A Mimico resident has written a children’s book that is getting great reviews in Canada and in the U.S.

Shal Chirkut has been writing for many years and has a keen interest in covering topics that have a positive impact on the lives of young people.

Chirkut’s work highlights the importance of confidence and self-esteem in a young person’s life. His new book Mommy, What is Confidence? is published by Indigo River Publishing, based in Pensacola, Florida.

“He believes confidence can be developed through challenging oneself,” according to a release from the publisher. “He hopes children will learn to challenge themselves to accomplish great things early on. It sets the foundation for productive, goal-oriented, and successful futures.”

Chrikut created Mommy Series to communicate abstract topics that are difficult to explain to kids. “It is a way for parents, kids, mentors, and educators to explore important issues in a simplified, visual, well-written and easy-to-comprehend way,” the author explained. “Teaching confidence can lead to great achievements in childhood to adulthood.”

He believes self-confidence greatly affects the way children develop and get along with others. “Introducing confidence, self-improvement, and positive change to children allows them to feel good about themselves and maximize their potential,” Chirkut wrote.

The interactive book, which includes a confidence building activity called the Confidence Cup, has been receiving excellent reviews and hailed as “the perfect book to help kids build confidence’ by The South Etobicoke News.

“The use of simple dialogues, straightforward approaches, and motivating activity is surely a fun way to make kids fire up to challenge themselves to be more confident,” wrote Rabilatul Adawiyah Z.

Brianna V. said the theme behind the book is important. “It is something I don’t think I’ve seen in any picture book,” Brianna wrote in a review. “I would love to read this book with my niece and complete the lovely activity with her.”

“Mommy, What is Confidence?  is simple enough for a beginner reader, yet long enough a parent can read it as a bed-time story.”

Chirkut enjoys challenging himself in life, which has seen him mentoring students, skydiving, climbing mountains in Iceland, and proposing to his wife on the Eiffel Tower.

The avid tennis player has earned an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto and lives in the area with his wife and children. Along with being an author, he also works in the project management field. Visit mommyseries.com to learn more about Chirkut.

Mommy, What is Confidence? can be found on Amazon, Chapters Indigo, and Barnes & Noble.

Copies of the e-book retail for $10.99 and the paperback for $18.52.

 

 

Julie is an Indigenous woman who has overcome a lot of difficulties in life and is now using her many experiences to help others in the community.

A member of the Garden Village Reserve of the Nipissing First Nation, near North Bay, she has been living in Toronto for decades.

In her years, she has managed to beat addiction, abuse and overcome homelessness and speaks to groups on now to avoid her pitfalls.

“I had to change my life,” Julie explains. “It had changed me.”

Julie has a lot to offer and is a volunteer in a number of community organizations. She now is an Ambassador for the Vaccine Engagement Team as they work to make the area safer and healthier. She obtained the job through LAMP community health centre.

Julie has worked at the Breakaway Addictions Program and volunteered at the Rape Crisis Centre. She was also involved in the Out of the Cold Program at St. Margaret’s Church and helped women and children in crisis at Women’s Habitat.

“I am proud of who I am and my many achievements. I worked hard to get here. My life was given back to me,” she says. “I must give back in any way that I can. Better the person, better the world.”

She speaks to local groups about life on the street and how to break the cycle of addiction and homelessness. She will be speaking about reconciliation at St. Margaret’s Church on Sixth Street on November 28 at 10 a.m.

“It all comes down to a matter of choice,” Julie says. “You have to be willing to want the change.”

She is planning to finish her second year of school at Humber College and hopes to work in a shelter for the homeless.

Her supervisor Amber Morley praised Julie’s hard work in the community for the last 12 years.

“She has suffered abuse, in addition to homelessness and tries hard to help those in need,” Morley says. “She worked hard to change her life and now wants to give back.”

Julie says her uncle was a residential school survivor ‘who was never the same when he came back home.”

“He came back home traumatized,” she recalls. “He was broken and was never the same man.”

The Nipissing First Nation is a long-standing community of Nishnaabeg peoples located along the shorelines of Lake Nipissing in northern Ontario.  The Nipissing are part of the Anishnaabe peoples, a grouping of people speaking Algonquin languages, which includes the Odawa,  Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Algonquins.

 

The organizers of the annual Lakeshore Christmas Parade says there will be no physical parade with Santa and his gang this year. They are working on a plan for a partially virtual Santa Claus Parade or a plan to have Santa ride a fire truck before his many delighted fans.

Further information is pending.

The annual spectacular Toronto Santa Claus Parade is also on hold, with a virtual edition planned, due to COVID-19.

Alderwood Cares Christmas Toy Drive

Police are alerting Etobicoke women who are seniors of a violent thief who brutally pushes females to the ground and steal their purses.

