Beware of scammers who are impersonating Toronto Police officers in a scam that is preying on the elderly.

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) have issued a warning of an ongoing telephone fraud investigation.

“There have been several instances over the last few weeks where members of the public have received telephone calls from individuals who identify themselves as police officers,” according to the TPS.

The force said a suspect calls a resident by telephone stating that they are a police officer.

“The suspect informs them that there have been residential neighbourhood break-ins in the area and that criminals have been watching their homes,” police said in a release.

Officers said “the suspect persuades the resident to hand over cash to them for safe keeping.”

The thieves disappear once they’re received your money.

Investigators believe the suspects are targeting the elderly.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

 

 

Police are warning seniors and other homeowners of a house repair fraud scam preying on unsuspecting victims in the area.

Police believe the suspects are intentionally targeting seniors.

The fraud involves contractors travelling door-to-door selling services that are unsolicited by a costumer.

Halton Regional Police in an alert said the suspect will provide quotes with prices lower than market value and once a deal is reached, will request a large cash payment.

“Based on complaints, initial work may start, however the work will be sub-par and/or incomplete,” according to anti-fraud officers.

After this initial work, the consumer may be approached to provide more money for supplies or to complete payment for the project, police said.

“Once this additional or final payment is received, the contractor disappears and phone calls and text messages will go unanswered leaving the consumer with a damaged or partially completed project,” officers said.

In two cases, the suspects are described as two white males with Irish or possibly Scottish accents.

One suspect is about 25 to 35 years old, approximately 5’9” – 6’0” tall with a heavy build and dark black hair.

A second suspect is also 25-35 years old approximately 5’9” – 6’0” tall with a heavy build and short light blonde or light brown hair. This suspect was also wearing a mustache.

In both cases the suspects had a younger man with them claiming to be a son of one of the suspects.

Police advise homeowners to get recommendations from other people you trust, do your research, do not be pressured to make a quick decision, get multiple written estimates, ensure the contractor is insured and get everything on writing and on paper.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact Halton police at  905-465-8741.

 

 

 

Many South Etobicoke residents are applauding the beloved late pianist Oscar Peterson for being honoured on a Canadian $1 coin.

Peterson, who with wife Kelly once lived in Mimico, is said to be one of the greatest pianist Canada and the world have seen.

He was a proud to represent Canada on international stages performing with some of the best during his six decade career.

The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a one-dollar circulation coin to honour the great musician. The coin, of which there are two kinds, started circulating on August 15, which was Peterson’s birthday.

Mint president and CEO Marie Lemay says Peterson is both the first Black Canadian and the first musician to be featured on a circulation coin.

The Mint is issuing three million coins depicting Peterson, known as “the man with four hands,” playing the piano.

Peterson, who was born in 1925 and composed more than 400 pieces, during the 1960s lived at Amadeo Garden Court Complex in two apartments overlooking Lake Ontario, according to local historians and residents.
“For years Peterson frequented the mom-and-pop stores along the Lakeshore,” and according to Kelly “loved spending time by the water.”

He was often seen in Marie Curtis Park, which he loved, before moving to Mississauga.
The portrait of Peterson made it into Lakeshore Legends due to his love for the area and its residents, according to the Lakeshore Village BIA, which sponsored the artwork.

Kelly says the illustration also includes the final notes of his 1962 composition, “Hymn to Freedom,” which was embraced as an anthem of the civil rights movement.

Pianist and composer Thompson Egbo-Egbo paid tribute to Peterson with a special performance at the unveiling in Toronto.

Born in Montreal in 1925, Peterson is widely regarded as one of the foremost jazz pianists of his generation, winning numerous Juno and Grammy Awards over his 60-year career.

He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame before dying of kidney failure in 2007 at the age of 82.

 

It has been a long journey for Mimico’s Teo Nunes, whose Le Gourmand Bakery is opening its fourth store and restaurant in New Toronto.

Nunes was born in Angola and moved to Mimico with his family from Portugal in 1988.

He got into baking when his son Milton passed away of cancer, at the age of 47, after starting the first successful Le Gourmand Bakery in 2002 at 152 Spadina Ave.

Milton had studied in France and was a qualified and well-regarded pastry chef.

“It was a successful business and I expanded it to South Etobicoke,” Nunes admits. “We live in the area and all the staff is from the area.”

Nunes added a busy customer-friendly location at 2897 Lake Shore Blvd. W., and another brand new eat- in location to open soon at 2910 Lake Shore Blvd. W. just two doors away in New Toronto.

The new location is bright, new and has room for about 15 tables. It contains a huge kitchen.

