A Mississauga man who is well-known for his charity work has been with sexual assault in connection with an incident on a boat at Port Credit Harbour.

Peel Regional Police said the suspect is associated to a local community charity, which they refuse to identify.

On Sunday, June 13, two female victims met the accused at his boat which was docked near the Port Credit Harbour, according to detectives.

Police said at that time the victims were allegedly sexually assaulted by the accused.

Paul Bailey 51, was arrested on August 3 and charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of forcible confinement.

Bailey will appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton October 25 to answer to the charges.

Investigators believe there may be additional victims and encourage them to contact the Special Victims Unit. Anyone with information in relation to this incident is asked to contact investigators at the Special Victims Unit at 905-453-2121, extension 3460. Anonymous information may also be submitted by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477), or by visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca.

 

 

 

Caring folks in Etobicoke are raising funds on Go Fund Me to help a nine-year-old Jamaican girl obtain badly-needed emergency surgery.

More than $1,770 has been raised in a campaign to help Shania Vidal, who organizers claim, is in need of an urgent tonsillectomy operation. They are hoping to raise $10,000.

“Her condition is worsening each day which is impacting her breathing, sleeping education and everyday routines,” said fund organizer Joyce Valentine, who is from Etobicoke.

Valentine is the founder of Caring Hearts and Giving Hands, which helps children and families living in Jamaica facing hardship and difficulty.

She learned of Vidal’s condition from a teacher at Middleton Primary School, in St. Thomas, in rural Jamaica.

“Your help in anyway would give her a chance of living a normal young girls life, free from the challenges and difficulties associated with this illness,” Valentine wrote on social media
Her group plans to help Shania receive proper care so she can return to school and play with her friends.

“Our hope is to provide this operation for Shania so she can begin her new school year with the ability to hear, swallow and breathe and enjoy a life that a nine year old deserves,” Valentine said.

Doctors say patients who’ve had their tonsils and adenoids removed in childhood are at significantly increased long-term risk of respiratory, allergic and infectious diseases.

Caring Hearts Helping Hands is a faith-based organization that provides support and assistance to people in the hopes of developing a sound, economic, and social foundation. With 25 employees and counting, the group obtain necessities needed for unfortunate families through education, employment, gifts, and other charitable means deem fit for the organization.

Each year they help hundreds of families by providing proper nutrition, housing, and education for a better future.

Donations to help Shania can be made on gofundme.com

Toronto Police are warning subway users of an alleged pervert who is riding the rails near the Runnymede Station.

Police said they received a radio call on July 28 around 7:45 a.m. for an indecent act on the westbound TTC Subway train while it was near the Runnymede Station.

“It is reported that a man was observed sitting on the subway train, while looking at the victim, the man exposed himself,” 11 Division officers said.

Police alleged a second incident took place on July 12, about 5:30 p.m. on another subway car in the Lawrence West Subway Station area.

“A man was observed sitting on the subway train, while looking at the victim, the man exposed himself,” police alleged. “Investigators believe the same man is involved in both incidents.”

Investigators are also concerned there may be more victims and are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying this man.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, 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.

 

 

 

 

 

Some Parkdale residents were stunned after being woken up by a knocking on their windows only to find a man performing an indecent act before them, police warn.

Officers from 11 Division said the indecent acts were reported on July 24 and August 2 in the Wabash Avenue and Sorauren Avenue area of Parkdale during the overnight hours.

Police have released security camera images of a suspect.

“It is reported that a man was knocking on windows in the area and then performing an indecent act,” police said in a release.

Several incidents have been reported, but police are concerned there may be other unreported incidents.
The suspect is described as being in his 30-40s, medium build, dirty blonde shoulder- length hair, wearing prescription glasses and a beard, seen on occasions wearing a leather jacket, light coloured shirt and may be riding a bicycle.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, 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.
For more visit TPSnews.ca.

 

The Canadian Olympic team is flying high in Tokyo and everyone wants to see them when they return home.

Some 120 cars, with people, will pay $15 each for a drive- by view of the athletes at Cadillac Fairview’s Sherway Gardens on August 12.

Many people are hoping to see members of the swimming team who has gained a high profile after Penny Oleksiak became Canada’s most decorated Olympian of all time.

The 21-year-old from Toronto won her seventh Olympic medal, earning bronze with teammates Kylie Masse, Maggie Mac Neil and Sydney Pickrem in the women’s 4×100 metre medley on Sunday.