Three women are lucky not to suffer major injuries after being forcibly pushed to the ground by a vicious thief who stole their purses in the Kipling and Eglinton Avenues area.

Police said a fourth person, a man, was also threatened in what appeared to be an attempted car jacking.

Const. David Hopkinson said the three separate incidents occurred within 10 minutes of each other, between 12:35 p.m. and 12:45 p.m., on November 20, in the Kipling and Eglinton area.

The coward picked on victims who were seniors, police said.

The suspect fled the scene in a white Nissan Rogue. No suspect description has been released.

“We have a man that’s targeted what appears to be women in their 60s or 70s,” Hopkinson said. “They’ve been pushed violently to the ground, they’ve been robbed of their personal belongings, their purses and he’s fled in the same car.”

Police believe the suspect may live or have connections to people in the area.

“He was foiled and he fled in the vehicle that he came in, but very disturbing because this all happened in a very short, very small area up near Kipling and Eglinton.”

Hopkinson said that while the victims have not sustained any significant injuries, the attacks were “fairly violent.” Police are releasing as many details as possible early in the investigation in case the robberies continue.

Anyone with information or who witnesses a robbery should call police as soon as possible. You can call 22 Division at 416-808-2200.

A Burlington man is behind bars in connection with a fatal car crash on Parkside Drive in which an elderly loving couple were killed.

Police were called on October 12 at 4:40 p.m. to investigate a personal injury collision which involved five vehicles in the Parkside Drove and Spring Road area.

“A 38-year-old man was driving a 2013 BMW southbound on Parkside at Spring Rod at a high rate of speed,” according to police. “The BMW collided with a 2003 Toyota Matrix vehicle which created a chain reaction with three other vehicles.”

Members of Traffic Services Unit said a 71-year-old man driving the Toyota Matrix was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The passenger in the Matrix, a 69-year-old-woman was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries,” Traffic Services said in a release.

The driver of the BMW was taken to hospital with no- life-threatening injuries.

The couple, identified as Valdemar Avila, 71, a roofer, and his wife of 48-years, Fatima, 69, were driving  to a local Costco to refill a prescription when they were involved in the chain-reaction crash.

The Avilas, according to Global News, lived over a Dundas Street West beauty salon where Fatima worked for 30 years.

“I know that my father-in-law was a very religious man and he would want to forgive him, even though what happened is tragic. You have to forgive in your heart,” a family member told Global News.

The couple were laid to rest at St. Helen’s Roman Catholic Church, in the heart of Little Portugal where the couple was well known.

“They loved going for walks. People here in Little Portugal, they know them for their walks,” the family member said, adding they walked for an hour daily.

The couple, it is reported, lived for their two grandchildren whom they adored.

Artur Kotula, 38, of Burlington, is charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death.

He appeared before an Old City Hall court on November 19.

Media reports state that the suspect has no immigration status in Canada and had an suspended licence.

Police said their investigation is still ongoing.

Toronto city council has since approved a motion to reduce the speed limit along Parkside Drive from 50 to 40 km/h along with other traffic calming measures.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1900, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

Police are warning women using public washrooms to be vigilant.

Some 36 women using washrooms in Brampton and Toronto were secretly filmed, according to police.

A Brampton man has been charged by Peel Regional Police for 36 counts of voyeurism, in addition to sexual assault and mischief.

Police allege between August 13, 2020 and August 18, 2020, a suspect attended ‘numerous’ female washrooms at businesses in Brampton and Toronto and ‘concealed himself in a bathroom stall.’

“The suspect would then place his cellphone under the partitions and took videos of unsuspecting female victims using the washroom,” Peel police said in a release.

Officers allege the suspect had a busy schedule.

“During the same time period, the suspect attended multiple stores and public places within the cities and allegedly captured videos that were pointed under a skirt,” according to detectives.

The suspect was first charged by police in August 2020 and more charges were laid on November 16 as a result of further investigation.

The suspect came to the attention of police after they received calls about a suspicious male entering the ladies’ room at Kennedy Square Mall, near Kennedy Rd. S. and Clarence St., in Brampton.

Officers arrived to find the suspect hiding in a stall within the bathroom.

The suspect was also seen entering and exiting a women’s washroom inside of a department store near Kennedy Rd. S. and Steeles Ave. E., in south Brampton.

Andre Lawrence, 31, of Brampton, is charged with 36 counts of voyeurism. He appeared in Brampton court on November 17.

Investigators believe there may still be additional victims, and are urging them to contact investigators from the 22 Division Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-453-2121 extension 2233. Witnesses, or anyone with information on this investigation, are also asked to contact investigators, or provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-TIPS.

 

The newest mural to honour frontline worker was unveiled on the side of a Lakeshore Village credit union.