In addition, a Humber location, directly across from Humber College, was added at 3180 Lake Shore  Blvd. W., in the Lake Shore Blvd. W., and Kipling Ave. area.

“We love the area and were well-received in the neighbourhood,” Nunes says. “Residents will love our new sit-down restaurant.”

 

He is motivated by helping his late son Milton expand his booming business and eventually he hopes to franchise the operation.

Every March 3 all the proceeds of the bakery go to help the Hospital for Sick Children, a cause that was dear to Milton’s heart.

The family also gifted 15 per cent of the company to a pastry chef who started out with Milton and helped grow the bakery after he lost his battle with cancer.

“We proudly serve hand-made artisanal baked goods and world famous cookies in the Lake Shore Village neighborhood of Toronto,” Nunes says. “We are a family bakery dedicated to producing the highest quality fresh pastries paired with friendly service and great coffee.”

For Nunes and his wife, the business is a labour of love to Milton.

He knows the names of most of his 60 employees and they operate as a family.

Claire Lane, general manager of a New Toronto location, said residents love their freshly baked home-made cookies, cakes, tarts, brownies and ice creams, which are delicious.

“All our items are baked here fresh daily,” Lane insists. “We use the best ingredients and people love it.”

She says the staff “couldn’t ask for a better boss” in Nunes.

Le Gourmand Bakery can be reached at 416-252-2127 or visit legourmandbakery.com

 

The low-rise face of Mimico may soon be changing if developers have their way.

A massive proposal has been submitted to amend the City’s Official Plan and Zoning By-laws to permit the construction of a mixed use 10 storey building and a 33 storey tower on a four-block area at 2405 Lake Shore Blvd. W.

The building will feature 449 ‘first class’ condo units, including stores and access to Lake Ontario.

The plan is under review by City Council and no date has been set for when it will be voted on.

The half-hectare site is located on the southeast side of Lake Shore Blvd. W., mid-block between Superior and Primrose Avenues, 750-metres east of the Mimico GO Station and 600-metres southwest of the Humber Bay Shores area, according to information filed.

The development will include an east west roadway that builders hope will “kickstart investment in the Mimico Secondary Plan Area of Etobicoke.”

“If approved, it would set a precedent for future development on the lake side of Lake Shore Boulevard in Mimico from a land use, urban design and city-building perspective,” according to the proposal.

The building will be built on four parcels of land, which spans 53-metres of frontage on Lake Shore, in addition to the Mimico Water Front Trail and Amos Waites Park, which also front Lake Ontario.

“The site at present is occupied by several low-rise buildings including a medical office, rental apartments, storefronts, and a semi-detached dwelling,” according to the proposal.

It suggests a portion of land from Amos Waites Park used for the new public road running from Lake Shore adjacent to the building and then curving northeast to parallel the lake.

“The road would provide additional public road frontage to Amos Waites Park, allowing the park to be publicly accessible on three sides,” according to plans. “The proponents suggest a land swap near the lake end of their property to append to Amos Waites Park in order to replace lands that would need to be removed from the park to realize their proposal for the new road.”

The plan, if approved, would provide a total floor area of about 32,792 square metres, including some 345.5 square metres of retail space on the ground floor.

Three levels of below-grade parking, accessed by ramps off the driveway and future public road, would provide 259 parking spaces.

A formal notice of any public meeting held by the City or developers will go to community members.

The proposal seeks to redevelop and revitalize this “underutilized and relatively derelict site” and to “re-urbanize and reanimate the site in a manner that is in keeping with both the emerging built form context and the envisioned urban structure for the area.”

The proposal aims to leverage the site’s location along and access to Lake Ontario as well as its proximity to existing transit, planned higher order transit at the planned Park Lawn TTC/GO Transit Hub, and potential future transit priority treatments along Lake Shore Boulevard West.

Winzen is a strong team of real estate professionals with over three decades of experience have built over 1000 homes under the cooperative selling system of Canada.

 

Police have stepped up their hunt for two Peel Region men who are still on the run for the murders of two men at an office building on Thirtieth Street, in Long Branch.

The men were killed in a last January double shooting that took place at 150 Thirtieth Street at 8:45 p.m.

Both men were rushed to hospital, where one of them was pronounced dead. The second man succumbed to his injuries the following day.

Police have identified the victims as Minyali Wur, 24, and Chudier Reat, 20, both of Mississauga.

Officers arrived to find two men suffering from gunshot wounds and an injured woman nearby.

Back in January police identified Darriel Thompson, 21, of Mississauga, as a suspect in the case and said he was being sought for two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

They said they were also looking for Camarr Brown, 21, of Brampton, for accessory after the fact.

