Community members are invited to don pink and join students from the University of Toronto Schools (UTS) in celebrating International Day of Pink on April 12 for the fourth year in a row. They will also be fundraising for LGBT Youthline, an organization that offers confidential and non-judgmental peer support by telephone, text, and online chat services.

“This year our focus is on educating people about queer intersectionality and how different aspects of being an oppressed group play into how people are treated,” said Esperanza Krementsova, a student and member of the Pink Day crew.

The keynote speaker, Dr. Carys Massarella of St. Joseph’s Health Centre, will share her personal experiences of being transgender.

“Pink day is a very meaningful day for us,” said guidance counsellor Catherine Wachter. “It teaches acceptance and helps to create a safer atmosphere.”

—Justin Vieira/Gleaner News

READ MORE:

NEWS: Celebrating pink at Harbord Collegiate Institute (May 2016)

NEWS: Break out the pink on April 13 (April 2016)

UTS goes pink, students unite (April 2015)

Harbord Collegiate celebrates 125 years

PHOTO BY NEILAND BRISSENDEN: A handmade, felt-covered photo album from 1909 sits in the Harbord Collegiate Institute museum, the first of its kind in Canada. Titled The Brownies at Harbord by Simple Simon, it features a caption reading “The Greatest Truths are the Simplest/And so are the Greatest Men”.

By Annemarie Brissenden

There will be a little bit of Oola and a whole lot of Boola when Harbordites gather later this month to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Harbord Collegiate Institute. Opened in 1892, it’s the third oldest school in the Toronto District School Board, something alumni are quick to tell you should you ask about its history.

They’ll also tell you about three things: it was a haven of diversity long before multiculturalism was even a word, it faithfully honours its alumni who served in the First and Second World Wars, and Wayne and Shuster got their start there in the legendary Oola Boola Club.

[pullquote]“The school for me was an opportunity for the child of an immigrant to be educated in Canada. It’s a symbol of what Canada became. It started at Harbord Collegiate, with immigrant children from all over the world”—Murray Rubin (class of 1950)[/pullquote]

The pair were part of the club, founded in 1932 by teacher Charles Girdler, who recruited students to perform sketch comedy and raise money to pay for stage curtains for the school’s new auditorium.

“To this day, the Oola Boola Club remains a legend among alumni,” writes India Anamanthadoo in the June 2013 issue of The Harbordite, a newsletter for those connected to the school. “Its hysterical, skillful, and even irrational antics left an imprint on the minds of students and staff alike.”

Frank Shuster had met Johnny Wayne two years earlier in a Grade 10 history class, when Wayne sat right behind Shuster. Syd Moscoe, in the December 2012 Harbordite, said, “I flinch when I think what life must have been like for the teacher.”

Such memories have been kept alive thanks to its dedicated alumni. The Harbord Club welcomes all staff, students, and former students connected to the school. It helps with the school museum — the first of its kind in Canada — and is organizing the anniversary celebration.

“The amazing thing about Harbord is its long-standing connection with alumni in the community,” says Vincent Meade, the school’s principal. “Long after graduating, they keep committing their time and resources to the school.”

“I have spent more years at Harbord than not,” laughs teacher Belinda Medeiros-Felix, who is also a Harbord Club director and a member of the class of 1981. The school was renovated during her time as a student, so she “entered a very old, old, building, and graduated out of a new building, which is now old.”

She says her teachers had a great impact on her life, so much so that some attended her wedding.

Recent graduate Nicolas Zuniga (class of 2011) agrees.

“I had a number of great teachers when I was there, and that made it a great experience.”

He’s less connected to the school’s history, but does recognize the importance of Remembrance Day at Harbord, noting “people did their sacrifices for what they believe in”.

“There were an enormous amount of men and at least two nurses that we know of who gave their lives,” says Daniel Leblanc, who volunteers in the museum and teaches a class on archives and local history.

Meade adds that alumni come in to speak about their experience on Remembrance Day, and the history department brings Grade 10 classes down to the archive room.

