The South Etobicoke News

Serving Humber * Mimico * Lakeshore Village * Long Branch * Alderwood

Salvation Army seeking donations of cash and food to help others

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        The Salvation Army in Long Branch says it has been hit hard
by COVID-19 and is seeking donations of cash and food to
help area residents in need.
It warns that the demands are high for those using the food
bank, and only five people can be inside the building at one
time. Users are asked to call ahead.
“Many people have been laid off or had their hours cut due to the virus,” says Youth Pastor Jennifer Hibbs. “We also
have many people working at home and their families are not
at school.”
The more than 150-year old organization had its largest fundraising event, the Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle Campaign, cancelled after three days due to the pandemic.
Hibbs says the Salvation Army is resuming its Community
Lunch that takes place every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. at the Thirthieth Street facility.
The Salvation Army was founded in London, England in
1865 by Rev. William Booth and his wife, Catherine. The organization started in
Canada in 1882. The Lakeshore Community Church is an amalgamation of the
Long Branch Corps and the Mimico Corps, formerly on Mimico Ave. More than
300 families receives their services monthly and 800 plus families receive Christmas assistance each year from the Long Branch chapter, located at 5 Thirtieth
Street, and can be reached at 416-251-8372. Donations can be left at the church.

SPECIAL-Backyard rinks sprout as pandemic continues to freeze-out amateur sports

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The Nuttley Kirby Family backyard rink took a lot of work to build. Courtesy photos.

SIMONE’s Ice Palace sees major hockey action.

By REJEAN CANTLON-Amateur Sports 

This year is definitely the year of the outdoor rink.

Thanks to the latest cold snap, backyard ice surfaces are popping up all over our neighbourhoods, more so now than ever before due to COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions.

Looking for activities to stay active and fit have been challenging this winter. Getting outside and exercising seem like a logical fix to curb the boredom and monotony of life in-doors.

It can be argued that South Etobicoke families have had more of an opportunity to bond on the ice than ever before, especially being so close to home.

Shane Nuttley-Kirby, his wife and 2 children, Dylan (age 2.5) and Shane Jr. (age 6) are spending countless hours on the rink in their backyard building that bon

Nuttley-Kirby, a professional power skating instructor says​​​, “​having the outdoor rink is more about play and less about a learning tool for my boys. Installing the rink was a no-doubter for our family.”

Shane hopes that once the lockdown restrictions ease, they will be able to share their backyard frozen treasure with more children to help them learn how to skate and more importantly, to have fun.

Check out these other backyard hockey hot spots in Etobicoke:

Ontario Jr. Lacrosse heats up as the National Lacrosse League shuts down

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ONTARIO Jr. Lacrosse heating up with new league being formed.  File photo.

By REJEAN CANTLON–Amateur Sports

As the National Lacrosse League (NLL) announce the cancellation of their 2021 season, lacrosse in Ontario’s Jr. ranks is heating up with news of a new league being formed.

The Tewaaraton Lacrosse League (TLL) is the brain-child of Edge Lacrosse founder, Stuart Brown and Six Nations Jr. A General Manager, Jake Henhawk. The Six Nations team announced that they were leaving the 11 team Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) last week.

A second private team from Burlington has also announced that they will be joining the TLL. The existing Burlington Chiefs Jr. A team would remain within the OLA.

The reason for the introduction of the new league seems to stem from a lack of support from the OLA to the local Jr A clubs and its ability to groom players hoping to play professionally in the NLL. The OLA is for players aged 21and younger. The TLL is for players 22 and younger and will include adopting the NLL rules.

The OLA voted against increasing the age to U22 at the annual general meeting last November which ruffled the features of some of the Jr. A teams’ brass. The vote was 53% in favour but 2/3 of the vote was needed to make the change.

What does that mean for our Mimico Mountaineers Jr. A team?

Sean O’Callaghan, President of Mimico Jr. A admitted that his organization was approached by the TLL back in December.

After careful consideration, O’Callaghan said it was the right time to take a pass on the TLL and support the existing league under the OLA umbrella.

