The South Etobicoke News

Serving Humber * Mimico * Lakeshore Village * Long Branch * Alderwood

Plans for a Human Rights Unit and more equity training by Toronto Police

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There are calls for more racial equality in the treatment of non-white City residents by police.

And Toronto Police say they are quickly marching towards equity for all on the force in response to a second interim report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released this week.

The Toronto Police Service and its Board say they have undertaken initial steps towards reform and is creating an Equity, Inclusion and Human Rights Unit staffed by ‘subject-matter experts’ for the implementation of best practices in human rights and supports training to officers.

“It strives for the delivery of bias-free services and offers guidance to service members to learn and practice diversity and inclusion,” says a joint August 10 Toronto Police and Board response to the OHRC report.

Police say the Unit and staff funding were approved by the Board in May 2019.

The force also approved a Race-based Data Collection Policy Strategy for the promoting of equity, fairness and non-discriminatory police service delivery.

“The Service began collecting and analyzing race-based data with a focus on data related to use of force,” police say.

There will be more anti-Black Racism Training, with officers “learning about implicit and explicit bias and lived experiences that affect the Black community in relation to systemic discrimination and policing.”

The OHRC released its report as part of an Inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by Toronto police. The Inquiry began in November 2017.

“The Board takes seriously the significant work the OHRC has done, the need to consider it thoroughly, and to take action,” says Board Chair Jim Hart. “We are committed to working with the OHRC, in partnership with the community to move forward together to address the issues we are facing.”

“We are continuing to work on ensuring that equity and anti-racism are built into all of our policies and practices,” said Toronto Police Interim Chief Jim Ramer.

The issues were brought to the front-burner following the deaths of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and George Floyd by Minneapolis police and later protests.

The proposals will be voted on by the Board at its August 18 and 19 virtual meetings.

 

Online survey of Tom Riley Park extended until end of August

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It is one of our nice parks that is being made even better for residents.

An online survey of Tom Riley Park has been extended one week to August 30 at midnight.

The City of Toronto is improving the playground at Tom Riley Park and is seeking your input to make sure the improvements meet the needs of the community.

City officials say the redesigned playground will include large themed playground equipment, accessible pathways, additional seating and a rubber-like play surface.

It will not include the area around the playground, nor will there be any new water or lighting features.

The City is conducting a online survey to gather feedback from community members at the start of this redesign process. The results from the survey will be used for the creation of three potential playground designs. These design options will be presented to the community for feedback later this year.

The playground at Tom Riley includes: two swing sets with four swings, a medium size slide, junior climbing structure and sand under all play area. It also has a bench and two picnic tables.

The 14.8 hectare park at 4725 Dundas St. W., near Islington Ave., follows Mimico Creek to Bloor St. W. The park features a lit ball diamond, a multipurpose sports field, six senior and five junior tennis courts, a children’s playground and an allotment garden. Located at the south-east end of the park is the Memorial Pool & Health Club and Central Arena.

The 10-minute survey is accessible at https://s.cotsurvey.chkmkt.com.

Three-year-old local boy killed and sister injured after being hit by a car

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It is a tragic situation that a grieving south Etobicoke family is coping with tonight.

A three-year-old boy is dead and his older sister is in critical condition after they, along with their father, were struck by a vehicle near the busy Burnhamthorpe Rd. and The East Mall on early Tuesday.

Toronto Police say they were called shortly after 11 a.m. to Montebello Gardens for a collision involving two children and their father.

The children, the boy and girl about seven or eight, were crossing the road with their father who is also in hospital receiving treatment, explained Det. Brett Moore, of Traffic Services.

The driver of the SUV, reportedly an 82-year-old woman, remained at the scene and was later taken to hospital for checks.

The toddler had his vital signs absent when emergency crews arrived and did not survive, police said, while the girl suffered serious injuries and was rushed to Sick Kids hospital.

“It appears that the driver of the motor vehicle was making a turn onto The East Mall, and the family was crossing the street and we don’t know how that came to be — which direction they were crossing,” Moore said.

Investigators said anyone who witnessed the incident or has dash camera footage is asked to call police.

Officers were canvassing the area in search of video footage or witnesses of the horrific incident.

Roads in the area were closed and motorists advised to take alternate routes.