“After four years, students have a sense of the legacy and why that’s important.”

There are also the two monuments honouring Harbord students who perished in the First and Second World wars standing sentry outside the school. Alumni, led by Murray Rubin (class of 1950), paid to restore the first and install the second.

“It’s the only Second World War monument in Toronto at a school,” says Rubin. “We raised a lot of money from alumni, and now provide scholarships and bursaries for the students. It happens in private schools all the time, not as much in public schools.”

He says he loved his time at Harbord.

“The school for me was an opportunity for the child of an immigrant to be educated in Canada. It’s a symbol of what Canada became. It started at Harbord Collegiate, with immigrant children from all over the world.”

Rubin attended Harbord in what Leblanc says was the school’s heyday: the late 1940s.

“It was the Jewish push right after the Holocaust,” explains Leblanc. “So many students had lost extended family overseas. This became their family, and it shows in the love for their school.”

“You had a lot of first generation immigrants, a lot of Jewish students,” adds John Fulford, whose son goes to Harbord. “They came from similar backgrounds, lived in small homes. Their parents wanted to make sure they had better than they had.”

Rubin says his classmates did very well in school, and because he looked up to them, he knew he had to do so as well.

“The spirit in the school was pervasive. The teachers liked the school because kids did well and they worked hard.”

And now those kids have had kids who are enrolling in Harbord.

“We have generations of Harbordites,” says Meade, including the next Rubin generation.

“My daughter moved into the area, and my grandson is going to Harbord this year,” says Rubin. “That makes me feel so good.”

Harbord Collegiate Institute celebrates its 125th anniversary from April 28 to 30. .

Some notable Harbordites

• Charles Best
• Frank Gehry
• Stanley Grizzle
• Royson James
• Stephen Lewis
• Rosario Marchese
• Joe Pantalone
• Harry Rosen
• Morley Safer
• Sam Shopsowitz
• Sam Sniderman
• Garfield Weston

READ MORE

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Harbord C.I. connects with history (April 2017)

CHATTER: Decade rooms, formal gala, and talent shows to mark Harbord Collegiate’s 125th anniversary (March 2017)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: A long history of activism (February 2017)

NEWS: Celebrating pink at Harbord Collegiate Institute (May 2016)

Reflections on 32 years of service (August 2014)

Fully restored statue returns to school

PHOTO BY NEILAND BRISSENDEN/GLEANER NEWS: Our Soldier has watched over Harbord students since 1922.

By Linda Nguyen

A bronze soldier has stood proudly in front of Harbord Collegiate Institute for 83 years. He’s watched students saunter in and out of class each day, watched as they skateboard and chatter at his feet, but most importantly, he’s watched over them.

Nicknamed “Our Soldier” by the school community, he stands as a reminder to each passing generation of the 75 former staff and students who lost their lives in the First World War, and encourages them to remember the 500 from their high school who served for this country.

[pullquote]“There was so much eroding. Our Soldier looked worse for the weather and it was no way to treat the monument, the only monument dedicated to [the First World War] at any high school in Canada”—Sid Moscoe, Harbord Club[/pullquote]

But for the first time, the soldier is not standing in his usual spot and students, although unsure exactly of what he represents, definitely miss his presence.

Chantal Goncalves, 15, says though she doesn’t know what happened to the soldier, Harbord isn’t the same without him. “I think [the soldier is] getting fixed or something. I don’t really know what it represents, probably soldiers going to war. No one told us really, but it’s weird that it’s not there.”

But the truth is, his disappearance has been calculated and planned for the past four years.

Sid Moscoe, 79, a member of the Harbord Club, says the statue was suffering from so much wear and tear that something needed to be done, and fast. “There was so much eroding. Our Soldier looked worse for the weather and it was no way to treat the monument, the only monument dedicated to [the First World War] at any high school in Canada.”

