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Digital Archiving Completed by the Ethnography Lab, A University of Toronto Anthropology Initiative<br />

and Produced in Collaboration with David Perlman/Wholenote Media Inc between July-December 2015.<br />

The Kensington Market Drum, <strong>Nov</strong>ember <strong>1990</strong> TALKING DRUM 5<br />

•••••••••••••••••••••••••<br />

letters to DRUM<br />

Letters<br />

. /'""<br />

Canada Needs Treatment<br />

To the Editorial Collective,<br />

The "crisis" of land claims<br />

in P.O. this summer teaches<br />

us many things. For example,<br />

CBC news broadcasters are<br />

able to say words like Kanesa<br />

take and Kahnawake.<br />

They are even able to pronounce<br />

them correctly, if<br />

forced to repeat them over<br />

and over.<br />

Non-native and non-white<br />

alike learned this summer<br />

that we must accept the<br />

social, political, economic,<br />

and military realities of<br />

racism. The fairly new European,<br />

patriarchal concept of<br />

ownership of people and<br />

property prevails.<br />

The war against native<br />

people in P .Q. led by a<br />

drunken P.M. and a provincial<br />

military dictatorship<br />

may be posted of hand delivered to Kensington Market<br />

Drum, Letters. 72A Kensington Avenue, Toronto Ontaro MST<br />

2Kl. Or you can fax your letters (but you have to phone ahead<br />

to 599-DRUM. Letters will be published in full where space<br />

permits. Letters edited for length willl be noted.<br />

shocked the world. Right<br />

now, political prisoners are<br />

being held, tortured, tried<br />

and convicted as criminals.<br />

And few cry out against this<br />

violation of human rights.<br />

How quickly the horror of<br />

"Oka" fades. How innocently<br />

the "progressive" community<br />

speaks of defense fund<br />

and legal justice system. In<br />

these "reces·sivc" economic<br />

times how tightly we hold on<br />

to what we've got.<br />

I live in T.O. and do not<br />

travel very often to other<br />

parts of Canada. My participation<br />

as a member of several<br />

national social justice<br />

groups leads me to perceive<br />

a sense of shame clouding<br />

the "Canadian identity";<br />

after the events near<br />

Chateauguay this summer.<br />

Seasons Tickets for Mar~hese<br />

Dear Drum<br />

re: Ballet Opera House<br />

The new 2,000 seat Ballet<br />

Opera House will cost $300 -<br />

$400 million. That's $150,000<br />

to $200,000 per seat! Rosario<br />

Marchese is in favour of it!<br />

Contruction cost $273 million.<br />

Land evaluated at $75<br />

million. (Globe & Mail<br />

1988). Plus cost overruns a Ia<br />

SKYDOME. QUESTION:<br />

who is going to pay for it'J<br />

Answer: The same people<br />

who are paying for Sky­<br />

Dome.<br />

DECISION DAY<br />

Bob Rae & Co. have indicated<br />

to the City that they<br />

will make a decision on the<br />

Bally Opera House by <strong>Nov</strong>.<br />

20. Perhaps you could get a<br />

story ready for the Dec. issue<br />

in case the project gets the<br />

green light on <strong>Nov</strong>. 20.<br />

Robert L. Olsen<br />

Houses of the Rainbow<br />

Drum,<br />

I suggest that Kensington<br />

Market building owners<br />

paint up their premises in<br />

varied rainbow colours.<br />

Let's end this sameness and<br />

drabness. Have no premises<br />

in the same colour. How<br />

interesting and spectacular it<br />

would be.<br />

Also, many newcomers do<br />

not know that there are two<br />

Spadinas, named Road and<br />

A venue. Once I got stuck in<br />

an • elevator on Spadina<br />

Road. The police called the<br />

mechanics who lived in Mississauga<br />

who arrived at the<br />

same number on Spadina<br />

Avenue. Over an hour<br />

elapsed with me pent up.<br />

You can help, Drum. Do so.<br />

Sam Stevens<br />

[Editors' Note: Dear Sam- evidently Jeff Stinson agrees with<br />

you. Drabness begone! How about one of these on the Western<br />

Hospital's Smokestack? j<br />

,. ...<br />

As a country, we are like a<br />

drunk coming off a 300 year<br />

binge - waking up too sick<br />

and disgusted to clean up our,<br />

own shitty mess.<br />

Perhaps we should declare<br />

Kanesatake and Kahnawake<br />

as Canada and make the rest<br />

of the country a "treatment"<br />

centre.<br />

D. Sharpe<br />

3 Heavies<br />

Ruin<br />

Market<br />

Saturday<br />

On the pleasant' Indian<br />

summer morning of <strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />

3, three . men were<br />

observed having confrontations<br />

with local merchants<br />

throughout Kensington Market<br />

streets. They were a city<br />

inspector and 2 Metro Police<br />

officers who told many merchants<br />

that tickets would be<br />

mailed to them for placing<br />

products for sale on city sidewalks.<br />

It was obvious that the new<br />

inspector, was informed by<br />

his superiors to anticipate<br />

conflict. Two uniformed<br />

police officers were assigned<br />

to accompany him. The trio<br />

were verbally accosted by<br />

merchants, employees and<br />