“We are going to be asking the local community, anyone who saw something, to come forward,” police said.

Traffic Services officers can be reached at 416-808-1900.

 

City to honour former slave Joshua Glover who fell in love with Etobicoke

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Escaped U.S. slave Joshua Glover loved Etobicoke and 166-years-later the City of Toronto is moving closer to honouring him.

Mayor John Tory will be hosting a press conference at Montgomery’s Inn on August 13 at 10:30 a.m. to announce the winner of a public art competition.

​The City of Toronto’s Arts and Culture Services, working with the Etobicoke Historical Society, had invited proposals for the creation of a public heritage memorial to be dedicated to Glover. The process was slowed down due to the COVID-19.

Glover escaped slavery in 1852, and made his way from St. Louis, Missouri into Canada assisted by the Underground Railroad. In 1854 he found work and shelter in the community of Etobicoke. His story was important to the abolitionist movement, and in general to Canada as well.

Fittingly, the project is to be located in the new Joshua Glover Park in Etobicoke in the Lambton Mills area where Glover settled after arriving in Canada.

Naming the small park after Glover was decided by participants of a 2015 survey organized by the City’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division in consultation with the local Councillor out of three possible names that were shortlisted.

For much of his life Glover lived in a small house in Lambton Mills, owned by Thomas Montgomery the proprietor of Montgomery’s Inn where Glover found employment.

He married twice, both times to Irish women, which marked two of the earliest inter-racial marriages in Etobicoke. Glover died in a seniors’ home in Newmarket at the age of 74, after having been embraced by the community of Etobicoke during his life here.

Glover’s story resonates with the citizens of Racine and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In Milwaukee at the intersection of Glover Ave. and Booth St., there is a large plaque that recounts the dramatic “Rescue of Joshua Glover.”

After escaping St. Louis, Glover was recaptured and incarcerated in a jail in Milwaukee. Led by local newspaper owner and anti-slavery activist Sherman Booth, some 5,000 people stormed the jail, set Glover free and facilitated his journey through safe houses along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada.

The public outcry surrounding the Glover case and the legal prosecution of Booth after the rescue advanced the cause of the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

Glover’s story has been kept alive in newspaper articles, books, a play, an opera and a one man show which had its debut at the Montgomery’s Inn.

 

Group warning alarmed tenants to say no to COVID-19 evictions

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The days of COVID-19 rental evictions may have returned, according to one group.

Housing advocacy group ACORN Canada says a moratorium on evictions was lifted on August 1 and the ousting will restart for many of the 7 to 9 per cent of Ontario tenants who are behind on their rent due to COVID-19.

ACORN says there are more than 6,000 cases of tenants who are behind on their rent and are before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

“Low and moderate-income renters were already in the grip of a serious housing crisis in Ontario before the pandemic,” the group says on their website. “And Bill 184 makes evictions easier by allowing tenants to be evicted with no hearing if they sign repayment agreements.”

They say eviction hearings will begin this month for some tenants. Bill 184 was passed earlier by the Premier Doug Ford after much of a fight by anti-housing groups.

The groups are demanding Ford extend the moratorium on evictions to the end of the year, create a rent forgiveness program for tenants at risk of eviction and repeal Bill 184, which they say will have a catastrophic impact on tenants.

Worse still, they say Bill 184 fast tracks the evictions. Tenants at risk of eviction may be forced to enter unfair repayment agreements and will be rendered homeless if they fail to make a payment.

The Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario data shows that 7% renters either paid part-rent payment or none at all.

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is phasing out by the end of this month for people who started getting it in March, which will impact 34% private renter households.

ACORN Canada members are demanding the government to take immediate measures so that homelessness crisis is averted on top of the existing health crisis.

Some people are preparing for the tough times ahead and LAMP is providing virtual programs on August 18 with the Centre for Equality Rights and Accommodations to advise tenants on their rights and how to avoid being evicted.

The meetings take place at 2 p.m. at ZOOM MEET. To register email jasmind@lampchc.org

 

Mimico activist says Bike Share rack placed on section of busy sidewalk

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South Etobicoke activist Dan Irwin may have a point this time.

Irwin, of Judson St., says he is 100% supportive of the City of Toronto’s Bike Share program, but not when it is placed on a busy sidewalk.