“At the end of the day, we think that our young athletes still want to compete for the Minto Cup (national amateur championship)”, O’Callaghan said. “The time is right to work together to grow our league.”

He added that perhaps the TLL will allow for better conversations with the OLA and existing team ownership groups. Only time will tell.

Activist and author June Callwood loved people and Mimico Creek

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    A young June Callwood setting forth on her writing career. Courtesy photos.

JUNE CALLWOOD made a name for herself without leaving Etobicoke.

By DAVE KOSONIC

June Callwood lived much of her life in Etobicoke and is well-known in the community as a prominent and well-respected author, journalist and influential social activist.

Donna Cansfield, a former MPP for Etobicoke Centre, had great admiration for her friend Callwood, who passed away in 2007, due to cancer at age 82.  Callwood had bravely refused any treatment for her malignancy.

“The message she leaves behind for everyone but young women in particular is that there are lots of ways to show a passion for your cause,” Cansfield recalled. “June herself was an in-your-face activist in some ways, yet a great support behind the scenes in others.”

At the age of 16 in 1942, Callwood was hired as a young reporter at the Brantford Expositor for a humble $7.50 weekly, but in time moved up the ranks and was recruited as a reporter by The Globe and Mail.

There she met and later married well-known journalist Trent Frayne, but her maiden name always appeared on her story bylines since the newspapers at the time did not hire many married women.

For much of her life Callwood lived in the tree-lined Thorncrest Village area north of Rathburn Road and close to Mimico Creek on Hillcroft Drive.  During a 1984 interview Callwood said: “I love my street the access to the creek (Mimico Creek)…it’s a wonderful neighbourhood.”

Callwood made landmark contributions in Etobicoke and the GTA.  She was a member of the board of directors at Etobicoke General Hospital and now William Osler Health Centre.

“She was passionate about health care social justice and the community – a great supporter and a wonderful asset,” added Kytas Mickevicius then president and CEO of both hospitals.

She also was a key player in the creation of the June Callwood Centre for Women and Families and Casey House – Canada’s first HIV/AIDS hospice.  And along the way she authored 30 books and wrote for high-profile magazines, including Chatelaine.

Callwood in 1978 was appointed to the Order of Canada, the country’s second highest civilian honour. She received a Canadian Journalism Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, was  inducted into the Etobicoke Hall of Fame and earned her private pilot’s licence at age 70, which she maintained for many years.

She also dealt with many personal challenges in her own life.  She and Trent parented two daughters and two sons.  Daughters Jesse and Jill are well-respected writers and their elder son is Brent.  Casey Frayne was the youngest son and he was killed by an impaired driver in 1982 on Highway 401 while driving home from university.

On a personal note, some of Callwood’s teenagers attended Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute when I was a student there back in the day.  Mom June regularly drove them back and forth to BCI, as most parents did back then.

 

Lest we forget Cpl. Dyer and other brave Canadian heroes who were killed in Afghanistan

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Cpl. Dyer and his colleagues were killed by so-called friendly fire in Afghanistan almost 19 years ago.

Gone but not forgotten today is Corporal Ainsworth Dyer, his three colleagues, and the thousands of other brave men who gave their lives for our freedoms.

This April will mark 19 years since Toronto’s own Cpl. Dyer, and three others, were taken away from us due to ‘friendly fire’ by a U.S. flight crew in Afghanistan.

Popularly known as “Ains” by his family and friends, Dyer, was born in Montreal but grew up in Regent Park, where was raised by his strict Jamaican grandmother, who instilled in him his culture and a strong sense of right and wrong.

He was a long way from home in a foreign land, when he, and three other Canadian soldiers, were killed on April 17, 2002 by a U.S. bomb fired by anonymous pilots from high above.

The tragedy, which is referred to as The Tarnak Farm Incident, injured eight other soldiers from the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (BPPCLI). The men never had a chance as a U.S. F-16 fighter jet piloted by an Air National Guard dropped a laser-guided bomb as they were conducting a night-firing exercise.

The deaths of the soldiers were Canada’s first during the war in Afghanistan and the first in a combat zone since the Korean War. The senseless killings sparked a period of national grief and sorrow from people across the country.

