“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

After axing his predecessor’s carbon tax policies, the premier has offered the province a new climate change plan that asks more questions than it answers.

Repealing the cap-and-trade system also cancels the programs funded by its revenues, including rebates for energy-efficient renovations, transit projects, clean energy production like wind and solar, and a fund for energy-saving school repairs. The province is also on a legal collision course with Ottawa, which requires every province and territory to implement a carbon-reduction plan. Provinces and territories who do not establish a climate action plan will have one imposed on it.

Not one for waiting, Doug Ford’s provincial government threw the first punch this month, when it launched a lawsuit against the federal government claiming it had overstepped its constitutional authority. This suit should not come as a surprise — Ford campaigned on it. The province has set aside $30 million to fund the legal offensive, but legal experts think it’s a doomed initiative given that the federal government has broad taxing powers and climate change crosses provincial borders. For her part, Ontario Attorney General Caroline Mulroney declined to speculate on the government’s chances in court, saying only that it was something the Progressive Conservatives had promised to do.

It would be totally pointless to sue Ottawa without presenting an alternate solution, so the provincial government has also announced its made-in-Ontario solution: a 53-page document that devotes less than half of its content to climate change. The bulk of the document deals with what are termed climate drivers like encouraging litter reduction and makes recommendations for ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. (Basement waterproofing is one example.) Bizarrely, Ford’s pledge to take over the Toronto transit system is included as a climate pledge rather than the thinly-veiled attempt to regain control of the city that failed to elect him mayor.

We note that Ontario has made significant progress on its climate change goals, thanks largely due to the elimination of coal-fired power plans. Progressing further will mean tackling other low-hanging fruit, like industry polluters and the automotive sector, but that’s a tougher row to hoe. The coal plants did not fight back. Try telling someone that their giant pick-up they just bought, used primarily for their suburban commute, is going to go the way of the dodo.

It’s alarming the extent to which people choose gas-guzzling pick-ups and SUVs over smaller fuel-efficient cars. British Columbia is confronting that head-on by announcing programs that will require all new cars and light trucks to be zero-emission vehicles by 2040. Ford’s plan has expressly exempted the entire auto sector from his climate change strategy and only mentions industry to suggest the government would consult on target reductions in carbon emissions, and if industry should not meet the targets, it would be “fined”. Well at least it’s not a “tax”.

Governments should lead by considering the interests of the whole, not by adding up the preferences of each citizen. Ford says he was elected “for the people”, and the residents of Ontario collectively need a climate change strategy that will have a real impact on climate change, not one that is composed solely of smoke.

READ MORE EDITORIALS: 

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)

READ MORE:

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (City Election 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (October 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How nice (Aug./Sept. 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Summer 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (July 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Election Special 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (May 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Spring 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Dec. 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON How nice! (August 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON How nice! (July 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: how nice! by blamb (June 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: TCHC (May 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: The Grand Tory (April 2017)

FORUM: Celebrating 20 years of cartoonist Brett Lamb (April 2017)

Not so funny

Re: How Nice editorial cartoon (October 2018)

I have lived in the Annex for 40 years. I love living here and am so glad The Annex Gleaner exists. This is the first time opening the paper made me sad. I have never voted Conservative, never will, and I put in a good number of years working alongside Jack Layton, two of them at City Hall.

The editorial cartoon, “But I’m a moderate Conservative” is not a cartoon. It’s four blocks of words and images that reek of hate and name-calling. This hateful, generalized statement is not funny at all.

I know if I brought it to Jack Layton’s attention, he would just shake his head and not give it a second glance. Maybe, like me, he would have sighed and been saddened.

The Gleaner can do better, providing a more intelligent and well-rounded perspective.

—Peter Ehrlich

Twelve disciples were enough, once

Re: Election chaos (October 2018)

I am a long-time resident in the Annex and I felt surprised by your article. There are still too many council members — 25 is too much.

The more people the greater the chaos. If Jesus could run the entire earth with 12 people, why do we need so many for Toronto?

If you say we are not represented enough then make the alternative choice — every one of us should have a seat.

See how ridiculous the argument is for so many?

—Noemi Soloviov

Our opportunity to reshape local democracy

By Mike Layton

Let me first take a moment to thank the residents of University-Rosedale who have put their trust and faith in me with their vote. I also want to thank the other candidates for bringing their ideas and issues forward during the campaign. Congratulations also go to Toronto District School Board Trustee Chris Moise for taking on the enormous challenge of managing the expectations of parents, students, teachers, and the administration for schools across two enormous wards.

Throughout the campaign it was a pleasure to meet old friends and new residents in Ward 11 — from the Annex to Kensington Market and from Ossington to Rosedale — to talk about the issues we are facing in our ward, and the city that we striving to create.

I heard some things repeatedly: residents in Ward 11 want to make sure there is more affordable housing, better transit, that we invest in ways to make our streets safer, and that we protect and expand green space in the city. What I heard even more often was that we must do everything we can to stand up for the people of Toronto against Doug Ford’s cuts and his approach to governing.

I promise to get to work on these issues right away. Together we will fight for a Toronto where nobody is left behind, where the city is leading the fight against climate change, and where we build opportunities for everyone in our communities.

In the coming months we will need to focus on Toronto’s new inclusionary zoning powers that will ensure all new development includes affordable housing. Early in the next term of Toronto City Council, new cost estimates for transit plans will be debated and the future of the Downtown Relief Line will be decided.

We will review our bylaws as they relate to ride-sharing services, and debate measures to reduce noise impacts on our neighbourhoods.

Parks and Forestry is developing a new Facilities Master Plan that will look at where we need to improve service delivery for recreation programs.

Locally, we will need to get serious about road safety and look at new plans for road safety measures on Avenue Road, Glen Road, and Bloor Street.

In the days following the campaign I reached out to city staff, community associations. and my colleagues on council to begin the process of transitioning to the new ward boundaries. There are several critical issues that we will need to address right away, and there are some that deserve a longer, more robust dialogue with residents and businesses about how they can be involved in shaping their communities and city.

In the coming weeks I plan to facilitate a dialogue with residents about the type of city they want to live in, the services they need and expect the city to provide, and how we can collectively move forward in this new political reality.

For the past two council terms, I have prided myself on having an open door and, an attentive ear, and being generous (and honest) with advice about how to move issues forward at city hall. I look forward to continuing this practice on a larger scale in the coming years in Ward 11.

Mike Layton is the councillor for Ward 11, University-Rosedale.

READ MORE BY MIKE LAYTON:

FORUM: Celebrate citizen activists (July 2018)

FORUM: Provincial government is developer-friendly (Spring 2018)

FORUM: Establishing a new Indigenous Affairs Office (Nov. 2017)

FORUM: Building a better Bickford Park (Oct. 2017)

FORUM: Recognize and reconcile Canada at 150 (July 2017)

FORUM: San Francisco a model to follow (April 2017)

FORUM: Tolls, taxes, and Toronto (February 2017)

FORUM: Seeing our neighbourhood through new eyes (December 2016)

FORUM: We can do better: Dangerous summer for Toronto pedestrians and cyclists (October 2016)

FORUM: Curious story of Christie Pits pool liner ends in extended hours at Alex Duff (August 2016)

FORUM: A tribute to a friend (June 2016)

FORUM: Large problem, small solution (March 2016)

FORUM: Happy New Year from a new Dad with a new perspective (January 2016)