Toronto Public Health (TPH) officials are beginning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct routine tasks to help patients in light of a shortage of front-line medical workers.

The City last July took its first steps to adopt AI by releasing an informational ‘Guidance for the Responsible Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence’ to staff.

Some TPH staff are being trained on AI policies, regulations and industry best practices including privacy and personal health information policies and legislation, according to a report to be considered by City Council.

A Microsoft AI Chat program is being used by public health staff to perform ‘low risk day-to-day’ tasks as:  text generation, meeting transcription, e-mail drafting, text or content generation. It can also be used for information processing, brainstorming ideas, or even summarizing reports and documents and more.

“The goal of this pilot is to reduce documentation burden on staff workloads, maintain accuracy in telephone-based client encounters, and increase outbreak response capacity,” according to the report.

Toronto Health is working with a group at the University of Toronto to use language processing and web scraping on social media platforms and traditional data sources for early detection of public health events surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The AI tool can work to detect infectious disease threats, injuries, heat-related illness, and drug and alcohol related harms, said health officials.

“The City’s Guidance stresses that generative AI tools are to be used to support work done by humans at the City, not replace them,” according to policy. “City staff are instructed to ensure any questions or files do not contain personal information.”

The TPH’s Food Safety team use 20 years of DineSafe’s open data, business and a range of other information, including  wastewater surveillance to forecast food safety infractions at special events, restaurants and street vendors.

The TPH will form an internal AI working group this fall to work closely with Technology Services Division and others to address risks while advancing innovative opportunities for service delivery.

“The goal of this pilot is to reduce documentation burden on staff workloads, maintain accuracy in telephone-based client encounters, and increase outbreak response capacity,” the report stated.

The breakthrough comes as Ontario now has a shortage of about 25,000 registered nurses, according to the Ontario Nurses Association, which represents more than 68,000 nurses and health care workers.

 

Happy Birthday Jean Augustine and may you live to see many more!

Friends and family members gathered on September 6 to celebrate the 88^th birthday of former Etobicoke MP and Dr. Jean Augustine in a party at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre.

The evening was part of the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival’s 20th anniversary and featured three inspiring short films and a performance by Pan Fantasy Steelband.

A Jean Augustine Excellence Award was presented to Steelpan Ambassador Wendy Jones, followed by a toast to Augustine.

The former politician and community activist said she was happy to be alive and to have helped hundreds of girls as founder of the Jean Augustine Centre for the Empowerment of Young Women, based on Portland Street.

She is also active in the community and still appears at many public events.

Augustine in 1993 became the first Black woman elected to the House of Commons, as the MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, a riding she was re-elected to three times.

She held a number of portfolios in Ottawa, including as Parliamentary Secretary to then Prime Minister Jean Chretien; Minister of Multiculturalism and the Status of Women; Chair of the Foreign Affairs and International Trade committee; Chair of the Human Rights Committee, three-time Chair of the National Women’s Caucus.

The long-time South Etobicke resident was instrumental for her work in Parliament in having February designated as Black History Month in Canada.

Augustine in 2007 was appointed by the province as the first Fairness Commissioner, to advocate for Canadians with foreign professional credentials.

For her distinguished service, she has a Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora named after her at York University, in addition to a secondary school in Peel Region and a park in Humber Bay Shores bearing her name.

About 300 Central Etobicoke residents staged a noisy demonstration to try and stop a 5G cell tower from being constructed in the parking lot of Renforth Plaza.

Residents are opposed to a 25-metre (about eight storeys high) cell tower being built at 460 Renforth Drive, that faces many busy stores, including a No Frills grocery store.

Many of the demonstrators of a group called Etobicoke Community for Safe Technology, wore signs and the group after speeches circled the plaza’s parking lot chanting slogans.

Group spokesman Nunzio DelGiudice said residents have health concerns from the transmission towers in their midst.

He said residents fear increased health risks – including cancer – from constant radio wave emissions from the tower.

“We believe that increased health risks will directly impact the community due to the radio frequency being emitted from this tower,” DelGuidice said. “Several public schools and seniors homes exist close to the tower,”

He said about 1,800 people have signed a petition in opposition to the tower being built.

The tower, according to documents, will partially be used to boost FIFA World Cup live game coverage next June.

A yellow construction fence surrounds a square concrete anchor in the parking lot that has cables extending out that will be installed to the top of the almost 33-feet tall tower to transmit digital signals.

Residents said the 5G site affects nearby residential areas, a retirement facility, Centennial Park and the Etobicoke Olympium where families gather.

“We trust that public health and safety will continue to be a priority and that our concerns will be taken seriously and heard,” the petition asked. “We firmly believe that the negative impacts of the health risks outweigh the internet-availability benefits.”

