A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched to try and obtain a motorized scooter for an ailing Mimico senior.

Rod Flynn says he has been working for more than 50 years and paying his taxes and now he is not receiving help from government officials at the age of 77.

Flynn, who has lived in Mimico and New Toronto for 58 years, suffers from a chronic lung disease, which makes it hard to breathe and he now requires a walker.

He, with the help of some concerned residents, has been trying for more than year to obtain a motorized scooter to get around. He now uses a walker but has to make frequent stops to breathe and frequently misses his bus and trips can take a long time.

Many members of the community are more than willing to help Flynn obtain his electric scooter, which can cost from $3,000 to $6,000.

“My lungs are gone and I have problems breathing and getting around with my walker,” Flynn explained. “I need help and the social workers have forgotten about me.”

The transplanted Newfoundland native said he visited a social worker at a local hospital to seek help.

“She called back to say she couldn’t help me get a scooter,” Flynn said. “The hospital didn’t have that program anymore.”

The father of two grown children formerly worked at a Mississauga factory, where he paid taxes, for more than 20 years.

“I am a senior citizen and I cannot get help in my own country,” he pleaded. “I cannot go shopping or get around and all I want is a better life.”

Area residents describe Flynn as a “polite, responsible and honourable” senior who helps others in the community.

You are asked to make a donation on Go Fund Me at https://www.gofundme.com/f/scooter-for-rod-flynn?member=22842101&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=sms&utm_source=customer

Etobicoke Lakeshore candidate for councillor Amber Morley says she’s gaining more support from voters and her momentum is building with days left before the October 24 elections.

Her campaign team in a press release said Morley is receiving strong support from elected officials, community groups and local businesses who want her to become the next Councillor for Ward 3.

“These endorsements are a sign that people are looking for change and our community message is resonating across the ward,” Morley said.

She quotes a Toronto Star columnist that “(Amber Morley) holds the lead in total number of endorsements” city-wide for all council candidates as of October 7.

“I am thrilled our campaign for change at Toronto City Hall is drawing support from a wide cross section of voices from across Toronto,” she said in the release.

Her endorsements includes those from politicians as Councillor Josh Matlow, MPPs Kristyn Wong-Tam, Jill Andrew and Bhutila Karpoche, MP Peggy Nash, former Trustee Pamela Gough, Toronto and York Labour Council and the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition.

In the 2018 municipal election, Morley’s first candidacy proved there is a strong desire for change in Ward 3. In the 2022 election, she realized there is a strong base of support as she looks to improve on her first-time run in 2018 and take a seat at City Hall.

Morley writes that she has worked on behalf of Etobicoke residents since 2002. Her advocacy and local action began at LAMP Community Health Centre, where she was the Director of the youth-led South Etobicoke Youth Assembly.

She graduated from the Public Relations program at Humber College, after which she went to City Hall to work for Councillor Peter Milczyn. Following the 2014 Election, Morley transitioned to become the Constituency Assistant for Ward 4 – Etobicoke Centre.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she returned to LAMP CHC in the position of Community Health Worker, coordinating the South and Central Etobicoke Vaccine Engagement Team (SEVET) in collaboration with the City of Toronto.

She is now a Health Promoter focusing on the issues of food security and health equity.

Ward 3 residents can reach out to the campaign via email at amber@ambermorley.com.

The riding has been held for 19 years by incumbent Mark Grimes.

 

 

 

A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched to save the popular Etobicoke Lakeshore Santa Claus Parade that is danger of grounding Santa, Rudolph and hundreds of volunteers.

Members of the Etobicoke Lakeshore Santa Claus Parade 2022 launched an online Facebook fundraiser on October 10. Only about $100 had been raised by October 20.

Parade organizers said they have been “bringing the magic of the holidays to Etobicoke Lakeshore and beyond,” as one of the largest non-profit community parades in the country since 1991. It is now in its 31st year.

The popular 2022 parade takes place on December 3 at 10 a.m.

“At this point, the future of the parade is in danger. We are 100% volunteer-run and are working hard to make this a success, but we really need your help to raise $30,000 to run the parade,” according to the post.

