Woman unresponsive, man seriously injured after double stabbing near Christie Pits Park in Toronto

A woman is without vital signs and a man has been rushed to hospital following a double stabbing in the Bloorcourt Village area.

Toronto Police were called to the area of Bloor Street West and Shaw Street, west of Christie Pits Park, just after 5 p.m.

According to Toronto police, the two were fighting at a business in the area.

Officers responding to the scene found the woman without vital signs and the man suffering from serious injuries.

Toronto Paramedic Services said the male victim was being rushed to a trauma centre, but is expected to survive.

One man is in custody, police said.

No further details have been released so far.

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Peel Police Crack Down On New Money So Sick Gang

Peel Region police announced 88 arrests for offences including murder in an operation against a street gang “linked to some of the most thoughtless violence our community has suffered for the last several years.”

The operation, dubbed Project Siphon, began in September 2019 and ended with the laying of more than 800 charges and seizure of 34 firearms.

“This project has included multiple homicides where bullets flew with shocking disregard for anyone, including innocent children who have been caught in the crossfire,” Peel Region police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said at an online news conference Wednesday.

Some of the guns seized were modified to be fully automatic, high-capacity magazines.

Also seized were street drugs including cocaine and fentanyl with a value of almost $2 million and $1 million in Canadian currency, police said.

The operation centred on an organization called the New Money So Sick Gang, which police allege ran an illegal marijuana delivery service out of Mississauga and Brampton and protected its turf with murder.

The charges include murder, human trafficking and money laundering.

Det. Sgt. Chad Lines said that the gang is Peel-based, with reach into other communities.

“The gang conflict is constant,” Lines said.

The news conference was told the gang was tied to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jonathan Davis on Sept. 14, 2019.

Davis, a Grade 12 student at Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School, was outside a housing complex on Darcel Avenue, when an estimated 142 bullets were fired from seven guns in an ambush.

“Jonathan was not involved with any gang crime and was an innocent victim who had found himself caught in the middle of the gunfire,” Supt. Martin Ottaway said. “We believe that New Money So Sick Gang members attended the apartment building to retaliate in an ongoing gang conflict.”

Five others, including a 13-year-old girl, were injured.

The rival gang was shooting a rap video at the time of the gunfire, police said.

“Two vehicles drove into the apartment complex and seven suspects exited the vehicles armed with firearms,” Supt. Martin Ottaway said. “The suspects opened fire.”

Jahvon Valdez, 21, of Brampton, and Safeer Ahmad, 19, of Mississauga, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Davis’s death.

Police also connected the gang to the Oct. 22, 2019 shooting death of 28-year-old Giovanni Delahaye, who was killed while inside a car stopped at a red light near Hwy. 410 and Derry Road East in Mississauga.

Other shootings police connected to the gang this year include:

On Aug. 3, 25-year-old Abdifatah Salah was shot dead at a Mississauga townhouse complex on Huntington Ridge Drive, near Mavis Road and Eglinton Avenue West.
“Investigation has revealed that the victim was a frequent customer of Sickspensary, which is an illegal mobile cannabis operation, operating in the region of Peel by New Money So Sick gang members,” Ottaway said.

“It is the investigators’ belief that the victim’s association with Sickspensary was a factor in his murder.”

On the afternoon of Aug. 31, members of the gang went to a Brampton cemetery in the Bovaird Drive and Chinguacousy Road area to celebrate a birthday when a shooting broke out.
Some 70 shots were fired and at least three people were injured in that attack.

On Oct. 29, at the intersection of Larkin Avenue and Ballard Drive, two men wearing balaclavas opened fire at a car and then fled in a black Lexus SUV with tinted windows and silver rims. There were no reported injuries.
The same vehicle was used in the fatal shootings of Davis and Delahaye, police said.

Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said that social development initiatives are also needed to combat gang violence. He also noted that 90 per cent of firearms seized come from outside of the country.

“It’s a complex issue with a lot of different layers,” Milinovich said. “ . . . Enforcement isn’t enough.”
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Suspect wanted in connection with sexual assault at Islington Subway Station in Toronto

Toronto police are looking for a suspect in connection with a sexual assault at Islington Subway Station earlier this month.

On Nov. 9, a woman was on the escalator at Islington Subway Station when she was approached from behind by an unknown man at around 6:20 p.m.

Then the man sexually assaulted her, police say.

The man fled the station and was last seen going east.

He is described as 25 to 30 years old, standing between 5’7” and 5’9” tall, with a dark complexion and frizzy hair tied in a bun.

He was last seen wearing black shoes, tan coloured pants, a grey t-shirt, a black zip-up hoodie, a black backpack and a blue surgical mask.

Police have released security images of the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

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16-year-old charged with attempted murder in connection with April shooting in Etobicoke

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder in connection with an April shooting of a 22-year-old man in Etobicoke.

The shooting occurred near Dixon Road and Dixington Crescent in the early morning of April 17, 2020.

Around 1:03 a.m., police responded to a shooting in the area of Dixington Parkette. Toronto police allege a group of people piled into a white vehicle, with the 16-year-old boy in the driver’s seat.

A short time later, the same vehicle was seen arriving near the Driftwood Parkette area, a 20-minute drive away, police said in a release.

“Multiple rounds were fired into a parking lot,” the release said.

The group then returned to the Dixington Parkette area, where police allege the 16-year-old driver shot the 22-year-old man multiple times while standing outside of the vehicle.

The suspects had fled by the time first responders arrived. The victim was rushed to hospital.

Const. David Hopkinson, media officer with Toronto Police, confirmed the man survived his injuries.

On Monday, Toronto Police’s Gun and Gang Task Force – Centralized Shooting Response Team arrested the 16-year-old, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He has been charged with six offences, including attempted murder and careless use of a firearm.

He appeared in court Tuesday morning.