Cpl. Dyer, who was a proud member of the 3rd Battalion was buried with full military honours in the Necropolis Cemetery in Cabbagetown, where his grieving parents, in a touching and emotional moment, released a box of doves. He was only 24.

‘Ains’ was the proud son of the late Paul and Agatha Dyer. He knew at the age of six, as a boy growing up in downtown Toronto that he wanted to serve his country as a soldier.

As others joined hockey or soccer, he enrolled with the 48th Highlanders of Canada in 1996 as an Infantryman and was later transferred to the Regular Force in 1997. After completing Infantry Battle School, he was posted to Princess Patricia’s in 1998, where he served as a Rifleman in Operation Palladium; a peacekeeping mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2000.

A great athlete, Dyer was also a paratrooper who took part in a strenuous Mountain Man military fitness competition, which involved a canoe portage, a 31.6-km footrace and a 10-km river paddle.

“The guy kept it real; there was nothing fake about this guy at all,” recalled Daryl Bonar, a former soldier who served with Dyer and the three others killed. “He never had a bad thing to say about anybody.”

Bonar said Dyer once completed an arduous military Mountain Man race with a broken foot.

“The race involved a long run with a heavy pack sack, portaging a canoe and a final sprint,” he reflected. “He was so determined to finish that he crawled across the finish line.”

After service in Bosnia, the deeply-religious Dyer, and his mates, were deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Before shipping out, ‘Ains’ had fallen in love and proposed marriage on bended knees to his Edmonton sweetheart, who promptly accepted. However, he never did return home alive.

A plaque bearing the names of Dyer, Sgt. Marc Léger, Pte. Richard Green and Pte. Nathan Smith was placed in a memorial at the Canadian headquarters at Kandahar Airfield. In February 2003, Dyer was commemorated on the Rakkasan Memorial Wall at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Family members are proud that one of the 117,000 trees being planted as part of the Highway of Heroes Living Tribute will represent the sacrifice that Cpl. Dyer made to serve and protect Canada.

The Ainsworth Dyer Memorial Bridge in Edmonton and a laneway in the Cabbagetown area of Toronto have been named after the courageous corporal.

Back by demand: The rise and fall of Toronto’s first Black millionaire, James Mink

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LOU GOSSETT Jr. played the role of millionaire James Mink in movie based on his life. Courtesy photo.

Actor Lou Gossett Jr. as James Mink in movie on his life.

Toronto through its 187-year history has always been a city of equal opportunity where ambitious men and women can work hard to make, or easily lose, their amassed fortunes.
And it is not surprising that one of Toronto’s first Black millionaire was born the son of a freed U.S. slave before heading to our city to seek his fame and fortune more than 160-years-ago.
James Mink, in photo at right, worked hard and was earning lots of money in Toronto in the 1840s and 50s’, during a time when slavery was rampant in the U.S.
Mink was born in the U.S. in 1811 and was the youngest of 11 children of a slave known as “Mink.” His father and mother were owned by United Empire Loyalist Johan Herkimer.
Mink, who was smart and had business savvy, fled to Toronto which was then a busy and bustling city with many opportunities for Blacks. The city was incorporated in 1834.
He and his brother George started hotels, liveries and coach services, first in Kingston, Ont., and then in Toronto after Mink moved here.
The brothers knew how to drive a wagon and transported travellers between Toronto and Kingston, then the capital city of Upper Canada. They drove passengers to a halfway point in Brighton, where they exchanged passengers, procured fresh horses and returned with the passengers.
Their business prospered and soon James was a self-made millionaire, a distinction held by very few Blacks during those days when they could barely obtain a job.
In time the siblings had gained the respect of their fellow Canadians and were assigned much-desired mail delivery runs with Canada Post. George would take the mail from Kingston to Montreal, while James took the mail to Kingston and other towns surrounding Toronto.
As their prominence grew, James’ hotel was used as a voting station during the Toronto elections. The mayor even hired his coach service for his inauguration in the 1850s and farmers would stay at his hotel when they came to town to sell their produce at St. Lawrence Market.
By that time many Toronto residents were using their livery service, including high-profile citizens as the city Sheriff.
The brothers were even given credit for starting the first public transit systems in their cities. In Toronto, travellers were taken from the Town of Yorkville to the market by a Mink livery wagon.
A prosperous Mink went on to marry Elizabeth, who is described as “a white Irish immigrant.” It is reported that James gave a hefty $10,000 dowry to her family to obtain her hand.
U.S. businessman William Johnson married Mink’s daughter, Minnie, and took her on a honeymoon to the U.S., where it is reported, but hotly debated, that he apparently sold her into slavery to a Virginian tobacco plantation owner.
Mink, it is said, was stunned to learn of his daughter’s plight and went through a lot of red tape to get the British to buy her back on his behalf, which they did. Some researchers have concerns and question if Minnie was ever sold as a slave.
She did return to Toronto, where she mothered a son and lived on a Mink family farm on Don Rd. and Danforth Rds. area, according to Toronto census records from the 1860s.
The family enjoyed a fine life for many years, until one day an arsonist set fire to Mink’s livery and hotel and they lost everything since there were no insurance coverage then.
Eventually, trains began transporting people into the cities and George and James Mink’s business became redundant and eventually closed up.
Mink died in 1866 at the age of 55. He was living alone near today’s Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto, at the time. The former millionaire was buried in Riverdale Cemetery.
His story was told in the loosely-based autobiographical 1996 made for TV movie Captive Heart: The James Mink Story, starring Lou Gossett, Jr. as James Mink and Kate Nelligan as his wife.
It is very sad for us today since large sections of Mink’s life has been undocumented, nor can records be found to retrace his once-richly exploits.