customers alike as the tickets<br />

were casually handed out.<br />

On several occasions some<br />

people were warned to cease<br />

voicing their outrage or they<br />

would be arrested.<br />

Large displays of products<br />

for sale, even on sidewalks,<br />

(especially fruits and vegetables)<br />

have been a common<br />

sight to Kensington's Saturday<br />

shoppers for as long· as<br />

most can remember. In the<br />

past inspectors and police<br />

would overlook these displays<br />

or ask merchants to<br />

remove them. It seems City<br />

Hall must be looking to Market<br />

merchants to help generate<br />

cash to refill their piggy<br />

banks. Its hard to understand<br />

why these men left the Marke<br />

t with broad smiles on<br />

their faces.<br />

Sincerely<br />

Roberto Agricola<br />

Hi, I'm Kate and I'm an<br />

alcoholic. OHIP just paid<br />

approximately $40,000<br />

($1 ,500 a day) for me to go<br />

thru a rehabilitation program<br />

for the chemically addicted.<br />

Arriving at Tampa airport on<br />

Sept. 24, we were picked up<br />

and driven in a Lincoln limo<br />

to the sprawling Heritage<br />

facility lying in serene surroundings<br />

more than a hundred<br />

miles east of Tampa.<br />

The middle of nowhere, near<br />

Crystal Springs. For the next<br />

28 days I would experience<br />

an immersion course in A.A.<br />

"One ought to make a rigorously<br />

honest searching and<br />

fearless written moral inventory<br />

at least once in a lifetime.<br />

And then tell another ...<br />

."The owner of Heritage, an<br />

impeccably dressed, tanned<br />

and tall., white haired gentleman,<br />

is a recovering alcoholic,<br />

as are his publicity and<br />

promotion marketing person<br />

and much of the staff of professional<br />

and lay persons.<br />

Even the limo driver was<br />

twelve years clean and sober.<br />

HERITAGE ·<br />

IN THE MAKING<br />

During our stay we learned<br />

that the facility was only<br />

recently purchased and taken<br />

over by Heritage. There<br />

were therefore not surprisingly<br />

one or two "problems"<br />

still being ironed out. The<br />

old psychiatric facility sign<br />

still welcomes all the newly<br />

arrived. (Only one wing of<br />

the facility served psychiatric<br />

patients. Two other wings<br />

arc for the chemically dependent<br />

(C.D.U) and for food<br />

addicts (FF.A. U)- the grossly<br />

fat and the grossly thin.<br />

Rumblings are that this<br />

OHIP/US Treatment centre<br />

connection is about to come<br />

to an end. Ques.Hons have<br />

been raised. Nevertheless I<br />

am grateful to. 0 HIP and<br />

Heritage for giving me an<br />

opportunity to come to terms<br />

with my alcoholism. At last,<br />

after two previous 28 day<br />

treatme nt progra ms in<br />

Toronto (with which I had a<br />

few problems), I have the<br />

chance to learn to live in<br />

sobriety, one day at a time.<br />

I'm back 7 pounds lighter<br />

and several shades darker.<br />

Happy and healthy, ready to<br />

once more do battle in Kensington<br />

Market.<br />

Kate McNeil<br />

October30<br />

A young man of ever-shifting<br />

balance threatened to<br />

sacrifice a nursing mother's<br />

baby in a witchcraft ceremony<br />

"to save the world". She<br />

sat in the dark for three days,<br />

then finally in terror called<br />

the police. They came and<br />

took her to Queen Street<br />

where she is being held<br />

because of " personal<br />

hygiene". The baby was<br />

taken by children's aid. Several<br />

women in the community<br />

are meeting, angered at<br />

the way the matter was handled<br />

by the police, the Children's<br />

Aid Society and at<br />

Queen Street. Meanwhile<br />

the young man is out, and<br />

awar.:!, and holds himself<br />

responsible. The baby's<br />

mother is still held at Queen<br />

St., without her baby. Pain of<br />

pains. And for the baby?<br />

<strong>Nov</strong>embcr2<br />

In a past issue I reported<br />

that a survey would be done,<br />

to determine the nature of<br />

tenancies in the Market.<br />

Expect questions like these:<br />

-who do you pay rent to?<br />

- do you share kitchen and<br />

bathroom facilities?<br />

- would you be willing to<br />

provide info on the rent you<br />

are paying to a Kensington<br />

Market Tenants registry?<br />

- would you join a tenants<br />

group?<br />

- would you like to receive<br />

a tenants newsletter?<br />

<strong>Nov</strong>ember6<br />

By the way, the Last<br />

Temptation a nd I have<br />

struck a deal. Beginning<br />

around the middle of<br />

<strong>Nov</strong>ember, when the back<br />

room renovation is completed,<br />

I will take it over, and<br />

host a jazz- and-other-things<br />

jam Thursday through Sunday,<br />

6 to 11. It's been a<br />

dream of mine ever since I<br />

ran a similar room in New<br />

York, 3 blocks up from Lincoln<br />

Center, influenced by<br />

the older black singer Ethel<br />

Waters who entertained a<br />

small number of people in an<br />

intimate r

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