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Mob connection to Jammar Allison murder on June 1, 2018

Windermere Basin Park sits under the Burlington Skyway, a quiet refuge amid the calamity and blur of traffic bound for Toronto and Niagara.

Besides dog walkers, locals and birdwatchers, it is largely unknown.

It is where the remains of murder victim Jammar Allison, 26, were found.

Allison vanished from the parking lot of Rexdale Blvd. eatery Da House of Jerk on June 1, 2018 when he was violently abducted by three men.

At the time of his disappearance, an underworld war was raging in southern Ontario with a bloody back and forth that may have only ended with Mob boss Pat Musitano getting whacked last summer.

Why dump Allison’s body in the weeds of the park?

“Who knows why? It’s out of the way and a lot of my fellow officers didn’t know where it was either,” Hamilton Police Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk told the Toronto Sun.

Filled with tall grass, it is “secluded” and whoever left Allison’s body would “have to have knowledge of the park,” Bereziuk said.

In recent years, traditional organized crime have outsourced their killing to street gangs. Clean hands are happy hands.

With the city’s long history of underworld intrigue, that begs the question: Was Allison dumped in Hamilton for a reason? Like a frisky cat dumping a bird at his owner’s feet to show what a good boy he is?

“That theory is as good as the next,” Bereziuk said. “Certainly, right now there’s nothing definitive.”

The soccer-loving Allison, a young father, wasn’t exactly squeaky clean.

He had been arrested in a massive March 2017 crack cocaine bust in Thunder Bay but Toronto detectives pooh-poohed any connection to his kidnapping 15 months later.

In addition, at the time of his death, he had been trying to get an apparel business off the ground.

“Was it over his new business? Was it over drugs? Or was it something else?” Beruziuk said.

That “something else” may have been an underworld settling of accounts. At this point, it isn’t clear if Allison had even the most remote connection to gangland machinations.

But Bereziuk conceded, it remains a possibility.

Police have identified the remains of murder victim Jammar Allison.

From southern Ontario to Mexico, scores of bodies have hit the pavement in connection to the fight for the rich rackets here.

Of the trio suspected of killing Mob scion Angelo “Big Ang” Musitano in 2017, only one is believed to be still alive.

At least 10 Mob-connected people were slain in the ensuing bloodshed, including at least one innocent woman, which the Mob does not take kindly to. No civilians in the  morgue, please.

Allison’s remains began turning up with a single bone discovered by a citizen walking in the park in October 2019. A year later, more remains were found in another area of the park.

After the first find, boffins at the Centre of Forensic Sciences couldn’t identify the unfortunate victim. Recent testing confirmed the remains were those of Allison.

His three kidnappers, who fled in a black Dodge Caravan, were only described as Black.

A van suspected in the June 1, 2018 abduction of Jammar Allison at Humberwood and Rexdale Blvds.
For decades, traditional organized crime has loomed like a dark spectre over Hamilton. Some of that reputation has been deserved, much of it hasn’t.

But it is what it is.

There has been no shortage of jokes about how many bodies wearing cement shoes are in the bottom of Hamilton Harbour.

That’s local lore. The mysterious murder of Jammar Allison is here, right now and quite possibly the latest salvo in an endless drama.

And bloodshed is always the star.

Hamilton Police are urging anyone with information to call 905-546-2288 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

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Man dead, woman in custody in Rouge Highlands Dr. Scarborough stabbing

Toronto Police homicide detectives are investigating an apparent stabbing in the city’s east end.

Shortly before midnight Monday, police say a seriously injured woman was located near Port Union Rd. and Fanfare Ave., just south of Hwy. 401 in Scarborough.

Emergency crews were called, and a critically injured man without vital signs was found nearby.

Resuscitation efforts were performed, but the man died at the scene.

The woman was taken to hospital, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

A home on Rouge Highlands Dr. was cordoned off by yellow police tape Monday mornig and drops of blood was still visible on the road.

Const. Caroline de Kloet said the incident began with an altercation between the man and woman.

The woman was taken into custody by police, de Kloet said, adding no other suspects are outstanding.

Charges are pending, and the investigation continues.

Anyone with information is asked to call police or make an anonymous tip via Crime Stoppers.
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Dante Andreatta, 12, died after he was fatally wounded when caught in a hail of bullets while walking with his mom on a North York street.

Tragically, Dante Sebastian Andreatta was stolen from his family at the age of 12.

Yet, in death, he helped save the lives of nine other children.

Murdered on his way home from a store with his mom, his slaying is one of the most egregious acts in Toronto’s history.

There’s nothing that can make it right for his family. The only potential positive that could ever possibly come out of this is he helped other children.

“It’s with heavy hearts that we mourn a life that was taken too soon, but one that has not left in vain,” said family friend Margarita Segura. “Dante’s kindness and generosity will live on through nine lives that were saved because of his organ donation.”

Jahwayne Smart, 25, and Rashawn Chambers, 24, each face many charges, including first-degree murder, for their alleged roles in the shooting which took the boy’s life.

The innocent child was fatally wounded when caught in a hail of bullets while walking with his mother in the Jane St.-Finch Ave. area.

This never should have happened to a “beautiful” boy or a city tired of being outraged about the evil that not only lurks here but does so with near impunity.

Here’s yet another murdered child.

“He was the sweetest boy, and would play for hours with our children who are younger than him,” said Segura. “He was a beautiful soul and our hearts are broken.”

Two GoFundMe campaigns set up as a result of the shooting had raised about $35,000 as of Monday night.

“My nephew Dante was an innocent victim on gun violence (Nov. 7),” said Brampton resident Flavia Andreatta in a message for a GoFundMe campaign she said she put together for her brother Sebastian, the boy’s father. “Dante was my nephew only 12 years old. On Saturday, Nov. 7 he and his mother were caught in a crossfire while grocery shopping in North York. Unfortunately, after being in critical condition fighting for his life he sadly passed away four days later.”