Black History repeat; Fighter pilot Wally Peters helped to establish famed Snowbirds

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RETIRED JET fighter pilot Wally Peters in front one of his earlier rides with the world-famous Snowbirds. Courtesy photo.

Fighter jet pilot Wally Peters reached new heights by helping to establish the famed Snowbirds.
For those of us who yearly attend the Canadian International Air Show to see the iconic Snowbirds, it is comforting to learn that the world-famous flying team was partially established by the nation’s first Black fighter jet pilot.
The late Major Wally Peters was a trailblazer who retired after reaching heights never attained by a Black man in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
He didn’t let racism stop him from becoming Canada’s first Black fighter jet pilot, who worked as a flight instructor and who flew with the famed Snowbirds, the RCAF aerial performance team, which is a main attraction at the CNE air show every September.
Peters is listed in RCAF records as being a member of the aircrew servicing the Snowbirds in 1981 and 1982.
The native of Litchfield, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, was born in 1937, and was the youngest of six children. They were the only Black family in that county.
A gifted athlete, he won a scholarship to Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, where his presence on campus proved controversial. Some of his classmates refused to room with him because he was Black.
He soon earned a reputation, while completing his engineering degree, as the fastest running back on campus and won several awards for his skills on the football team, including rookie of the year and most valuable player.
While at the university, he met and married Nancy, a white woman from Sackville. The couple faced discrimination at the time due to their interracial marriage. But, Peters kept his head down and never publicly complained about the racism he faced at the time.
He enlisted in the RCAF to be a pilot in the early 1960s at the age of 24, thinking if he could drive a car, he can fly a plane, according to a Department of Veteran Affairs video.
“Up to that point, I had never known any Black pilots in the military and it was a feeling of accomplishment,” Walters told Veterans Affairs.
He recalled his graduation was tainted by racist comments made by the guest presenter. “What are you doing here?” the man asked Peters. When he replied that he was graduating, the man asked him as what. Peters told him that he was graduating as a pilot.
To which the man responded: “In my day … you would never had got past rear gunner,” Peters relived in the Canada Heroes Remember video.
He went on to a distinguished aviation career that included becoming the Canadian Armed Forces’ first human rights officer, as well as an adviser to the United Nations Security Council, offering advice on the tactical movement of troops by air.
At the UN, he was called on to analyze and brief a security council after the Soviet military shot down a Korean civilian jet in a controversial 1983 incident.
“I remember sitting on the 32nd floor of the United Nations, allowing myself to daydream, and say: ‘Boys, this is a long way from Litchfield, Nova Scotia,’ ” he recalled in the video series.
The RCAF never forgot Peters and in a memoriam credited him for being Canada’s first Black jet fighter pilot and A1 flying instructor.
“He was involved in the development of the Snowbirds and later flew with them,” the Air Force said on its website. “Mr. Peters also piloted Hercules cargo aircraft on assorted missions around the globe.”
Peters also played a role in the creation of the Canadian Aviation Safety Board (CASB), which investigated Air India Flight 182 that was brought down in the Atlantic Ocean in June, 1985, by a terrorist bomb.
That led to a job at Transport Canada, where he was promoted to director and director general with responsibility for systems safety before retiring in 1998.
The highly-respected Peters was also an adviser in the 1991 Nation Air accident investigation in Saudi Arabia, chaired the International Data Exchange Aviation Safety and developed and implemented risk management training programs.
Through his rise he never forgot his roots and was a founder and first president of the New Brunswick Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. The airman passed away in 2013 at the age of 76. He left behind a wife, three daughters and five grandchildren.

