PAYING TRIBUTE to Lt.-Gov. Lincoln Alexander on namesake day celebrated on January 21 yearly. Courtesy photo.

TORONTO Police Service horse named ‘Lincoln.’ TPS photo.

Former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Lincoln Alexander is being remembered for his lengthy tenure of public service and human rights.

January 21 was Lincoln Alexander Day, which is a national day of recognition marked yearly to honour the first Black member of Parliament in the House of Commons, federal cabinet minister as Minister of Labour, military veteran and champion of equality.

He was born in Toronto in 1922. He died in 2012 at the age of 90.

Alexander’s mom, Mae Rose, was from Jamaica and dad, Lincoln Sr., was a porter on the Canadian Pacific Railway, who arrived here from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Linc, as he was affectionately called, faced a fair bit of discrimination growing up in early Toronto. He first distinguished himself in service to Canada in 1942 as a corporal and wireless operator in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.

While stationed in Vancouver, he was refused service at a bar because of his race. He reported the incident to a superior officer who refused to take action. Alexander quit the Air Force in 1945 and was granted an honourable discharge. Of that incident, he said: “[A]t that time they didn’t know how to deal with race relations of this sort of thing; they just turned a blind eye to it.”

He married first wife Yvonne Harrison in 1948. A year later he applied for a sales job at Stelco, a steel plant in Hamilton. Although he had references, the support of McMaster University and the mayor of Hamilton, Stelco was unwilling to have a Black man on its sales force.

By 1955, Alexander partnered with Dave Duncan, forming a law firm that he claimed was the first inter-racial law partnership in Canada.

Alexander bought his own home in Hamilton in 1958 and lived there for nearly four decades.

He ran in the 1965 federal election as the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidate in Hamilton West but was defeated. He ran again in the 1968 federal election and won the seat, becoming Canada’s first black Member of Parliament.

Alexander was an observer to the United Nations in 1976 and 1978 and served briefly as Minister of Labour in the Progressive Conservative Party‘s minority government headed by Joe Clark from 1979 to 1980.

He held the seat until resigning in 1980, when he was asked to serve as chair of the province’s Workers Compensation Board.

In 1985 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and became the first Black to serve in a vice-regal position in Canada.

As viceroy he visited 672 communities, held 675 receptions, received roughly 75,000 guests, attended 4,000 engagements, and visited 230 schools.

Alexander was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 1992 and became a Companion of the Order of Canada. From 1991 to 2007, he served as Chancellor of the University of Guelph.

He was accorded a state funeral and the Ontario government proclaimed January 21 “Lincoln Alexander Day.” He is commemorated on a Black History Month stamp and has had schools and a highway in his beloved Hamilton named after him, including a Toronto Police Service horse named, Lincoln.

 

CHIEF Matthew Pegg was named 2020 Fire Chief of the Year. Courtesy photo.

Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg has a new award to put on his filled shelf.

Pegg, who is also the General Manager of Emergency Management, has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Fire Chief of the Year Award presented by the Ontario Fire Chiefs.

“I am blessed,” Pegg wrote on Twitter. “Wow. Not often do I feel speechless, but I do today. Thank you so much for this. I accept this honour on behalf of each and every member of the Canadian fire service who is giving their all each day. Thanks to my amazing team.”

Pegg is also leading Toronto’s preparedness and response to Covid-19 as the Incident Commander.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done to keep Toronto and Ontario both Fire and COVID-19 safe,’ the Ontario Fire Chiefs said. “The trophy is in the mail.”

They said that Fire Chiefs are special people in that “we walk into chaos at emergency situations, and what do we do? We create order.”

Chief Pegg has been serving as the fourth and current Chief of Toronto Fire Services (TFS) since May 2016. He is the highest-ranking TFS member.

He was appointed General Manager of the City of Toronto’s Office of Emergency Management in 2018.

In March 2020, Pegg was appointed to lead the City of Toronto’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the Incident Commander for the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the development and operation of the most complex incident management system in Toronto’s history, including the longest-ever continuous deployment of the Emergency Operations Centre.

HALTON police arrest man for mistreating a wild racoon he had living in his basement. Above the animal being rescued. Police photo.

This is a completely true and totally bizarre occurrence.

A Burlington man face a number of criminal charges for mistreating a racoon that he had living in the basement of his home.

Halton Regional Police had to obtain a search warrant on January 20 to enter the Burlington home. They were assisted by the Burlington Fire Department, Animal Control and Emergency Services officers.

