Sunday, September 30, 2018
Is Kayla Palmer of Toronto Kayla The Massage Dancing *oe?
From THE DIRTY : "Kayla Palmer also known as Paige at Steeles Royal Massage in Brampton. Fakest person you’ll ever meet! For playing the dance teacher who loves kids she’s really a monster in disguise. Beside the meth, Pepsi and alcohol, she’s also an escort. Funny that she’s racist and talks sh1t about black people and Indians but then pays her pimp who is black LOL. You need to come clean Kayla and stop playing like a sad little victim. She pretends to be quiet and shy but I know the real her. Shes drug addict and alcoholic *oe who talks sh1t about ppl behind their backs. Stealing from her dance school in Oakville to support her drug habit. Wonder if her partner knows. I was friends with her until I went out with her one night and seen who she truly is. And at the time she was cheating on her ex in front of me with her pimp. That’s when our friendship ended. Then after seeing her talking sh1t about her own close friends in front of me I realized who she really is. A fake *oe. Glad I moved far away from her but I need to expose her."
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Is Mila Cvetkovic of Toronto on Seeking Arrangements?
From THE DIRTY : "This girl has been a regular on Seeking Arragments and has lost her moral compass. She gave most of my guy friends STD before totally shaming them with the fact they dated a complete slore. This girl has a lip with a giant STD on it. EVEN if your paying dont kiss her. lets hope one of her paid dates drives over the cliff with this total maniac."
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Is Shay Niessen of Toronto a dirty gym sl*t?
From THE DIRTY : Shay Niessen has lied to everrrryyyonnneee about getting beaten and strangled by her ex. Any bruises or bumps she has are most likely from a drunken tumble into some gym rats bed. careful not to stub your toe on some meat heads at home gym, sloot. She can’t keep her legs or her mouth closed. All that sh1tty black eyeliner she wears is getting into her eyes. She’s a tramp and you are bound to catch something from the dirty needles she uses to shoot up steroids with. This b1tch is despicable.
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Nigel Caliph of Toronto is a "Rapist" according to his "psycho" ex girlfriend Krystle
From The Dirty "His ex left him because he is a crazy POS so he "raped" her then did everything in his power to ruin her life and her kid’s life. He is a real pos. Who ruins an innocent child’s life? WTF is wrong with you? He is a loser and an abusive azzhole, beware ladies."
"This is ridiculous. Let me also link another article.
https://thedirty.com/canada/ontario/jamal-bell-williams/#post-2267807
So unfortunately my ex girlfriend, Krystle is psycho. She is currently pregnant but from which one of us, only god knows. Jamal and I are both ex’s of hers of which she cheated on both of us. She can not be trusted, she is dangerous to the point she believes her own lies and is blinded from her own actions. She claims to both of us individually that we’re the father. As we both know the truth and have previously tried to come to reason with her, she uses her unborn baby as excuses of her out of this world reasoning. She continues to cry wolf to whomever would give her a chance to hear her.
I will definitely be contacting higher authority to take these post down."
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Toronto's wealthy are mostly white and non recent immigrants, so what's new?
What how the Looney Left always blame racism. What else could it be? Hmmmm.
In Toronto, the colour of money is mainly white.
New demographic charts show a strikingly segregated city, with visible minorities concentrated in low-income neighbourhoods and white residents dominating affluent areas in numbers far higher than their share of the population.
The new charts come from University of Toronto Prof. David Hulchanski and his research team, known for using census data to illustrate growing income inequality in the city. Their latest effort flags the role of discrimination in that inequality, with lopsided racial breakdowns that surprised the researchers.
“It’s starker than we would expect,” Hulchanski said in an interview.
Hulchanski revealed the new charts last week in the Netherlands at a conference called “Urban poverty and segregation in a globalized world.”
Using the 2016 census, his team calculated that 48 per cent of Toronto’s census tracts are low-income neighbourhoods, where the average individual income is $32,000 before taxes.Fully 68 per cent of residents in these neighbourhoods are visible minorities while 31 per cent are white. (Whites make up 49 per cent of Toronto’s population.)
The main ethno-cultural communities in these low-income neighbourhoods are all overrepresented compared to their share of the city’s population. Black residents, for example, are 9 per cent of the population but make up 13 per cent of residents of low-income neighbourhoods.
High-income neighbourhoods are almost a reverse image. They make up 23 per cent of Toronto’s census tracts, with average individual incomes of $102,000 before tax. Fully 73 per cent of residents in these neighbourhoods are white, far higher than their share of the city’s population. The rest are visible minorities, of whom only 3 per cent are Black.
Whites are also overrepresented in middle-income neighbourhoods, where the average income is $49,000.
“Money buys choice. And people with the most choice are choosing to live in certain areas,” Hulchanski says, explaining the disproportionately high concentration of white residents in high- and middle-income communities.
Choice also partly explains the makeup of low-income neighbourhoods. Some members of ethnic groups prefer to live where their communities are most numerous, giving them easy access to the shops and cultural or religious services that facilitate integration or simply make life more enjoyable.
York University Prof. Carl James, who reviewed Hulchanski’s charts, questions how free the choice actually is for visible minorities.
“We have to think about how the system might have enabled and co-operated in making it possible for some people to access high income neighbourhoods and to stay in those neighbourhoods, or operated to keep others out of those neighbourhoods. It’s not just individual choice. Many other structural things work in relation to choice.”
Studies indicate that discriminatory barriers to good jobs and housing play a determining role.
“Discrimination is not at the same level as in the United States,” Hulchanski says, “but that doesn’t make it any better for those who face that problem here.”
The researchers split the city into high-. and low-income categories by comparing neighbourhoods that were 20 per cent above or below the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area average. Middle-income was within 20 per cent. The team then used census data to see the makeup of those communities.
Evidence of discrimination is reinforced by another chart produced by Hulchanski’s team, showing relatively high levels of education in low-income neighbourhoods. Half of all residents in those areas have a post-secondary degree: 25 per cent from a university and 25 per cent from a community college.
Hulchanski questioned why half the city has average gross incomes of only $32,000 when so many people in those low-income neighbourhoods have relatively high levels of education. “That doesn't make sense, except for discrimination,” he said.
Another worrying sign for Hulchanski is that 57 per cent of residents in Toronto’s low-income neighbourhoods are immigrants, including established ones who arrived before 2006. Only 31 per cent of residents in high-income areas are immigrants, including 23 per cent who arrived prior to 2006.
The racial segregation of Toronto neighbourhoods is in the context of research, also from Hulchanski’s team, illustrating the growth of low- and high-income neighbourhoods in Toronto, while middle ones steadily disappear.
The polarized income trend dates back to the 1990s, caused by federal and provincial cuts in transfer payments and social assistance, along with tax cuts, rising housing costs and the disappearance of well-paid manufacturing jobs, Hulchanski says.
Government policies caused the income polarization, and only government policies can reverse it, he argues. Hulchanski warns that in Europe, where the trend is less severe, income polarization and ethnic segregation has contributed to the rise of far-right populist movements and outbreaks of violence.
“How long can this continue?” Hulchanski asks. “There is no sign of the trend reversing yet.
“Will there be riots in Toronto? Who knows?”
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In Toronto, the colour of money is mainly white.
New demographic charts show a strikingly segregated city, with visible minorities concentrated in low-income neighbourhoods and white residents dominating affluent areas in numbers far higher than their share of the population.
The new charts come from University of Toronto Prof. David Hulchanski and his research team, known for using census data to illustrate growing income inequality in the city. Their latest effort flags the role of discrimination in that inequality, with lopsided racial breakdowns that surprised the researchers.
“It’s starker than we would expect,” Hulchanski said in an interview.
Hulchanski revealed the new charts last week in the Netherlands at a conference called “Urban poverty and segregation in a globalized world.”
Using the 2016 census, his team calculated that 48 per cent of Toronto’s census tracts are low-income neighbourhoods, where the average individual income is $32,000 before taxes.Fully 68 per cent of residents in these neighbourhoods are visible minorities while 31 per cent are white. (Whites make up 49 per cent of Toronto’s population.)
