Some Mimico residents say they can be stuck with holes in the ground for many years from a failed development in the area.

Photos are being circulated of large pieces of wood being installed around a hole near Mimico Go Station in a bid to hold it back from falling in on the ground.

The large construction hole has been sitting idle for a couple years since Vandyke Development went into receivership leaving Metrolinx searching for another builder to take over the major project.

About 10 high-rise towers in the Mimico area were left abandoned after the company went under.

Residents said there has been no work at the sites for many months.

It is not known how many potential condo buyers lost their money after placing down payments on units that are not being built.

Some area residents are calling for the flattened Vandyk lands on Newcastle Street to be used for parking at the Mimico Go Station, which lacks parking.

 

The removal of a controversial Coat of Arms from Etobicoke Civic Centre is going down with a fight.

Councillor Stephen Holyday is seeking an administrative inquiry from City Council as to why the long-standing symbol was removed.

The matter will be heard by City council on June 26.

A motion by the Ward 2 councillor said two articles that appeared in the Toronto Sun prompted a number of questions which he wants answered.

“What City symbols, including Coats of Arms, flags, monuments and art have been removed?” Holyday asked. “Who made the decision to remove them?”

In an earlier interview he said the Coat of Arms, which features an Aboriginal person, was made decades ago with good intentions.

“Why were they removed?” Holyday asked. “Were they the subject of a complaint, and if so, what was the complaint, when was the complaint, and where did it come from?”

He would like to know if any more historic symbols have been removed from City buildings.

“Are there any more symbols, including Coats of Arms, flags, monuments and art expected to be removed?” the councillor asked. “If so, what is under consideration and why?”

The newspaper articles suggest the removals were conducted by some City staff in secrecy. It speculates that staff wanted to keep the removal of the Coat of Arms away from journalists, politicians and the public.

The Coat of Arms has stood above a Civic Centre hearing room for decades without any complaints.

“We want to be proactive and transparent about sharing this good news story about how the city is righting wrongs and furthering reconciliation,” according to the Toronto Sun. “If we don’t, there is risk that it will look like we are trying hide this.”

Holyday has said he didn’t see anything wrong with the symbol and would like to see it replaced.

The Civic Centre is slated to be demolished for possibly housing after a new one is built in the Six Points neighbourhood area by 2028.

About 25 community heroes and some local organizations who are making a difference in the lives of others were honoured with awards of merits by LAMP CHC.

Dozens of people gathered on the front lawn of the 185 Fifth Street facility on June 19 to recognize those who ‘have gone the extra mile to make a difference’ in the community.

LAMP officials said this year marked the 24^th anniversary of the awards, which has recognized hundreds of mostly volunteers for doing good.

We are “recognizing community champions who are having a profound impact on improving the health and well-being of our community,” the organization said. “The recognition goes a long way to encouraging these community leaders to continue their efforts as community role models for others.”

The awards inspires neighbours to help build a healthy, strong caring community.

Supporters were treated to a BBQ, music by the Etobicoke Jazz Band, a silent auction and police horses.

Some of the many winners this year included: Pastor Veta Saunders, of Etobicoke Praise Centre, Food For Now a charity that helps the needy and its head Daniel Lauzon, Long Branch Neighbourhood official Christine Mercado, masseuse Colette Stone and Pastor Jaqueline Daley of the St. Margaret’s New Toronto Anglican Church.

Others honoured were Tom Rubaj, Barb Symons, Lisa deWit, Vanessa Keall-Vejar, Gary McMayo, Denise Orth,  Sarah Eby, Patricia Penner, Ed Menezes, Karolina Majka, Kaz Doniak, Crystal Nguyen, Eleni Makikostas, Martin Gerwin,  Judith Rutledge and  Simone Byrne.

Some of the organizations included: Funny Bones, Etobicoke Minor Ball Hockey Association, Bowls & Blessings, Palace Place, St. Margaret’s New Toronto Anglican Church and Food For Now.

LAMP Community Health Centre is one of the main social services agency in New Toronto that serves the community with programs for all age  range.

LAMP was funded as a pilot project to provide health services and coordinate human services in the area. In October 1976, LAMP’s doors were officially opened to the public by Premier of Ontario the Honourable William Davis.

Storefront Humber is no longer here after serving seniors and others in need in the community for more than 50 years.

The social agency is now known as CommunitiCare Health Clinic, after merging with two other health agencies.