Police said they obtained information that a man was “mistreating” a wild racoon, which lived in his basement.

“Further information was obtained that there were multiple electrical and fire code violations inside the home,” according to a release by Halton police.

Officers said they located a racoon in a locked cage inside the residence.

“Unfortunate due to the health condition of the racoon, it was seized and euthanized by Animal Control,” police said.

A 55-year-old man, whose name was not released, is charged with causing damage or injury to an animal, breach release order, mischief over $5,000 and keep live game wildlife in captivity, which is contrary to the Fishing and Wildlife Conservation Act.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Sgt. Scott Heyerman of the 3 District Street Crime Unit at 905-825-4777 ext. 2342.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers. “See something? Hear something? Know something? Contact Crime Stoppers” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.

SMALL businesses are closing daily in our community due largely to COVID-19 and big box stores. File photo.

The local Lakeshore Village BIA has joined others in calling on the province to ban big box stores from selling non-essential items.

BIA officials have been warning that small businesses in Lakeshore Village and other areas as Long Branch, Mimico and Alderwood are suffering as there are long lineups for big box stores at Sherway Gardens Mall.

A letter was sent to Premier Doug Ford on January 18 by Councillor Brad Bradford and John Kiru, of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), warning that the current public health measures are having a huge impact on small, locally-owned businesses.

They said the letter was on behalf of Toronto’s 84 Business Improvement Areas, which represents more than 70,000 businesses and property owners across the city.

“We are asking you to take urgent action by going one step further in the orders and mandating big box stores and other retailers selling essential goods to close off sections of their stores where non-essential items are displayed,” the businesses told the Premier.

It said that under the latest emergency order big box stores can sell non-essential items in-store and after-hours.

“This puts small businesses at a disadvantage and is a public health concern as it may encourage non-essential travel,” Ford was told.

The province is being asked to demand some changes from the big box stores.

“We are asking you to take urgent action by going one step further in the orders and mandating big box stores and other retailers selling essential goods to close off sections of their stores where non-essential items are displayed,” the letter urged.

It noted that the big box stores need to be kept open to provide essentials goods for folks, especially given the geography and access to online shopping across Ontario.

“But there is also an imperative to be fair with main street businesses who have made incredible sacrifices throughout the pandemic,’ the business owners said.

They are calling for the new public health measures to further curb non-essential travel and to be equitable to all business operators and continue delivering on the support promised to small business owners throughout the health crisis.

Ford for his part last week told residents to forget about the big box stores and support their local businesses.

MAN arrested by police for making online threats to Pearson Airport. File photos.

This guy has been tracked down by police for making online threats to Pearson airport in light of all the events taking place these days.

A 49-year-old Thornhill man was charged on January 15 with three counts of uttering threats, Peel police say.

Members of the Peel Regional Police Airport Division say threats were made through social media against the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA), which is Canada’s busiest airport.

The sprawling facility is Canada’s largest airport, facilitating travel for over 47 million passengers and handling over 312,000 tons of air cargo a year before COVID-19 struck.

“The GTAA has received multiple threats through social media from November 2020 to January 2021,” police said in a release. “After a thorough investigation, investigators have arrested a man.”

The name of the man has not been released. He is slated to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton at a later date.

It is not known where the threats were made from or what it included.

Investigators take all types of threats seriously. Anyone who may have information concerning this investigation can contact the Airport Division Criminal Investigation Bureau at (905) 453-2121 Ext 3133. Information may also be left anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or by visiting www.peelcrimestoppers.ca

CIVIL rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addressing the crowds assembled in Washington, D.C.

KING Jr. was slain by an assassin at the Lorraine Motel at the age of 39.

Today marks the 53^rd anniversary of the death of slain U.S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and it is traditionally an uplifting time with many positive events to look forward to in the community.

The threat of COVID-19 and escalating military action in the U.S. have overshadowed the celebrations of King Jr.’s life in many areas of the U.S., where the day is a national holiday.

King’s birthday is January 15, but his namesake day is celebrated on January 18 in many countries, including Canada, where there would be speeches and lists of his accomplishments renacted and retold, including his winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Back then it was a different time in the U.S., similar to that of the people who briefly overtook the Capitol Building on January 6.

Those folks can learn from a 1963 event when 250,000 demonstrators marched to the Lincoln Memorial, next to the mob overrun Capitol, where King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. The following year, President Lyndon Johnson got a law passed prohibiting all racial discrimination.