The main ethno-cultural communities in these low-income neighbourhoods are all overrepresented compared to their share of the city’s population. Black residents, for example, are 9 per cent of the population but make up 13 per cent of residents of low-income neighbourhoods.
High-income neighbourhoods are almost a reverse image. They make up 23 per cent of Toronto’s census tracts, with average individual incomes of $102,000 before tax. Fully 73 per cent of residents in these neighbourhoods are white, far higher than their share of the city’s population. The rest are visible minorities, of whom only 3 per cent are Black.
Whites are also overrepresented in middle-income neighbourhoods, where the average income is $49,000.
“Money buys choice. And people with the most choice are choosing to live in certain areas,” Hulchanski says, explaining the disproportionately high concentration of white residents in high- and middle-income communities.
Choice also partly explains the makeup of low-income neighbourhoods. Some members of ethnic groups prefer to live where their communities are most numerous, giving them easy access to the shops and cultural or religious services that facilitate integration or simply make life more enjoyable.
York University Prof. Carl James, who reviewed Hulchanski’s charts, questions how free the choice actually is for visible minorities.
“We have to think about how the system might have enabled and co-operated in making it possible for some people to access high income neighbourhoods and to stay in those neighbourhoods, or operated to keep others out of those neighbourhoods. It’s not just individual choice. Many other structural things work in relation to choice.”
Studies indicate that discriminatory barriers to good jobs and housing play a determining role.
“Discrimination is not at the same level as in the United States,” Hulchanski says, “but that doesn’t make it any better for those who face that problem here.”
The researchers split the city into high-. and low-income categories by comparing neighbourhoods that were 20 per cent above or below the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area average. Middle-income was within 20 per cent. The team then used census data to see the makeup of those communities.
Evidence of discrimination is reinforced by another chart produced by Hulchanski’s team, showing relatively high levels of education in low-income neighbourhoods. Half of all residents in those areas have a post-secondary degree: 25 per cent from a university and 25 per cent from a community college.
Hulchanski questioned why half the city has average gross incomes of only $32,000 when so many people in those low-income neighbourhoods have relatively high levels of education. “That doesn't make sense, except for discrimination,” he said.
Another worrying sign for Hulchanski is that 57 per cent of residents in Toronto’s low-income neighbourhoods are immigrants, including established ones who arrived before 2006. Only 31 per cent of residents in high-income areas are immigrants, including 23 per cent who arrived prior to 2006.
The racial segregation of Toronto neighbourhoods is in the context of research, also from Hulchanski’s team, illustrating the growth of low- and high-income neighbourhoods in Toronto, while middle ones steadily disappear.
The polarized income trend dates back to the 1990s, caused by federal and provincial cuts in transfer payments and social assistance, along with tax cuts, rising housing costs and the disappearance of well-paid manufacturing jobs, Hulchanski says.
Government policies caused the income polarization, and only government policies can reverse it, he argues. Hulchanski warns that in Europe, where the trend is less severe, income polarization and ethnic segregation has contributed to the rise of far-right populist movements and outbreaks of violence.
“How long can this continue?” Hulchanski asks. “There is no sign of the trend reversing yet.
“Will there be riots in Toronto? Who knows?”
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Left wing "regressive" Toronto council candidates bail out from election
Jane-Finch community activist Suzanne Narain is no longer running for city council but that doesn’t mean she’s given up her goal of unseating long-time incumbents.
Following news last week that a 25-ward election is to go ahead after unprecedented uncertainty, Narain decided her time will be better spent engaging Humber River—Black Creek residents in the upcoming election, rather than splitting the progressive vote.
“There’s a common misconception people in this neighbourhood are not attuned to politics or interested in voting, but people do want to get involved,” said Narain. “But things like this (25-ward system) make it so impossible to go forward.”
Narain, a daughter of Guyanese immigrants, is one of about 75 candidates who campaigned for one of 47 wards in the election’s original incarnation, but will not be running in the 25-ward election after the province slashed the number of wards. Many of these former candidates identify as visible minorities, or because of their gender or sexual orientation didn’t feel adequately represented by council, a situation that’s unlikely to improve in this election, according to critics of the province’s move.
“By slashing city council in half, we’re likely to end up with even worse representation,” said David Meslin, a community activist focused on civic engagement. “This tragic consequence can already be seen, simply by looking at the list of candidates who have dropped out of the election as a result of (Premier) Doug Ford’s brutal attack on local democracy.”
Narain faced a huge challenge in the 25-ward system. The elementary school supply teacher would’ve been running a grassroots campaign with limited resources, which she determined would be far less effective stretched across roughly double the geographic area and number of households than what she’d originally signed up for.
And she would’ve faced not one, but two incumbents with considerable financial backing — Giorgio Mammoliti and Anthony Perruzza.
“It feels like the incumbents and people with resources are fighting one race, and the people with less resources are in another,” said Narain, who grew up and continues to live in the North York neighbourhood. This problem is exacerbated by the 25-ward system, she said.
In 2014, Mammoliti and Perruzza both received more than $40,000 in campaign contributions, even more than they were allowed to spend. (Surpluses are turned over to the city clerk, according to the province.) How much candidates are allowed to spend is linked to how many eligible voters are in their wards, so this year in expansive wards like Humber River—Black Creek, they’ll be allowed to raise more.
Narain, who ran in the same ward as Perruzza and came third, raised less than $1,300.
Aiming to represent marginalized residents, Narain didn’t believe extra donations would be flowing into her campaign under the 25-ward system, putting her at even more of a disadvantage.
“A lot of people are being pushed out of the system. It’s not that we don’t want to run. It’s that we can’t afford to anymore,” she said.
Under the original 47-ward election there were at least 10 races without an incumbent, which would have added fresh faces to a city council that’s traditionally been white, heterosexual and male. Ford’s unexpected cut to the city’s wards in the middle of the election means there are now only two wards where no incumbent or former councillor is running. Incumbents, running off name recognition, have a far greater chance of winning than new candidates.
“At a time when cynicism towards politics and politicians is at a record high, this drastic erosion of local representation is a monumental leap backwards and will serve only to further feed people’s frustrations and anger,” Meslin said.
The Humber River—Black Creek community deserves more than “career politicians” who ignore or dismiss the most pressing needs of her community, Narain said. It will be up to residents to vote strategically if they want change and someone new, and she’ll be there to help them figure out who they think that person should be, she said.
Former parking enforcement officer and well-known road safety advocate Kyle Ashley was planning to take on incumbent Jaye Robinson. After the province’s cut to council, he said, donations came to a standstill as everyone waited to find out which ward system would win.
Then, faced with running in Don Valley West, a ward with about the same population as all of Milton, Ashley figured his campaign would be ineffective so he refocused on supporting other candidates across the city.
“When 13 is the new majority on council, which is very, very frightening, and it becomes ever so more important to get progressive councillors voted to council,” Ashley said.
Also working behind the scenes in Toronto’s downtown is Suzanna Kavanagh — another aspiring council candidate whose campaign ended with the 47 wards. She’s doing walkabouts with at least two incumbents to share some of her knowledge about issues including large upcoming developments, the St. Lawrence Market reconstruction and park refurbishments.
The reason she chose not to run for one of the “super wards” is because she didn’t want to represent an area that large, a job she envisions is like that of an MP or MPP, and she didn’t want to run against incumbents Joe Cressy for Spadina—Fort York, or Kristyn Wong-Tam for Toronto Centre. Her decision was despite having “well over” 100 volunteers and raising and spending $25,000 on the campaign, Kavanagh said. Donors who supported a 47-ward candidate who is no longer running can still apply to the city’s rebate program.
“It was fun while it lasted. I just wish I had the opportunity to run in the 47-ward system because I had a lot of support,” said Kavanagh, admitting she shed a few tears when the change became certain. Now, she’s figuring out what to do next.