Dante was just a terrific kid who was adored by his family.

“Dante enjoyed soccer, swimming, bike riding with his friends/cousins, loved his classmates and with his organ donation, he has given the blessings for those children/teens to carry on living life to the fullest,” said Segura.


Toronto Police said two gunmen were allegedly shooting into a car with five passengers in the parking lot of 25 Stong Crt. Rounds were errantly fired across the street — at least one of which struck the boy in the neck.

Others went into townhouse units on the other side of Jane St. A police officer performed CPR on the boy and doctors at Sick Kids Hospital worked around the clock to try to save him.

The damage was just too severe.

“May I say that your love and support has been felt during this difficult time,” said Flavia. “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, please keep our family in your prayers. All proceeds will go towards funeral expenses.”

It’s pretty sick this happened in our city but it is not the first time.

If you hear a politician spouting the line about Toronto and the GTA being “safe,” feel free to share this list of murder victims who died because they had the misfortune to be standing where a gunman’s bullet happened to fly: Vivi Leimonis, Jane Creba, Chantal Dunn, Breanna Davy, Shyanne Charles, Joshua Yassay, Kesean Williams (Brampton), St. Aubyn Rodney, Tyson Bailey, Jarvis Montague, Ephraim Brown, Ariela Navarro-Fenoy, Bailey Zaveda, John O’Keefe, Lecent Ross, Naveed Shahnawaz, Dameion McFarland, Lecent Ross, Ruma Amar, Naveed Shahnawaz, Dameion McFarland, Shawn McLean, Jonathan Rodriguez Sanchez, Candice Rochelle Bobb and unborn baby Kyrie.

Now, sadly, add the name of 12-year-old Dante Sebastian Andreatta to that disturbing list.

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Dante Andreatta, 12-year-old killed by stray bullet in North York shooting, donates organs

A 12-year-old boy killed by a stray bullet during a shooting in North York donated his organs to others in need, a family friend who started an online fundraiser for the boy's family says.

Dante Sebastian Andreatta was grocery shopping with his mother in the Jane and Finch area when he was shot in the mid-afternoon on Nov. 7. He died in hospital four days later.

"It's with heavy hearts that we mourn a life that was taken too soon, but one that has not left in vain. Dante's kindness and generosity will live on through NINE lives that were saved because of his organ donation," said Margarita Segura in an update on the GoFundMe page she first established last week.

According to Segura, Andreatta enjoyed soccer, swimming and bike riding with his friends and cousins.

"He will be missed deeply, and remembered fiercely as the beautiful, loving, enthusiastic, active and engaging boy that he was," Segura added.

Two men face a slew of charges in connection to the fatal shooting, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault.

In addition to Andreatta, three other people were struck by the gunfire, including a 17-year-old. All three have since been released from hospital. 

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Toronto Police arrest 3 teens in bakery shooting that injured 6

Two 16-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man are facing a slew of charges in connection to a brazen drive-by shooting at a Toronto bakery that injured six people last September.

Emergency crews were called to the scene at Eglinton and Oakwood avenues, west of Allen Road, around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.

According to police, a black vehicle drove past a 24-hour bakery and someone in the vehicle began firing numerous shots.

At the time, Toronto Police Superintendent Shaun Narine said the 24-hour bakery was open and filled with customers, adding that investigators were treating it as a “gang-related and targeted event.”

Narine said a group of people had gathered under the front alcove of the bakery to take shelter from heavy rain at the time of the shooting. He stressed that it is “not a gang-related location” and that some of the people gathered in the crowd were believed to be innocent bystanders.

The six victims ranged in age from 30 to 69 years old. Luckily, none of their injuries were life-threatening.

Illia Ayo, 18, of London, is facing numerous charges, including aggravated assault, discharge firearm recklessly and unauthorized possession of a firearm.

Two 16-year-old boys, who can’t be named, are facing similar charges.

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Trustees shout down Catechism of the Catholic Church

At a November 11th meeting of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), our heroic Trustee, Michael Del Grande, was found guilty of a trumped-up Code of Conduct violation, and was severely sanctioned by a majority of his trustee colleagues.

Del Grande was punished for having defended Christian moral teaching and Church doctrine against a proposal to have the Catholic school system embrace Transgender Ideology within its official Code of Conduct. 

I'll share more on that unjust action of the Board in a moment. But first, I've got to fill you in on the real shocker of the evening.

If you're not Catholic yourself, hang in there because this isn't just a Catholic issue. It's a religious freedom issue. The type of censorship of Christian teaching that I'm about to describe is happening throughout the country and affecting all believers, regardless of denomination.

Trustees ban the Catechism of the Catholic Church; call it "dangerous"

During a delegation statement by Jose Luis Bundoc Dizon, a faithful Catholic and parishioner of St. Boniface Church, three trustees shut down the recitation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, condemned the Catechism's words as "dangerous", and warned him to stop reading the Catechism!

We have video of the shocking incident in which Trustees censored and attacked the Catechism, below, thus moving the board, arguably, into a state of apostasy, or at the very least, public heresy.

Watch the video. Then share it with every Catholic you know.

You won't believe your eyes and ears as Ward 9 Trustee Norm Di Pasquale, Board Chair Joseph Martino (Ward 1) and Ward 5 Trustee Maria Rizzo publicly declare that the Catechism is "not acceptable".

If you're unable to view the video, the full transcript is included at the bottom of this email, below my signature.

Nancy Crawford, one of the faithful Catholic trustees who represent a minority on the Board, stood in astonishment at what she just heard from the lips of her colleagues, and felt compelled to remind them that the delegate was quoting from the Catechism.

In case you're not familiar with it, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the official repository of all of the Church's doctrinal and authoritative teachings.