They said it cost $30,000 to run the parade in 2019 “and we know that figure will be higher this year.”

Organizers said the funds are usually raised from community donations and business partnerships.

“Unfortunately, this year some of our community partners will be unable to support us as much as in the past,” the post warned.

“Two years of COVID has seriously depleted our resources. Our fixed expenses include float storage and utilities that still needed to be paid.”

Area residents love the parade and organizers estimate up to 70,000 people attend the event yearly.

“Santa’s elves are looking forward to bringing back the sounds of the bands, schools and community groups walking, colourful characters and of course the floats,” a poster said.

“We are even planning for a new float this year if funds can be raised to complete it. Please help bring the smiles back to everyone’s faces.”

The parade which attracted thousands of residents yearly was created by the late long-time New Toronto businessman and volunteer Peter Ramos.

You are asked to donate at a Go Fund Me page today: https://gofund.me/28cdfa03

There will be a meeting with top city officials soon to discuss the fate of incoming Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw.

Mayor John Tory and Toronto Police Services Board Chair Jim Hart, have asked that Chief-designate Demkiw attend a meeting with Chanelle Gallant and JP Hornick, who are 2SLGBTQ+ advocates opposed to Demkiw being appointed as Chief.

The long-time cop was appointed last month to replace Interim Chief James Ramer. He is scheduled to assume the role on December 19.

“Given Mr. Demkiw’s record of misconduct and his willingness to silence city councillors, we must raise serious questions about how this appointment could have taken place, and what it signals for historically over-policed communities in Toronto,” Gallant and Hornick wrote in an open letter to city officials.

They claimed to be original members of the Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee and Demkiw was one of the officers responsible for the planning and execution of a raid on a queer event at the Pussy Palace, a women’s bathhouse, in September 2000.

They wrote that Demkiw had been involved in task forces that conducted surveillance and raids in predominantly Black neighbourhoods.

In 2002, his actions were found to violate the Charter rights of attendees, and resulted in a settlement at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, police reforms, and a public apology from the Toronto Police Service (TPS) in 2016.

In 2005, a class-action lawsuit and complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission resulted in a $350,000 settlement, part of which covered legal fees with some donated to charities of the complainants’ choice.

In the court case that followed, Justice Peter Hryn described the officers’ conduct as “bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.”

The judge dismissed the charges, arguing male officers should never have gone into the Pussy Palace, because it amounted to a strip search of the women and that violated their Charter rights.

The settlement included a formal apology in writing from the male officers involved in the raid to the Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee, and also required the force to establish sensitivity training for all members regarding the LGBT community.

Demkiw was among the officers who then sued a sitting city councillor for speaking for the defence, and was involved in a series of additional raids on queer spaces that same year.

“In your two year hiring process, the communities you consulted told you that they have significant concerns about police accountability,” according to the letter. “ What message does the appointment of an officer who has been directly involved in a breach of civil liberties send to those communities?”

JP Hornick was arrested and charged with liquor violations at the time of the raid.

“The police really tore through the place top to bottom asking questions, pulling signs off walls…interrogating us for a fair bit of the night,” she said.

 

Toronto seems to be a car theft capital and auto thieves no longer require a tool kit to rip off a vehicle in the middle of the night.

A video posted on social media on October 11 shows security camera footage of how car thieves now steal expensive vehicles as we sleep.

The video captured a thief using a relay method of capturing the Radio-frequency identification (RFID) of a vehicle’s fob.

The thief points the RFID device through a front window to pick up the frequency of a fob left lying without a pouch inside the home. It can take the thief a few minutes to scan the information and the snoring residents never detect a thing.

“To thwart this method of heft, place the fob in an RFID protective pouch or other shielding device,” police said.

The said the pouch should always be with you even when you visit public parking lots or other areas.

Police said almost 6,000 vehicles have been stolen in Toronto so far this year. Carjackings in the city has risen 209 per cent from 2021 to 179 so far this year.

The RFID uses electromagnetic fields  to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromagnetic interrogation pulse from a nearby RFID reader device, the tag transmits digital data, usually an identifying inventory number, back to the reader.

