With the last two of our holiday seasons spent cooped up in our houses with our pajamas, there has never been a better opportunity to reunite with friends and family (safely, of course)! From sipping candy-cane hot chocolate to that amazing family dinner, the holidays are a great time to rest and recharge from the stress of everyday life. Here are some fun activities happening in Downsview this holiday season.
Read moreHumans of Downsview: Esther Carenza Makes a Difference!
During a crisis, there are people who are indispensable and always seem to be there to help, Esther Carenza is one of them. Recently a woman was seriously hit by a car close to York University. Esther Carenza came on the scene and did whatever she could to assist the distraught and badly injured woman until secured by paramedics.
Read moreCommunity Clean Up At G. Ross Lord Park
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is holding a Community Clean Up at G. Ross Lord Park! They need your help to pick up litter around the community to create a healthier environment, while also learning about the impact that microplastics and litter can have on our watershed. Garbage bags, litter pickers, and gloves will be provided.
Read moreTree Planting, Any Day and Every Day
Every day is a good day for tree planting, especially when you're doing it with the Toronto Region Conservation Authority at Rowntree Mills. Even though Sunday was a gloomy and rainy day, lucky for us, the morning was filled with a cool breeze that made the weather perfect. As we drove down to North York, the scent of the fall fresh air filled our car and the morning was off to a great start.
Read moreSanta comes to Jane and Finch
My name is Ayesha and I’m a part time elf. Technically, I’m a Drummer Girl, but I find elf catchier. If you’re a child, read no further. If you’re a grownup, then once you’re done reading this, please make sure you hide this newspaper where a child can’t reach it. The last thing I need is the kids finding out I’m not from the North Pole.
Read moreTour de DUKE Heights
On Saturday, October 5, DUKE Heights Business Improvement Area (BIA) and local City Councillor Anthony Perruzza co-hosted a community bike race known as Tour de DUKE Heights. The purpose of the event was to provide bikes to children in need and to help them learn proper bike maintenance and safety techniques.
Read moreSummer in Downsview Park
It’s that time of year again. The sun is beaming, the birds are chirping, and the children are out of school.
If you’re looking for something to do this summer, Downsview Park is offering a number of programs to get you outside, meet members of the community, and explore Canada’s first urban national park.
And this year, there is a lot to do. Downsview Park is offering free educational programs for all ages that focus on urban sustainability — how people today can live in a way to ensure the wellbeing of our city and its people, for generations to come.
For example, Nature Connection is a family-friendly program that will get you outside exploring and learning about our local natural environment. If you’re looking for something to do with your toddler, try out the hands-on outdoor activities with the Jr. Forest Explorers program. And if you’re looking for something a little more relaxing, consider joining a guided stroll through the Walk in the Park program. Or, if you love food (and really, who doesn’t?) forage for food in park’s orchard or grow and harvest your own food in the park’s educational garden through the Food in the Park program.
These programs are an important part of our community. They help us learn new things, stay active, and foster deeper connections with one another and our natural environment. We should appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into organizing them. Downsview Park is staffed by a small group of individuals and with limited resources – but every year they find creative ways to engage our community. And the programs are largely facilitated by a group of volunteers who dedicate their time to make our community a more liveable and enjoyable place to be.
This summer lets show our support and our appreciation for the hardworking and dedicated group of staff members and volunteers who help bring our community together to experience the magic of Downsview Park.
If you want to learn more about the programs offered at Downsview Park check out their website: www.downsviewpark.ca and if you’re interested in volunteering in the park this summer, reach out to Allison Best at abest@clc.ca.
See you in the park!
Nurturing potential, showcasing excellence
Currently only 1.2% of Ontario’s apprentices are represented by racialized individuals in the construction industry. Through Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) Black Youth are slowly being hired onto the construction sites of large Canadian infrastructure projects. CBAs are also opening opportunities for small to medium sized businesses interested in penetrating the Canadian construction supply chain.On Tuesday, December 12, the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN) hosted a breakfast to officially launch their Black Youth Mentoring Program. The plan applies a 2-pronged approach to changing the narrative around Black Youth. The first piece will mentor qualified Black Youth construction workers apprenticing in the trades known as the “Next-Gen-Builders” program. The second part will enhance the skills of a Black Youth consultancy known as the BYD Team. The goal of BYD Team is to fulfil on current and grow future construction industry social procurement strategies.The Black Youth Mentoring Program Launch, which took place in the beautiful University of Toronto Faculty Club, was a fantastic experience. It was amazing to be in that room where high level representatives from the construction trades and industry professionals, mingled with equity seeking community members. It was especially refreshing to hear some of the Black Youth apprentices recently welcomed into the Canadian construction industry, speak of reluctance replaced by optimism through TCBN’s new mentoring program. Also interesting was hearing Pat Dillon, Business Manager and Secretary Treasurer of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, voice his support for TCBN and community efforts by recommending they approach the struggle “more aggressively”. With high profile support from the likes of Dillon, community must be optimistic that integrating the construction industry in the lifetime of today’s youth is a real possibility, right?Also inspiring were the words of Grover Johnson, Vice President of the American chapter of LiUNA’s African American Caucus. Grover’s words clearly indicated the American Community Benefits movement is far ahead of our own. In his home state of Washington, they have progressed beyond the need to negotiate a CBA for every capital project, it is now policy. They now move directly to Workforce Development Agreements. It really goes to show that what we hear so frequently in the news about our neighbours to the south may be the cries from a group of reactionaries who are in their final death throes. These are certainly exciting times for the Canadian community benefits movement.