Brown has since been charged and is no longer sought.

Police also want to locate Philip Grant, 32, of Peel Region, who is wanted for second-degree murder in connection with the case and they are asking for the public’s help in locating him.

Both Thompson and Grant remain at large and are on the Toronto Police Most Wanted List online.

Police are asking anyone with information to reach out to investigators.

 

The late Wilson Oliver Brooks was a former Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) veteran who went on to become the first Black male Toronto school teacher and principal after he left the service.

Brooks was born in Windsor in 1924 to a railway porter dad, Oliver, and mom, Edith May Wilson, a fourth generation and proud Black Canadian.

He grew up in the busy Dundas and Spadina Aves. area, where racism was free and thick at the time.

 

The young Books was refused a job at a market because a manager believed customers would be offended by his presence (meaning skin colour); and at the age of 16 was denied entry into a Count Basie concert because of the dark colour of his skin, according to reports.

Brooks enlisted in the RCAF in April 1943. His education and aptitude tests indicated that he would make a good member of an aircrew. As a result he trained to be an air bomber, to guide the aircraft in dropping bombs on a target.

He had good scores and was made a Pilot Officer (or today a 2nd Lieutenant) and sent to England for updated training in June 1944. Brooks became part of a crew that would fly missions together. During this time he was promoted to Flying Officer.

The flyer had joined the war too late and never saw any combat service overseas. He was released from the army and went on to a distinguished career after the Second World War.

Using the money from his Veterans’ allowance, he attended the University of Toronto and graduated with a Bachelor Arts degree. Here he met his wife, Phyllis with whom he had three daughters and a son. Being interested in equality he wanted to teach.

In September 1952 Wilson became the first male Black school teacher in Toronto Board of Education system. He taught Grade 5. He would go on to teach at Williamson Road Public School in 1958. In 1961 he became vice principal in at Gledhill Avenue School. He would later serve on the same position at Queen Alexandra Middle School.

Brooks was always active in the community. He was a member of the Toronto Negro Business and Professional Men’s Association, and its president in the mid-1960s. He and Dr. Dan Hill founded the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS).

The OBHS petitioned the City of Toronto to declare February as Black History Month, which it did. He helped found the Toronto Choiristers and was on the selection committee of the Harry Gairey Scholarship, which helps young Black-Canadians attend university.

He even helped a 12 year old girl return to the ice when she was banned from playing on a boys hockey team.
Brooks In 197 was appointed Principal of Shaw Public School. As such he was the first Black principal in the Toronto School Board. In the mid-1970s he worked in the personnel department of the Toronto Board of Education accepting resumes of prospective elementary and special education teachers.

He returned to what he loved, working with students in 1980 when he was appointed principal of Glen Ames Public School, a post he held until he retired in June 1986.

More than 600 people attended his funeral in April 1994 at St. Olave’s Anglican Church. The Toronto Choiristers performed, as did Dan Hill, son of Ontario’s Human Rights Commissioner.

The former veteran and teacher left behind a legacy of working for equality, fairness and a great impression on all of his students.

 

 

Toronto’s first Black millionaire slave James Mink is finally being recognized by City Council more than 150 years after his death.

Mink, a businessman, was born in 1792 and died in 1868. He was said to be one of the wealthiest people in Toronto during the 1830s until his death.

He and carpenter John Tinsley, who arrived here from the U.S. and became a successful business owner, and a woman named Peggy, are being recognized with honorary plaques for their good deeds generations ago.

Mink was the son of Tobe and Eve Mink, who served as slaves to Johan Herkimer, before moving from the U.S. to Kingston after the Civil War.

He was born between 1792 and 1795 in Upper Canada. Very little is known about his childhood and when he obtained his freedom.

Mink had a strong business acumen and moved to Toronto in 1840s with his brother George remaining in Kingston.

The brothers received government contracts for their horse carriage business to deliver mail, passengers and even prisoners between Toronto and Kingston.

He ran the Mansion House Inn and Livery Stable at 21 Adelaide Street East.

“Through all his business endeavours, James Mink became extremely wealthy and he was an active member of the Black community in 19th-century Toronto,” according to one report. “His inn was used as a polling station in elections.”

He and his wife, Elizabeth, had a daughter, Mary Mink.

Unfortunately the Minks’s good name was allegedly tarnished by people who were not happy about his success and sought to bring him down.

It was incorrectly reported that Mink had published an advertisement in a newspaper seeking a white husband to marry Mary.