He warns that a new installation at the northwest corner of Royal York Rd., and Judson St., in Mimico, has been placed over a section of a busy sidewalk.

“It is unbelievably located so that the rear wheels of racked bikes protrude onto the narrow sidewalk,” Irwin writes. “There are two seniors’ residences in the vicinity so a proliferation of motorized scooters’ walkers and wheelchairs that require the use of the sidewalk and the whole sidewalk.”

He says there are about 150 Metrolinx employees who use that section of sidewalk daily to travel from the Willowbrook Crew Centre to the Mimico GO Station and back. They often walk in small groups which are impeded by bicycles on that portion of sidewalk, Irwin writes.

“Who would locate the bike racks so that they intrude on a heavily used sidewalk?” Irwin asks “There is space closer to the curb which would more sensibly accommodate the Bike Share rack.”

He and other Judson St. residents have been fighting the City for the relocation of a ML Ready Mix Concrete batching plant on their street that they claim have been generating noise, dust and debris in the neighbourhood. The City has promised to resettle the plant in the Portlands area.

City officials couldn’t be reached for a comment.

 

 

More marijuana stores setting up shop in the community

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The Ontario government seems to be handing out licences for cannabis stores like candy.

At least 12 marijuana retail or accessory stores will be opening up soon in Etobicoke, with at least nine of them setting up shop in the Lakeshore community.

A comprehensive list of upcoming marijuana stores is published by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) on their website.

AGCO said they issue about 20 cannabis Retail Store Applications monthly from the hundreds of applications that they receive. They applications are dealt with in the order that they are received.

The organization states that cannabis stores are “in progress” of opening at 3409 Lake Shore Blvd. W., Ameri at 3683 Lake Shore Blvd. W., Green Grow Cannabis at 3755 Lakeshore Blvd. W., and Lakeview Cannabis at 4 Mimico Ave.

More stores in various stages of opening include: McCannabis at 5485 Dundas St. W., and 3812 Bloor St. W., Em Jay’s at 5160 Dundas St. W., Tokyo Smoke at 164 Evans Ave., and Etobicoke Cannabis at 1172 The Queensway,

Area councillor Stephen Holyday in a June letter to the AGCO expressed concerns that some of the stores may be too close to schools or parks and they should keep that in mind when they issue permits.

Holyday wrote that he has been contacted by numerous residents who have raised concerns about the poor suitability of the locations and the increased risk of access to cannabis by minors.

“Some locations are very close to more than one school and they are located at or near strip plazas and parks which are frequented by youth,” he noted. “The provincial regulations require a distance of 150 metres between the retailer and a school and many find this too permissive given the context.”

Holyday says AGCO is the regulator and approval authority for the retailers and there is limited opportunity for the public and elected municipal officials to intervene in these decisions.

There are already four marijuana accessory stores in business along Lake Shore Blvd. W., and in Alderwood.

Plans underway to update Cloverdale Mall to 21st century standards

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The dated Cloverdale Mall which our parents loved is being updated, modernized and being brought up to the 21st century.

B.C. developer QuadReal Property Group, who also own the Campbell’s Soup property in New Toronto, has released details of a ‘multi-building, mixed-use development’ to take the place of the largely one-storey shopping centre near Highway 427 and Bloor St. W.

The developer on August 6 released its plan for the mall and the 12-hectare site as it applies to the City of Toronto for an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) and Zoning Bylaw Amendments (ZBA).

QuadReal plans a “mixed-use, multi-tower, complete community to blossom around a new retail high street.” A large section of the property has remained vacant since Target left Canada.

The company dedicated space in the mall ‘Cloverdale Common,’ for community activities and public information about the proposal. They have also had three open houses over a 16-month period for residents to offer input into the massive project.

Cloverdale’s footprint at 250 the East Mall will be upgraded to a number of condo towers offering a whopping 334,000 square metres of living space between 4,050 units, with ample green space interspersed in between them, along with a food market building, community centre and more.

The residential structures range from between 24 and 48 storeys, and will feature a new “retail main street” that will have storefronts and cafes at ground level. There will be six-storey podiums that help form a street wall along a new retail-lined road running through the property.