“There is no point in complaining,” Kavanagh said of Ford’s ward cuts. “The best thing we need to do is get ourselves organized and figure out how to work with the resources we have.”
She’s president of the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, a role she said will be more important than ever when councillors have roughly double the number of residents to serve and not as much time to advocate on their behalf.
In the meantime, she’s going to take a spontaneous trip to Newfoundland in October with her 84-year-old mother.
Other candidates out of the race
About 75 candidates under the 47-ward system either didn’t register or withdrew from the 25 ward race. Here’s a sampling of those not running:
Jennifer Hollett: The former MuchMusic VJ and Twitter Canada executive, and Harvard graduate, was set to run in a newly created east downtown ward with a platform focused on housing, connecting green space and creating more transit options.
Chris Moise: A gay, Black school board trustee, he’d hoped to be part of a city council shakeup by running in a new and open ward in downtown. If elected, he would’ve focused on repairing tensions between the police and the Black and LGBTQ communities. He will seek re-election as a trustee.
Rocco Achampong: A practising lawyer and son of immigrant parents from Ghana, he signed up to run in the area where he grew up and would face no incumbent. He was the first to apply to fight Ford’s Bill 5 in court.
Ausma Malik: When she was elected as school board trustee in 2014, Malik was believed to be the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman to be elected to public office in Canada. She had planned to break down more barriers as city councillor of a new downtown ward with a promise to include residents in more decision-making.
Han Dong: The former Trinity-Spadina Liberal MPP who lost to the NDP in this year’s provincial election wanted to continue to represent the community as city councillor of the same area. He previously told the Star he wanted use his MPP experience to push the PC government to deliver on funding promises made by the Liberals that mattered to Toronto.
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Toronto mayoral candidates avoid the real issues
As I watched the latest Toronto mayoral debate this past week, I kept asking myself, “Is that all there is?”
It actually became akin to definition of insanity to hear the candidates — all left-of-centre including Mayor John Tory — resort to the same uninspiring, politically correct and downright naive ideas that haven’t worked before.
Naivité came from far-left lawyer Saron Gebresellassi, who, while passionate, kept insisting all we had to do to end the rash of violence in this city was to eliminate poverty and make everything free.
Why, yes, Ms. Gebresellassi, we’ll get right on that.
I really fear for this city watching them.
There’s three weeks to go and so far, Tory and his key rival Jennifer Keesmaat, along with the two leftists handpicked to debate, have successfully and deliberately avoided the real elephant in the room.
We have a real problem with violence in Toronto. Mark my words, it’s not because of too many guns or too few jobs and basketball courts for disenfranchised youth.
It’s because in the past four years there’s been a perfect storm in this city. Cops have been neutered with carding and TAVIS — the tools to proactively police against guns and gangs — taken away from them, along with front line resources.
At the same time, Tory and council, with no thought to the fallout or lack of police resources to keep order, have imposed safe injection sites (eight of them in total) on unsuspecting neighbourhoods.
Like clockwork and taking an example from Vancouver, the areas around the sites have been plagued by lawlessness, vandalism, anti-social behaviour and encampments. The drug dealers have flocked to the new turf, untouched and unafraid of any enforcement.
But Tory and council didn’t stop there. To serve what we repeatedly are told is a huge increase in homelessness they’ve allowed the arrogant and unaccountable city shelter staff to plunk expensive warehouses for transients wherever they choose. It seems cost is no option either as they buy up $2.5-million (each) pre-fab structures, two of which will be plunked in the heart of Liberty Village and in Gore Park across from the Princes’ Gates.
We have no clue where these transients and their pets are coming from (I suspect from outside Toronto) and there are no rules attached to their stay in any of these warehouses.
As residents have discovered in the Asquith-Collier and Augusta Ave. neighbourhoods, they’ve been left to fend themselves against the fallout.
While this all happened under Tory’s watch, rest assured I never heard a note of resistance among Keesmaat’s thousands of tweets per month.
Toronto residents deserve far more than pablum from our mayoral candidates.
They deserve a recognition of what is occurring in this city and some tough talk on how to deal with it.
Whether we’ll get that from Keesmaat or Tory is another story.
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Radisson Le Cafe hotel in Toronto painted as refugee camp by reviewers
Visitors to an east-end Toronto hotel — which has doubled as a refugee camp all summer — have turned in droves to two well-read travel websites to warn others not to stay there.
A series of pointed reviews on TripAdvisor and Expedia from those who stayed at the Radisson Toronto East hotel as recently as this past week advise others that some 400 refugees from Africa are occupying all but two floors of the hotel and they were not informed of the situation before booking.
One traveller from Los Angeles, who stayed there during a business trip a week ago, calls the place an “absolute zoo.”
Others described the hotel as “dangerous,” dirty and noisy — and that the lobby is a “madhouse,” full of loitering refugees.
A visitor from Montreal said kids were “skateboarding in the lobby” and the staff didn’t seem to care.
“My daughter kept getting harassed by full-grown men (refugees),” the Montrealer wrote on TripAdvisor.
The visitor from L.A. said he was “shocked and horrified at the nightmare situation” in the lobby.
“Huge crowds of people, children spitting, yelling, jumping on top of each other, and to make things even worse, one of them stole my phone and I had to chase them to get them to return it,” the traveller wrote.
“I will never return… I would rather have slept in our car.”
Calls to the hotel Saturday yielded little information other than the cost to stay there in a standard room with a king bed next weekend — $159 per night.
The front desk clerk repeatedly refused to give any information on the refugees except to acknowledge that there are guests staying in the hotel “long-term.”
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Thursday, September 27, 2018
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Could or should Toronto become its own province?
Hours before registering to become a candidate for Toronto mayor last week, the city’s former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat publicly called for the city to break off from Ontario to form Canada’s 11th province.
“Secession,” she wrote in a concise tweet on Friday, later wondering, “Why should a city of 2.8 million not have self governance?”
Torontonians have talked about it before, but actually seceding would be one of the most difficult political maneuvers in Canadian history.
Under the Constitution, the “establishment of new provinces” cannot occur without a constitutional amendment. That amendment would require approval not only from Queen’s Park and Ottawa, but from legislatures in “at least two-thirds of the provinces” representing at least 50 per cent of the population of all ten provinces.
In short, for Toronto to secede it would need majority support from at least nine representative bodies of government: The House of Commons, the Senate, the Ontario Legislative Assembly and at least six other provinces.
And for the proposal to be taken seriously, it’s almost a guarantee it would also need to be approved by Toronto City Council and in a city-wide referendum.
It would be one of the most difficult political challenges since Canada’s creation in 1867.
Even in that case, the Fathers of Confederation needed to obtain approval from just five representative bodies, three of which were colonial legislatures with a vested interest in forming a new country.
The other two, the United Kingdom’s House of Commons and House of Lords, had essentially agreed to rubber stamp whatever proposal Canada sent them.
Toronto secessionists, by contrast, could well face a hostile Queen’s Park, as well as a House of Commons and Senate in Ottawa that would be wary of encouraging secessionist movements elsewhere in the country.
Meanwhile, six other provinces would need to be convinced to back the proposal, despite it offering them no apparent direct benefit. And if Canada’s recent interprovincial trade spats are any indication, Canadian provinces are very reluctant to do anything for each other that doesn’t yield political capital back home.
“The problem would be that the provinces would tack on other demands,” said Philippe Lagassé, an expert in the Westminster system based at Carleton University.
It’s perhaps no surprise that Canada’s two other major attempts to reform the Constitution — the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords — all went down in flames.
In fact, Meech Lake was arguably brought down by a single vote from Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper.
Prior to the patriation of the Constitution in 1982, it used to be way easier to add provinces to Confederation. Saskatchewan and Alberta were created with little more than acts of parliament.
In 1949 it only took a U.K. Act of Parliament to make Newfoundland the 10th province, although in that case Newfoundlanders themselves also approved the decision in a pair of narrowly-won referendums.
Despite the insurmountable odds of achieving provincehood, the idea of Toronto as a province has been raised before by the likes of urban theorist Jane Jacobs and former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman.
