#9006 - Nov 1990

Digital Archiving Completed by the Ethnography Lab, A University of Toronto Anthropology Initiative
and Produced in Collaboration with David Perlman/Wholenote Media Inc between July-December 2015.
2 NEWS The Kensington Market Drum, November 1990
Bank Stops Street Sleepers ·
Mike Milando
Until recently, enclaves in
the walls of the Royal Bank
branch at the southwest corner
of Spadina and College
served as sleeping quarters
for about two or three Market
residents. Then the bank
erected barriers in that
space, wooden embankments
slanted at 45 degrees
with a decorative metal plate
across them.
Before the metal plate was
added, the branch's manager
didn't know what the finished
product would look
like, only that the building
was receiving a face-lift,
some kind of remodelling or
restructuring. Customer
relations explained that customers
have complained,
saying they are reluctant to
use · banking machines
because of fear of street
people.
Nearby, the Corner Dropin
on Augusta Ave. isn't a
place for street people to
sleep either, but everyone is
welcome for coffee and a
sandwich each morning and
to hang out for part of the
day. Many of the people who
go there sleep on the street.
A group of them agreed to
speak with me, if they didn't
have to give their names.
Almost all said they understand
wjly the bank would
erect the barriers: they are in
the business of serving customers
and when the customers
complain you have to
do something .. They didn't
seem very concerned.
But they explained that
there will always be people
for whom sleeping on the
street is· an appropriate thing,
at a given time. And like
most banks, the Royal Bank
is at a streetcorner which is
Time for Another Capsule?
New Health Campus Unveiled
Masha Buell
The new Doctors Hospital
Multicultural Community
Health Campus, Clinical and
Community Services Centre
was officially opened on
Monday October 22 with a
ceremony in the new building
at 340 College Street.
The Honourable Lincoln M.
Alexander, Lieutenant Governor
of Ontario, shared the
unveiling of the cornerstone
with. Zanana Akande, Minister
of Community and Social
Services and MPP for
St.Andrew-St. Patrick,
Metro Chairman Alan
Tonks and six-year-old
Yvonne Lee from King
Edward Public School.
Yvonne read a list of items
that were placed in a time
capsule under the cornerstone.
Time capsule contents
include copies of documents
found in the original 1888
time capsule, as well as current
newspapers, coins, hospital-specifi.c
information,
and some childrens' handicrafts.
(The original artifacts
found in the 1888 cornerstone
can be viewed in the
new Health Sciences Library
on the sixth floor of the new
Clinical and Community Services
Centre at 340 College
Street.)
The new Clinical and
Community Services Centre
represents a milestone in the
plans for the Doctors Hospital
Multicultural Community
Health Campus which will
function as an umbrella
organisation for a complete
range of medical, social and
community services, delivered
in partnership with
many social and health service
agencies.
well-lit with many passersby.
So it's a lot safer than other
places. They said sleeping in
a back alley, people are
· often beaten up - sometimes
by crusaders who think
they'll improve society by
beating up a street person to
teach him or her a lesson.
They suggested that customers
of the bank who are
afraid of people sleeping on
the street should try it, even
one time. Maybe when they
have, their fear of people
sleeping on the street won't
be as great as their understanding
of the fear that
street people face.
Malcolm, who works at the
Drop-in and used to live on
the street himself, added: the
way things are going - free
trade and layoffs, the GST
- more people than realize
it will be taking up this challenge
in the near future.
Community Centre Roundup
Mike Milandao
Cecil Seeks
Constitution
A sub-committee was set
up by Cecil Centre's adminstrative
committee, to look
at relations betwee n the
Cecil executive- which is
also the board of management-and
the administrative
committee itself (AC).
That sub-committee of the
AC is presently formulating
proposals that amount to
"radical surgery on the centre's
structure" in the opinion
of director Julia Goldstein.
Sub-committee members
Julia Goldstein, Josie Hayes,
and Robert Barnett are
examining the constitutions
of other centres for adoption
in whole or in part by Cecil
Centre, or as aids in writing ~
new one for Cecil Centre~
There has been mention at
administrative committee
(AC) meetings of including
public input to this process in
the future, but no decision
has been made.
This sub-committee originated
around the time of resignations
from the administrative
committee (and
Board) by Louisa Kamin and
Yvonne Ferrer, members
whose view of the AC's role
and powers differed from the
director's. They and Kerry
Gearin had been attempting
to respond to staff discontent
after the AC -received a
unanimous, unsigned staff
memo from the Centre's
staff, an attempt "blocked by
the director" says Kelly
Gearin. '
Gearin is a member of the
AC and its executive. However,
at the last AC meeting,
which Gearin did not attend,
chairperson Roberta King
announced that Gearin's resignation
in "a local newspaper"
was "accepted", commenting
that it would have
been nice if the centre had
been informed directly.
But Gearin says she has
not decided to resign and
that her letter in the last
issue of Drum, while critical
Does anyone out there have a
picture of how it was before?
Yvonne Lee (centre), behind,from left to right, The Honourable Lincoln M.
Alexander, Zanana Akande, Bob Hall, and Dr. Bob Frankford.
of the centre's management,
said ·nothing about her
resigning. She says "If I had
decided to resign, I would
have communicated this
directly to the centre." She
signed the letter as an
"Executive Board Member".
Scadding Court's
lOthAGM
Scadding Court Community.
Centre located at
Bathurst and Dundas streets
held its annual general
meeting October 26. Eight
persons were acclaimed to
the centre's Board of Management.
Pat Dale, Bill Graham,
Ming-Chu Yung, and Minerva
Hui are new. Krista
Snow, Alice LeBlanc, Sonny
Atkinson, and Dermot
Moore continue - they
were acclaimed after their
two-year terms expired.
The other four of the 12
elected positions on the
Board are held by Chris
Bolton, Jenny Chen, Mario
Silva, and Sunny Labrosse,
who enter the second year of
their two-year term. The
remaining four of the 16
member Board are appointed
officials.
Board chairp~rson Sunny
Labrosse announced that
architects will be chosen for
the centre's planned expansion
in about 10 days, and
the centre hopes to have
something on paper by the
end of the year. He said that
one of the main reasons the
Board in the past year had
been able to focus on policy
matters that affect day to daymatters
was the staff, suggesting
initiatives. This year's
retreat of Board and staff
had been the best of his
experience he said.
Terri Hope, director of the
centre, highlighted cooperative
programming initiatives
that had been started in the
past year. Among others, the
list included anti-racism
action, AIDS aware ness,
Chinese outreach, and after
school programming with
neighbouring Ryerson Public.
The general meeting was
followed by a dance.
photo: Buzz Bu!7.a
photo: Brian Summers
GOOFS
To Play Benefit
Colin Puffer
Censorship of art has been
an issue recently much discussed
in North America. We
are aware of the prosecution
of the Cincinatti gallery that
displayed Robert Mapplethorpe
's photographs and have
heard about the charges
against 2 Live Crew. We know
that Canada Customs regularly
restricts the importation of
literature into the country. But
there is a prosecution of a local
company, Fringe Product Inc.
that hasn't received much
attention. See Another Court
~_,__P_g:}~ _
- 'NEW
CANADIAN
LABOUR
SONGS
For use in ·ra!Hes,
pickets, and &rgaruzing.
'The Litde Red
.Songbook" is now
totally Conadian.
n..c,.,..o;... ......,.,.,.,~