Police have issued a warning for those purchasing Chinese currency over social media.

The warnings stem from a rash of assaults and robberies of people seeking to exchange Canadian for Chinese currency on the social media platform WeChat for what they believe would be cheaper rate than offered by legitimate financial institutions, police said.

York Regional Police in a statement said when potential customers arrive at a meeting location, “they were assaulted or threatened and robbed of the money they brought with them to exchange.”

“Victims have lost thousands of dollars and in some cases they have suffered physical injuries,” officers of the force’s #5 District Criminal Investigations Bureau said in a release.

Police have a list of documented thefts. They include one on February 1, in which a victim met with a suspect to exchange $20,000 into Chinese currency when another man arrived and they both pointed guns at the victim and took off with his money and cell phone.

On February 28 two victims met with two Asian males to exchange $1,000. A third suspect arrive with a firearm and took the money.

And on March 5 some $18,000 was stolen from another victim who had arrived to obtain Chinese currency. The victim was assaulted and robbed, police said.

In most cases, the Chinese currency are to be sent back to China to help their families.

Police said if something is appears too good to be true, it probably is.

“Use caution when communicating with people you do not know online and avoid using unknown contacts or businesses for currency exchange,” police warn.
An investigation is underway.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the York Regional Police #5 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7541, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, or leave an anonymous tip online at www.1800222tips.com.

Here is the most recent taxi fraud scam that Toronto Police are warning residents to beware of.

Police say the victims usually wave down a taxi cab and request a ride to a destination.

On arrival, the cabbie insists that the victim pay with debit, police said, adding the driver may make excuses about not having change and not accepting credit payment.
“The taxi driver provides the victim with a counterfeit debit machine,” police state. “The victim inserts the debit card into the machine and enters the PIN number associated to the card.”

Police said the counterfeit debit machine records the victim’s PIN .

“After the transaction, the driver swaps the victim’s card with another card from the same financial institution,” according to police.

They said the driver now has access to the victim’s debit card and PIN.

Officer also warn of another version of the same scam. This time it takes place in a vehicle resembling a taxi parked in a high-traffic area. The person claiming to be the driver and another posing as a customer are having a loud argument about the driver refusing to take cash due to COVID-19.

Police said a good Samaritan overhears the argument and offers to pay with their own debit card the cab fare for cash.

The good Samaritan inputs their PIN number for their debit card into the modified machine, which records their PIN.

They are given a duplicate card that looks like theirs and the customer and driver are long gone to empty their account.

A man accused by police of two retail robberies in New Toronto is behind bars.

Hold Up Squad officers have arrested a man following the robberies that occurred in the Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. W. area.

Police allege the suspect entered a store on March 15 with a mask on, and his hood over his head, in an attempt to conceal his identity.

“The man approached the checkout counter and made a demand for cash while pretending to purchase some merchandise,” police said in a release. “After a short interaction with employees, the man fled the scene empty-handed.”

Police allege the man returned on March 17 and took items from the shelves and was approached and  asked to pay for the items.

Police alleged the suspect ‘pulled out a knife and threatened the employee.”

Officers said the suspect then ‘grabbed a bottle of windshield fluid off the shelf and broke the store window with it.”

The man fled on a bicycle.

The suspect was in possession of a knife and items from the robbery when arrested.

The man was arrested on March 18 and was charged with seven criminal charges; including robbery, robbery with a weapon. Two counts of disguise with intent, weapons dangerous.

The accused, Patrick Evangeliste-Tavernier, 33, of Toronto, was slated to make a court appearance on March 18.

Police searching for shooter who shot man in New Toronto

A young man is in hospital fighting for his life after being shot in broad daylight on March 17.

There was a large police presence in New Toronto as police searched for a shooter.

The victim was shot around 3 p.m. near Lake Shore Blvd., and Ninth Street, according to police.

The person was found by others laying on the roadway.

The victim was taken to a local trauma centre in serious but non-life-threatening condition.

That same night another youth was shot in the Scarlett Road and Lawrence Ave. area around 7:30 p.m. after residents reported the sounds of gunshots.

A teenage boy was found with a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital.

Police do not believe the incidents are linked.

 

One of Mimico’s top travelled roadway was named after English nurse, Edith Louisa Cavell, who was killed by a firing squad for saving the lives of hundreds of Allied soldiers by smuggling them out of Nazi-held Belgium.