So for four years, the Harbord Club has been raising money to pay for the soldier’s full restoration. And now, with over 300 contributions from private donors, including a large donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation (Weston is also a Harbord graduate), $43,000 has been raised.

On Remembrance Day, Our Soldier will return to his rightful spot in front of the school in a lavish ceremony that will include appearances from political dignitaries, alumni, and a performance from the school choir. All students in the school will pose to recreate a photo taken in 1922 during the original unveiling of the statue. In addition, two students will read their winning essays from a Grade 10 history contest.

Murray Rubin, who attended the high school in 1945, says the essay contest, which will award the two winners with $100, is a way to make the students aware of the history around them in their school.

“The kids today don’t have that feeling in Canada that the war was important and should be remembered. We have to instill it and this [restoration] will do the job. To them it may just be a statue, but the fact that the monument is being looked after has made an impact on students.”

Tim Dingwall, a Harbord history teacher, says that to him, the events surrounding Remembrance Day were something very exciting that he’s never experienced before. “I’m really impressed by it. It’s a very dynamic relationship between Harbord and its history and I know the students appreciate the opportunity to reconnect with history.”

One of Dingwall’s students, Alexandra D’addetta, 15, says she’s eager to start her essay and hopes she will win the contest.

“My grandfather was in World War Two supplying food to soldiers so I definitely care about Remembrance Day, but more people should care too. Anyone can win this contest, why not? I might win. Have some faith in yourself.”

But it’s this faith that is dwindling as the years pass and few First World War veterans are left to tell the tale. Currently there are fewer than five living veterans in Canada from that war.

For Tom Medland, 79, the tale is still too real. His father, a Harbord graduate, was one of the students who fought in the First World War. Medland says that ceremonies like the one planned at Harbord are very important to the community and to the country.

“It’s important for any young person growing up to know the history of the country and how it all began and what it involved. My children were always conscious of what the soldiers did because they grew up knowing their grandfather and seeing pictures of the war. It’s important that everyone gets the opportunity.”

Rubin says when Our Soldier is returned, he hopes students will get the opportunity to understand the battles and struggles that it represents at Harbord.

“The First World War is nothing but history to them but this [soldier] will bring it a lot closer to the school.”

The Harbord Club hopes to raise another $90,000 to install a monument to Second World War veterans on Remembrance Day 2006.

Reprinted from the October 2005 edition of The Annex Gleaner.

The original version contained some typographical errors that have been corrected.

READ MORE

FOCUS ON EDUCATION: A little Oola, a lot of Boola (April 2017)

CHATTER: Decade rooms, formal gala, and talent shows to mark Harbord Collegiate’s 125th anniversary (March 2017)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: A long history of activism (February 2017)

NEWS: Celebrating pink at Harbord Collegiate Institute (May 2016)

Reflections on 32 years of service (August 2014)

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The Toronto and East York Community Council unanimously endorsed a planning staff recommendation to approve Westbank Projects Corp.’s application to redevelop the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets on April 4. It’s a significant milestone that comes after three years of community consultations and collaborative work between the Vancouver-based developer, planning staff, and community representatives.

Called Mirvish Village, the plan will retain 24 of 27 heritage buildings, and add 804 residential units (over 40 per cent of which will have two or more bedrooms), 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and a new park. Taken together these elements not only create a neighbourhood unto itself, but complement the surrounding community. It’s an innovative and welcome re-imagining of the corner.

[pullquote]“The Westbank precedent has taught us much about municipal planning.”[/pullquote]

The question is no longer so much whether or not this represents intelligent growth. It’s rather two questions: how did we get to such a happy result? And, can the city replicate this approach for other new developments while successfully avoiding the many development atrocities that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) permits on our collective landscape?

The Westbank precedent has taught us much about municipal planning. To recreate the magic, one needs a developer with a certain progressive mind-set, a receptive and highly competent planning department (led in this case by Graig Uens), and a community that responds with a constructive tone.