 

 

Some alert pharmacies in Mimico and South Etobicoke have taken to locking their doors which are only opened from inside by staff for legitimate customers to avoid robberies.

Customers are ordered to knock on the locked front glass door of the pharmacies and are allowed inside by a worker.

Opening their door is not something that the merchants want to do in that many of the customers have been shopping there for decades.

Toronto Police said the number of pharmacy robberies have more than doubled this year. There were 49 of the robberies in 2021, according to police. There are more than 140 so far this year.

Pharmacists in South Etobicoke say they are seeing robberies take place almost daily or multiple times a day. One Toronto pharmacy was robbed more than 14 times.

In some cases pharmacists or their staff are shot, stabbed or beaten by gun-toting thugs looking for drugs to sell. The gangs are becoming more brazen and violent.

Etobicoke pharmacy owner Michael Malak used to enjoy the job and followed his parents footsteps.

“It’s now scary coming to work,” said Malak, who has been an pharmacist for 10 years.

Malak is considering another trade after his store was robbed in early October by a group of masked men who beat him up and demanded narcotics.

“He (robber) put me in a headlock and started punching me,” Malak said.

Days later four teenage boys around 16-years-old were arrested following three armed carjackings and eight pharmacy robberies in Toronto and York Region.

Police allege one or two boys would approach vehicles pointing a handgun at the occupant while demanding their keys, vehicle and property.

Another group of boys, often travelling in these stolen vehicles, would enter pharmacies in a takeover-style robbery, police say. They would then escape in an awaiting vehicle.

Police and business owners are tracking more thieves with security cameras, installing bullet proof glass or a buzzer system and now having their doors opened by staff.

They worry that turning pharmacies into fortresses will deter patients making it harder to care for them, which is why many got into the business in the first place.

 

Canadian immigration authorities are bracing for a wave of Russians who fled their homeland due to the war with Ukraine and may show up here as immigrants or refugees.

A report by Immigration, Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC) estimate more than 200,000 Russians fled their homeland due to the war with Ukraine and forced military conscription.

The internal report called ‘The Exodus: Russians Fleeing Rising Authoritarianism and Upcoming Severe Economic Hardships’ was prepared last March for IRCC brass in Ottawa.

The report said Russian authorities have not released data about the number of their citizens who fled the country since the war began last February 24.

“It is estimated that the number is likely in the hundreds of thousands,’ according to the study. “Most are relatively young, highly educated and have good English skills.”

An estimate by a Russian economist claimed more than 200,000 Russians have fled since the war.

“People leaving are generally those who can afford to, including Russia’s well-educated urban middle-class,” federal officials were told. “Many are tech professionals who can work remotely. Others are in the academic or financial sectors.”

The report said many Russians have managed to reach Europe by crossing the land border to Finland or the Baltic states since international flights are now limited.

“The others mostly head to Georgia and Armenia, but also to Kazakhstan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan, where an entry visa is not required,” according to the report.  “Many of them might be looking for a long-term solution in a Western country in the near future.”

It said Russian-issued credit cards are no longer accepted as a federal government payment system and this can cause delays as they find alternative ways to pay.

“The number of applications submitted by Russian nationals might further increase in the coming weeks,” the report warned.

Canadian immigration officials in Russia will closely monitor the situation in regard “to potential Russian inland asylum claims or potential overseas refugee applications.”

This year there were nine times more work permit applications from Russian citizens compared to 2019 with 3,456 versus 364 in 2019. The number of work permits granted quadrupled from 1,053 in 2022 versus 229 in 2019.

 

Mayor John Tory’s main political rival Gil Penalosa is warning that an incoming Toronto Police Chief may not be the best man to head Canada’s largest force into the future.

Penalosa is asking Toronto and the Toronto Police Services Board to pause the installation of Chief-Designate Myron Demkiw on December 19 for the top job of commanding 5,500 police officers and 2,000 civilian employees.

He said Demkiw formerly belonged to the Toronto Police’s disbanded Vice Squad, and ‘is an affront to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.’