“The myth follows that a man replied, married Mary, and sold her into slavery in the United States requiring James to pay a large ransom to secure her freedom,” according to the myth.

In reality, Mary had married a Toronto man in 1852 and continued to live in the city. By then the damage had been done.

James Mink retired to Richmond Hill and died in 1868. He is buried in Toronto’s Necropolis.

Also being honoured is John Tinsley (1782-1892) was born a free Black man in Richmond, Virginia. He trained as a carpenter and millwright and came to Canada in 1842.

 

AUGUST 6 – 10th ANNUAL HUMBER BAY SHORES Waterfront Festival from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Humber Bay Park West parking lot. Free admissions. More than 30 market vendors. Performances by Fiddlestix Band, Tom Barlow Band, Chicago Project Band and Black Board Blues Band. Visit www.hbsca.ca

AUGUST 2 TO 12 Shakespeare Summer Camp Theatre for kids 10 to 14-years-old at Assembly Hall, 1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Dr. Register for Romeo & Juliet at AssemblyCamp22.evenbrite.ca

STARTING AUGUST 10 RESET, RELAX, RENEW. Register to improve your health and well-being in a four-week online series on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. Led by Corin our extraordinary coach, participants learn to enhance resilience to stress, regulate difficult emotions and activate deep relaxation. To register, contact norkyit@lampchc.org or jasmind@lampchc.org. Or call 416 252 6471 ext. 308.

AUGUST 12 SUMMER DAY OF WELLNESS, rejuvenation and balance at LAMP CHC 185 5th Street

Join us for a day of professional mindfulness and wellness sessions, activation stations including art, plant knowledge, nutrition and more. Lunch and Certificate of Completion provided. Program runs from 10:00 AM-3:30 PM and registration is required. Please email: vanessakv@lampchc.org or phone: 416-252-6471 ext. 308

TAKE AWAY LUNCHES at LAMP on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the community room 10am  to noon. Saturdays at Street Level 10 am until noon.

UNTIL AUGUST 13 DANCE TOGETHER FESTIVAL every Saturday Nights at Amos Waites Park 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 2441 Lake Shore Blvd. W. Open to all ages, abilities and levels for jazz, hip hop, Cuban salsa and West African beats. Visit for full schedule at dancetogetherfestival.com

COMMUNITY SUPPORT CENTRE operating from St. Margaret’s Church on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meals, snacks, washrooms, showers, and laundry available for folks who are unhoused.

EVERY THURSDAY The Good Food Market from 12 to 4 p.m. at Stonegate CHC at 10 Neighbourhood Lane for affordable produce, outdoor market and bring your own bags. COVID-19 protocols are in place. For more information call 416-231-7070 ext 307.

UNTIL SEPTEMBER 17 Long Branch Artist Pat Rice works of local trees and nature called This Old Tree is on display to the public until September 17 on the Third Floor Gallery at the Lakeshore Grounds Interpretive Centre, at 2 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive.

AUGUST 17 COMMUNITY BENEFITS Agreements South Etobicoke Report in partnership with TCBN (Toronto Community Benefits Network) have been mobilizing to secure equitable developments in affordable housing, secure jobs, environmental protections, food security, inclusive communities, transportation improvements etc. We have been hosting workshops, citizen surveys and are now moving into the next phase of ensuring equity for those that live, work, go to school and recreate in Ward 3. We are a citizen, academic and commmunity co-led organization that is hosting a meeting  to report back on our findings and recommendations. For more e-mail vanessakeallvejar@gmail.com, info@cbasouthetobicoke.ca or visit www.cbasouthetobicoke.ca

YOGA OUTREACH PROJECT runs all August from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Bell Manor Park, I Bayside Lane. Join Stephanie from Yoga Outreach Project and all ages welcome. Please bring your own mat, towel or water. To register call 416-231-7070 ext. 307 or e-mail health.promotion@stonegatechc.org

BASKETBALL FRIDAYS for youth 18 plus from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Ken Cox Community Centre, 28 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive. Contact Waye at 416-990-6737 or email youth@lampchc.org

STREET LEVEL YOUTH SPACE Summer Program For Youth Living in South Etobicoke runs through August from Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Youth aged 10 – 14 are welcome to join the program. To register, please contact Linda at lindaf@lampchc.org or by phone at 416- 779 – 5248. There are volunteer opportunities for those aged 15 to 19.

AUGUST 18 ETOBICOKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Summer History Series @ 7:30 p.m. on Etobicoke’s Historic Lakeshore. A free online Zoom Webinar presented by EHS Richard Jordan. For more visit www.etobicokehistorical.com/summer-history.html