The massive work in New Toronto is displayed on the west wall of Alterna Savings and Credit Union at 3001 Lake Shore Blvd. W., near Ninth Street, and is the creation of artist Jim Bravo.

The work was sponsored by the Lakeshore Village BIA and a number of residents and dignitaries were in attendance for the ribbon-cutting that took place at 4:30 p.m. on November 17.

The well-known muralist Bravo has worked on more than 30 public murals and a number of private large-scale commissions.

“Through local arts organizations, Bravo has also served as an arts mentor for several at-risk youth initiatives,” according to his biography.

He majored in drawing and painting at OCAD University.

Most members of the community said they like the mural, as others complain it is barely visible from the busy Lake Shore Blvd.

The work is part of a StreetARToronto Front Line Heroes Project, which showcases Toronto as home to some of the best street, mural and graffiti artists and art in the world, according to the city.
“This series of artworks features street, mural and graffiti art that celebrates Toronto front line service providers including health care workers, volunteers and other heroes responding to the global coronavirus pandemic,” the City said of the project.

Titled “Celebrating Front Line Heroes” the works represent a diversity of essential workers of all ages, genders, backgrounds and professions from mail carriers and grocery store employees to teachers and sanitation workers, as well as doctors, nurses, and first responders, all painted by an equally diverse group of artists.

“Our streets need to be safe and functional and StreetARToronto has shown that they can also be beautiful and inspiring, reinforcing our sense of place and our image of ourselves,” said Barbara Gray, General Manager the City’s Transportation Services.

 

An Etobicoke hotel where a sex act took place is under the microscope.

Toronto Police have launched a probe into allegations of voyeurism and the distribution of intimate images without consent.

Police allege that in October or November 2019, two men exchanged messages on a dating app and arranged to meet at an Etobicoke hotel near Pearson International Airport.

Officers said the men had consensual sex in a hotel room.

“In 2021, the victim was looking at the suspect’s public pornography website and noticed several videos of their sexual encounter posted to the website,” police said in a release.

“The posted videos were taken without the victim’s knowledge or consent.”

Officers are trying to locate the suspect, who they said uses the name David Rosso and is believed to be in his 50s.

Detectives have released a photograph of the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

Police are warning the public about an arrest made in a bizarre case involving a man who allegedly committed indecent acts against seniors in a long-term care home.

Police allege between October 9 and November 9 this year, a suspect attended a long-term care home facility about five times in the north Etobicoke area.

Officers claimed the man allegedly exposed himself to residents of the facility, including seniors, on multiple occasions.

Benjamin Rojas, 26, of Toronto, was arrested on November 9 and charged with four counts of committing an indecent act.

He appeared in court at 2201 Finch Avenue W., on November 10 by via video link.
Officers believe there may be other victims .

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2300, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

The Toronto Animal Services (TAS) are investigating the horrific deaths of two pet bunnies which were killed by a suspected pit bull in New Toronto.

The bodies of Leo and Ruby are to be reclaimed from examination by the TAS tomorrow and Pastor Veta Saunders, of Etobicoke Praise Centre, will say a prayer for the lovable duo as they are buried arm-in-arm in a casket under a magnolia tree this week.

Christina Murie, the owner of the rabbits, said they were killed on November 5 by a suspected pit bull that was brought to her Birmingham Business Centre, at 80 Birmingham Street, by a woman who was hired to do some painting.

The local painter had done some work for Murie before.

“I had told the woman not to bring that dog to my property,”’ Murie mourned. “I was not at the property when the bunnies were killed.”

She has been crying for the bunnies for days and one of her employees was so sickened by the gruesome killings that he was off work for a week.

Residents said the dog managed to enter the premises and made its way to an area where the bunnies were kept. The rabbits were chased by the menacing dog and received multiple fatal bites, Murie explained, adding she believes the bunnies were tossed around by the dog.

She said the bunnies were rare and expensive. Leo was a Lionhead rabbit and Ruby a Himalayan bunny.

The bunnies were house and pet trained and had an indoor space, with a fountain, and were placed outside during the day. They were a favourite of local school children and visitors to the building.

“Both bunnies were adopted from the Toronto Animal Services,” Murie said. “They (TAS) were also surprised that the bunnies were killed.”

“People loved playing with the bunnies,” she recalled. “They were very cute and lovable.”

Murie is hoping the dog’s owners will receive a fine or be required to place a muzzle on the animal.

“This animal is large and should not be allowed on the street without a muzzle,” she insisted. “These dogs can be very dangerous.”

She said another employee was nipped three times by the dog without suffering major injuries.

Murie is comforted that her other pets, which includes a cat, fishes and turtle in an indoor pond weren’t touched.