Fourteen year old Summer McIntosh, of Etobicoke, also did her all time best and shows that she is someone we will be seeing more of in the future.

The ticketed and YouTube Live August 12 celebration takes place at Sherway from 7 to 10 p.m., and  will feature several Canadian Olympians, including Cadillac Fairview sponsored athletes Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan, who represented Team Canada in beach volleyball.

Musical guests Elijah Woods, known for their Top 10-charting hit, “Lights,” and Jessia, known for her hit, “I’m Not Pretty” will perform at the mall at 25 The West Mall in the northeast parking lot at the corner of The Queensway and Sherway Gardens Road.

“The homecoming event is our way to rally our enthusiastic community and fans to show our collective pride and support of their resilience and determination during a difficult year,” said Andy Traynor, general manager of Sherway Gardens.

Jacquie Ryan, of the Canadian Olympic Committee, said the homecoming is a welcome opportunity for fans to cheer on Canada’s Olympians, something they couldn’t do at Tokyo 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Our athletes have accomplished extraordinary things in Tokyo already this summer and we know Canadians want to celebrate them upon their return,” Ryan said in a statement.

Tickets are limited to 120 vehicles. Tickets are $15 and required for each vehicle. Tickets are available online at eventbrite.ca starting on Tuesday, Aug. 3.

 

 

 

It will be 66 years this year since Long Branch won the cherished Junior Minto Cup Championship.

And only a few lacrosse players are alive today who played with the 1955 Long Branch Monarchs when they brought home the Minto Cup and all the glory it would bring.

The cup, which was donated by Governor-General Lord Minto in 1901, represents the best Canadian junior lacrosse team. The Mann Cup is for senior teams.

Back then there was great rivalry nationwide for the Minto Cup. In Etobicoke the Mimico Mountaineers were Junior Minto champions in 1938 and 1951.

The Monarchs was coached by Albert Archibald Dixon, who in 1938 was a star defenceman for the Mimico Mounties and helped them to win the Minto Cup.

Dixon was able to bring a Junior Championship to Long Branch In 1955. He was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1996.

Former politician Morley Kells is one of the surviving Monarch players who helped capture the Minto Cup.  In 1961 he retired as an active player and began to coach the Long Branch Junior team.

“We were the only team to win in Long Branch,” Kells said recently. “I remember that I was a rookie that year when we won.”

The team was part of the Long Branch Lacrosse Association and they played at the now-gone Long Branch Bowl, a former 1,500 seat outdoor arena next where a No Frills stands at Brown’s Line and Lake Shore Blvd. W.

“The teams had a good following,” Kells recall. “The sport was big in some of the smaller areas.”

Kells, who previously worked for Hockey Night in Canada, on this day was joined by fellow politician and former Etobicoke Mayor Doug Holiday. The men have been playing lacrosse together for years.

Kells, who has been advocating for lacrosse for 50 years, tried twice to bring a professional lacrosse league to Canada and the U.S. One league was shortlived and the games were shown on TV.

Today there is The National Lacrosse League, in which hockey great Wayne Gretzky is a co-owner of a Las Vegas team. NBA coach Steve Nash is also involved in a team. Their season with 18 games starts in December. The league has operated since 1987 and now has 15 teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two of Canada’s top flying aces in WWI had strong ties to South Etobicoke and the Curtiss Flying School near Marie Curtis Park almost 100 years ago.

Top shooters and fighter pilots Afred Clayburn Atkey and Raymond ‘Collie’ Collishaw it is said honed their aerial fighting skills while practicing at the Long Branch Aerodrome, which was part of the Curtiss Flying School, located just west of Marie Curtis Park. The school operated from 1915 to 1919.

Collishaw, 82, who had 60 aerial victories, was a distinguished Canadian fighter pilot, squadron leader, and commanding officer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and later the Royal Air Force.

He was the highest scoring RNAS flying ace and the second highest scoring Canadian pilot during WWI.

Collishaw in retirement researched First World War aerial history and corresponded widely with former pilots, historians and enthusiasts

His memoir Air Command, A Fighter Pilot’s Story was published in 1973.

Collishaw died in September 1976 in West Vancouver at the age of 82.

He was widely noted as a very competent and charismatic leader, in all his various capacities. He emphasized camaraderie amongst his men, socializing, and humour.

The Royal Canadian Air Cadets 205 Collishaw squadron, was named after him in his hometown of Nanaimo, and the 204 Black Maria Squadron, was named after his aircraft.

