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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 />
/<br />
Kensington Market DRUM COMMUNITY <strong>May</strong> 21, <strong>1992</strong> I Page Eleven<br />
Continued from page 3<br />
the Toronto Chinese Parents'<br />
Association, arose out of concern<br />
of the health, safety and welfare .<br />
of the children and the future<br />
children attending Orde Street<br />
School and the four nearby day<br />
care centres. The Orde School<br />
Parents Council "mounted a reasoned<br />
and compelling case<br />
against the hospital's proposal",<br />
said the Ontario Municipal Board<br />
(OMB) Decision in August,<br />
1991, which approved the hospital's<br />
plans last spring.<br />
The repercussions will mean<br />
that the small park will be lost.<br />
There all be heavy construction<br />
traffic servicing the hospital construction<br />
site adding to the traffic<br />
hazards for the children. There<br />
already have been accidents with<br />
children struck by vehicular<br />
traffic. There will also be noise<br />
and dust during construction.<br />
Recently, City Public Works was<br />
carrying out roadwork on Orde<br />
Street and the noise from the .<br />
hydraulic hammers made normal<br />
conversation almost impossible<br />
for some classrooms. When the<br />
hospital is completed, the traffic<br />
on streets nearby will be among<br />
the highest in the City of<br />
Toronto for an elementary<br />
school.<br />
This decision and the approval<br />
process for the hospital has<br />
been remarkable for its consistency<br />
insofar as the children were<br />
conc.erned. The arguments<br />
advanced by parents and others<br />
concerned about the welfare of<br />
the children and for· the protection<br />
of their rights and entitlements<br />
consistently carried<br />
little weight in each" of the decisions<br />
in the approval process.<br />
Even the provincial Ministry of<br />
the Environment accepted the<br />
arguments advanced by an environmental<br />
planner for the hospital<br />
t~ere were "no realistic reasons<br />
for local concern from an<br />
environmental perspective" despite<br />
the "reasoned and compelling<br />
case" advance by parents.<br />
The decision confirms the degradation<br />
of the children's environment<br />
and this is wilful neglect of<br />
the welfare of children.<br />
The process has failed the<br />
more than 600 children; it has<br />
failed to protect their best interest;<br />
and, it has failed to defend<br />
the rights and entitlements. Our<br />
nation is a signatory to the<br />
United Nations Declaration of<br />
the Rights of the Child. Our ·<br />
ATTENTION ALL THOSE<br />
ON U.l. Want to upgrade<br />
your English and math<br />
skills? It's free, and we<br />
even p'rovide child care.<br />
Alexandra Park Neighbourhood<br />
learning centre.<br />
Call us at 591-7384<br />
Employment Opportunities<br />
The Toronto Disarmament lh . r.:;;:;:;:::;;:::;;:::;;:::;;::;:::;:;<br />
Network is seeking women<br />
1 ..<br />
and men able to communicate<br />
effectively with<br />
others. Willingness to work<br />
for social change essential.<br />
Knowledge of contemporary<br />
Peace, Environmental<br />
and Economic issues an<br />
asset. Call Allan between<br />
11:00 am and 5.00 pm<br />
Mon. to Fri. tel: 535-8005<br />
WORK FOR PEACE<br />
provincial government has even<br />
produced a · report entitled<br />
"Children First" which proclaims<br />
that "Promoting the well-being of<br />
children and defending their<br />
entitlements must become society's<br />
highest priority." Childreus'<br />
rights are human rights and<br />
in all these areas, the process has<br />
failed our children.<br />
In spite of all this, the parents<br />
will continue to press for safety<br />
measures to protect the children<br />
and to seek amelioration of the<br />
worse aspects of this hospital<br />
proposal. There is still the pending<br />
appeal by the parents of the<br />
original OMB decision by the<br />
: Ontario Ombudsman. A Traffic<br />
. Construction Committee with<br />
parent representation has been<br />
constituted by the City Public<br />
Works to deal· with traffic concerns.<br />
The Toronto Board of<br />
Education has passed a motion to<br />
support closing Orde Street to<br />
through traffic with school buses<br />
exempted to minimize traffic<br />
hazard to the children. The<br />
parents are supporting the City's<br />