Three years ago, Westbank’s project director Ian Duke told a skeptical audience gathered at the Randolph Academy that, despite having spent reportedly over $70 million for the 3.47-acre site, the company had not yet hired an architect and the closest thing it had to a plan were some guiding principles. He explained the principles clustered around nine points that included residential and commercial components, shared economies (co-op daycare, car share, farmers’ market), heritage, community space, and urban mobility. It would reflect a mix of commercial and residential uses, and all the units would be rental. Moreover, Duke urged the small audience to see Westbank “not as developers but as city builders”.

At the time, few were prepared to accept all this lofty goodness, and many saw Westbank’s pitch as a bunch of “Vancouver hooey”. Privately, some community representatives even admitted they were biased against renters over owners, doubting that renters “could be house-proud”. The extremely low vacancy rate for apartments across the city coupled with certain pressing needs — accommodating a burgeoning population, combatting urban sprawl — are not problems residents’ associations are prepared to solve in their backyards.

To win over the community, and avoid the pitfalls so prevalent in the OMB process, the dynamic duo of councillors Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) and Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) decided at the outset to take the developer’s stated position at face value. A comprehensive series of community consultations, private and public, were begun. And the city established a working group (of which the publisher of this newspaper was a member by virtue of his position as chair of the Bloor-Annex BIA) to evaluate the first, second, and third iteration of the development application through four distinct prisms: transportation, heritage, built-form, and public realm. At one of the sessions the group even directly cross-examined the applicant. There were many public engagement opportunities hosted first by Westbank, then by the city’s planning department, and then finally in March of this year by Layton and Cressy.

It was not consultation just for the sake of consultation. The net effect was transformative to the project: significant park space was added, tall structures were relocated from the corners, heritage buildings were meaningfully preserved, and the guidelines in the Bathurst-Bloor Four Corners Study were respected.

As Cressy told The Gleaner: “This is a model for how we want the development community to engage with us. When they work with the community and listen to the community we build better neighbourhoods.”

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Building diverse and sustainable cities

By Mike Layton

Our city is changing. In some Toronto neighbourhoods, the pace of change is difficult to manage, and even more difficult to get ahead of, because it is so rapid.

Of growing concern is that the character of many communities can be overwhelmed by an influx of chain stores. The diversity of our main streets is in danger of homogenization, which will diminish their unique character — the reason we love our neighbourhoods.

[pullquote]Toronto should consider a similar strategy to grant neighbourhoods the ability to shape their communities directly, rather than leave them vulnerable to being shaped by chain stores.[/pullquote]

Walk through many neighbourhoods in Toronto and you will find the same handful of chain stores block after block. The repetition gets monotonous. We need to protect the unique character of our main streets while encouraging a diversity of retail businesses.

At Toronto City Council in April, I requested city staff look into what Toronto can do to support diversity on our retail main streets. The purpose of the strategy is not to stop new chain stores, but instead to direct it in a manner that both serves the day-to-day needs of communities and is in keeping with the character of the streetscape.

Chain stores are also referred to as “formula retail”, which can be characterized by a standardized selection of products, similar facade, and identical signage. These can be centrally owned by a multinational corporation or a brand purchased by a local franchisee. Either way, the products and appearance are largely identical.

A formula retail strategy would be based on determining the locational appropriateness for the use, and ensuring that any new formula retail complements the existing aesthetic character of a neighbourhood.

When San Francisco adopted such a strategy in 2006 it required all new chain stores to go through a process that put conditions on them, in an effort to protect the local character of the community. In some circumstances, new chain stores required approval from the municipal planning commission. Of San Francisco’s 36 neighbourhoods, only three ban formula retail entirely, while the remaining 33 require new applications to undergo a conditional use process.

San Francisco defines formula retail as a retail sales establishment that has 11 or more locations globally, including proposed locations. Formula retail also possesses two or more of the additional characteristics including a standardized selection of products, facade, signage, decor, colour scheme, staff uniforms, and a trademark or service mark.

