockets of Ontario students” and even billed these measures under the banner “for the students”. One day later, the government announced drastic cuts to the OSAP student aid system. The program offering free tuition to families with incomes of less than $50,000 disappeared in an instant. The new program also converts grants to loans, and eliminates a post-graduation “grace period” on interest for student loans. But Premier Ford has no grace, and no understanding of the important role OSAP has played in helping kids from low-income families break the cycle of poverty through education.

The PCs at Queen’s Park have converted the OSAP policy, with their radical increase to potential interest-bearing student debt, to a revenue tool. The idea that OSAP is a vehicle to allow low-income families attend college or university to help break the cycle of poverty without being burdened by unsustainable debt is lost on this government.

According to the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, it does not appear that the government consulted stakeholders on these changes. Minister Fullerton told the CBC that the government spoke to “many many people about it,” but was unable to specify which people. Had student organizations and colleges and universities been directly consulted they would no doubt have argued that any revenue reduction would almost automatically result in a reduction of service, reduced staff, increased reliance on contract instructors, larger class sizes, and fewer course options.

For years now colleges and universities have sought to augment their revenue shortfalls by turning to international students who pay much higher fees unregulated by the province. What has emerged is a culture where the educational institutions see the students as paying customers.

For many decades, Ontario taxpayers were the primary funders of the post-secondary education system. The dividends of that investment should not be squandered.

The economy is changing. In November, GM announced it would shutter its manufacturing plant in Oshawa. Just two months later, it opened a technology centre in Markham that employs more than 600 engineers. Jobs like this are not easily exportable to jurisdictions where labour is cheap, and cannot be done better by robots. Without a functioning system of  higher education geared to this new economy, Ontario won’t be producing people who can fill the jobs. One would hope that the province can keep pace with these changes and not get side-tracked into an ill-advised battle with what this government perceives as irrelevant left-wing elitists.

READ MORE EDITORIALS: 

EDITORIAL: Blowing smoke on the climate file (Dec. 2018)

EDITORIAL: This premier is not for the people (City Election 2018)

EDITORIAL: Eight weeks lost to Ford’s madness (October 2018)

EDITORIAL: A lost cause worth fighting for (Aug./Sept. 2018)

EDITORIAL: Reclaiming our city (Summer 2018)

EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)

EDITORIAL: The market has no moral compass (Election Special 2018)

EDITORIAL: Lessons to be learned from Excessive Force (Spring 2018)

EDITORIAL: A social contract is a precious thing (March 2018)

EDITORIAL: Intolerance leading to Quebec’s decline (Dec. 2017)

EDITORIAL (Nov. 2017): Student safety suffers as trustees cave

EDITORIAL: Pandering to religious intolerance (October 2017)

EDITORIAL: Bike lanes, good for business (Fall 2017)

EDITORIAL: Don’t sacrifice safety for political gain (August 2017)

MPP Bell sees glass half-full in year ahead

By Jessica Bell

A new year is an opportunity to renew and recommit to making a difference. Here are three resolutions to help spur positive social change in 2019.

Embrace Hope.

The year 2018 was a hard one.The rise of right wing populist Doug Ford has damaged our democracy, hurt people, and the environment.

The year 2019 will not be easy. There will be cuts to vital public services. Life will get harder for many, especially the poor and vulnerable. People will die. That’s why it’s never been more important to believe a kinder, fairer future is possible, and that our work here in Toronto will help us achieve it. Hopeful people take action. Hopeless people don’t. Hope is contagious. So is hopelessness.

There are many reasons to hope: two MPPs have already left the Conservative caucus and we have held our ground against Doug Ford on some issues.

The Ford government is keeping some safe injection sites open despite his election promise to shut them down. Ford’s appointment of family friend, Ron Taverner, to the head of the Ontario Provincial Police has been delayed. And the $14 minimum wage and rent control on existing homes are in force. These are victories. 

Ontarians are also becoming more politically engaged. Thousands protested the cancellation of the French Language University and the elimination of the French Language Services Commissioner. More than 40,000 students staged school walkouts in protest of Ford’s removal of teaching about consent and the existence of LGBTQ people from the sex education curriculum. Continuing support for these opposition movements stands to grow as more people turn to activism.

Volunteer with a campaign.

A campaign involves people working together to achieve a positive and specific political goal. The goal could be electing a local champion to office or increasing provincial funding to schools.

Good campaigns build the momentum and power we need to make real change. It’s easy for a Conservative politician to ignore a one-off letter to the editor, a door-to-door canvasser, an angry email, a day of protests, or some nasty tweets. But it’s very hard for an elected official to not be swayed when these events are organized in sequence and then repeated by an ever-growing group of motivated and active residents in a politician’s own riding.