All trustees are obliged to govern "in accordance" with it as per policy H.M. 24 and other obligations of a fiduciary nature. 

Above: book cover for the Catechism

Grave problem

This public rejection of Catholic doctrinal teaching represents an earthquake in the Catholic world, and certainly in the Archdiocese of Toronto. We cannot look away from it.

Jose Luis Bundoc Dizon tried to read a paragraph from the Catechism which explains the Church's official teaching on homosexuality. He was shut down and threatened about continuing to read from it. Effectively, the Catechism, or at least that section, is now banned in the TCDSB.

This board is in open rebellion against the moral teaching of the Catholic Church. It has definitely moved into heresy, and perhaps apostasy too.

Furthermore, public defiance towards Catechism section 2357 was not limited to Trustees Di Pasquale, Martino and Rizzo.  After the delegate's speech was finished, Trustees Markus De Domenico and Ida La Preti voted against official "receipt" of the delegate's statement, presumably, to show their contempt for the words of the Catechism.

Action Plan - What's next?

The eight trustees who voted to sanction Trustee Del Grande, including those who objected to the Catechism, must be defeated in the next election which is scheduled for October 2022.

We will also will be announcing specific plans to call for their immediate resignation. In a public manner, for all the world to see, they breached their oath of office in which each of them had promised "to be faithful to the teachings of the Church".

Effective immediately, we need to put pressure on his Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins, to request the resignation of the eight trustees in question: Martino, De Domenico, Li Preti, Rizzo, D'Amico, Di Pasquale, Di Giorgio and Kennedy.

His Eminence has maintained radio silence throughout this scandal.

The lesbian former Premier, Kathleen Wynne, who is not a Catholic, delegated to the board to attack Del Grande and Catholic moral doctrine.

However, the Shepherd of the Diocese whose responsibility is to protect the sheep from harm, did not speak one word in defense, nor even bother to send one of his priests to delegate opposite Wynne.

Withhold your Sunday donations

In the spirit of brotherly love and fraternal correction, we must encourage Cardinal Collins to provide the spiritual leadership that has been lacking, in order to right the sinking ship that is the TCDSB.

Campaign Life Coalition urges all Catholics in the Archdiocese of Toronto to withhold their Sunday donation until action is taken by the Cardinal, namely, to request the resignation of the eight trustees.

Instead, donate to the Michael Del Grande Legal Defense Fund, right here. Let the Cardinal's office know that you are doing so.

#StandWithMike

Now that I've dealt with the Catechism fiasco, I want to return to our defense of Trustee Michael Del Grande.

At the November 11th Board meeting, trustees voted to impose the following sanctions against him:

• Censure
  
  
• He must make a public apology
  
  
• He cannot be appointed to "any representative position or role on behalf of the Board for a period three months”.
  
  
• Must undertake an Equity Training program within a month, to be recommended by the Board’s Human Rights Equity Advisor
  
  (Note: can you say, "Stalinist re-education camp"?)

Del Grande has hired an excellent lawyer who served the Board with a powerful legal opinion informing them that a re-do on the Code of Conduct vote is unlawful and an abuse of process.

Del Grande and his legal counsel will fight this in court, and Michael is even considering launching defamation suits against those who have slandered him for the past year. 

In order to prevent the LGBT mob from succeeding, Campaign Life Coalition has created a crowd-funding campaign to help cover Michael's legal expenses.

DONATE TO MIKE'S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND

Already, Michael's legal defense bill is over $20,000. Will you please chip in to stand with Mike?

 

Yours for life, family & faith,

Jeff Gunnarson
National President

Campaign Life Coalition
https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com

 

For a web version of this email which you can share on social media, click here.

 

****TRANSCRIPT OF TRUSTEES SHUTTING DOWN THE CATECHISM*****

Jose Luis: I want to highlight the fact that what is at stake here is the fidelity of the Catholic school board to Catholic teaching, which we hold to be based on revelation from God. The statements that have been made about the morality of homosexual acts is nothing more than mirroring of Catholic teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Paragraph 2357 of the Catechism is quite clear on the matter, and I would like to quote the relevant section, quote: “Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction towards persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms throughout the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity… [interruption by Di Pasquali]

Trustee Di Pasquale: Point of order…

Chair, Trustee Martino: One second. One second. One second. Trustee Di Pasquali, go ahead. Point of order.

Trustee Di Pasquale: Thank you Mr. Chair. Just thinking, I, I believe that the delegate’s comments are, are treading in, in, in dangerous waters. Um, perhaps, you know, um putting down a marginalized and vulnerable community at our Board.

Chair Martino: One second... You’re prob – I think you’re right. And I must warn, uh, the delegate that, uh, some of the language, I feel, is not proper, and I think so, and so do, uh, some trustees. So, let’s, uh…. [interjection by Nancy Crawford] What point of order, Trustee Crawford?

Trustee Crawford: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The delegate is quoting from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Let that sink in. Please, before you make your ruling? I would appreciate that.

Chair Martino: I didn’t make the ruling, but I did agree with the previous speaker. Thank you.

Trustee Rizzo: Mr. Chair…

Chair Martino: Trustee Rizzo, your hand please, if you want to speak.

Maria Rizzo: I don’t want to speak. I want a point of order.

Chair Martino: A point of order? Well, it’s the same thing. Go ahead.

Maria Rizzo: I, I want to make sure that it’s, it’s understood….

Chair Martino: Yea. Go ahead.

Maria Rizzo: Mr. Chair, anybody making a comment about anybody in our community – anybody in our community in a publicly funded body – is not, is not, is not acceptable in this forum. Has nothing, nothing to do with it.

Chair Martino: Correct. Thank you. Uh, so I’m gonna – the delegate, the delegate has heard what some trustees, have, have concerns. Would you like to continue and be, be, uh, aware of what was said, if you can?