In 2000, Toronto city councillor Michael Walker went so far as to campaign for Toronto secession to be made a ballot issue — only to have the proposal swiftly slapped down by Ontario’s then-Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris.
“We just can’t afford to be in the business of exporting more and more of our hard-earned money out to prop up the rest of province,” Walker said at the time.
If the entire Greater Toronto Area were to break off into a new province, its six million people would instantly become Canada’s third largest province by population. Its estimated $304 billion GDP would make it Canada’s fourth-wealthiest province, just behind Alberta.
An independent GTA would also be slightly larger geographically than Prince Edward Island, sparing it the title of smallest province.
Although Canadian or U.S. metropolises are all contained within larger regional governments, it’s not unprecedented for countries to give their largest city its own province or state.
Mexico City is one of Mexico’s 32 autonomous federal entities. In Germany the cites of Berlin and Hamburg are both counted among the country’s 16 constituent states.
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Premier Doug Ford distances himself from Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy
Ontario Premier Doug Ford distanced himself Wednesday from Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy following repeated Opposition questions about a photograph he took with her.
Ford had been asked for three consecutive days at the legislature to denounce Faith Goldy, a former journalist and now controversial Toronto mayoral candidate, but had only said he was against hate speech.
In a brief statement posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, the premier mentioned Goldy by name.
“I have been clear,” Ford wrote. “I condemn hate speech, anti-Semitism and racism in all forms — be it from Faith Goldy or anyone else.”
Shortly after Ford’s tweet, Goldy issued one of her own.
“Proud to stand up for all Canadians alongside ya, Doug!” she wrote.
Goldy and her supporters had posed for a photograph with the premier over the weekend at an annual gathering known as Ford Fest.
The NDP had pressed Ford repeatedly to condemn Goldy after the event, saying she promotes white nationalist views and supports neo-Nazis.
In response, Ford had voiced his opposition to hate speech in general.
“I totally denounce — I repeat denounce, denounce, denounce — anyone who wants to talk hate speech,” he had said in the legislature Tuesday.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath had said Ford needed to address the issue directly.
“The reality is the premier was taking pictures with someone who is a self-proclaimed white supremacist, someone who is tied to neo-Nazi groups,” she said. “The leader of our province should be very vocal in distancing himself from this woman.”
Earlier in the day the NDP legislator Laura Mae Lindo asked the head of the government’s anti-racism directorate, Minister Michael Tibollo, if he believed Ford should denounce Goldy, adding that the woman’s photo with the premier was being used as a “de facto endorsement of her (mayoral) campaign by the premier.”
Tibollo said there is no place for racism in the province and the government is actively pursing policies to fight it.
“I would encourage you and I encourage anyone else interested in pursuing those issues, really pursuing the issues, not to try to gain political advantage in a situation where it’s not necessary, to work with us and find a solution that is good for the entire province,” Tibollo told the NDP legislator. “That’s what we should be doing.”
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Toronto town hall on potential handgun ban marked by vocal opponents
A Toronto town hall that saw repeated angry outbursts and interruptions from an unruly audience offered the Liberal government its first glimpse of the road ahead in its work on a possible ban on handguns.
In advance of formal public consultations, Toronto-area Liberal MPs Julie Dabrusin and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith hosted a public event Sunday to discuss gun violence, an issue the government has vowed to crack down on ahead of next year’s election. But despite support for a ban from some of Canada’s largest cities, the meeting, which saw repeated interjections from a small but determined number of pro-gun audience members, highlighted just how divisive the issue may still prove to be.
“I know there is a great diversity of opinion. There are some people with very strong feelings on this issue,” Bill Blair said afterward. Mr. Blair is the newly appointed Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction.
Mr. Blair, a former Toronto Police chief who spoke at Sunday’s event, has been tasked with stick-handling the handgun issue. He said that moving forward, "evidence” will help guide him. But at the town hall, even the evidence proved contentious.
As he sat onstage speaking, Mr. Blair cited Toronto Police figures indicating that an increasing proportion of guns used in crime are coming from domestic sources (as opposed to illegally through the border) – at least of those guns that police are able to track. That comment drew loud booing, with some shouting that the minister was misrepresenting the data.
Sunday’s town hall took place just minutes away from Danforth Avenue, the site of a mass shooting in late July that saw a lone gunman kill an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl. That shooting and the outrage that followed touched off a national debate about gun crime in Canada, and sparked a flurry of activity in Ottawa surrounding the issue.
Immediately following the Danforth shooting, Toronto’s city council called on the federal government to ban handguns in the city. Soon after, Montreal’s city council followed suit. In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke publicly about the possibility of a handgun ban, and just last week the government said it would launch nation-wide consultations on the idea.
Mr. Blair was joined onstage Sunday by Scot Wortley, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Toronto; Louis March, founder of the group Zero Gun Violence; and emergency physician Atul Kapur.
Throughout the two-hour discussion, the presenters agreed on many issues, including the need to approach gun crime not simply as a criminal matter. The presenters spoke repeatedly of the need to address root causes of violence, including poverty, education, mental health, public housing and economic opportunity.
But much of the disagreement came instead from the crowd. While some audience members appeared supportive of a ban, the most vocal were those who opposed it.
Even before the meeting began, there were signs of a divide. Ahead of the meeting, a pro-firearm group posted on social media urging supporters to “flood” the event."
"We need our voice to be heard!” a group called On Target Canada wrote on Twitter.
Standing in the lobby before the meeting, Don Lindsay, speaking on behalf of the Canadian Firearms Network, told The Globe and Mail that he considered Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Blair "cowards” for targeting gun owners. He said that the majority of gun owners are law-abiding, and that those who use them to commit crimes aren’t likely to be swayed by a ban. Mr. Lindsay said he’d driven nearly two hours down from Wasaga Beach for the Toronto session.
Throughout the meeting, like-minded audience members made their views known. In one pointed exchange, Prof. Wortley remarked onstage that many of the young men he’s spoken with in his research have said they’d acquired their guns through legal owners.
The comment drew jeers from the crowd.
“I don’t know why they would have a reason to lie about it,” the professor responded, visibly frustrated.
And as Mr. Erskine-Smith wrapped up the town hall, another outburst.
“Stop using gun owners as a scapegoat!” shouted a man from the audience. The comment elicited a burst of applause.
Afterward, Mr. Blair said he welcomed all perspectives. "There are some who feel very very strongly about their personal ownership of firearms. There are some who feel equally strong about the safety of their communities,” he said.
“We’ll listen to both.”
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Mackai Bishop Jackson of Toronto’s 81st homicide victim of 2018 is just 15 years old, killed at 230 Sackville Street in Regent Park
Toronto’s 81st homicide victim of 2018 is just 15 years old.
He was shot to death at about 4:20 p.m. at 230 Sackville Street in the heart of Regent Park.
It’s another kid murdered in Toronto in 2018.
Repugnant and unacceptable. But predictable and routine.
Yet public safety, in a year where we have had about 20 innocent people murdered for going for ice cream, walking to work, sitting in a car, or going bowling, is not a campaign issue.
In the first two debates, Mayor John Tory and main challenger Jennifer Keesmaat have talked about arts funding, transit, traffic and housing.
This while Toronto is just shy of 1991’s record of 89 homicides — all while there’s still more than three months left in 2018.
This year, our youngest victim of murder was Julianna Kozis, 10. Our oldest was Betty Forsyth, 94.
Don’t forget the playground shooting that saw two girls, five and nine, wounded.
And just this Saturday, the victim of Toronto’s 77th homicide was a 16-year-old boy who police have not even told us his name.
No one is demanding to know because the white towel has been thrown when it comes to shooting carnage in Toronto.
When kids being shot and seniors being run over is not on the debate card, you know there’s no urgency to stop the carnage.
Few seem to talk about the lucrative drug trade behind the violence, but instead foster it by erecting tents to allow for convenient and comfortable drug use.