Working on a chosen campaign also helps me stay positive. Taking useful action with friends counters the despair and anger I sometimes feel when I am alone listening to the news. Focusing on one cause and doing it well is the best antidote to that drowning urgency to do a million things at once when I scroll through my Facebook feed, scanning headlines of tragedy, despair, shopping sales, and click-bait activism.

Invite people to join and stick around.

Doug Ford has a huge amount of official power. He controls the ministries and he makes the laws, but he is only one person. Over 60 per cent of Ontarians did not vote for Doug Ford, and nobody voted for his vengeful attacks on Toronto or his plan to open up the precious Greenbelt to big developers. 

Our power is people-power. We strengthen our people-power when we encourage people to join our cause, and when we work well together. I strive to provide opportunities for people to take action, and I encourage you to do the same.

This can look like personally inviting people to attend a local protest, organizing an event at your local school so parents, students, and teachers can connect with people who are leading campaigns to improve education in Ontario, or simply listening to a colleague who would like to see improvements to the local group’s meeting culture. People join when they are invited. People stay when they make friends.  

Join me in making 2019 the year where we work together to make a change for the better.

Jessica Bell is the MPP for University Rosedale. Her office is at 719 Bloor St. W., #103. For help or to volunteer please contact her at JBell-CO@ndp.on.ca.

Moise opposes the “hack and slash system of anything goes” of Premier Ford

TDSB Trustee Chris Moise talks about local politics, keeping schools progressive, and fighting Premier Doug Ford in court (and winning).

By Chris Moise

When I first ran for Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Trustee in 2016, I did it because I wanted to make a difference in our education system. At the time, there was an over 3.4 billion-dollar deficit in repairs needed to fix our schools’ crumbling infrastructure due to lack of funding. There was also a disproportionate number of black and Indigenous students being expelled from the classroom in contrast to their white peers, and equity seemed like a progressive fantasy that would never come to fruition. 

Within the first few months of being elected, I hit the ground running. Not only did I join the board’s Enhancing Equity Task Force (an initiative designed to empower all students and provide greater access for future opportunities) but I was elected vice chair of the TDSB. In the months that followed, I worked closely with our senior team around repairs. This included channelling resources into improving Jesse Ketchum Parkette and the community use of the school, improving Church Street JPS field and getting air condition systems installed for students in every classroom during the hottest of summer months.  

I also made some tough decisions for the betterment of our students that attracted a lot of backlash from some parents. I put forth legislation to remove SROs (School Resource Officers) from some of our schools, after receiving numerous complaints from students who felt both threatened and alienated by the presence of police standing outside their classrooms. Now, I am in no way anti-police (having once been a police officer myself), but I felt that this was something that had to be done. We did it and it worked.  

In January of 2018, I announced that I would run for Toronto City Council in the new 47 ward system (an increase of three wards from the previous year). I was so committed to the cause that I changed my whole life: I sold my house, purchased a condo in what was to be my new ward (25), and intended to step down as trustee. My poll numbers for council were high, and I had the support of my peers at the board, incumbent councillors, and prominent residents in the community.  

Then Doug Ford happened. 

As we all know, the 47 ward system was decimated down to a mere 25. I, along with countless others, risked and lost everything. Other council hopefuls lost even more than I did. Some quit six figure jobs in order to run, only to be left with zero ground to stand on. 

We decided to take the provincial government to court over Bill 5. Thanks to the ruling of Judge Edward Belobaba, who saw the move by the premier as both undemocratic and highly suspect, we won. 

In response, Ford threatened to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause. The rest, as they say, is history.  

I was devastated, and even considered leaving public office behind entirely. I became darkly contented with the fact that we live in an unjust world, and that I should just accept this and move on. 

Then Ford introduced a regressive amendment that targeted our students and teachers by re-instituting the 1998 Sex-Ed curriculum, replacing and downgrading the modern and inclusive 2014 model implemented by the Wynn government. I decided that there was still more I could do, even if I wouldn’t be doing it at City Hall. I ran again as TDSB trustee, this time in the new ward of Toronto Centre-University Rosedale. I won my seat on the board, and once again, I was intent on hitting the ground running. 

This term, I am focusing [so far] on two major issues: continuing to address the repairs backlog, and fighting Doug Ford’s reinstatement of the dangerously outdated Health & Physical Education Bill. Taking a look at the recent disturbing events at St. Mike’s private school makes it clear that keeping crucial terminology in the classroom, terminology removed from the 2014 model, could have possibly shifted a seemingly consent-anemic culture where sexual bullying appears to have been the status quo.   

There are dark days ahead, but there are also brighter days to follow. We trustees must advocate on behalf of all students, especially during a time when progressive voices are being silenced by those who misinterpret their responsibility for carte blanche power, and disregard democracy in favour of a hack-and-slash system of anything goes. 