Public Works Commissioners'<br />
efforts to open Orde Street at<br />
University Avenue to direct<br />
traffic away from the school. A<br />
consultant will soon be submitting<br />
proposals for the replacement<br />
of the park and a Play<br />
Ground Committee has been<br />
constituted by the Toronto Board<br />
of Education to develop plans to<br />
improve the play area for the<br />
children.<br />
If you need further information<br />
or wish to assist, please<br />
contact the Orde School Parents'<br />
Council at 393-1900.<br />
(Doug Hum is an Orde School<br />
parent)<br />
~ o n ;; o o.... 't'XT-....4- n,..... tral<br />
~'l~~~g;\~~£tj~~~A?~~\ V~tt;ll~ll.<br />
~1: ~~ ·~ Uu W llu\~ COmmumtyHealthCentres<br />
Sanity in<br />
the City<br />
by Amina Miller<br />
There is something very basi~:<br />
about digging in the soil. It is<br />
one of the few opportunities we<br />
still have to connect wi~h nature.<br />
Certai'nly there _are nature hikes<br />
and wilderness trails, and they<br />
are wonderful, but unfortunately<br />
many of us hav·e neither the<br />
energy, time, or the resources to<br />
take advantage of them. Pottering<br />
in a garden is affordable,<br />
accessible and immedi-ate, it<br />
nurtures our spirit as the produce<br />
nurtures our bodies. Even if you<br />
do not have your own yard there<br />
are community gardens or tubs<br />
and planters that can serve the<br />
same purpose.<br />
All of our senses are involved<br />
in gardening. We smell the<br />
wonderfully satisfying scent of<br />
freshly turned earth and the<br />
delicate and pungent aromas of a<br />
rich variety of plants and herbs.<br />
We can feel the earth moist and<br />
crumbly in our fingers and the<br />
cool fibrous skins of some vegetables.<br />
We see and hear a different<br />
world, a miniature world<br />
of interlocking branches and<br />
barbed stems, beginning in secret<br />
hidden places. And the colours.<br />
The dazzling intensity of light<br />
and shade, the jewelled backs of<br />
scurrying beetles, all under the<br />
heat of the sun in a brilliant sky.<br />
While focusing on the task at<br />
hand our mind wanders to<br />
explore other by-passed corners<br />
of our lives and memories. Memories<br />
triggered buy the fleeting<br />
FOOD ACTION PROJECT<br />
* Would you be interested<br />
in obtaining good food at<br />
low cost?<br />
* Are you. a single person<br />
or a family having a hard<br />
time on a limited income?<br />
* .Are you interested in<br />
building community spirit<br />
and getting to know your<br />
neighbours?<br />
* Do you think you would<br />
enjoy a group trip to a farm<br />
to pick your own cheap and<br />
fresh vegetables and fruit?<br />
* Are you an apartment<br />
dweller with no space for a<br />
garden?<br />
*Would you like to learn to<br />
garden or do you already<br />
have skills?<br />
THE FOOD ACTION<br />
PROJECT can help you<br />
·and your community<br />
with free information<br />
and what you need<br />
to start up:<br />
•Food Buying Clubs<br />
•Community Gardens<br />
•Pick-Your-Own Trips<br />
. •Community Kitchens<br />
Anyone can do it!<br />
Contact:<br />
Micheie MacKenzie<br />
at the<br />
Food Action Project<br />
392-6655<br />
(please leave a message and<br />
your call will be retu.rned)<br />
George Brown College offers a\ diploma programme in<br />
community work to persons with a strong commitment to<br />
human rights, social justice and community development<br />
in a multicultural society. · ·<br />
This is a two year, full-time programme of classroom<br />
study and supervised work in the field.<br />
We start in September and en4 in <strong>May</strong>.<br />
For more information or to arrange an interview,<br />
call 867-2185.<br />
familiarity of a sight, sound or<br />
smell. There is a timelessness<br />
about working with our hands in<br />
the soil. It becomes easy for us<br />
to identify with unknown past<br />
generations of people who have<br />
also grown their food and<br />
thought similar thoughts that<br />
were triggered by the same<br />
smells and sights. We may wonder<br />
about their lives, their hopes<br />
and their dreams. This connects<br />
us to our heritage and our world,<br />
we feel part of a larger scheme<br />
and it helps to put our own lives<br />
and problems in perspective .<br />
We do not have may opportunities<br />
in our programmed crazy<br />
lives to fully experience ourselves<br />
and our direct relationship<br />