Whenever politicians, including Tory, talk about guns the is focus on banning and confiscating legal one owned by collectors and target shooters and not the thousands of illegal firearms gangbangers on every corner carry with impunity because they know they won’t be carded.
Another thing I would like to see is someone tally up the number of gunshots fired this year. It seems at many shootings, multiple rounds is common place now. Just last week I wrote about a birthday party where a video shows a guy showed up and fired seven shots — hitting one teen in the hand.
It wasn’t talk about at either debate either. The shooters have their own justice system going on out there if the sun is up or down.
The latest example is another Toronto kid bleeding to death in Regent Park just a few minutes after school let out.
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Three sent to hospital after shooting near Tandridge and Albion Rd in Rexdale
Toronto Police are looking for a gunman after two people were shot and a third sustained “other injuries” in Rexdale Tuesday morning.
The call came in around 8:30 a.m. for a shooting at Tandridge Cres. and Albion Rd. where police located two men suffering gunshot wounds in a residential building. A woman was also located with stab wounds.
“They found obvious signs of blood in the hallway,” said Supt. Ron Taverner at the scene.
“Upon further examination, they found an apartment where it appeared there had been a shooting and there were two male victims that had been shot and a female victim that had received stab wounds.”
Taverner said all three have serious, but non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospital.
Police searched the building for a gun, but a weapon has yet to be recovered. They’re not looking for any other suspects.
“Obviously, it’s very concerning that a shooting is taking place at 8:30 in the morning in a very busy area, very busy building here,” added Taverner.
SHOOTING:— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) September 25, 2018
Tandridge Cr + Albion Rd
-inside a building
-Reports of people screaming
-Multiple shots heard
-Reports of people shot
-Police en route#GO1774375
^dh
“A lot of children in the building. This could have taken a drastic turn to something much more serious than it is now. There have been shootings in this area in the past. When we’re talking about public safety, we’re talking about another gun being out there now.”
A nearby school — Braeburn Junior School — was in hold and secure, but that was lifted at 11 a.m., said Toronto District School Board spokesman Ryan Bird.
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Paul “Boulos” Rizk, 27, of Toronto gunned down near Don Mills and Sheppard is city's 80th homicide
A man in his 20s has been killed in the city’s latest instance of gun violence.
Police received reports of gunfire around 8:10 p.m. Monday in the Don Mills Rd.-Sheppard Ave. E. area, said Gary Long, of Toronto Police — some saying they heard as many as 10 shots.
Searching the area, officers came across an injured man near Parkway Forest Dr. and Forest Manor Dr. He was pronounced at the scene.
On Tuesday afternoon, police identified the victim as Paul “Boulos” Rizk, 27, of Toronto.
An autopsy is scheduled on Tuesday.
The Parkway Forest Community Centre was closed Tuesday and surrounded by police tape as the investigation continued.
The entrance to the child care centre where the shooting took place still had a pool of blood in front of the door and at least eight shots into a bench a the wall were visible and surrounded by yellow police markers.
Sissy lives across the parking lot from the centre and heard the shots Monday night.
She said she thought the sounds were coming from a nearby construction site until she saw the police presence arrive.
“I was too afraid to come out then,” she said, while walking her dog and looking at the crime scene.
Update: a couple of other calls for sounds of gunshots 7-10 sounds heard we are on scene, further to come. ^gl— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) September 25, 2018
She says at the time of the shooting, the community centre would have been quite busy.
“It’s terrifying. Anyone could have been killed,” she said.
This is the city’s 80th murder of the year.
With three months to go, the city is on pace to top its record-high of 89 homicides set in 1991.
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Sunday, September 23, 2018
Sword-wielding man arrested near Pharmacy Ave and Sheppard Ave in Scarborough
Live by the sword.
Get arrested if you are alleged to be waving one around in a parking lot, too.
This was the scene at 11 p.m. Friday night in the parking lot of Pharmacy and Sheppard Aves. It was a man with a samurai sword.
It looked like a scary scene from Kill Bill. So much so, police were called.
They responded carefully.
“A person who knew the man called police out of concern,” said Toronto Police spokesman Gary Long.
Police arrived and arrested the man without incident and took him into 42 Division. He was scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall Saturday on unknown charges.
But thankfully, no one was hurt, said Long.
This time.
The blade call was one of three like it in a 24-hour period, though. A machete attack Thursday resulted in Toronto’s 79th homicide in 2018. The original call was categorized as a fight but when the dust settled, Nader Fadael had been struck with a machete and succumbed to his injuries.
Based on media reports, it’s believed there has been about a dozen people stabbed to death among the city’s 79 homicides of 2018, but Long couldn’t confirm that number. The updated statistics will come Tuesday. That said, clearly while murder by gun garners the headlines, murder by knife is just as deadly.
Knife robberies are a problem, as well. Around the same time as the sword call came in, police responded to a man armed with a knife threatening employees in Scarborough.
He took off and no one was hurt.
But when you are seeing 911 calls related to machetes, swords and knives, in 2018, where there are double the amount of homicides over this time last year, there needs to be a conversation about it. Not a knife ban, but perhaps severe mandatory minimum sentences for any violence committed with a deadly weapon on a person would be something productive to be put on the agenda again.
Judges have shot down these kinds of deterrent approaches before. But when the blood is spilling, a city can’t turn a blind eye.
The reality is people can die by the sword.
And by a knife, scissors, or other sharp objects, too.
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Get arrested if you are alleged to be waving one around in a parking lot, too.
This was the scene at 11 p.m. Friday night in the parking lot of Pharmacy and Sheppard Aves. It was a man with a samurai sword.
It looked like a scary scene from Kill Bill. So much so, police were called.
They responded carefully.
“A person who knew the man called police out of concern,” said Toronto Police spokesman Gary Long.
Police arrived and arrested the man without incident and took him into 42 Division. He was scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall Saturday on unknown charges.
PERSON WITH A KNIFE:— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) September 22, 2018
Pharmacy Av + Sheppard Av
-In parking lot
-Man armed with samurai sword
-Sword in his hands#GO1754235
^dh
But thankfully, no one was hurt, said Long.
This time.
The blade call was one of three like it in a 24-hour period, though. A machete attack Thursday resulted in Toronto’s 79th homicide in 2018. The original call was categorized as a fight but when the dust settled, Nader Fadael had been struck with a machete and succumbed to his injuries.
Based on media reports, it’s believed there has been about a dozen people stabbed to death among the city’s 79 homicides of 2018, but Long couldn’t confirm that number. The updated statistics will come Tuesday. That said, clearly while murder by gun garners the headlines, murder by knife is just as deadly.
Knife robberies are a problem, as well. Around the same time as the sword call came in, police responded to a man armed with a knife threatening employees in Scarborough.
He took off and no one was hurt.
PERSON WITH A KNIFE:— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) September 22, 2018
McNicoll Ave + Kennedy Rd
-2 men in store
-1 armed with knife
-Threatening employees
-Police en route#GO1754214
^dh
But when you are seeing 911 calls related to machetes, swords and knives, in 2018, where there are double the amount of homicides over this time last year, there needs to be a conversation about it. Not a knife ban, but perhaps severe mandatory minimum sentences for any violence committed with a deadly weapon on a person would be something productive to be put on the agenda again.
Judges have shot down these kinds of deterrent approaches before. But when the blood is spilling, a city can’t turn a blind eye.
The reality is people can die by the sword.
And by a knife, scissors, or other sharp objects, too.
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Transit, congestion, the war on cars big ticket Toronto municipal election issues
Toronto can’t handle any more cars, mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat says.
“It’s not about not wanting cars about downtown, it’s about the fact that there’s not any more room, there’s no more room, like we’re out of space in the downtown,” Keesmaat said in an interview. “It’s a capacity problem.”
In a recent Q&A with Toronto Life, published Sept. 17, Keesmaat was quoted saying that when she was the city’s chief planner, she sometimes made recommendations that weren’t approved by council.
“And, yes, as a professional, I disagreed — 20 years of planning policy disagreed as well. Like rebuilding a crumbling expressway when we don’t want more cars downtown. But once council voted, I was always silent,” she said.
