One league under the Annex
Plans afoot to celebrate our buried city
By Tom G. Kernaghan
The last time you took a stroll, you may not have been aware you were walking over history. Maybe you saw some evidence of Toronto’s lost rivers, but didn’t know it: dead end streets, flooded basements, tilting houses, oddly shaped parks, dips in the road.
Barking up the right tree
High Park K-9 Committee improves dog-human relations
By Tom G. Kernaghan
Roughly 600 dogs pass through High Park on any given day. Most of the time they present no problem to the people who share the park. On the occasions that they do, however, the High Park K-9 Committee is there to help.
Naturalist’s legacy is close-knit community
A history of life in the valley
By Tom G. Kernaghan
One of the city’s most unique streets lies hidden in a valley in northeast Swansea. Sheltered by Bloor Street, Ellis Park Road, and High Park, Wendigo Way for generations has been treasured for its dramatic topography, deep seclusion, and enchanting sylvan beauty.
St. Anne’s resilient soul
Century-old church’s struggle to maintain building and relevancy
By Tom G. Kernaghan
St. Anne’s Anglican Church has endured bad weather, controversy, financial difficulties, and demographic shifts.
Now, as it approaches the 100th anniversary of its construction, the beautiful church that Group of Seven artist J.E.H. MacDonald once described as the “home for the soul of a wide neighbourhood,” is struggling to stay relevant.
Speaking from the garrison
Meet David O’Hara, Fort York’s new administrator
By Tom G. Kernaghan
David O’Hara is clear about what is important to him in his role as Fort York’s new administrator. The former City of Toronto planner hopes to bring the museum and the city closer together.
“The whole context is changing down here,” says the 36-year-old O’Hara, who has a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Guelph and a master’s of science in urban planning from the University of Toronto. “We are strengthening connections to existing neighbourhoods.”
Little West Indian Culture in BWV
Guyana native Roy Singh reflects on life in Toronto
By Tom G. Kernaghan
Roy Singh remembers the weather when he arrived in Canada at the age of 16.
“There was lots of snow, and I loved it,” says Singh, who emigrated from Guyana with his family in 1963. He stayed briefly with his aunt in North York before his family settled in central Etobicoke, where Singh went to high school and still lives today.
Singing the street story
Gospel and traditional country music inspire Village busker
By Tom G. Kernaghan
Local busker Paul Stewart knows about being away from home. Since 1992, Stewart has been singing songs in the Village. Day after day, the Etobicoke resident and his 13-year-old Seeing Eye dog, Roadie (named after Rhode Island), make their way to Bloor Street, where Stewart spends hours strumming his guitar and wailing tales of life for the busy Village burghers.
Article appeared in the April 2007 issue of Municipal World magazine
By Tom G. Kernaghan
“The better a State is constituted, the more do public affairs intrude upon private affairs in the minds of the citizens.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract
Character is working in York Region. For the past five years, the nine municipalities that constitute the vast and vibrant region to the north of Toronto, Ontario, have been taking bold steps toward a better future.