Cavell, was 49, when she was killed by a German firing squad in October 1915 for saving the lives of some 200 Allied soldiers by helping them escape from Germany-occupied Belgium during the First World War.

She was arrested by the Germans and charged with treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death.

Despite international pressure for mercy, Cavell was shot by a firing squad one early morning. Her execution received global condemnation and extensive press coverage.

The night before her execution, she said, “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” These words were later inscribed on a memorial to her near Trafalgar Square.

Cavell was already notable as a pioneer of modern nursing when killed.

Her bravery was admired by people worldwide and there are dozens of buildings, parks, statues and roads, like Cavell Avenue in Mimico, named after the valiant nurse. There are pages of events and things named after Cavell.

She became a nurse while taking care of her father at the age of 30. She worked as a travelling nurse and worked her way through a number of hospitals.

Cavell was sent to assist with the typhoid outbreak in Maidstone during 1897. Along with other staff she was awarded a Maidstone Medal.

She took a temporary post as matron in 1906 of the Manchester and Salford Sick and Poor and Private Nursing Institution and worked there for about nine months.

She then launched the nursing journal, L’infirmière” and within a year, she was training nurses for three hospitals, twenty-four schools, and thirteen kindergartens in Belgium.

By November 1914, after the German occupation of Brussels, Cavell began sheltering British soldiers and funneling them out of occupied Belgium to the neutral Netherlands.

Wounded British and French soldiers as well as Belgian and French civilians of military age were hidden from the Germans and provided with false papers and led by guides to hosts who would furnish them with money to reach the Dutch frontier.

The German officials began to suspect her movements and activity.

Cavell was arrested in August 1915 and charged with harbouring Allied soldiers. She admitted that she was instrumental in ‘conveying about 60 British and 15 French soldiers, as well as about 100 French and Belgian civilians to the frontier.”

Sixteen men, forming two firing squads, carried out the sentence on her and four Belgian men at the Tir national shooting range in Schaerbeek, at 7 a.m. on October 12.

Eyewitness accounts of the shooting said Cavell was shot by eight soldiers.

The nurse was at one time the best-known woman in the world. Her death by firing squad turned her into a propaganda icon, with her name gracing schools, bridges, parks and roads right here in Mimico.

 

 

Area residents are doing a double take after reading posters in the community and social media that a number of 7-Eleven convenience stores in South Etobicoke and elsewhere have applied to sell alcohol at some locations.

A Liquor Licence Application has been filed, and being proudly displayed, by 7-Eleven for its store at 3260 Lake Shore Blvd. W. , at Twenty Sixth Street, for an indoor area.

The deadline for submission was March 11, which has expired.

“All objections will be shared with the applicant,” the poster state. “Anonymous objections are not accepted.”

The massive company, with 70,200 stores worldwide, has confirmed they have applied to sell booze at some stores in Ontario.

“We are excited to announce that we have applied for a liquor licence for this store,” the company said. “We want to continue to be the neighbourhood store that our customers rely on for all their needs.”

They pledged safety and responsibility writing “SmartServe training combined with our rigorous age-verification program will keep our stores and customers safe.”

Some 61 of the stores have applied for liquor application licences in various municipalities, according to an Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario website.

The company plans to have a small selection of Ontario-made beer and wine for sale. The applications, according to 7-Eleven, were filed after the Ontario government decided to extend beer and wine retailing to convenience stores.

A 7-Eleven statement said the beer and wine would be offered during limited hours in designated consumption areas of some Ontario stores.

It said the alcoholic beverages would complement its push into fresh and hot food, and would build on the chain’s long history of controlling access to age-restricted products.

An Ontario government official said under the current regulations, a dedicated space must be created inside the store “for the sale, service and consumption of alcohol with food inside the store.”

The coming of booze to 7-Eleven has received mixed comments online as readers discussed the benefits.

“They’re basically applying to open a bar inside the store,’ Tamara Sinead writes on social media. “Unless they’re selling very cheap booze I don’t see many people stopping in at 7/11 for a glass of wine.”

Pierre Denis says no way.

“This place is already trouble as it is,” Denis states. “No need for boozehounds on top of this.”

“No one would care really if they were selling it, the issue here is they want to serve it, as in be a bar,” notes Sonya Lynn.

Katrina Carey says area residents have to get involved.