For more information or to contact Chris Moise, please visit www.chrismoise.ca.

“Foreground of Hart House and University College” is one of six pieces by Nicholas Hornyansky in the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. Hornyansky was a Canadian-Hungarian artist who moved to Canada in 1929. His work includes many local scenes, including Hart House, Convocation Hall, University College, and the Soldiers’ Tower. The Art Museum is made up of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House, and the University of Toronto Art Centre at University College. It’s one of the largest gallery spaces for visual art exhibitions and programming in Toronto.

—Annemarie Brissenden/Gleaner News

Multi-faith ring of peace circles City Shul

Christian and Muslim members of local churches and mosques circled City Shul on November 1 in a ring of peace. Organizers wanted to show solidarity with the synagogue, which operates out of the Bloor Street United Church at Bloor and Huron streets, after a deadly attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Ahmed Hagar/Gleaner News

By Ahmed Hagar

Christians and Muslims surrounded the City Shul synagogue on November 1 in a show of solidarity with the synagogue’s Jewish congregants in response to the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27. Participants carrying signs with supportive messages greeted congregants for the 10 a.m. service.

Barb Wentworth and Richard Kirsh, members of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, took part in what was called the ring of peace. They both said that they wanted to show support to the Jewish community.

“The world is crazy, and to do this little thing, it is important,” said Wentworth, who held a sign reading “What the world needs now is love”.

“Being able to have your spiritual practice in peace is important,” added Kirsh. “To have our own freedom, we need to support everyone else’s freedom.”

Former member of provincial Parliament, Reverend Dr. Cheri DiNovo of Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church also participated, because different religious communities coming together and showing solidarity is “very critical”.

“In the wake of the tragedy that happened in Pittsburgh, we wanted to show our solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters,” she said. “We are all in the Abrahamic traditions, so we are here with Muslims and Christians of all denominations.”

It’s one of many rings of peace to show support for the Jewish community that have been held at synagogues throughout Toronto since the attack in Pittsburgh.

Reverend Gary van der Meer of St. Anne’s Anglican Church helped organize the City Shul event, and had reached out to City Shul Rabbi Elyse Goldstein shortly after hearing about the attack.

“On the Sunday, we created a big card and we asked people to sign it and we had special prayers in our church service,” he said. “And I was in touch with the rabbi to convey my support.”

Rabbi Goldstein said the community was “vulnerable and frightened” after receiving news of the attack. She added that the synagogue is supported by the community, and other religious leaders responded immediately.

“We feel very loved and equal in Canada,” she said. “When the government officials come to the synagogue, I will ask them on behalf of the Jewish community to stay strong in their commitment to protect all vulnerable minorities.”

This was not the first time Reverend van der Meer has participated in a ring of peace. He and Rabbi Goldstein also participated in one for the Islamic Information and Dawah Centre after the Quebec City mosque shooting in 2017.

Reverend van der Meer said his congregation supported the mosque to “show support from their neighbours.

“My own congregation members came to me, not in the ‘we have to do it for them because we did it for the others’, but more in ‘this is who we are’.”

The City Shul’s members thanked the members of the ring of peace, distributing Timbits.

It was a “warm feeling to have all of these people say that they are standing for us,” said Nick Gunz, who worships at City Shul. “It has touched a dark memory in our communities and the memories have been of a past in which this sort of thing happened and no one came out. And now everyone is coming out and that is really nice.”

Gunz also said that the support the community has shown is an ideal example of the importance of interfaith solidarity.

“This is why interfaith is important because it allows us to stand together and understand one another when times are bad,” he said.

Newly-elected representatives say community is key

By Hannah Alberga

University-Rosedale’s newly-elected representatives plan to tackle their sprawling ward using a bottom-up approach. Some of the issues they’ll have to tackle include how to approach the recent handgun violence in Toronto, the affordable housing crises, and how the legalization of marijuana will affect public schools.

“I’m a firm believer that the community should be involved in decisions in the neighbourhood,” said Mike Layton (Ward 11, University-Rosedale). He believes he can strengthen local democracy in response to a shrunken Toronto City Council by treating communities as organizing units.

University-Rosedale encompasses an assortment of neighbourhoods, including the Annex, Chinatown, Summerhill, Rosedale, Kensington Market, Ossington Avenue, and the University of Toronto campus.

“We started off this election on the most terrible, terrible of terms. We have a premier in this province that has no problem with trampling all over the democratic rights of the people of the city of Toronto,” said Layton, while speaking to a crowd of supporters at The Garrison on election night.