“His direct involvement in the women’s bathhouse raid in 2000, other raids on Queer spaces, and his subsequent attack on a City Councillor who spoke against these atrocious acts, makes him a controversial choice to serve Toronto’s diverse communities as their Chief of Police,” Penalosa said in a news release.

“What message does Mr. Demkiw’s nomination send to queer communities who have recently been abandoned by their police force while a serial killer preyed on gay men for years without adequate response,” he asked.

“ Trans women in Toronto have been subjected to questionable police conduct for years and little has been done to improve community relations.”

Penalosa accused Tory, who serves on the Police Services Board, of “a lack of judgement and indifference to queer communities by not only approving this appointment, but reaffirming his choice of Demkiw in the face of opposition by the communities the new Chief will have to serve.”

He asked Tory to pause the installation of Demkiw as the next police chief ‘until the affected community receives a public meeting and answers to the questions.’
“Anything less will be unforgivable,” Penalosa said.

“Torontonians deserve and expect their new police chief to be someone who has earned their trust, not someone mired in controversy with a history of abusing the charter rights of a minority group,” he charged.

Police are warning women using Marie Curtis Park to beware of a sordid lurker.

Peel Regional Police are searching for a man who is accused of committing indecent acts in front of two different women walking through the beautiful lakefront park that straddles Long Branch and Mississauga.

Police believe the acts are related and took place in the area of Dixie Road and Lakeshore Road, in Mississauga.

Police said on September 15, and September 23, between 7:50 a.m. and 8:55 a.m., two female victims reported seeing a man engaging in indecent acts as they traveled along the Marie Curtis Park Waterfront Trail.

“Both incidents occurred in the exact same spot south of the Small Arms Inspection Building,” Peel police said in a release. “Both victims did not sustain any physical injuries.”

The man is described as a male, white who is medium to heavy build.

Officers have some tips for everyone to remain safer when out walking. They said residents should be aware, plan ahead and trust their instincts.

Park users should walk with a purpose and exude an assertive image. They should avoid isolated area that are not well lit.

They should also tell others where they are going and when they expect to arrive or return and report any suspicious activity or persons to police.

Investigators are looking for any further victims to come forward and are asking anyone with information concerning these incidents or who believes they have had a similar encounter involving this man are encouraged to contact police at (905) 453-2121, ext. 1233.

Anonymous information can be submitted by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca.

 

Community residents are mourning the death of Peter Ramos, a long-time New Toronto volunteer, businessman and former president of the Lakeshore Village Business Improvement Area.

Affectionately known as the “Mayor of Lakeshore,” Ramos passed away on September 24 and a memorial service was held for him on October 5 in Woodbridge. He was 71.

Ramos was born in New Toronto, where he spent most of his life improving the lives of residents. He loved the community and was well-known for his business acumen, activism and volunteering in charitable causes.

Ramos in the 1990s owned Chubbies Deli, near Eighth Street, which his colleagues said offered the best corn beef sandwiches in the area and always had a steady line-up of customers outside the building. He also at one time owned the former Globe Restaurant.

He is credited for starting the popular Santa Claus Parade and the Lakeshore Village BIA, on which he served as president for 10 years.

His friend John Scheffer, a former airline pilot, laundry owner and president of the BIA, said Ramos toiled for years to get the Santa Claus Parade rolling in 1991. The parade is now in its third decade.

“It took Peter three years to get the Santa Claus Parade going,” Scheffer recalled. “Many other people became involved afterwards.”

Under his tenure, the Lakeshore Village BIA, improved street lighting, introduced Christmas decorations and large planters along Lake Shore Blvd. W. He also fought for a parking lot on Sixth Street, Lakeshore Village Park and many other improvements we enjoy today, former BIA officials said.

“I remember when he was going around to all the stores to obtain signatures to start a BIA,” Scheffer said. “At that time 50% of the businesses had to approve the association.”

Patricia Jutzeler-Delfin, a fourth generation owner of The Clock Factory, said Ramos was always helpful and volunteering with events to promote the community.

“Many people called him the ‘Mayor of Lakeshore,” she said. “He started the mural program and did a lot of things for the community. He would give the shirt off his back to help others.”