Back by demand; Toronto wrestling fans still love Sweet Daddy Siki and his antics

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Sweet Daddy Siki in his heyday when he filled the then Maple Leaf Gardens. Courtesy photo.

He was meaner than a ‘junk yard dog’, as singer Jim Croce would say.
Wrestler Reginald Siki was the dirt-poor son of a Texas sharecropper who moved to Toronto, where he dyed his hair blonde and changed his name to Sweet Daddy Siki to become a fan favourite who packed Maple Leaf Gardens for years.
Busloads of fans would jam the Gardens every weekend to moan over the latest antics of the popular and well-liked Siki, or to see him get pounded by an irate opponent. He was a main card attraction who made his debut in 1962 and wrestled at the Carlton St. shrine until 1980.
Siki, who was born in 1940 in Montgomery, Texas, began learning the ropes at Compton College in Los Angeles. By the 1950s, he was fighting in New Mexico.
He is called the “Jackie Robinson of professional wrestling” for facing intense discrimination in the U.S. south, where he was once forced to fight in front of the KKK.
Having suffered enough racism, he and his late long-time Canadian wife moved to Toronto in 1961. He fought in venues across the country and was a fixture at Stampede Wrestling for years.
A large man, with a soft voice, Siki was best-known for his unique moves that included the “coco butt, airplane spin and neck-breaker,” which had rivals in pain on the mat.
Siki was a pioneer, who had grown more popular than the headline fighters, as Whipper Billy Watson, Gene “Big Thunder” Kiniski, Abdullah The Butcher, Dick “The Bulldog” Brower and Lord Athol Layton.
‘Mr. Irresistible’, as he was dubbed by fans, Siki was then earning a whopping $3,000 a bout and was receiving bundles of mail from fans around the world.
He brought sizzle and glamour to the ring and many fans booed as Siki would take out his white hand-held mirrors and begin admiring his good looks and well-built body.
“He was a Black wrestler who had a gimmick that wasn’t rooted in his colour,” one magazine said. “He didn’t want you to hate him because he was Black. You were supposed to hate him because he was a vain, rude, arrogant prima donna.”
In a time when ring attire consisted of solid colour trunks and black boots, Siki’s were candy-striped. His boots were white, with the backs cut out to show off his calf muscles. With bleached hair and mustache, he wore sequined robes and Jackie Kennedy sunglasses on his way to the ring.
“I saw my first wrestling match at the age of 14, and I knew right then that is what I wanted to do,” recalled Siki, who was at one time a corporal in the U.S. Army.
He was a regular fixture in the Parkdale area, where he lived and for years drove around in a converted hearse. Along the way, Siki has earned six major wrestling belts, including the Austria-Asian championship, the North American championship, which he held for three years; the Texas championship and the tag-team heavyweight crown.
His body has suffered a tremendous toll from the sport. His injuries included two broken ribs, his hands were broken twice, his ankle and leg broken and half-his-face paralyzed, after being kicked in the face.
To this day fans still recall his signature phrases: “I’m the Women’s Pet and the Man’s Regret” and “A lot of people try to copy me, but there’s only one Niagara Falls and only one Mona Lisa. And there’s only one Mr. Irresistible”.
Siki has mentored and influenced today’s top stars, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Adam “Edge” Copeland, Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Trish Stratus.
Today, he remains secluded and friends say he isn’t feeling well these days to talk.