In San Francisco, a five-fold test is used to determine appropriateness that includes consideration of the existing concentration of formula retail in the area, the availability of similar uses nearby, the compatibility of the formula retail proposal with the current architectural and aesthetic makeup of the streetscape, nearby vacancy rates, and composition of existing retail serving daily needs within walking distance of the site.

This has allowed San Francisco to retain the character of its neighbourhoods, exert some control over the type of new formula retail establishments, and maintain a vibrant and diverse streetscape that is aesthetically consistent and built on a human scale. San Francisco has been particularly successful in preserving local retail that serves the daily needs of residents, such as hardware stores, greengrocers, and independent grocery stores.

Toronto should consider a similar strategy to grant neighbourhoods the ability to shape their communities directly, rather than leave them vulnerable to being shaped by chain stores. In areas like West Queen West, Bloor Street, Little Italy, and Kensington Market the city should be doing everything it can to protect retail diversity and encourage independent small businesses.

Mike Layton is the councillor for Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.

READ MORE BY MIKE LAYTON

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Enhancing Toronto’s vital arts and cultural sector

PHOTO COURTESY TORONTO REFERENCE LIBRARY: Vice and Virtue, running until April 30 at the Toronto Reference Library, examines moral reform in Toronto at the turn of the last century. When moral crusader William Holmes Howland was elected mayor in 1886, he introduced laws to curb drinking and vice. This exhibit presents articles, photos, and other media fueling the good and evil behind Toronto the Good.

By Conor McSweeny

April 2017 marks the third anniversary of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor. Beginning as a group of 12 cultural institutions on Bloor Street, it now encompasses 19 different arts and culture organizations between Yonge and Bathurst streets and offers a wide array of cultural experiences.

What a difference a few years make: we worked alongside the municipal government to have the area officially designated as a City of Toronto cultural corridor, Bloor St. Culture Corridor banners now hang from streetposts, and the logo can be seen in windows of local businesses. We even have a mobile app that provides listings for over 200 amazing arts events along the corridor every month. The Bloor St. Culture Corridor has united cultural organizations working in a multitude of disciplines from a diverse array of cultural backgrounds and languages. We plan to work with local business, arts organizations, and residents to develop and enhance the local neighbourhood and Toronto’s vital arts and culture sector along Bloor Street and across the city.

There are many exciting events taking place on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor in April. The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre presents Land and Cityscapes by painter Paul Peregal, from April 1 to 26. At the Al Green Theatre, Cracked: New Light on Dementia, a play that follows persons with dementia and their families, will be on from April 18 to 20. On April 27 at 8 p.m., 918 Bathurst Centre will host New Blue Emerging Dance, the official launch of 918 Bathurst’s initiative to become a new leading venue in dance creation, performance, and education in Toronto. There will be drinks, prizes, food, live entertainment, speeches, and more!

On April 12, the eclectic Quartetto Gelato will perform works written for them by Canadian composers. All during April, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura is showcasing Palimpsests and Interfaces: Architecture by Renato Rizzi and Cino Zucchi, Architects. Italian flautist Luisa Sello will also perform with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the MacMillan Theatre on April 20.

Road of Light and Hope: National Treasures at Todai-ji Temple, Nara, photographs by Miro Ito, continues at The Japan Foundation Toronto from March 15 to June 28. The Museum of Estonians Abroad will celebrate World Book Day with artist Laani Heinar, who will lead a workshop, Giving Books a New Life, on April 19 at 6 p.m. in English. Alliance Française Toronto will host an Alan Lomax tribute concert by Jayme Stone on April 28 at 8 p.m., as well as an exhibit of artifacts and short films representing Torontonians and their memory of the First World War on April 5 at 7:30 p.m.

The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema will be showing Mr. Gaga, a portrait of Israeli dancer Ohad Naharin. The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival also runs from April 27 to May 7. On April 21, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music co-hosts the day-long interdisciplinary symposium Hearing Riel, with the Munk School of Global Affairs and the Canadian Opera Company.