Regeneration Community Services, Storefront Humber Inc. and The Four Villages and Community Health Centre have amalgamated.  The four organizations are now one legal entity under the legal name of West Toronto Community Health Services (WTCHS).

The Storefront Humber website is essentially shut stating it will no longer be supported or contain timely information.

CommunitiCare is a health care agency that provides a full range of community health care and support services including support service, mental health and addictions services, supportive hours and home care services.

The new care agency said this month that changes in the near future includes new signs, new colours and new email addresses.

“But while there are some changes to these items, our services and programs remain the same,” according to the CommunitiCare website.

Similar to Storefront Humber, the newly formed agency offers an adult day program, congregate dining, home help or home making, medical escort, personal care and support, respite care, shopping trips, well elderly program and more.

Storefront was formed by Humber College students to help others in December 1971. It has been a focal point for helping seniors in the community for decades.

The new agency offers help in more than a dozen languages and caters to those living from Lake Shore Blvd. W.,  to north of Bloor Street W., and west from Cawthra Road to Humber River to the east.

The new centre provides a 24-hours Senior Crisis Line for seniors in Ontario and can be reached at 1-866-299-1011.

The group is seeking volunteers and new board members and can be visited at www.communiticare.org to read about them and access programs and services.

The new agency comes with new staff.

 

 

Five new public parks packed with amenities are coming soon to South Etobicoke.

Four of the parks are planned for the reconfigured Six Points neighbourhood, where Dundas and Bloor Streets West meet Kipling Avenue. The fifth is being constructed at 1001 The Queensway.

The parks will include the Etobicoke Centre Park, which is larger than 12 basketball courts, and will be located near the upcoming Etobicoke Civic Centre.

This park will include an Indigenous cultural garden, gateway art feature, medicine wheel, rain garden, multi-sports courts and field, washrooms, fire pit, a playground and toboganning berm, according to plans.

The City Centre Park will have bike share station, seating and shade structure and features for skating.

Also in the books is Dunkip Park, which is also close to the Civic Centre, and will be the size of a mini soccer field, according to the City of Toronto.

Dunkip Park will feature a skating spot, seating, gathering spot, Indigenous cultural garden, horticultural planting, specimen tree and include a historical Dundas Street interpretation.

The existing Six Points Park will be expanded and is to be the size of three basketball courts. It will include a community table, off-leash area for dogs, lawn and shade areas, Indigenous cultural garden and horticultural planting.

A fourth new park called Linear Park will be the size of a baseball diamond. This park will include chess tables, seating or gathering area, multi-use trail, linear outdoor fitness circuit, horticultural planting and Indigenous cultural garden.

The fifth park, which is under construction, is 1,849 square metre large and is situated between two 20-storey condo towers with 545 residential units at 1001 and 1037 The Queensway, near Islington Avenue at the northern portion of the Cineplex Theatre site.

Some $750 000 in artwork has been approved for the Queensway park.

“The centrally located park is the public art site,” according to a report. “Public art was reviewed in accordance with the policies of the City of Toronto Official Plan.”

The 1001 The Queensway park promises to be a vibrant green oasis in the heart of Islington-City Centre West. It is described as an inclusive space with lush native plantings, shade trees, and ecological buffers that enhance urban well-being and mitigate noise.

“This park will not only serve as a peaceful green space from the urban environment but also as a space for recreation and relaxation, making it a key asset for the neighbourhood,” according to a City report.

It is proposed as a flexible, multi-use areas that will support a range of activities from cultural events to quiet contemplation.

It is slated for completion in 2026.

Two South Etobicoke men are taking part in a challenging 420 kilometre canoe trip in Algonquin Park to raise funds for brain cancer research.

Mack Hughson, 30, and his friend Will Guest, 26, of the Markland Woods area, are leaving on June 21 on the 400 plus kilometre trip, following a route called the Meanest Link, that touches all four of the Algonquin Outfitters in Canada’s largest park.

“We will be going upriver, downriver over lakes and taking on 68 kilometres of portages throughout our time on the Link,” Hughson said. “We are hoping to finish the trip in nine days which means we will have to keep up a 46 kilometres a day pace to reach our end goal.”

He said they will be undergoing 100 portages during the nine-day trip. Hughson is a plumber and Guest, a chef, have been training and are experienced in the sport.

“We hope as we go to battle in the Algonquin Highlands against the hordes of mosquitoes and endless portages so we can raise funds towards a great cause and important clinical research,” Hughson said.