North York Women’s Shelter's new facilities bring opportunities
In spring of 2019, North York Women’s Shelter (NYWS) will open the doors to its newly renovated facilities that are set to be kid friendly, culturally competent, and include a community hub. NYWS is nestled in between Downsview Park and Sheppard West station - making it connected to a local scene and accessible to the rest of the city’s resources.Established in 1984, NYWS continues to be a safe place for women and children impacted by violence. As research on how to best help survivors of gendered violence advanced, NYWS took federal funding opportunities to redesign and renovate the facility to better serve their residents. Executive Director, Mohini Datta-Ray, described the new shelter as “future oriented” with a focus on providing survivors a holistic approach to healing and giving women the tools they need to take the next steps in their lives. It will be a 24,000 square feet shelter with 17 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms with 30 beds, with the capacity for an additional 10 beds if their operational budget targets are met. This is a huge improvement from the 3,000 square feet shelter with only six bedrooms and three bathrooms for 30 beds that left residents crowded and prevented necessary programming. Traditionally, women’s shelters are at a confidential and discrete location. Shelters are usually intended to be outside the purview of the community and to exist in isolation of the neighbourhood.“It’s a new model - we’re breaking the paradigm. The model is that we are both a shelter and a community service hub,” Datta-Ray explained. The community hub will service not only those in the shelter but women within the community who need a safe space and cannot leave their situations. The shelter itself will be built to accommodate children, have a kennel for residents’ dogs, and a wood-burning oven for women of different cultures to bake bread. Its new community hub will have partnerships with different groups like the Black Creek Community Health Centre, Black Creek Community Farm, and other service groups to ensure that clients can access the resources they need. As Toronto becomes more expensive and funding for ending violence against women continues to be erratic and dependent on governments, it is important to not only give survivors the resources they need to survive but also to thrive.The new NYWS has a large 1000 square-foot multipurpose room that can be a space where women can self-organize and be political. Alongside providing services, NYWS aims to foster a peer-support system so women can be politically active and demand more from their politicians to enact lasting change.“We realized that you can build 40 thousand shelters but you will never address the issue because you are just continuing to address the symptom of the problem,” Datta-Ray explained. The new space will help empower residents to advocate for institutional changes to end violence against women.
Community responds to inadequate support for local shelter residents
On the morning of Saturday December 8th, around 23 volunteers gathered at the Black Creek Community Health Centre in Sheridan Mall. They convened in response to a call to action by Jill, a certified housing support worker committed to supporting and working with our most vulnerable populations on and off the clock. In mid-November, Jill’s volunteerism led her to the Toronto Plaza Hotel which is currently being used as an emergency shelter space by the City of Toronto. While she was only there for a brief visit to pick up donations, her observation of the hotel premises left her feeling disheartened. She was especially saddened as she realized that there was an overrepresentation of Black individuals and families seeking respite in the shelter space. This was compounded by the inadequate accommodations. “The common areas are filthy, the dining areas are unsanitary, the rooms are cold,” she recounts. Jill left the hotel reflecting on how the housing crisis plays out as yet another example of how one systemic inequity feeds into the next and asked herself, “In what ways can we make room for a holistic intervention?”Her call to action, which was shared with the Black Toronto Community Support Group that connects 25,000 of the Black community across the Greater Toronto Area via social media, urged members to check out the emergency shelter space, rent rooms to shelter residents and to donate goods such as clothing and sanitary napkins. The charge was taken up by Noella Charles, a local caterer. She visited the hotel to try to coordinate a drop-off donation space within the shelter. After learning that external groups were not allowed to distribute donations to shelter residents directly, she got in touch with the executive director of the Black Creek Community Health Centre who was very supportive of an initiative to support residents. The executive director provided staff to do outreach and offered space for community members to drop-off donations over the week long period before the clothing drive and even made the kitchen available for the Community Support Group to host a breakfast for shelter residents. "I donated about 80% of the food and one other volunteer provided a few dozen eggs and bagels," Noella mentioned. Up to 140 plates were provided to shelter residents who attended the clothing drive.The spirit of the gathering was one of infectious compassion. Noella connected with a resident that she was able to offer a casual employment opportunity. "I am in a position to help. I own my own business and can offer people a job if they need it." This was said as volunteers were huddled off into a corner planning their next steps- specifically how they could create a community pipeline to respond to the challenges that precarious housing poses to the community. Shelter residents expressed the exact sentiment of volunteers to maintain a connection to the community. One expectant mother, a newcomer from Nigeria, expressed the following, "With the accommodation problem in this city, the more information we can get, the better we are able to support ourselves and our families." She continued, "It is hard to live on the stipend from the government and also try to save for the new baby." She further shared her surprise that she was able to get a crib at the clothing drive.Jill was overwhelmed as she watched up to 150 families and individuals enjoy breakfast and leave with basic goods and then some. Still, more can be done. "A lot of men came in today seeking adequate winter gear such as boots and jackets. A lot of men left disappointed today." As she was checking in with those who attended the drive, she learned that many had come from across the city- even from as far as Scarborough. Noting the recent changes by the provincial government to freeze the minimum wage increase, coupled with the changes to Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program, which are made worse by the stoppage of rent control legislation, Jill is weary of the ways these instances of negligence will continue to strip community members of their agency. "Poverty is unfortunately a systemic experience and not an individual one," she mulled on this point. Shelter residents carry diverse narratives- they are parents, children, they are fleeing war, they have been trafficked, balancing mental health challenges, are seniors, or have learning disabilities. Jill does not believe that she has the right to speak on behalf of shelter residents but concludes that, "We have an obligation to look out for our most vulnerable."