Continuing at the ROM in April: Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story. Anchoring the Museums Canada 150 celebrations, this exhibition showcases one of the largest, most complete blue whale skeletons ever displayed. Other featured ROM exhibitions include the colourful Art, Honour, and Ridicule: Asafo Flags from Southern Ghana, and the multimedia installation Isaac Julien: Other Destinies.

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra welcomes the father/daughter team of oboist Alfredo Bernardini and violinist Cecilia Bernardini to co-lead Bach: Keeping it in the Family, a concert exploring the family genius of J.S. Bach and his eldest sons at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, April 5 to 9.

The Gardiner Museum is celebrating the opening of its new Community Clay Studio. On April 8 and 9 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., families are invited to engage with clay through hands-on art activities, tours of the new space, and wheel-throwing demonstrations at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m, and 2:30 p.m. Admission is free for visitors 18 and under every day! Vice and Virtue, a free exhibit at Toronto Reference Library’s TD Gallery, offers a look back at moral reform in Toronto the Good as it faced rapid growth and industrialization at the turn of the century.

The Weavers (Die Weber), Gerhart Hauptmann’s socialist theatre masterpiece, takes to the Randolph Centre for the Arts’ Annex Theatre stage. April Concerts at The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall include Jason Moran and The Bandwagon & Alexander Brown Trio on April 1, Les Violons du Roy on April 13, and a Canadian all-star evening of chamber music with the Montrose Trio & Friends on April 28. Koerner Hall will also welcome Colombian superstars Monsieur Periné and Peruvian-Canadian singer Patricia Cano on April 19. Finally, Raoul and The Big Time perform “Down in the Delta” on April 29, with special guests.

Conor McSweeny is with 918 Bathurst Centre, one of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor’s 19 arts and cultural hubs.

Correction: The print version of this article had a typographical error in the cutline.

Brandon Hackett takes the stage in Second City revue

PHOTO COURTESY PAUL AIHOSHI/FLIP PUBLICITY: Hackett’s serious demeanour obscures a seriously silly side, say his colleagues. The Annex comedian, who got his start at Victoria College, has performed with The Sketchersons and on This Hour has 22 Minutes.

By Geremy Bordonaro

Brandon Hackett is a new breed of comedian. Fiercely funny and whip-smart, the Annex resident is one of the cast members bringing some diversity to Second City. He joined the Main Stage performers in June, and is currently appearing in Everything is Great Again.

“I’m pretty willing to go silly and just let myself play around in the moment,” Hackett said. “When I started, I was a bit more self-conscious about how I wanted to sound smart. But now I am so happy to be silly, goofy, and look stupid.”

[pullquote]“It’s pretty spectacular. It’s really funny. Super political but in all the right ways”—Jeremy Stephenson, audience member[/pullquote]

He began performing sketch comedy at Victoria College in 2006, and has since been part of the award-winning sketch troupe The Sketchersons, as well as a writer/performer on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Hackett says his willingness to let out his more outrageous side is one of his biggest strengths as a comedian, even as he balances it with sharp wit.

“One of the things that is so great is that he’s able to carry himself with a bit of gravity. It’s a little bit rare in comedy,” said Ann Pornel, fellow cast member and long-time friend and collaborator of Hackett. “The way Brandon carries himself is, on the surface, very serious. There’s a gravity to him. You think he’s very serious. And one of the most delightful things, especially in the current show right now, is because he looks a certain way people will have assumptions and he is able to flip that and bring out his sillier side.”

During the show, there’s a scene where Pornel pulls a random audience member to serve as a pilot for a plane flying above Russian airspace. This sketch has Hackett serving as a passenger, air flight controller, and Russian military announcer, within the span of minutes, even seconds. In one show, audience member “Captain Ham”, a self-proclaimed Urban Planner, flew from Toronto…to Toronto. Hackett, sharp as he is, comments that it is nice of Captain Ham to take the passengers “out for a spin around the block”.