The Gardiner Expressway was at capacity 10 years after it was built, she said.
The majority of commuters, 68%, come into the downtown on transit compared to 3% on the Gardner Expressway, she said.
“That’s the problem in our city right now is that we’ve been adding more people but we haven’t been adding excellent transit in every corner of the city,” she said. “So that taking transit can be a first choice for everyone.”
Her transit plan includes the LRTs and the Downtown Relief Line, she said.
Keesmaat also wants to bring bike lanes, including to the suburbs, which she says will make streets safer for all users.
When asked if taking out car lanes to accommodate bike lanes, as the city has been doing throughout the downtown, has created self-inflicted gridlock, Keesmaat said that she’s talking about increasing choices for people to get around.
“We have a finite amount of space, we’ve a limited amount of space in the city,” she said. “And the challenge is that people need the best choice to get wherever they’re going. And we know that when we increase those choices that people take us up on them.”
Keerthana Kamalavasan, a spokesperson for Mayor John Tory, said in a statement that cars are still a necessity for many in the city.
“The job of the mayor is not to make life more difficult for drivers and businesses,” she said. “It is to provide more and better options for people and goods and services to move around the city quickly and efficiently.”
Tory has championed a transit plan building multiple projects at the same time, having secured $9 billion in funding, she said.
“We want to encourage people to get out of their cars by giving them better options — and more and safer bike lanes are part of that,” Kamalavasan said. “But forcing them out of their cars by increasing congestion and making life miserable is something the mayor won’t do.”
Tory has launched a crackdown on people parking illegally and blocking traffic lanes in rush hour, sped up construction that takes over lanes of traffic and brought traffic constables to busy intersections, she said.
Raymond Chan, a spokesperson for CAA South Central Ontario, said important issues like gridlock and infrastructure management haven’t had a lot of traction in this mayoral campaign.
The Toronto municipal campaign has been dominated so far by the provincial-city fight over the size of council.
“What we at the CAA would actually really like to see is these conversations being had by the various mayoral candidates in the campaign,” Chan said. “There many commuters that really rely on vehicles to get where they’re going each and every single day.
“Let’s face it: congestion is a reality in Toronto,” he added.
Congestion on the GTA 400-series of highways, which are a provincial responsibility, were at the top of CAA’s list of Canada’s worst bottlenecks in 2015 with Hwy. 401 between Hwy. 427 and Yonge St. at number one.
The DVP/404 between Don Mills Rd. And Finch Ave. was deemed the second worst bottleneck for motorists in the country, while the Gardiner Expressway, between South Kingsway and Bay St. ranked number four. Black Creek Dr. between Weston Rd. And Trethewey Dr. was number 12.
A CAA report makes a number of recommendations to improve the flow of traffic, classifying as “low hanging fruit” the re-timing of traffic lights, better managing the response to breakdowns and collisions, implementing speed limits that adjust to traffic flow, and regulating the volume of traffic entering highways.
“Dollars spent on the worst choke points are dollars best spent,” the report says. “Beyond that, urban congestion can also be combated through investments in ride-sharing, carpooling, bike sharing and bicycle infrastructure.”
The CAA was in favour of keeping the section of the Gardiner Expressway – the link to the DVP – that council at one point in the past term debated tearing down.
A resounding majority of CAA members surveyed agreed that highway infrastructure was vital, he said.
As for bike lanes replacing lanes of car traffic, as happened on Bloor St., Chan said it is definitely an issue for the motoring public.
The CAA is supportive of pilot projects that allow for a data-driven assessment of initiatives like bike lanes, he said.
“It’s really something that needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis… in order to determine if projects like permanent cycle lanes are actually viable for the area that they’re being proposed in,” Chan said.
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3 teens arrested in Vaughan shooting at 3850 Steeles Ave that leaves man, 49, dead
Three teens have been charged with second-degree murder following the fatal shooting of a man outside a bar in Vaughan on Friday evening.
York Regional Police were called to a plaza located at 3850 Steeles Ave., W. near Hwy. 400, at around 8 p.m. after reports of gunfire.
Reports of gunshots in the area of Steeles Ave and Old Weston Rd, Vaughan - Male party has been transported to hospital with critical injuries - please avoid the area.— York Regional Police (@YRP) September 22, 2018
When police arrived they found a victim at the rear of the plaza, in the parking lot.
“A 49-year-old man was found dead from gunshot wounds in the parking lot,” said Insp. Peter Casey.
A vehicle was seen leaving the scene and three teens aged 18, 16 and 15, were located and taken into custody in Toronto.
Our Forensics officers are continuing to process the scene where a 49-year-old man was gunned down behind a plaza at 3850 Steeles Ave West in Vaughan. Happened around 8pm last night. 3 teens have been arrested. Call 866-876-5423 x 7865 with tips. pic.twitter.com/h1pwZl0BDV— York Regional Police (@YRP) September 22, 2018
Multiple people were seen fleeing from the scene in a vehicle.
“Homicide detectives have spoken to a number of witnesses,” Casey said, adding a motive for the shooting isn’t clear.
Shaquwan Reid, 18, of Toronto has been charged with second-degree murder.
The 15 and 16-year-olds have also been charged with second-degree murder, but cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Police are looking for any video surveillance from the area or any drivers who may have dash cam footage. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7865, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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Thursday, September 20, 2018
If you shoot someone in Toronto you have a three in five chance of getting away with murder
This startling statistic comes directly from Toronto police. If you use any other weapon, your chances of being charged skyrocket.
Why are so many gun homicides unsolved in Toronto?
Metroland Media’s investigative team spoke to police, community activists and academics to try to identify the barriers, and some possible solutions.
In this first of a two-part investigation, we tell the stories of Demal Graham and Kiesingar Gunn, two young men shot to death in the prime of their lives. No one has been charged in their murders.
Demal Graham ‘was someone you could definitely confide in’
People know who killed Demal Graham — about that, Shauna Brown is certain.
Brown started hearing rumours a couple of months after her son, a shy man devoted to making music in his basement studio, was shot in their driveway on July 23, 2017.
Graham, 25, was watching his daughter playing on townhouse steps across the street when a car came circling by on Empringham Drive in Malvern.
Police later told Brown they didn’t think her son was an “intended target.”
Maybe he was just the first man his killers saw.
But more than a year later, he’s dead and they’re still anonymous, except, Brown believes, to a sizable number of people who know something but won’t tell, because that would mean “snitching.”
Some are “close enough to have known me. Some of these people have been inside my home. They knew my granddaughter, they know my girls,” said Brown.
“There’s a lot of people who know the answer, and we don’t.”
To Brown, struggling with anxiety and depression after her son’s death, people keeping the killers’ secrets are “no better than the person who pulled the trigger,” she said.
“They have kids, they have sons, they have grandchildren. How would they feel if this happened to them?”
Brown moved her family away from Empringham, where they lived for 12 years, and where her son attended barbecues, and participated in countless water fights. She distanced herself and her family from many friends, even some relations.
She said her son’s case “could be solved at any time,” if certain people broke free from “the pull of the street mentality” and gave information to police.
If people stay silent because of the code against “snitching,” said Brown, using a common term for co-operating with police, they’re promoting more violence and serving men like the one who fired the fatal shots at Graham.
“This person is out free, walking the streets. They’re giving more loyalty to this person who shot and killed my son than to the memory and life of my son. It’s cowardly.”
Music became an outlet for Graham — called Milli by many — after his father died when he was 12. He wanted to start a children’s music program in Malvern. He kept to himself a lot, sitting on his steps, writing down his problems and turning them into songs.
If you got to know him, Graham was really funny, said Janese Davis, a longtime friend and neighbour. “He was someone you could definitely confide in,”
When he got shot, a friend called Davis.
“She’s like, ‘Demal’s gone.’ That was definitely the last person for me to think would be ever be gone like that,” she remembered last month. “He was never that type of guy.”