The trip is to raise funds on a Go Fund Me page in memory of Guest’s mom, Cathy, who died from brain cancer two years ago.

Hughson said they are raising money for Dr. Arjun Saghal’s research into the brain that was very important to Cathy, who would be their number one supporter for taking on a trip of this magnitude.

The pair hopes to raise $10,000 for Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in support of Dr. Saghal, a staff radiation oncologist, who is conducting research in spinal metastases, brain metastases and primary central nervous system tumours.

Dr. Saghal has expertise in the technical evaluation of radiation apparatus, and in developing and conducting clinical trials specific to brain radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastases.

The trip consists of five challenging canoe routes connecting the four Algonquin Outfitters stores in Oxtongue Lake, Brent, Opeongo and Huntsville. It is tough excursion that features numerous feats of endurance on a trail that is legendary.

The famous Algonquin Park is about 2,946 square miles and is well-known for its wilderness and wild animals. The park is larger than Prince Edward Island and about the same size as the U.S. states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

The National Historic park has more than 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of streams and rivers and is an important site for plant and wildlife research.

Donations to support the cause can be made on the link below:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/sunnybrook-cns-site-group?lang=en_CA&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

 

The City after years has found a three-acre piece of land in Etobicoke to build a Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation (SCCR).

The City’s real estate arm is proposing that Council lease out City-owned land at 30 Mulham Place, in the Royal York Road and Eglinton Avenue West area, to the SCCR.

The property, known as Buttonwood Park, would be leased to the non-profit agency for a 21-year period, according to a report by the Corporate Real Estate Management.

The property features an outdoor artificial ice rink, which operates as tennis courts in the summer, a children’s playground, large open green space and mature trees, according to City staff.

“The Somali community has been working for decades to identify a location in order to build a new community centre with the goal to address the gap in services available to the broader Somali community,” according to a report.

It said the property is near, and accessible by public transit, too much of Toronto’s Somali population and can be developed to service local community recreation needs.

“The proposed community centre will be a valuable resource to improve vital services to all communities in the surrounding neighbourhoods,” according to a staff report.

The Somali Centre will own the facility and be responsible for all costs, including development, construction, maintenance and operating costs, replacement costs, and property taxes, related to property.

At the expiry or earlier termination of the Lease, the Centre will surrender the leased lands and community centre to the City, or demolish the buildings and improvements on the lands in the condition in which they were received.

The Somalis will pay a nominal rent for the property and it is estimated the City will earn just under $5 million over a two decade lease.

City staff noted the SCCR is a registered non-profit organization led by a group of Somali Canadian young professionals, whose goal is to create a cultural recreation and community space for the Somali population in Toronto.

Staff acknowledged the proposed SCCR represents a monumental effort of community organizing and fundraising over the years.

A virtual public information session is being held on June 26 for updates on ongoing projects related to Centennial Park.

Toronto’s second largest park is a hub of activity in addition to an $13 million upgrade of the Centennial Park Stadium, recently named after the late Mayor Rob Ford, in preparation for use as a training facility for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

There will be six new soccer fields, a training bubble and a year-round washroom being installed.

Input will be sought as the park will become a hub for soccer, baseball and two new cricket fields with a field house and washroom. There will also be new surfaced pathways with furniture, playground and water play improvements.

Improvements are also planned for a skate trail and chalet.

A new baseball hub is planned that will include four baseball diamonds that can be used for both softball and baseball, as well as batting cages.

There will be eight public volleyball and 12 pickleball courts that will be built beside the baseball hub.

The amenities will be served by a new fieldhouse with a year-round washroom building.

Centennial was opened in 1967 to celebrate Canada’s 100th birthday. The land the park now occupies was once a dairy farm. A large portion of this farm was purchased by the City of Toronto to create the park.

The virtual information session will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and more information is available by Googling the Centennial Park Master Plan public information website.

Former politician and community activist Jean Augustine is turning 87 in a few months and has no plans of slowing down.

More than 100 area residents showed up on June 15 to celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment which has helped hundreds of young girls aged from seven to 17 succeed in life.

Augustine founded the Portland Street Centre in 2014 to provide a space where girls and young women ‘could receive support and create a brighter future for themselves.’

The Bell Telephone Historical Garden Courtyard, on Birmingham Street, was filled with some of the girls and their parents who celebrated the anniversary with games, food, music and fun.