The Main Stage room roared with laughter when Hackett and the cast erupted in fear over the world’s politics while trapped on the TTC, or when he went into the audience posing as a heckler, announcing himself as “George”, who wants to put his dog in a dress and make-up.

“It’s pretty spectacular. It’s really funny. Super political but in all the right ways,” said Jeremy Stephenson, an audience member, after the show. “I think that a lot of today’s society needs humour in politics because it’s all shitty anyway. It’s a really fun way of poking at that. It’s really enjoyable.”

Politics plays a large part in the content of the show. However, this year the focus is a bit different because of the diversity of the cast.

“Right now, rightfully so, there is a real importance placed upon diversity and different perspectives. I think Brandon brings all of that as well as talent,” Pornel said. “A lot of the time tokenism gets thrown around the idea that certain people are only there because they are a person of colour or offer a different take on life. Brandon does provide that by being both black and queer, but he’s got the talent to back it up in spades. As a co-worker and friend, you can’t ask for anything more than what you get from Brandon.”

One of the longest, and funniest, scenes in the show comes when Hackett, Pornel, and Paloma Nunez go to a spiritual retreat and drink tea that will help them purge their negativity. During this they vent about what Hackett terms their individual “versions of failing to live up to their own cultural background”.

“I think diversity is so important in every realm but certainly in Second City,” Hackett said. “You have got more stuff to talk about. [We talk] about ways to challenge the audience, to consider their own world view, and also experiences that are outside of themselves, in order to better live in this world.”

We need to change ingrained cultural practices

Food waste is a $31-billion problem.

Every year, roughly 40 per cent of perfectly edible food that is grown and imported is thrown away. Of that, households account for half of the problem. Discarded food usually takes the form of unwanted leftovers, imperfect food deemed unsalable, oversupply, and, worst of all, supply management (throwing away food to keep prices high).

[pullquote]“Our attitudes surrounding food need to change.”[/pullquote]

Part of the culprit is cheap food. Outside of northern areas, food doesn’t really cost that much in Canada. We often buy much more than we can eat and throw away lots of perfectly edible food. Another part of the problem is our own demand for pretty-looking food. If an apple isn’t perfectly shaped or has a slight bruise, it will often end up rejected and discarded.

Whether food looks perfect or not, it takes a lot of energy, effort, and in some cases fertilizer and pesticide to produce. Ultimately, the more we waste, the higher our greenhouse gas emissions are for food that doesn’t even make it into our stomachs.

The world watches anxiously as some of the largest producers of staples rapidly deplete groundwater resources to grow food that ultimately doesn’t get eaten. The problem is a real one and it is big. A recent study suggests that the United States, Pakistan, and India are the biggest exporters of food grown using unsustainable groundwater. When we run out of irrigation water, Malthus will be proven correct.

This is not the path we want to head towards. While it might mean lower profits for multinationals, I think it’s imperative that we look at our eating habits and find ways to cut the waste.

Reducing waste can be as simple as finding creative ways to make leftovers more appealing or consciously cooking/ordering smaller quantities. As a woman who grew up with a quintessential Chinese grandmother, this can be a challenge. If people weren’t rolling away from your dinner table, you were viewed as having failed.

Our attitudes surrounding food need to change. The surge in wealth in China has created a middle class who view it as a status symbol to be able to afford to order large quantities of food and deliberately toss it. When my parents owned a restaurant, I observed this behaviour, and, despite it not being in our economic interests, I showed my disdain for it. My mother always made me do two things at the dinner table. I had to eat every grain of rice in my bowl since a farmer worked very hard to grow, harvest, and husk it, and I had to eat all the meat I was given since an animal died for it. If we treated food with even this basic level of respect, food waste could decrease substantially.