This ‘retail main street’ and proposed ‘Cloverdale Square’ will serve as a new retail heart of the community. A food-oriented market building features outdoor patios and terraces, with a multi-purpose arts and culture-focused community hub positioned on the upper level.

The centre of the site will be the glazed glass-covered Cloverdale Square, which will increase the retail space of the project to 26,000 square metres and offer even more residences in low-and mid-rise buildings.

The developer says a minimum of 40 percent of the units would be designated as family-sized layouts.

There will be about 10 residential towers, which will decrease in height from south to north and west to east, with the tallest buildings acting as a buffer from the Highway 427 corridor.

A separate rezoning application has been submitted by QuadReal for a triangular site east of the mall at 2 East Mall Crescent, in which they are seeking to demolish a gas station and Beer Store, which will be replaced by a 27-storey residential tower and a six-storey mid-rise atop a connected base building. The 450-unit development will include 200 m² of retail space.

The amenities of the site will be connected by a series of roadways and pedestrian or cyclist paths, and there will be multiple levels of both underground and above-ground parking, a neighbourhood park, rooftop greenery and court yards.

First Nations artist Que Rock has a lot to offer Mimico students

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Nipissing First Nation-born artist Que Rock is a traditional Anishnawbe graffiti artist.

And Lakeshore Arts is fortunate to have him as an artist facilitator at their Home Summer Camp, which runs from August 10 to 14.

“I take interactions of my daily life, the city I live in and my Anishnawbe culture,” Rock says. “I use it as a challenge for me to try out new styles and incorporate new subject matter.”

His love of nature and animals is ‘prominent through my work because of its deep meaning and connection to life.’

“I aspire for my artistic evolution to form a distinct look and feeling,” says the artist. “I call my style, ‘making the woodlands dance.”

Rock started life learning about his cultures’ teachings, approaches and ceremonies through visual healing art forms.

“Painting, dancing, leatherwork and story-telling were taught through traditional Ojibway and Odawa ways,” the artist notes. “My mentors encouraged me to be creative and to not let anything go to waste with what I share in art.”

He points out that his work has matured from quick pieces into large street art projects and canvas work.

“I focus on unique painting styles and techniques to create smooth transitions of colour, blending abstract form with realism and expressionism,” says the graffiti artist.

His goal is to portray the teachings of his ancestors, sacred geometry and shapes in all his art forms.

“My art has allowed me to work closely with art directors, city officials and corporate clients to make their visions come to life,” Roc continues. “I love travelling and seeing art and I love to paint and have people enjoy my work.”

 

Officials warn about dangers of leaving pets locked in vehicles in the heat

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It is a yearly warning that seems to go unheeded.

Toronto Police, vets and firefighters are warning residents not to leave their pets, or even children, in locked vehicles during this heatwave even if the windows are slightly opened.

The warnings are being repeated after an area woman locked her dog in an SUV in a parking lot, which took firefighters some time to rescue.

The firefighters spent a fair bit of time rescuing the animal when they could be doing other duties, an official noted.

“Under no circumstance should you take your pet in your car if you think you might have to leave it in there, even if only for five minutes, warns veterinarian Dr. Cliff Redford.

Shopping trips are one of the most common scenarios where this occurs, he says.

The best thing an owner can do on a hot day is to leave their pet at home, “in a cool spot with lots of water,” the vets advise.

Police say if you must take your pet with you in the car, make sure someone is always with them.

“One of the best ways to cool them off is to soak their fur, so you can take a bottle of water and literally soak (them) — especially their ears and their feet,” an officer said.

Exercising in warm weather can cause a pet to overheat so be aware of and watch for signs of heatstroke, says the Toronto Humane Society, adding the symptoms for dogs can be excessive panting, fatigue, glazed eyes or a dazed expression and vomiting.

“An immediate response to if your animal is overheating would include removing them from the heat and placing them in a cooler area,” the THS suggested.

They say when it comes to dogs, pay extra attention to younger, older and heavier pets, dog breeds who have short noses and any pets with health issues.

Ontario is the first jurisdiction in Canada to have a full animal welfare enforcement system. The Provincial Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) Act came into effect in January 2020 and allows police to enter motor vehicles to help pets in distress.

If you see an animal in a hot car and are concerned the animal’s life is in immediate danger, dial 911. Members of the public should not attempt to enter a vehicle in these situations.