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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