Resident Dwight Anderson complained that the voice of residents are not being heard in the halls of power.
“All our letters to City Hall have been ignored,” Anderson. “This project was rubber-stamped by the City with little or no public consultations.”

Ward 2 Councillor Stephen Holyday said he is against the 5G tower and has expressed his opposition.

“The issues raised include concerns over the height and built form of the tower, aesthetics, the placement on the site, [and] the appropriateness and proximity of the location of the radio communications equipment to sensitive uses such as residences and schools,” he wrote in a letter to the City opposing the project.

Resident Carlo Di Iorio is concerned about his family’s healthy.

“It is shocking news of a 5G tower that will become a serious health risk to so many individuals, including me and my family,” he said.

Another irate resident said the tower will place “high-frequency transmitters in the heart of a family neighborhood which is irresponsible and unacceptable.”

 

A leafy Long Branch beauty has been nominated as a contestant in the annual Ontario Tree Pageant. That’s right there is one.

A Long Branch Heritage Applebee Catalpa tree, located at Twenty Third Street and Iris Road, is also a candidate for the cherished ‘Tree of the Year.’

The 127-year-old Applebee Catalpa was designated a Heritage Tree by Forests Ontario, said Long Branch historian Bill Zufelt.

‘The tree is a ‘real show stopper’ and getting better with age too,” said Zufelt.

He said the 70- foot high Northern Catalpa is located on lands that once belonged to Moses Applebee the first Ward 1 Councillor for the Township of Etobicoke.  The Applebee family immigrated from Yorkshire, England in the early 1800s.

Today the healthy tree stands more than 70 feet high and with a magnificent 40-foot canopy.

Nominees are required to send a photo and 30-word note on their prized tree to a selection committee, whose tree-expert judges will announce their top three trees on September 15.

“The story is evaluated for creativity, depth of meaning, and its ability to convey why the nominated tree is special, with emphasis on compelling storytelling within the word limit,” according to pageant website.

The first place winner receives $500; with $250 for second and $100 for third places. The nominated trees are featured on a Tree Trust website in a ‘virtual runway’ of entries, organizers said.

Zufelt said Long Branch is home of a ‘Fab Four’ of heritage trees, which are dubbed Big Red, Titan, Stop26 and the Applebbee Catalpa Heritages Trees.

The pageant highlights Ontario’s diverse urban canopy and encourages community appreciation for local trees, fostering environmental awareness and connections.

The Long Branch area has a rich history and many 100 plus year old trees that they would like protected under the Forests Ontario Heritage designation.

The deadline for this year has passed, but if you want to nominate a tree, e-mail a photo, the location of the tree and what you know of it’s story to longbranchnato@gmail.com or provide details and they will review and get the nomination process started for all potential candidates.

It took two years, but the Eighth Street Skatepark has now been renamed the Jordan Carter Memorial Park.

About 50 friends and family members of Carter assembled at the skatepark on August 30 as a ribbon was cut to rename the park, with words said by Councillor Amber Morley and MPP Lee Fairclough.

His family members are calling for tougher justice for Carter’s killer, who was 13 at the time, and failed to show up to serve his three-year sentence in a youth facility for the cold-blooded murder.

The youth, now 16, was arrested by police and on August 29 ordered by a court to serve the remainder of his sentence.

“We are relieved that we finally have a place to honour and remember Jordan,” said his aunt Sharon Carter, who with grandma Agna, were at the ceremony. “We just wish justice was done. The killer we were told committed five more crimes while he was on the run.”

More than 9,000 people from around the world signed an online petition calling for Carter’s name to be immortalized on the skatepark that he frequented.

There were blue and white balloons draped around the sign and a skateboard memorial attached to a large tree and a hand-made poster of Jordan. There was also a DJ with his friends skating around the park.

More than $15,000 was raised in a Go Fund Me page to help with his funeral services after he was shot and killed in East York.

“All of Jordan’s friends were here and he would have loved the ribbon-cutting,”said Agna. “He was a good kid.”

“Mr. Carter demonstrated a strong passion for skateboarding and was frequently seen at local skateparks, where he not only honed his own skills but also encouraged others to participate in the sport,” according to City report.

The arts student from Lakeshore Collegiate Institute was shot in an apartment parking garage in the Gamble and Pape Avenues area around 11:30 p.m. on January 19, 2022. Six community groups sent letters of support of the park being renamed after Carter.

He was known for mentoring teens on life and skating and was well-loved by fellow skaters.

A commemorative bench is also named after the skater at the park.

 

Toronto Police are looking for three suspects sought for the brazen theft of a $3,000 e-bike from a New Toronto bike shop.

The expensive electric bike was stolen in broad daylight from Beaver Bike, at 2835 Lake Shore Blvd.W., on August 28, that led to him chasing the thief, then a two-hour search.

Bike shop owner Kanishka Adelpur  said the expensive bike was on consignment from another company when stolen by one of the three suspects.