At the household level, this problem we can all have a small impact on by looking hard at our own habits. On a systemic level, we need stronger public policies that steer us in the right direction. The University of Toronto has a Food Systems Lab that looks at this exact problem on a high level. The research they produce will hopefully inform future public policy makers on how to reduce this $31-billion problem. I suspect what they come up with likely won’t be popular since industry tends to abhor change. It will be up to us to make sure we tell our lawmakers that reducing food waste, in any capacity, is something we are willing to vote for.

We can’t keep wasting our children’s future. The food we waste now is food they won’t have the opportunity to grow when the water has run out.

Why Should I Care? is hosting a free talk on Food Waste at the Madison Avenue Pub on April 24 at 7 p.m.

Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy, and help distinguish environmental truths from myths.

READ MORE GREENINGS BY TERRI CHU:

Kellie Leitch was right (March 2017)

Feeling the carbon tax crunch? (January 2017)

A green, meaningful Christmas (December 2016)

Force the focus (November 2016)

Process to designate Kensington Market underway

By Geremy Bordonaro

After a year of study and consultation, the city is going ahead with the process to designate Kensington Market a Heritage Conservation District (HCD). The decision was announced at a community consultation meeting last month.

“It’s a two-year process,” said Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina). “By this time next year, we’ll have a new Heritage Conservation District here in Kensington.”

[pullquote]“We’ve heard a whole range of passionate articulations on why this place has been so important in your lives”—Melanie Hare, partner, Urban Strategies[/pullquote]

Prior HCDs have been used primarily to maintain architectural heritage. This HCD will instead preserve the culture and history of the market. Protecting an area based on something that doesn’t have so much of a tangible presence may prove difficult, noted the councillor.

“The history and heritage of Kensington is unlike anywhere else. It’s not just physical and architectural. It’s not about a row of townhouses or unique Victorians. It’s as much about cultural and intangible heritage,” he said. “How do you seek to ensure that the intangible and the cultural continue to grow along with the architectural? That’s what the challenge is as we develop this.”

Tamara Anson-Cartwright, program manager for the city’s Heritage Preservation Services, said there is a key difference in how an HCD works that will help the community.

“With a Heritage District Plan it’s about conserving what is there as well as thinking about how change will occur in the future,” she said. “Other planning studies are all about “What will be the future?’”

Anson-Cartwright said the community was very productive.

“I thought it was excellent. It was very informing and engaging. What I appreciated was the understanding of the depth of analysis that has been done,” she said. “I’ve been with the city for two years and I think it was one of the best meetings that we have had.”

The planners involved in the designation not only actively welcome community participation; they have been counting on it ever since this process began.

“What has worked well since the first phase is that we set up a stakeholder advisory committee. They were very engaged and helped us a lot,” said Anson-Cartwright. “One of the keys for success in this second phase will be getting that type of community engagement.”

At the heart of the consultation process is a desire to protect the market, and discussions in part centered around the proposed boundaries of the market, currently Spadina Avenue, Dundas, Bathurst and College streets.

One audience member argued that those streets “provide a shield from downtown and should not be included”, while another felt that those streets “do not reflect the culture of the community”.

“We’ve heard [terms like] chaos, we’ve heard anarchy, we’ve heard evolving, we’ve heard welcoming,” said Melanie Hare, a partner with Urban Strategies, who chaired the community meeting. “We’ve heard a whole range of passionate articulations on why this place has been so important in your lives and in many different generations of families.”

The staff report formally endorsing all the HCD recommendations will be presented to the Toronto Preservation Board on April 20.

“Going forward council will formally endorse proceeding,” said Cressy. “Over the next years, we’ll develop the specific tools and regulatory provisions to forward the Heritage Conservation District. I have to tell you, now is when we’re going to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work.”

READ MORE:

FORUM: Our dynamic Kensington Market (November 2016)

CHATTER: Painted streets launch in Kensington (September 2016)

ARTS: Molly Johnson launches new jazz festival (September 2016)

CHATTER: Kensington Market consultation focuses on culture (July 2016)

NEWS: Kensington Market to become heritage district (May 2016)