Jose Luis: Right. Well. All I will say is I will, um, refrain from quoting the remainder of the Catechism. But it is paragraph 2357 for anybody who would like to see the … [undiscernible]… I would like to state the fact that it would be very difficult to castigate the words that have been used in the November (7th) meeting without also indirectly castigating the words of the Catechism itself.

Surely you would not ban the teaching of the Catechism simply because its statements do not reflect secular notions of Gender Identity and social justice? Because if you were to do that, then you would be defeating the very purpose of even having a Catholic school board. In order for our schools to be authentically Catholic, they would have to actively mirror what the Catholic faith teaches.

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Marcell Wilson, founder and president of the One By One Movement in Toronto

Marcell Wilson was a leader of one of the larger street gangs in the country for 15 years.

The 42-year-old is also a recovering addict — he took opiates — who has been clean for eight years.

As the leader of the Looney Toons/Tiny Toons — a subset of the infamous Bloods gang — he was shot a couple of times and was jailed for short periods.

Wilson began the long process of turning his life around about a decade ago after meeting a woman, falling “deeply in love” and realizing he wasn’t living the way he should be.

He now operates a company called the One By One Movement, which works to reduce the “extreme acts of violence” in Toronto and curb “negative lifestyles” using a team of former neo-Nazis, mob hit men, al-Qaida and gang members.

During our fascinating interview on Friday, he was busy taking calls from the Jane-Finch community where the innocent 12-year-old boy was caught in a hail of gunfire a week ago. The young man subsequently succumbed to his injuries on Remembrance Day.

He said the community reached out for help with the gang situation in their neighbourhood — to try to turn down the temperature so little kids don’t get shot.

Wilson said he’s done work with residents of certain Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) properties, even though officials have gotten upset with them for coming in to help, so much so that they’ve had to call in media to get their message out.

He grew up in poverty living in government housing — in Swansea Mews, in the city’s west end — in an unstable home with an absentee father. He was homeless by the age of 13.

At that point, Wilson said he committed himself to the street where he connected with other kids in a similar situation.

He said he eventually left the street level and as a gang leader became involved in activities in Latin America — drug trafficking mainly but they dabbled in everything.

When his team was subsequently wiped out after a lengthy investigation and he was “hobbled,” he thought it a perfect opportunity to back out of the lifestyle.

The woman is “unfortunately” no longer in his life but she was a catalyst to many changes, leading to the One by One concept.

“I felt this is how I can redeem myself … because I feel personally responsible for what’s happening now (on the streets),” he said, referring to the residual effect of what groups started in his era 20 some years ago.

He said prior to his generation, Toronto wasn’t really known for gun violence — that his generation really started the “whole murder culture.”

He says they brought in all these weapons but didn’t pass down to the next generation the “street code.”

Wilson said during his time on the streets, there were “rules” that deemed shooting innocent kids in a park or on the streets “strict no-nos.”

If a gang member did this back in his day, they were disciplined internally.

He feels social media is playing a “huge role” in the transformation — noting people can be killed these days over a remark made on a YouTube video or an Instagram Live post.

Opiates are also playing a huge role in luring young people to gangs — drugs that were frowned upon in his day.

Drug dealers are taking the drugs too, he said, explaining in his time one of the 10 crack commandments was not to “get high on your own supply.”

He’s convinced the shootings these days are so brazen because the drugs numb the feelings of those who take them — leaving them with no remorse about shooting an innocent child.

“Now it’s very accepted to take all these exotic drugs and obviously it’s affecting their psyche,” he said. “It’s not real life to them (the gang members) … it’s like a video game.”

He adds that the addiction culture is really feeding into “organized crime, gang activity and murder.”

Curtis Priest, chairman of the public safety and security committee of the Garment District Neighbourhood Association, said he found it important to hear Wilson say at a recent meeting that huge drug operations are “feeding off the addictions” of many people living on Toronto’s streets, which in turn is causing spikes in crime in a variety of communities.

Priest said politicians don’t seem to understand this and are only implementing “Band-Aid type solutions” for housing and ignoring the core problems.
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Jane-Finch neighbourhood grieves for innocent boy, 12, killed by stray bullets

A mom of three says she feels the mother’s pain of loss after an innocent 12-year-old boy was shot and killed during a melee of gunfire Saturday.

Erlinda Colos, who is originally from Peru and lives near where the boy was killed just north of Jane-Finch, said she didn’t see or hear the shooting Saturday but she now knows about the tragic death.

Jane-Finch neighbourhood grieves for innocent boy, 12, killed by stray bullets

The 52-year-old stopped by on her way to work to visit the make-shift memorial to the murdered boy on Friday.

“I was thinking about my own children and my grandchildren,” said Colos. “And I think about the mom and the pain in her chest.”

Peering out from above her mask at the bouquet of flowers and a small stuffed bear wearing a Superman suit that were left beside a tree near where the boy was felled in broad daylight by stray bullets, she said some prayers, blessed herself and wiped tears from her eyes before walking off down Jane St.

Vashtee Dosaran, who lives in the building where the shooting took place, stopped by with her seven-year-old daughter to drop off flowers.

“The violence has to stop we have young kids growing up in the area,”  said Dosaran. “Up until a few weeks ago we felt really safe, but not anymore.”

“Please stop the shootings, the violence needs to stop. For the future of the little ones please stop,” she implored, clutching her daughter close to her side.

“Everybody feels for the family. I hope and pray that God gives them the strength to get through this,” said Dosaran.

A man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was at the shooting scene Saturday and saw the aftermath.

He said an undercover police officer showed up at the scene first and ran to the boy’s aid as his hysterical mom and another woman held each other while a crowd of passersby gathered around the boy.

“He was pumping, pumping, pumping him,” said the man. “The blood was just coming out of him.”