“The application process allows for neighbors to share their concerns,” Carey says. “If too many people object, they may be denied their licence.”

There has been a number of objections filed by local groups against some of the proposed locations that will sell liquor in South Etobicoke

Decisions are still pending.

Toronto Police Constables Julie Rowe and Leanna Gill help mentor and keep in school some 60 high-risk elementary school students as part of 43 Division’s school liaison team.

The two, in addition to Rotarian and social entrepreneur David Lockett and Toronto SickKids Director of Neuro-oncology Dr. Eric Bouffet, are being honoured on April 23 for their volunteerism with Community Heroes Awards presented by The Rotary Club of Toronto West.

“The Rotary Community Heroes Awards is a continuation of the Rotary Club’s Rotary Youth Impact Awards event that was held for 20 years,” said Community Heroes Award chair, Stephen Thiele. “We are very proud to be able to honour the four recipients for their fantastic contributions to our community, especially youth and families that face incredible challenges.”

This year’s virtual event will be hosted by CTV Queen’s Park Reporter Colin D’Mello.

Dubbed the ‘dynamic duo,’ Officers Rowe and Gill for the past six years have delivered many presentations to those from Grades 1 and 8 on topics which include community helper, safety, bullying, peer pressure, youth and the law and Internet safety.

“They have delivered their presentations to parents and teachers and have become pillars within the school system,” according to the Rotary Club. “Through their mentoring, many youth have realized their potential and have been able to make positive decisions which ultimately, indirectly changed the course of their path toward a brighter future.”

The pair have conducted follow-up school checks and have made home visits, where necessary, to connect families with numerous agencies for assistance and referrals to the 43 Division FOCUS table.

FOCUS is a community safety and well-being initiative co-led by Toronto Police, United Way and City of Toronto that aims to reduce risk, harm, and victimization, and improve well-being with support from community resources and agencies.

Lockett, who is described as a visionary, leader and true social entrepreneur has spent half of his working life volunteering to identify, design, develop and fund innovative and cost effective programs to address issues that lead to family and domestic violence, poverty and youth crime in Toronto.

He co-founded The Redwood Shelter 30 years ago and was the driving force in the building of its crisis care centre. The Redwood offers safety, healing and opportunities for growth for women and their children escaping abusive and violent environments.

Lockett is a co-founder and President of PACT and its parent organization, the Canadian Foundation for the Prevention of Family Violence. His passion, dedication and perseverance has made it possible for the charity to continue to serve thousands of underserved and at-risk youth, as well as low income and vulnerable families, individuals and seniors each year.

Under PACT’s Urban Peace Program, Lockett has helped at-risk youth referred from the courts, schools and other partner agencies across Toronto to remain crime free, to reach their potential and engage productively with their communities.

In response to the COVID pandemic, he pivoted PACT’s Grow to Learn urban farming schoolyard program to continue to feed over 350 low income individuals, families and seniors-in-need in the Lawrence Heights community and deliver 3,400 bags of produce and ready-made meals weekly from May to October 2020.

Dr. Bouffet came to Toronto’s SickKids as Director of Neuro-oncology to develop and lead a multi-disciplinary neuro-oncology program. He is the Garron Family Chair in Childhood Cancer Research, a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and Chair of the Canadian Brain Tumour Consortium.

Dr. Bouffet is well-respected internationally and with colleagues from several countries around the world, including China, Ukraine, Malaysia-Singapore, Jordan and Pakistan, he is able to consult monthly regarding patients.

He is an avid and engaged supporter of Meagan’s Hug and its mission since 2001. As a volunteer, he is often a featured keynote speaker on behalf of the organization, and participates in its annual Walk & signature HUG, as well as other events, such as the Meagan’s Hug Crane Ceremony.

People can attend the event by making a minimum $50 donation per person. You will receive a tax receipt. You can also participate in the Club’s virtual silent auction. The donation can be made through the Rotary Club of Toronto Club website at www.rotarytorontowest.ca. The silent auction is accessible at www.biddingowl.com/RotaryClubofTorontoWest.

Proceeds from the event will be used to support paediatric brain tumour research through Meagan’s Hug, as well as programs targeting vulnerable youth to reduce harm and victimization. Funds will also help the Rotary Club of Toronto West to support local community organizations including food banks, shelters, mental health programs.

For more information, please contact Stephen Thiele at 416-559-3424.