Davis’s favourite track of Graham’s is one he recorded for his daughter, I Try, in which Graham sings he wants to shield her from violence and would do anything for her.
Rock-a-bye baby, no diamonds and pearls/I’m going harder than that/I’m trying to give you the world.
It could be true people know who killed him, Davis said. “In the community, when certain people know certain things, they don’t want to be labelled as a snitch.”
“No snitching,” she believes, is rooted in the same “ego and pride” which sets many shootings off, the idea that, “if someone stepped on my shoes, I’m going to kill you for that,” Davis said.
“At the end of the day, a bullet doesn’t have a name to it, so a bullet can kill anybody.”
Early on the day Graham was murdered, two other men, Dwayne Campbell, 30, and Rinaldo Cole, 33, were also shot to death during a crowded barbecue party on Gennela Square, a Morningside Heights street a short distance from Empringham.
Those shooters, whose gunfire also wounded a woman, haven’t been caught either.
Brown wants the public to know it wasn’t just her family who has suffered, but a whole neighbourhood.
She knows people may be afraid to talk.
“But we have to testify (once the shooters are caught). On top of being victimized once, we have to go through the whole process. To me, there’s no excuse why someone else couldn’t do the same thing.”
She has never wanted revenge, she said. That just “perpetuates the cycle” and would force another mother to go through what she’s gone through.
But Brown wants justice for Graham, for her granddaughter most of all.
“She got the least amount of time with him, and she’ll deal with the effects the rest of her life,” said Brown.
“My family and the family of the person who killed my son, we’re now connected, and we’ll be for the rest of our lives.”
Kiesingar Gunn, ‘the most amazing’ father
“Stop worrying about me. ... Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
Those were Kiesingar Gunn’s final words to his mother.
Three days later, the 26-year-old father of four was dead, hit by a stray bullet out front of the Forty2 Supperclub at 42 Mowat Ave.
Evelyn Fox said she was watching the news on Sept. 8, 2016, when she turned to her son and warned him not to get into arguments with anyone because “people carry guns.” It was then that Gunn told his mother not to worry, assuring her that nothing would happen to him.
“And that was our last conversation,” Fox said. “It haunts me.”
Gunn, the oldest of four children, was born May 2, 1990. He grew up in the Jane and Finch area until age 10 when he moved to Scarborough’s West Hill neighbourhood with his family.
“He was very loving but very adventurous and accident prone,” Fox said in a recent interview. “He was adventurous to the point where I had numerous hospital visits for broken bones, stitches, you name it.”
Gunn played baseball and football; it was during football games that he broke his clavicle bone and nose.
Fox noted her son loved to play pranks on his family. “He was forever trying to make people laugh and bring a joke to a situation. He was very heartwarming like that.”
And Gunn also took good care of his two youngest siblings. “Kiesingar was 14 and he was not only a big brother but almost like a father figure to them. He used to take the kids to daycare and from daycare when I was working and going to school,” Fox said. “And then he would have dinner made for them, give them a bath and everything before I even got home.”
Gunn went to Sir Robert L. Borden Business and Technical Institute and volunteered at Variety Village. After graduating high school, Gunn went straight into the workforce. He worked for a roofing company and a racking company up until his death.
“I finally talked him into going back to post-secondary school, and he was supposed to start a home renovation program in the September that he passed away,” Fox said.
Gunn was engaged to his girlfriend, who he had three of his four children with.
Fox described her son as “the most amazing” father.
“The kids were glued to him because he was so playful,” she said. “If one kid wanted spaghetti for dinner and another one wanted hamburgers and the other one wanted something else, he would make all three different meals. He was just that type of father: very engaged, hands-on.”
Gunn rarely went to clubs though he had been to the Forty2 Supperclub twice and liked it enough to return a third time for a birthday party with his fiancée and a man Fox described as her son’s godbrother. A fourth person, the godbrother’s friend, also went with them.
It was 4 a.m. Sept. 11, 2016 when Gunn, his fiancée and his godbrother left the club and saw a commotion outside; a crowd had formed around two men who were arguing.
“My godson happened to notice that his friend was in the crowd, the friend that they ended up going to the club with,” said Fox, noting her godson pulled over the van and walked towards the crowd to get his friend.
Gunn also got out of the vehicle and approached the crowd of 20 to 30 people.
“And within seconds he was hit by a stray bullet,” Fox said. “He was just going to stand close by, just to make sure that nothing happened with my godson.”
Gunn, shot in the head, was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital where he died at 9:25 p.m. that day.
Police confirmed Gunn wasn’t the intended target of the shooting.
Police and Fox believe there are witnesses who know the identity of the killer.
Fox said that not having justice for her son’s death has made it hard to move on.
“It (an arrest) would at least help me try to heal. I wouldn’t be harbouring all this anger that prevents me from even attempting to heal.”
There has been a recent attempt to reinvigorate the investigation.
On the second anniversary of the murder, police posted a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Det. Leslie Dunkley told reporters at the time that prior to the shooting the suspect was among more than 200 patrons inside the club. “After the shots were fired, (the suspect) fled to a waiting vehicle that was parked on Mowat Avenue, and the vehicle proceeded northbound towards Liberty Street,” he said, adding there was someone there “that can identify the shooter and that knows the shooter ... and we’re asking that those individuals come forward.”
The suspect is black with a dark complexion, 18 to 22 years old, five feet 11 inches to six-feet tall with braided hair, possibly in cornrows, and a slim build. He wore a white hooded sweatshirt with black prints or a logo.
“If he has any type of moral compass at all, if his mother raised him with any type of morals or ethics period, then the right thing for him to do is to turn himself in,” Fox said.
As for why more witnesses haven’t yet come forward, Fox suggested “fear” could be part of the problem.
“I don’t know if it’s fear from their community (or) fear from that person, but this guy is not the mafia, he’s not a hit man,” she said. “I don’t understand why it is people would be fearful, maybe of their reputation. Is someone’s reputation more important than a person’s life?”
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Jago Anderson, 19, of Toronto, was fatally shot on Sept. 18, 2018 at Scarorough Plaza
A 19-year-old man has been identified as the city’s 78th homicide of the year.
Toronto Police were called to a plaza on Sheppard Ave. E., between Brimley and McCowan Rds. in Scarborough, around 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday.
They found a man on the ground at the rear of 4559 Sheppard Ave. without vital signs. He had been shot and died at the scene.
Police have identified him as Jago Anderson, of Toronto.
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Nader Fadaei, 41, is Toronto homicide #79 fatally stabbed with machete in North York fight
A 41-year-old man fatally attacked with a machete late Wednesday in North York was with his mother at the time, a friend says.
The morning after the deadly confrontation, Darius Aghdasi was in his van at the Yonge St. and Wedgewood Dr. strip mall mourning his friend, Nader Fadaei. He told the Sun the two would often meet there after working construction jobs.
Aghdasi described Nader Fadaei, who he said was married with two kids, as quiet and said Nader Fadaei had been at the plaza with his mother when he got into an argument with another man around 8 p.m.
“Nader was confused and asked the man if he was insulting his mother, then they started pushing each other,” Aghdasi said.
“Then the guy pulled out a big knife and cut him from his shoulder to his stomach. It’s so sick. Normal people don’t do that.”
Fadaei was taken to hospital, where he died.
Toronto Police are asking anyone with information or witnesses to contact homicide at 416-808-7400.
Fadaei is the city’s 79th homicide of the year.
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Toronto Shooting Outside of Yorkwoods Public Library on Finch Ave W near Tobermory Dr, BLM
Around 7 p.m., a black man in his 20s was shot numerous times near near the York Woods Library on Finch Ave. W., just east of Jane St.
He was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police say three black males were seen fleeing the scene.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018
ISIS names Danforth Ave Toronto attack its signature event
While ISIS may be calling the gutless Greektown shooting rampage their proudest victory of 2018, Canadian authorities are not lending it any credence.
With the two-month anniversary of the deadly shooting spree coming up on Sept. 22, Canadian law enforcement agencies reject the possibility of the attack having an Islamic terrorism component.