“I feel sorry for that guy (the officer). He asked for a T-shirt — I guess to stop the blood.

The man believes the 12-year-old boy was clipped by gunfire in the neck and in the side.

Two suspects were arrested outside a Canadian Tire at Dundas St. W. and Bay St. on Monday — two days after the reckless shooting occurred in a highrise parking lot at 25 Stong Ct.

Rashawn Chambers, 24, and Jahwayne Smart, 25, face an assortment of charges that include first-degree murder.

A candlelight vigil was expected to be held for the slain boy at 7 p.m.

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Family of 12-year-old slain boy release statement

An innocent 12-year-old boy who was killed when he was caught in a hail of bullets while walking with his mother last weekend is described by his family as having an “immense” heart.

The aunt of the boy — identified by a GoFundMe campaign as Dante — released a statement to CTV Friday night during a vigil for the murdered child in the Jane-Finch community.

“He loved sharing his food with others. He was a very happy boy. He was extremely friendly,” the family said in the statement, adding Dante loved being in Canada and loved speaking English.

“He was always happy, and everyone around him could feel his happiness. He will be truly missed.”

Dante and his mom were returning from shopping Nov. 7 around 2 p.m. when he was stuck by bullets in a reckless daylight shooting — described by police as possibly gang related — near Jane St. and Stong Ct., north of Finch Ave. W.

The boy was rushed to hospital in critical condition and died a few days later.

The GoFundMe, launched by Margarita Segura, whose husband is a close friend with Dante’s father, described the child as “the sweetest boy.”

“(He) would play would play for hours with our children who are younger than him. He was a beautiful soul and our hearts are broken,” wrote Segura on the fundraiser description.

“We want to support the family during this difficult time. Money raised will help his funeral expenses.”

As of Saturday morning, more than $12,000 had been raised — half of the $20,000 goal.

Police arrested two suspects — Rashawn Chambers, 24, of Toronto, and Jahwayne Smart, 25, of no fixed address — in a high-risk takedown outside the Canadian Tire near Bay and Dundas Sts. last Monday.

They face a number of charges, including first-degree murder.

Investigators are still on the hunt for a third suspect believed to have driven the suspects to the area.

A man, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Toronto Sun Friday before the vigil he saw the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting.

He said an undercover police officer showed up at the scene first and ran to the boy’s aid as his hysterical mom and another woman held each other while a crowd of passersby gathered around the boy.

“He was pumping, pumping, pumping him,” said the man, adding he believed the boy was clipped by gunfire in the neck and in the side. “The blood was just coming out of him.”

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AR and handgun seized as two teens arrested in wake of shooting in North York

Two young men face a slew of charges stemming an investigation into a North York shooting that led to the seizure of a rifle and a handgun.

Toronto Police say gunshots rang out in the residential area of Fenelon and Graydon Hall Drs. — near the Don Valley Pkwy. and Hwy. 401 — around 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 2.

Assault rifle, handgun seized as two teens arrested in wake of shooting

“Officers arrived on scene and located a vehicle involved in the shooting,” Const. Laura Brabant said in a statement released Saturday. “Officers followed the vehicle as it fled and it was abandoned a short distance away.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a news conference held to discuss the country's COVID-19 response in Ottawa, Nov. 6, 2020.

A Norinco assault rifle with two fully loaded magazines was allegedly found in the abandoned vehicle.

Brabant said investigators executed search warrants Saturday at two residences near Fenelon and Graydon Hall Dr.

“During a search of one of the residences, it is alleged that officers located a .40 caliber Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun with ammunition and a laser attachment,” she said. “The firearm was stored in an unsafe manner, fully loaded and readily accessible to a child.”

A .40 caliber Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun with ammunition and a laser attachment was allegedly found fully loaded and accessible to a child when investigators executed a search warrant at a residence in North York on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. 

Nicholas Juman, 19, and Estime Ndayihezagiye, 18, both of Toronto, face an assortment of firearms-related offences.

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Boy, 11, who died after falling through Victoria Park CI school skylight scaled roof with friends

Police have deemed the death of an 11-year-old boy, who fell through a skylight on the roof of a North York high school Friday, as not suspicious.

Toronto Police responded to an “unknown trouble” call at Victoria Park Collegiate on Wallingford Rd. — near Victoria Park Ave. and Ellesmere Rd. — around 5:20 p.m.

Police said the boy fell over nine metres and despite and an emergency run to hospital, he was pronounced dead.

“We know from our investigation so far, that five youth managed to scale the school and mount the roof over the gymnasium,” Toronto Police Insp. Paul Rinkoff told reporters at the scene Friday evening.

“Unfortunately, and tragically, one of the youths who was just under 12 years of age, fell through the skylight.”

Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird said the school was nearly vacant at the time of the incident.

“Typically, obviously, students would have been gone from the school, most of the teaching staff and we don’t really have permits in our schools right now, just given we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” he said, “so I believe it was largely the caretaking staff that were among others that were in the building at the time.”
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Video shows gunmen open fire with reckless abandon killing boy, 12 in North York

We also can’t show you the mug shots of the suspects who have been charged with first-degree murder in the gutless shooting of the 12-year-old boy.

It’s not that there’s nothing to see here, folks. There is lots to see.

But the authorities aren’t showing us or letting us show you. It’s like a homicide in full daylight being pushed into the darkness forever.

A secret slaying of a secret victim that’s not so secret — it’s bizarre. The gang world must laugh at how inept and weak we are.

In a few weeks, and after a few more shooting victims, perhaps you won’t even remember that a young boy was cut down just north of Jane and Finch while walking home with his mom from a grocery store. It won’t be difficult to forget a name or face you never knew.