Layton posted an overwhelming victory, receiving 22,370 votes, representing almost 70 per cent of the ward. Runner-up Joyce Rowlands got 4,231 votes, and Nicki Ward received 2,933. There were seven candidates in total.

This will be Layton’s third term on city council. He was elected in 2010 and 2014 as the councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.

He may be serving a different community this time around, but his commitment is just as strong. University-Rosedale is a piece of Canada that he holds very dear to his heart — he grew up in the Annex and lived in Chinatown while studying at the University of Toronto.

“This is a coming home,” said Layton.

At 104,311, the population of his new ward is 64 per cent greater than his old one, so Layton needs to make sure that all the residents are accounted for.

“My plan is within the first couple of months of council to meet with residents’ associations and talk about what models we might be able to develop together,” he said. “It may be sort of a trial and error. We may have to get some things wrong so that we can get some things right.”

He wants to involve the community in decision-making, but doesn’t want volunteer associations — some of which are more built up and better financed than others — to be inundated with work. More importantly, all should have an equal say.

Layton said he’s going to look at other cities to see how decision-making is filtered to elected officials, admitting that he doesn’t have a model in mind yet.

One possibility may be establishing an advisory board of local community members that residents go to with issues before escalating to city council. He’ll have a better idea once city council has been briefed on the resources that are available to them.

Toronto District School Board Trustee Chris Moise (Ward 10, University-Rosedale and Toronto Centre) plans to work alongside Layton during this, his second term.

“I know what works and doesn’t work,” he said. “I’ll visit all of my schools within the first month. My principals all have my number and keep me in the know.” Moise has been an outspoken critic of the premier’s roll-back of the sex education curriculum, and said that he’ll ensure every student has access to mental health resources and a contemporary understanding of sex-ed.

He’ll also be relying on the community to advocate for the well-being of students in the ward.

“[The priority is making] sure our communities are involved in empowering our young people,” he said, pointing to a September protest by students from over 100 schools on the sex-ed rollback as an exemplary display of how students should be empowered to take a stake in their education.

Like Moise, Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Norman Di Pasquale (Ward 9) values community involvement. Since this will be his first term, he admitted that he has a lot to learn and getting to know parent councils will be his first step.

“They are such a key point, I want them all to be connected with me and with each other,” he said.

Di Pasquale believes parents are the first layer of local democracy, and plans to create a mega Facebook group for all of his parent councils to encourage an open line of communication between schools.

The iconic El Mocambo Tavern sign is shining once again, and is back home on Spadina Avenue after a long restoration. Michael Wekerle, the club’s owner, and Mayor John Tory turned the sign on in a ceremony on November 15. Construction continues inside the club, which is set to reopen later in 2019.

—Hüsna Sari/Gleaner News

The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre observed Remembrance Day with a multi-disciplinary ceremony. The November 11 event included a moment of silence, candle lighting, and a music performance by students in the music program.

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News

The Annex Residents’ Association (ARA) raised over $3,000 after turning its annual Annex Corn Fest into a silent auction.

“It was a great day. We had a lot of people, because we promoted the event quite well. We had a great participation from businesses around the neighbourhood and members of the community,” said David Harrison, president of the ARA.

The association partnered with Community Matters, a St. James Town community group, to raise money to help residents displaced from their homes by a fire at 650 Parliament St. last summer. Over 1,500 people have been unable to return home since an electrical fire broke out at the residential high-rise on August 21. Property manager Doug Sartell said in a press conference late September that it might be next year before residents can return home.

The City of Toronto and the Canadian Red Cross have worked to find shelter for the victims, opening the Wellesley Community Centre and Regent Park Community Centre. There are also two class-action suits pending against the building owners, the property managers, and Toronto Hydro on behalf of the tenants.

The proceeds from the corn fest and silent auction were donated to the tenants during a ceremony on October 19.

“We are a neighbourhood association and basically our aims and objectives are to improve the quality of life for us and if we can help our neighbours we do that too. We are in this together, we should help each other when we can,” Harrison said.

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News

A disagreement between two men at Gig@bites Internet ended in a stabbing on October 15 around noon. The men got into a physical altercation, and the suspect fled on foot after stabbing the victim.

The Toronto Police Service has since released images of a man wanted in connection with the incident at the Bloor Street West Internet café. The police have asked for assistance in identifying the suspect, describing him in a news release as 5 feet 10 inches, aged 20 to 35, with short black hair, and having a full beard. He was wearing a green jacket with an orange hoodie beneath, dark pants, red shoes with white soles, and carrying a light coloured backpack. He might also have tattoos on his neck.

The condition of the victim has not been disclosed and staff at the Gig@bites location declined to comment for this story.

If you have information on this or any other incident, please contact the Toronto Police Service at 416-808-1400.

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News