During the racially turbulent times, from 1957 and 1968, King Jr. traveled over six million miles and spoke over 2,500 times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest and police action. During that time he wrote five books and numerous articles.

The husband and father was arrested more than 20 times, assaulted at least four times, spat on and called many racist names.

He was also awarded five honorary degrees; named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

The risk against his life was great. And, on the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, he was assassinated while in town to lead a protest march in support of striking garbage workers. He was 39.

James Earl Ray was charged after a two-year manhunt with killing the civil rights leader. Ray at one time hid out in a Toronto rooming house, on Ossington Ave., while on the lam from U.S. police.

He was arrested in June 1968 at London Heathrow Airport trying to leave England for Brussels on a false Canadian passport.

Ray was brought back to the U.S., where he escaped from prison, was recaptured and died at the age of 70 in April 1998 in a Nashville hospital.

Generations later, the name of Martin Luther King Jr. still lives on across the world.

CONST. James Lothian’s shooter committed suicide and is led away. Toronto Public Library.

Members of Toronto Police Service are remembering the death of one of their own many years ago.

It is 47 years this month that Constable James Lothian was shot and killed while pulling over a vehicle in the Cabbagetown area of downtown Toronto.

Lothian, who was 28, was killed on January 10 in 1973 by one of the occupants in the car that he was stopping.

He was in the area when he spotted a speeding vehicle that ran a red light, according to police records.

The officer “pursued it until the car ran into the rear of another vehicle on Amelia St., near Rawlings Ave.,” close to Riverdale Farm, records show.

“After leaving his cruiser, Constable Lothian was shot and wounded by one of the occupants of the vehicle,” police said.

The shooter was identified as Brian (Duke) Holmes, who was described as a “drug addict.”

Lothian later died in hospital leaving behind his wife Norma and their son, who would be approaching 50-years-old.

It wasn’t until some hours later that police surrounded a rooming house where they tried to negotiate the surrender of the suspects.

“I had no idea at the time why all of this was happening,” area resident Doug Fisher recalled. “ I did know that I had heard shots and that there were dead people.”

It is reported that Holmes had attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head but was unsuccessful.

Reports state that another occupant in the car, identified as Walter McVicar, shot him an additional two times before he died.

McVicar then turned the gun on himself. A third occupant of the vehicle involved in the original pursuit, a 17 year old girl, was charged with murder but was later found not guilty.

Lothian is among the officers listed in the Toronto Police Service Honour Roll. RIP Officer Lothian.

More than 266 police officers have died in the line of duty in Ontario and are honoured yearly at the Ontario Police Memorial Foundation’s Ceremony of Remembrance.

Const. Mike Palermo with PSD Luke fighting crime and keeping us safe. Toronto Police photos.

Unrelenting Toronto Police Service Dogs are being praised as heroes for nightly helping to make arrests or save lives on the frontline.

Police Service Dogs Taurus and Luke are being hailed as crime-fighting heroes for their actions in the line of duty working in this country’s largest police force.

Const. PC Papadopoulos said he teamed up with Police Service Dog (PSD) Taurus and his handler Const. Russ Keveza on January 14 to search for a driver who fled from a vehicle during a traffic stop.

Handler Keveza and Taurus (small photo) scoured the area and soon found the suspect hiding not too far away.

“Driver was located hiding thanks to PSD Taurus,” PC Pappy tweeted. “Driver is now in custody facing several criminal and traffic charges.”

That same night Sgt Mike Palermo and PSD Luke were called to help officers in 12 Division find another driver who bolted from a car in a police stop.

The crime-fighting canine and handler worked hard back and forth in the area to find a driver who fled from a stolen car in the Black Creek and Lawrence Ave. W. area.

“After a lengthy track, Luke sniffed out the fugitive who immediately surrendered,” Palermo tweeted. “Luke sniffed out the fugitive who immediately surrendered.”

Palermo and Luke received and passed police canine unit training and had been working together since September last year.

The Toronto Police Dog Services was formed in 1989 and consists of 21 handlers and dogs. Most teams are comprised of one handler and one general purpose police dog. There are teams for detecting narcotic, guns and explosives.

Every handler is responsible for the care and maintenance of his canine partner. The dog not only works with the officer but becomes part of the officer’s family.

The Service uses German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for general purpose police dogs and a Labrador, Springer Spaniel, and Malinois breeds for the detection of narcotics, firearms, ammunition, and explosives.

All are purchased after testing and are usually between the ages of one to two years.