Once lost in the three years it will take to get to court, you may hear even less about accused shooters Rashawn Chambers, 24, and Jahwayne Smart, 25, who have already been hit with gun prohibitions, yet were still somehow free to allegedly shoot at five people in a car, one of the 30 bullets fired from two guns with overcapacity magazines killing the boy.

If anybody wasn’t wearing a COVID-19 mask or staying two metres apart, there might be more of a fuss made.

It’s a sick joke and everybody knows it. But politicians will talk, virtue signal and blame, and then do nothing.

It was interesting to watch some on council who voted to defund the police in hiding Thursday or trying to change their position. At the news conference at 31 Division, area Councillor Anthony Perruzza said he voted for the defund motion to combat “racism” but now throws his full support behind the police.

They aren’t the bad guys in this city. They’re the good guys. It was the police, after all, who desperately tried to save the boy from bleeding out after cowards shot him, and it was the police who had two in custody in just 51 hours.

What should happen out of this heinous act is the return to street checks, police in schools, a TAVIS-style program to break up the gangs, no bail for weapons offences and 10-year prison terms for crimes with a deadly weapon. And no more anti-police rhetoric, but instead teach the community the police are great.

The people who aren’t great are the ones in the obscene video of this crime. It’s as evil as evil can get. On display is utter disregard and disrespect for human life and a lack of fear of being identified.

Instead, two men just start firing at a car in the 25 Stong Court parking lot in such rapid succession, it sounds like a war zone.

In the end, the bullets did damage that could not be repaired.

First you see the targeted vehicle with five people inside frantically trying to escape the scene while under fire. Three people were hit and the car was abandoned two kilometres away, north on Driftwood Ave. Also sad is seeing a woman with a shopping cart scurrying for her life.

The two shooters hopped into a getaway car with a third unidentified man and sped off.

The chilling video does not capture the horrifying scene across the street, where a bullet struck a 12-year-old boy in the neck, leaving him so badly wounded that he later died.

“It’s very upsetting for this community and the whole city,” Toronto Police Supt. Ron Taverner said Thursday. “It’s deplorable.”

Meanwhile, officers who attempted to save the boy by doing CPR are shaken up after staying at Sick Kids hospital while he battled to live.

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The real reason homes in Canada's big cities are unaffordable

Government taxes and charges add $644,000 to price of average new Vancouver home, study says

Canada has struggled with unaffordable housing in its major cities for years.

Between 2009 and September 2020, home prices in Toronto and Vancouver have soared 150% and 100%, respectively. Ottawa and Montreal has seen a 70% gain, while prices in Edmonton and Calgary have risen 10%.

Why the difference? It’s not just location, location, location, argues a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

In ‘Gimme shelter: How high municipal housing charges and taxes decrease housing supply,’ Benjamin Dachis identifies “development charges, land transfer taxes, and murky density bonus payments as partial drivers of reduced supply and soaring house prices for would-be buyers.”

In a well-functioning housing market, the market price of a home is close to the cost of construction. If prices are higher than that, Dachis says, it is often because regulations or government policy is inhibiting new construction and creating an artificial shortage.

Research has shown a persistent gap between the cost of building a new home and their market price in major Canadian cities, he said. And “restrictions on supply that drive up the cost of housing have broad economic consequences.”

In Vancouver housing regulation costs have added a stunning $644,000 extra cost to an average new house. That is not only the highest in Canada, it is among the highest in the world as a share of market prices.

In other cities – Abbotsford, Victoria, Kelowna, Regina, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa-Gatineau – homebuyers paid an average $230,000 extra on a new house because of limits on supply driven by regulations, says the report.

The study looks at how charges to home developers and taxes on existing housing affect the operation of the housing market and comes up with four key reforms.

Perhaps the most obviously welcome to homebuyers is the recommendation to eliminate or reduce land transfer taxes.

LTTs bring in a lot of money. Toronto, the only city in Ontario allowed to impose its own land transfer tax, collected $730 million in 2018, representing more than 5% of that year’s operating budget.

But the tax dollars come with a cost, Dachis argues. Global studies have shown LTTs reduce the number of housing sales and mobility within a city. In Toronto, the addition of the land transfer tax increased transaction costs by 14% and resulted in a 16% decline in sales volume the first year of the tax.

“These LTTs have a high cost to society because the money raised by government creates a relatively large change in selling and buying behaviour.” The study estimates the economic harm amounts to $5.65 for every dollar of government tax revenue generated by LTT.

Instead, cities should rely on property taxes from housing for funding municipal government services, such as parks and fire services akin to a user fee, the report says. Reductions or deferrals on these taxes aimed at helping people in need could be replaced by income-tested supports that people can use for any kind of housing cost.

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Toronto Neighbourhood Watch Website To Track Gun Crime

Toronto has been grappling with a growing gun violence problem for years now, and it only seems to be getting worse.  

According to police data, there have been a total of 425 shooting/firearm discharge incidents so far in 2020, and 201 people have been injured or killed as a result.

Tragically, the most recent casualty of the city's gun violence issue is a 12-year-old boy who was shot in North York while walking with his mom earlier this week. 

That's why Hassan Mansoor created MySafeAlley, a new website where residents can create an account and report any kind of crime or violence in the city. 

"I came up with this after seeing all the gun violence and how innocent people get shot," Mansoor. 

And it's easy to use, too. 

Torontonians simply have to go to the website, create an account for free and report activities ranging from theft, arson, shootings, sounds of gun shots, missing persons, missing persons found and active shooters. 

The app will then send an instant text message of reported activities to the users to make them aware of what's happening in the city in that particular moment.

"We needed something to make people aware of what's going on around them," Mansoor said. "This is the 21st century neighbourhood watch."

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Toronto Homeowners Pay the Lowest Property Taxes In Ontario

Buying a house in Toronto, if you're one of the few who can actually afford to do so anymore, is exorbitantly expensive when looking at the purchase straight on: The average price for a detached residence in the city is now more than $1.5 million.