Faisal Hussain shot and killed Julianna Kozis, 10, and Reese Fallon, 18, and wounded 13 others before taking his own life. A court on Wednesday will release — at the media’s request — details surrounding the search warrant into the killer’s home and digital devices.
But for the third time, murderous ISIS, through propaganda social media arms, keeps pushing the narrative.
This time, as reported by award-winning National Post investigative reporter Adrian Humphreys, ISIS not only claims they were behind the carnage, but also that it was the year’s signature event.
Humphreys reports the 2:47-long video clip entitled “Harvest of the Lone Lions” showcases ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi giving a speech, praising “attackers in the West” for undertaking the operation that had an “83.2% success rating.”
While law enforcement is quick to push away suggestions ISIS’ claim that Hussain, 29, was a “soldier” who responded with his tactical ambush in their name and style — in black dress with apparent calmness and proficiency — they have not yet revealed a full list of wounded.
However, here’s a list put together by Danforth Truth, to which I have contributed to: Danielle Kane; Julianna’s father, Donny Kozis; Fallon’s friends, Samantha Price, Miranda Li and Ali Demrican; mother and son, Joanne and Jon; a male shot in the leg; waiters’ Jon and Nick; an unknown male, who remains in St. Mike’s fighting for his life with a bullet lodged in his liver; and two other women who were struck during the seven-minute nightmare.
So far we only know five full names, leaving the identities of the eight other wounded a mystery.
Meanwhile, the ISIS claim, as Humphreys points out, provides the wrong date and casualty count of the attack. But Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s office says the whole ISIS premise is wrong.
“The mass shootings in the Danforth were a senseless tragedy and another tragic reminder that communities across Canada are experiencing the devastating effects of gun violence and gang activity far too frequently,” said Scott Bardsley, senior advisor for communications to Goodale.
Adding that “federal authorities continue to provide assistance to the Toronto Police who are investigating the incident” Bardsley said “as police have indicated, they have no indication that this shooting had any nexus to national security or to any organization such as Daesh.”
Mayor John Tory’s office, through spokesman Don Peat, said “at this time, we won’t comment or speculate on the motivation for this cowardly attack on innocent people.”
Tory’s office said the mayor “has total confidence in the ability of our police to determine what happened in this tragedy.”
Mark Pugash, spokesman for Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, said with a full investigation underway, including one by the SIU, there’s no comment.
Toronto Police have indicated they will send their completed investigation to the Toronto Police Services Board, which is exactly the kind of news the families directly affected are expecting.
There’s no question that a pro-ISIS website is far from a credible source. But until a proper explanation can be presented, all questions of what was behind July’s murderous attack on the Danforth are still on the table.
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Toronto's 78th homicide scene behind a plaza at 4559 Sheppard Ave. E. east of Brimley Rd., on Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Toronto Police are investigating the city’s 78th homicide of the year.
Officers were called to a plaza on Sheppard Ave. E., between Brimley and McCowan Rds. in Scarborough, just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday.
They found a man, believed to be in his 20s, without vital signs. He had been shot and died at the scene.
There was no immediate word on any suspects or the victim’s identity.
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Monday, September 17, 2018
Nine facing 279 charges in Toronto drug and gun probe at Rexdale Blvd.-Hwy. 27 area home
Nine people including a 16-year-old boy are facing a total of 279 charges in a drug and gun investigation, Toronto Police say.
Police say the investigation started when officers looked into one man suspected of trafficking narcotics.
A search warrant was executed on Friday at the man’s home in the Rexdale Blvd. and Hwy. 27 area.
Police allegedly seized firearms, 100 grams of cocaine and about $10,000 in cash.
Travis Walker, 22; Gersan Landeros-Martinez, 25; Thomas Duncan-Williams, 20; Muzamil Addow, 27; Tyson Walker, 28; Jovan Walker, 26; Tristen Bailey, 26; Damian Vassell, 31; and a 16-year-old boy, all of Toronto, were arrested and face multiple weapons and drug charges.
All nine have been charged with:
1) six counts of Possession for the purpose -Cocaine
2) Careless Storage of a Firearm
3) Possess Loaded Firearm
4) Possess Prohibited Firearm without holding a license and registration Certificate
5) Possess Prohibited Firearm knowingly not holding a license and registration Certificate
6) Possess Prohibited Device
7) Careless Storage of Ammunition
8) Possess Firearm with Altered Serial Number
9) Careless Storage of a Firearm
10) Possess Loaded Firearm
11) Possess Prohibited Firearm without holding a license and registration Certificate
12) Possess Prohibited Device
13) Careless Storage of Ammunition
14) Possess Firearm with Altered Serial Number
15) seven counts of Possess Firearm while Prohibited
16) four counts of Possession of Proceeds
17) Fail to Comply with Probation
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1200 or Crime Stoppers.
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Video captures shooting outside East York,Toronto house party
Pop, pop, pop … pop.
I counted seven gun shots: Three in unison; three more bursts; and a final blast.
Surveillance video shows the flashes from most of them.
The shooting happened Friday night at 10:30 p.m. on Alder Rd. in East York and if the alarming incident hadn’t been caught on a neighbour’s surveillance camera, we would never have even heard about it as no one was murdered.
That no one died is a miracle.
“There were 75 kids at a house party so this could have turned out very badly,” said Justin Van Dette, a spokesman for the Parkview Hill Community Association who is also being encouraged to run for city council. “What happened here was very disturbing.”
He’s right, of course.
Given this is Toronto’s year of death, a shooting happening in a place where there are innocent people is hardly surprising. If you watch this video and don’t get chills up and down your spine, you have become desensitized to the obscene violence.
But who could blame someone for becoming used to it?
There are shootings every day. In this case, you can hear the frantic horror of potential victims scurrying away. You can see the gunman calmly walk toward whoever he was shooting at before retreating and fleeing. In the video, you also see the shooter and acquaintances arrive and accost the boyfriend of a young woman who can be heard screaming: “Are you f—— stupid? You are going to come to my party? Are you dumb?”
Witnesses say the man was robbed, as well. There is also a getaway car speeding off.
“It’s really hard to look at,” said Van Dette. “This should not be happening in our city — ever.”
But there it was in residential East York. A man was hit in the hand by one of the seven shots.
Many of the fleeing teenagers headed straight for a TTC bus and escaped from the area. I mention teenagers because earlier that same evening on Sept. 14, Toronto recorded its 77th homicide when a 16-year-old was gunned down at about 6:45 p.m. nearby at Bellamy Rd. N. and Cedar Brae Blvd.
Two people wearing hoodies were seen fleeing the area.
Are they related?
I can’t can even identify the murdered teen since police have not released a name. Homicide 77 is a mystery kid. It’s difficult to humanize a number. Toronto’s 78th homicide happened in Scarborough early Wednesday. A 19-year-old man, Jago Anderson, was shot dead behind a plaza. Late Wednesday, another man was fatally stabbed in North York.
The first mayoral debate is about arts and culture so don’t count on any talk about the mess the city has become anytime soon.
We will just wait for the next gun call.
Thanks to digital communications, the media can’t even monitor the police radios anymore so we can only react when they put out something on Twitter. A lot of violent crime is not being covered because Toronto Police don’t put out major daily crime reports anymore.
So, we rely on a surveillance cameras like this one to capture major crimes in action so that you can see the repugnant reality of what is going on in our city and in the rest of the GTA, too.
With Toronto’s 79 murders, Peel’s 20, Durham’s eight, York’s eight and Halton’s single killing so far in 2018, the GTA has recorded 115 homicides –11 more than the 104 from all of 2017. If you watch this video, it doesn’t take much to imagine how this could have easily been seven more murders.
It’s pathetic that governments have hampered the efforts of police but we warned them what would happen if they took away carding and TAVIS-type programs. It’s happening. Every day. Every night. On a street you know.
It’s unacceptable and there will come a point when the public cries ‘Enough is enough.’ That day has not yet come.
Until it does, sleep well. And keep your camera on.
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