He said two of the suspects kept him busy talking about bikes as a third man stole the e-bike.

The brazen theft was captured by the store’s security cameras and shows a hoodie-wearing man enter the store, to begin pushing the cycle to the door. He then jumps on the bike and takes off, with the owner on his trail.

“I chased him for a block but he took off down Third Street,” Adelpur said. “I then grabbed my scooter and spent two hours looking for the thief or bike.”

He said police are searching for three suspects. The thieves were in the store earlier to check out the e-bike.

“It was a big loss for us,” he complained. “The thing is that I have seen the thief before, they all live in the area.”

He was told the brand new e-bike was sold soon after for $250 to someone in the area.

“I am very disappointed by the crimes taking place in the community,” Adelpur said. “I have been here for four year and this is the first time something like this,”

There has been no arrests.

The Assembly Hall at Samuel Smith Park is 127 years old and is slated for a long-awaited $2 million facelift.
The City is in the process of hiring a company to conduct heritage restoration for masonry and windows of the Assembly Hall, which was built in 1898.
A report to a City Council Bid Award Panel estimates that it will cost about $2 million to perform the work on the previously restored building, which is on the grounds of Humber College, at Lake Shore Blvd. W. and Kipling Avenue.
The contract is expected to be issued later this year and end in June 2026.
The Assembly Hall was built in 1898 as a multipurpose building for the Lakeshore Phsychiatric Institute. The main room on the second floor was used for dances, religious services, plays, etc.
The first floor also originally contained a store and an office for the storekeeper. A beauty parlour was added in the 1950s.
As with the rest of the hospital, the Assembly Hall was closed in 1979 and remained shut for two decades. The site is now occupied by Humber College.
The hall is now rented out to various community groups to hold their events.

A South Etobicoke teen has earned the distinction of being the City’s top scholar for achieving a 100 per cent average in her schoolwork.

Sophie Kukovica, 18, who graduated from Bishop Allen Academy, at 721 Royal York Road, obtained top marks city wide for the 2024-2025 academic year.

She is the only Etobicoke student to earn 100 per cent in a Toronto  Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), list of their top 16 students with the highest averages.

Her younger sister Madelaine was also a top scholar with 100 per cent previously.

Sophie credits her family and being consistent for helping her achieve success.

“Doing the work every day, asking for help when I needed it, and just building good habits that add up over time,” she said, adding that Madelaine provided a large motivation for her.

Sophie will next month attend the University of Toronto, where she’ll be studying French, theology, and education. She intends to pursue a career in teaching, possibly at the university level.

“I just hope to help inspire the next generation of students and share the same passion for learning that my own teachers inspired in me,” she said.

“For me, what was really helpful was just planning and customizing my learning to my personal learning style,” Sophie told CTV News. “I tried to plan my time so I could work on things in small sections before the deadline that way I’m not doing multiple assignments at once.”

This year’s Top Scholars not only achieved record-breaking grades in advanced programs, but also led STEM and leadership clubs, conducted research, earned national and international awards in science, music, and the arts, organized charity events, and dedicated hundreds of hours to community service.

Dr. Brendan Browne, director of education at the TCDSB, said the group of top scholars prove that hard work pays off.

“You’ve obviously got really bright and talented students, but it really is all about hard work, perseverance, and the resiliency to be able to achieve the marks that they’ve achieved,” he said.

Three long-established Toronto towing companies are in the running to share a lucrative more than $2 million Toronto Police vehicle towing contract.

A Toronto City Bid Award Panel  will consider the awarding of the police contract to Abrams Towing,  J.P. Towing Service & Storage and Classic Towing and storage for a three year period, according to documents filed to Council, whose members will make the ultimate decision.

The contracts includes the towing of vehicles for the Environment, Climate and Forestry; Transportation Services;  Solid Waste Management Services and Toronto Water Divisions to the end of May 2028.

The City agencies will have an option to renew for two separate one-year periods.

The total amount for all contracts including both option years is $1,844,433, including all applicable taxes and charges, $2,084,209.

The TPS had to issue a new request in January last year as the Ontario government passed new legislation that affected the way towing providers interact with their customers and identified allowable towing rates.

The measure was required to decrease a tow truck war in Toronto in which more than dozen trucks were torched or drivers shot due to stiff competition.  A special police task force has been established to halt the violence.

Abrams is probable the largest of the tow companies with more than 160 trucks of varying sizes to service the Toronto area.

The family-owned J.P. Towing has been around for more than 30 years and has a range of light and heavy tow trucks for all Toronto towing needs.

Classic Towing and Storage has also been around for decades and has a fleet of about 150 vehicles of all sizes.

Thousands of vehicles are towed away yearly to pounds from City streets due to traffic infractions or for snow removal or other reasons. The average towing fee is $160 and the storage fee is $70 daily.