Proportionately, however, based on the property taxes you'd need to pay every year, it's actually cheaper to live in Toronto than anywhere else in Ontario.

The real estate listing and analysis firm Zoocasa just released a report detailing how Toronto's infamously-low property tax rates came to be, and how Canada's largest city stacks up against 34 other municipalities across the province.

With young people leaving the city in droves to seek out larger, more-affordable spaces in smaller Ontario cities, there's never been a better time to consider just how big an impact this recurring annual expense will have on one's bank account over the years.

"It's important for buyers who are moving to a new municipality to note that the property tax rate their home is subject to and the total amount they pay in taxes every year will change as municipal tax rates vary widely across Ontario," reads the report.

"Depending on the municipality, the difference paid annually can be thousands of dollars depending on the size of the city, its council's operating budget, and even factors such as the health of its housing market."

Zoocasa rounded up #propertytax rates for 2020 across 35 Ontario municipalities, and calculated what homeowners could expect to pay in taxes at three sample assessment values in each region. Read our report here: https://t.co/vUXttdNJPs pic.twitter.com/x36Ew0uJtk

— Zoocasa (@zoocasa) November 12, 2020

Zoocasa calculated how much homeowners would pay in 35 different Ontario regions based on 2020 property taxes at three different assessment values: $250,000, $500,000 and $1,000,000.

"In Windsor – which features the highest property tax rate among the municipalities included on our list at 1.775679% – a homeowner would pay $8,878 per year in property taxes on a home assessed at $500,000," the report notes.

"By comparison, in the City of Toronto – which has the lowest tax rate at 0.599704% among the municipalities included on our list – a homeowner would pay a comparatively lower $2,999 for a property assessed at $500,000."

Sounds strange, but it's true — though it's important to note that a $500,000 home in Toronto would be much, much smaller, and likely farther away from the downtown core than a similarly-priced home in Southwestern Ontario.

As for why Toronto's property taxes are so comparatively low, Zoocasa explains that it's up to individual city councils to set property tax collection rates.

"In Toronto, for instance, city council has purposely kept the residential tax rate below inflation as a promise to voters," states the report. "Keeping property taxes low can also act as an incentive to draw more buyers to a city’s property market."

The report also notes that cities with "high-valued local real estate and larger populations" have more leeway on keeping tax rates low, as they're collecting more money from more people in more-expensive houses, generating sufficient cash to float the operating budgets of their respective councils.

You can read more about the why and how here, and see which cities have the highest and lowest property tax rates as of 2020 below:

Lead photo by

Sotheby's International Realty

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’Your Ward News’ editor James Sears appeal told lawyer refused to query Holocaust gas chambers

A defence lawyer was incompetent in part because he refused to argue in court that gas chambers were never used against Jews in the Holocaust, a convicted hate monger testified on Tuesday.

Testifying at his appeal, James Sears also argued the lawyer failed to call any witnesses out of fear of angering the judge or appearing anti-Semitic among his dozens of allegations against his trial counsel.

Sears, Toronto-based editor of the free publication “Your Ward News,” said it was important to him that Dean Embry did not contradict the views he had expressed in the paper.

“I have a right to file a truth defence here on historical facts,” Sears said, adding that he does not believe gas chambers were used in the killing of six million Jews.

Sears, and the paper’s publisher, LeRoy St. Germaine, are appealing their convictions for wilfully promoting hatred against Jews and women. Ontario court Judge Richard Blouin found them guilty last year, saying the case against them was overwhelming.

“Mr. Sears,” Blouin said, “promoted hate to a vast audience in an era where online exposure to this material inexorably leads to extremism and the potential of mass casualties.”

Sears, 57, who described himself as “halfway between a lawyer and an actor who portrays a lawyer on TV,” is handling the appeal himself before Superior Court Justice Peter Cavanagh.

Embry has maintained he did his best to provide effective, professional counsel. While he considered Sears’s views about the Holocaust to be indefensible and vehemently disagreed with much of his client’s thinking, court heard, he believed they had a shot at raising a doubt about whether the accused had been promoting hate with the publication.

During his evidence, Sears said he repeatedly urged Embry to call witnesses in an effort to undermine the testimony of the prosecution’s two experts on anti-Semitism and misogyny. Embry, however, was adamantly opposed.

“I said we should leave nothing on the table and lead our own experts,” Sears said. “He thought again it would piss off Blouin.”

Sears, who fired Embry after the guilty verdict, said he felt stuck with the lawyer whom he described as honest and a good person.

In cross-examination, Crown lawyer Michael Bernstein suggested a lawyer has an obligation to pick an approach, prompting Sears to retort it was an incompetent strategy.

“Mr. Embry acted at all times professionally and competently,” Bernstein said.

“We agree to disagree.”

Bernstein produced a series of emails about planned closing submissions in which Sears praised his lawyer for having done a “really good job” and telling him, “I do trust you as much as a I trust anyone who isn’t me.” At the same time, Sears insisted Embry not say anything in “Your Ward News” was false.

“I gave him the big thumb’s up. That’s correct,” Sears said. “I didn’t want this, but I acquiesced to it. I wanted to present a full defence.”

“You did a lot more than acquiesce,” Bernstein said, quoting Sears at one point as telling Embry: “You’re looking good. We’re going to get acquitted.”

“At the time, I didn’t think he was incompetent but I had doubts,” Sears, who chose not to testify at his trial, explained of another email.

Embry said in an affidavit he had urged his client to take the stand but couldn’t persuade him. He also rejected many of his client’s strategy suggestions because he thought they would backfire.

Blouin last year handed Sears, who was granted bail pending appeal, the maximum one-year jail sentence, saying he would have given longer had the law allowed. St. Germaine was given 12 months strict house arrest.

The appeal is expected to continue on Thursday.

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