He became a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF), seeing action against the Bolsheviks in 1919-20, and subsequently commanding various Air Service detachments. During WWII he commanded No. 204 Group, which later became the Desert Air Force in North Africa, achieving great success against the technologically superior Italian Air Force. He retired in 1943.

A terminal at Nanaimo Airport was named the Nanaimo-Collishaw Air Terminal in his honour in October 1999.

Atkey, 77, of Toronto, was a Canadian First World War flying ace, who was credited with 38 aerial victories, making him the fifth highest scoring ace.

“All those above him flew in single-seat fighters,” whereas Atkey gained his victors in heavier two-seat aircraft, becoming the highest scoring two-seater pilot of the war,” according to military records.

The pilot at one time was a reporter for the Toronto Evening Telegram newspaper.

Atkey died in Toronto in 1971 and is buried in Springcreek Cemetery, Mississauga.

He enlisted in the British Army and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on the Royal Flying Corps. He took part in many aerial fights and with gunny-observer Lt. Chargles George Gass took part in a historic dogfight known as the “Two Against Twenty,” when they battled 20 German enemy scout aircraft

Atkey was awarded the Military Cross and a Bar to the award.

Garfield Ingram, of The Great War Flying Museum, said both pilots are believed to have had links to South Etobicoke and were among the best in the country.

Some replica WW1 aircraft can be seen on the museum’s website at www.greatwarflyingmuseum.org

The Great War Flying Museum, operated by the Ontario Aviation Historical Society, is a not-for-profit volunteer member organization that is based at the Brampton Caledon Airport. They can be reached at 905-838-1400.

 

 

Members of the Tibetan community have been in Canada for many years and a majority have resettled in Toronto, with many ending up in the Mimico area.

The community is active and has been very involved in helping to feed busy emergency and front-line workers as they fight the COVID-19 virus.

The Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre (TCCC) has teamed up with Little Tibet and Zomsa Café restaurants in Parkdale to feed frontline staff.

Tibetan Canadians are proud to be part of the diverse communities of Ontario and Canada. Tibetans were some of the earliest government-sponsored non-European refugees to settle in Canada.

In the last weeks we have delivered 250 meals to frontline workers in Parkdale, said Tsering Wangyal, president of the TCCC.

Wangyal said the community also wrapped up celebrations of the Year of Gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which started in July last year.

The Dalai Lama turned 86 years old on July 6, an occasion that was marked by millions worldwide.

Wangyal said July also marked Tibetan Heritage Month in Ontario, which was decreed by the Ontario government.

“We have a large community of Tibetans now living in the Mimico area,”’ he said.

He said last year the TCCC distributed more than 10,000 hot meals during the peak of covid-19. And to mark the birthday of His Holiness they deliver meals to 250 healthcare workers every Tuesday.

The community have been busy. They have also delivered 150 hot meals to the Cloverdale Mall City-run COVID-19 clinic staff, in addition to 80 meals to Lakeshore Lodge, a long term care centre, at Lake Shore Blvd. W., and Kipling Ave.

They have also fed about 20 workers at Loft Community Services, in Parkdale. And they continue to serve the hot meals without being asked.

There are an estimated 100,000 Tibetans who live in the Toronto-area. Many have resettled in the South Etobicoke area, namely Mimico.

 

It has been 36 years since the disappearance of then eight-year-old Nicole Morin from her Etobicoke home, and the Toronto Police Service has not given up on their search for her.

Police have again made an appeal for information from the public on the anniversary of her disappearance to help locate the now 44 year old woman.
On Tuesday, July 30, 1985, at approximately 11 a.m., it is reported that Nicole left her apartment located on the top floor of 627 The West Mall Etobicoke and was never seen again, police said.

Nicole was described as white, 4’0″, 55 lbs., with straight shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, and had a birth mark on her right upper forehead.

In 2019, an updated artist’s rendition was released by Toronto Police to show what she could look like today in the hope someone recognized her.
Since that day, community members near and far, have reported numerous tips, yet police have been unable to bring this investigation to a conclusion and it is still unknown what exactly happened.

Detectives are asking the community to help them find out what happened to Nicole, and provide closure for her family and friends who continue to miss her.
The girl’s disappearance led to hundreds of people conducting unsuccessful searches in the west end for clues to solve the case.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2205, email at FindNicole@TorontoPolice.on.ca, or contact the Toronto Police Service – Missing Person’s Unit at 416-808-7411.
People can also contact 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, Google Play or Blackberry App World.