This fraud ring run by cabbies scammed $2 million from their passengers

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TWO PEEL officers receive award (above) for cracking cabbie fraud ring that scammed 200 plus passengers of $2 million. Police photos.

They cracked a fraud ring run by cabbies accused of ripping off more than 200 of their unsuspecting fares of more than $2 million.

Two Peel Regional Police officers are being recognized by their peers for shattering a ‘Bait and Switch’ scam operated by area taxi drivers.

The officers were presented with an Investigative Partnership of the Year Award 2000 by the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators for their outstanding work in an investigative project called ‘Switch.’

The lead investigators, who work undercover and are not identified, are both members of the force’s Fraud Bureau Credit Card and Organized Crime team.

The undercover project involved Peel and Toronto Police and various financial institutions.

Police said individuals posing as legitimate taxi drivers would defraud unsuspecting victims using a point of sale terminal designed to capture the victim’s PIN number.

“After the victim entered their PIN, the taxi driver would return a previously exploited debit card to the victim,” police said. It was “usually under the cover of darkness so the victim would not notice.”

Officers said “soon after” the taxi driver or accomplices would deplete the funds in the victim’s bank account.

“Victims often would not discover the switch until they attempted to use card later,” police said.

Detectives said these fraudsters were pretty good.

More than 200 people were allegedly defrauded of more than $2.1 million by the cabbies between January 2019 and March 2020, police said in a release.

Police arrested five culprits and laid 48 criminal charges, which included offences of fraud under $5,000, possession of credit card data and possession of property obtained by crime.

The officers were recognized for their dedication, thoroughness and collaboration in the field of financial crimes in a private event last month.

Toronto Police launches video for young people to know their rights

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TORONTO Police launches video so young people can know their rights. Police photo.

Its a first. Toronto Police have launched a video for young people so they can better learn and understand their rights.

The force said the video is the first in its Know Your Rights campaign. It was launched at the beginning of Black History Month in February.

The video, produced in partnership with Konvo Media, explains a person’s rights and a police officer’s responsibilities during various interactions.
“Positive interactions between the police and the public are critical to enhancing trust and accountability,” said Chief of Police Jim Ramer. “This is achieved when everybody feels they can speak to police officers but, for some, this is not part of their lived experience.”
The service have been working since 2012 on the Police and Community Engagement Review, also known as PACER, to review procedures and practices relating to interactions between police officers and members of the community.
In 2020, with the 81 recommendations contained in the Toronto Police Services Board report on police reform, Ramer reconstituted the committee into PACER 2.0, to provide advice, support, and hold the Service accountable throughout implementation.

“The street check regulation and the ban on carding were important first steps in addressing racial profiling but it is still so important for everyone, especially young people, to understand what their rights are when approached by police officers,” said committee member, Knia Singh. “These interactions work out better when both sides are informed and respectful.”

Under the leadership of co-chairs Inspector Kelly Skinner and Singh, a sub-committee was formed with a focus to deliver a Know Your Rights campaign.
The PACER 2.0 Committee, co-chaired by Superintendent Stacy Clarke and Audrey Campbell (Jamaican Canadian Association), is comprised of both officers and civilian members including Acting Deputy Chief Myron Demkiw, Superintendent Pauline Gray, Inspector Kelly Skinner, Yvette Blackburn (Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, GJDC – Canadian Representative), Jennifer Chambers (Executive Director, Empowerment Council), Dave D’Oyen, Stephen Linton, Stephen McCammon (Legal Counsel, Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario), John O’Dell and Knia Singh (Principal Lawyer, Ma’at Legal Services).

The video is the first phase of the Service’s ongoing commitment to working with PACER 2.0, young people, and other community organizations on future campaigns that reflect community concerns and speak to a variety of lived experiences and interactions between the public and police officers.

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.