“Our work is only possible thanks to the individuals, organizations and companies that believe in empowering girls and young women,” Augustine said to loud cheers.

She told the crowd she was turning 87 in September and a large party is being organized.

“As we reflect on our 10^th Anniversary we reflect on the incredible girls and young women who have passed through the Centre,” Augustine said.

She promised ‘to continue fostering the confidence and potential of girls and young women for years to come.’

The hundreds of girls and young women are taught financial literacy, STEM programs, self-improvement and about non-traditional jobs.

Augustine was presented with an anniversary plaque by MP James Maloney for her hard work and decades of service.

Maloney said he has known Augustine for decades and she is his mentor.

“Nobody here is more of a VIP than Jean,” he said after a cake-cutting ceremony. “The federal government will always be a partner with the Jean Augustine Centre.”

Jenae, 15, attended the Centre for two years and said it helped her in school and in life.

“They have extremely helpful programs and it gave me more confidence as I grow older,” Jenae said.

Augustine was a Catholic School Board principal of three schools in Etobicoke before running for politics.

The former teacher was an MP for the federal riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore from 1993 to 2006 having won the seat twice. She was the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Jean Chretien from 1994 to 1996.

She also served as the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Woman in Cabinet and was the first Black woman to hold a Cabinet position.

Augustine was elected Assistant Deputy Speaker by her fellow parliamentarians in 2004 and will be remembered for spearheading the introduction of Black History Month in Canada.

She also served with the National Black Coalition of Canada, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and was the National President of the Congress of Black Women in Canada.

She was appointed as Chair of the Metro Toronto Housing Authority and was Ontario’s first Fairness Commissioner.

The former politician also sat on many boards including York University’s Board of Governors, the Hospital for Sick Children the Stephen Lewis Foundation  and Toronto’s Harbourfront Corporation.

A reunion was held as members of the Alderwood Collegiate Institute Auggies senior football team celebrated their 1963 city-wide championship victory.

About 17 players, all in their late 70s and 80s, of the now-gone Alderwood Collegiate Institute, on Valermo Drive, marked the 61^st anniversary of their Toronto District Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship led by Coach by Carl Yamikoff, 92, and the late Richard Howe.

The June 10 reunion was held at the Village of Humber Heights Retirement Home, on Lawrence Avenue West, where Yamikoff and his wife, Beatrice, are both residents. He became a high school teacher, Department Head, Vice-principal, Principal and Superintendent of the Etobicoke Board of Education, now the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).

“It was a great event to see the coach and other players,” said David Grainger, 79, who was then 17 and played as a flanker and defensive half-back for the Auggies. “We have been having a reunion for years and have lost a few players over time.”

It was the “most outstanding” team in all of his years of coaching many sports at several high schools as a teacher and administrator in the Etobicoke Board of Education,” Yakimoff told his surviving players.

Grainger said the team played with determination and in the spirit of their motto “All for One and One for All,” despite opposition from many directions.

“The players were striving to improve the “good,” then the “better,” in each of them to become the “best” team on the field,” he recalled.

Late coach Howe said at the time “football is a team game and this group of young men played as a real team”

Grainger said the Auggies played in the 1963 finals against Mississauga’s Gordon Graydon Memorial Secondary School and won the championship 13 to 7 in a tough game that went to double overtime at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

“The Auggies ended a very hard fought tight game by winning in the final seconds of the second overtime sudden death period with a touch down,” he recalled.

A former 40-year teacher, Grainger said it was one of the biggest victories for Alderwood Collegiate in its 28-year history.

“It was the Super Bowl for Toronto and area high school students,” he recalled.

The 1,000-student school was built in 1955 and shut in 1983 due to declining enrolment.

The property was sold to a developer by the Etobicoke Board of Education, and demolished in 2014 and is now a townhouse complex.

Grainger said the school produced exceptional athletes, many who went on to play for the National Lacrosse League, the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts and National Hockey League (NHL) teams as St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars and Edmonton Oilers.

The surviving players have been calling for a marker, plaque or even benches to be installed on a park at the housing complex to remember their school and the athletes and professionals it produced.

“Today you would never know Alderwood Collegiate stood on that site due to the housing,” he said. “It is a shame and the school and students should be remembered somehow.”

Grainger said a submission was made for the team to be inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame with no luck.

He players are hoping for a memorial before they all pass on and so much history is forgotten.