with nature. Yet in a garden in<br />
downtown Toronto in <strong>1992</strong> time<br />
can stand still, we can expe·rience<br />
·the timeless connection<br />
between mankind and the fertility<br />
of the earth. We are confronted<br />
with the reality of our seasons<br />
and how our activities must be<br />
planned to accommodate them.<br />
Many ancient calenders we're<br />
constructed around seasonal<br />
plantings and harvesting, even<br />
wars were interrupted in order to<br />
sow and reap. Man's futile<br />
activities took second place to<br />
the reliable, relentless, life-giving<br />
cycle of the earth's fertility.<br />
In our modest city garden we<br />
are forced to work in pa~.:e (and<br />
partnership) with nature, we<br />
cannot impose our hurried<br />
manmade timetable on her.<br />
Nature takes the responsibility<br />
out of our hands and so relieves<br />
us of the stress and pressure to<br />
excel and produce, or to beat a<br />
dead-line. Every thing unfolds in<br />
its own time as it should, arid we<br />
are privileged to witness and<br />
encourage -the events. However,<br />
we can not force them to happen,<br />
neither can we hurry them<br />
along. In this simple process ewe<br />
re-discover ourselves, patience,<br />
humility and joy.<br />
Amina Miller<br />
West Central will have a community<br />
garden again this year<br />
Interested? Call Amina at 364-<br />
4107<br />
UTOO CAN no -<br />
Ont. Tenants organize<br />
by Timothy Maxwell<br />
The United Tenants of Ontario<br />
(UTOO), was founded in<br />
Hamilton back in 1989 as the<br />
result of a provincial conference<br />
at McMaster University of more<br />
than 200 tenants. For a couple of<br />
years we struggled to organize<br />
tenants across. Ontario with very<br />
little money. Last year, at our<br />
Third Annual General Meeting<br />
and Training Conference in<br />
Ottawa, the Minister of Housing<br />
annou~ced that we would finally<br />
receive stable funding so we<br />
could hire staff to _go around the<br />
province and organize tenants.<br />
Since then we have been very<br />
busy indeed, setting-up our office<br />
at Spadina and Bloor, which we<br />
s~are with the Federation of<br />
Metro Tenants' Associations, and<br />
organizing meetings with tenants<br />
from Windsor, Mississauga,<br />
Kingston, Ottawa, Sudbury,<br />
Toronto and Thunder Bay, as<br />
well as many smaller towns in<br />
northern Ontario.<br />
Our Fourth Annual . General<br />
Meeting and Training Conference<br />
is fast approaching. Across the<br />
province, friends and members of<br />
UTOO are busy preparing for<br />
what will be a great weekend at<br />
Laurentian University in Sudbury,<br />
June 25 to 28th.<br />
Tenants who have been to<br />
UTOO Conferences in the past<br />
will know that it won't be some<br />
kind of stuffy, boring, meeting.<br />
VOLUNTEER REQUIRED to<br />
assist a young adult learner<br />
in an educational program<br />
(Math and English)<br />
Wednes. afternoons,<br />
1-3 pm. If interested,<br />
please call Lana at OASIS<br />
ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL<br />
393-9830.<br />
Tenants will be able to share their<br />
experiences and gain new knowledge<br />
of organizing tenant associations,<br />
fighting evictions getting<br />
repairs done and other legal matters.<br />
As well, tenants will be able<br />
to take part in many other Workshops,<br />
including maintaining<br />
Tenant Solidarity in the Face of<br />
Racism; Blind Spots and Dangerous<br />
Places, (Safety Tour); Rental<br />
Housing on a Low Budget; Native<br />
Housing; Seniors Speak Out; The<br />
Women's Workshop and many<br />
others.<br />
In addition to Workshops,<br />
Provincial Council Elections and<br />
Policy discussions, Tenants ·are<br />
sure to enjoy the two main social<br />
events. Friday evening there will<br />
be a ·"TENANT CABARET",<br />
where performing artists, previously<br />
hiding within the tenant<br />
movement, will share their talents<br />
with the rest of us. On Saturday<br />
evening there will be a D .J.<br />
Dance. So bring your songs,<br />
stories and dance steps to Sudbury<br />
when you come!<br />
For more information about<br />
the least expensive, most productive<br />
and rewarding weekend you<br />
can spend away, from your landlord,<br />
CALL UTOO at 1-416-927-<br />
8363, and we'll send you a Registration<br />
form. See you there!<br />
Timothy Maxwell,<br />
UTOO Executive member and<br />
Kensington-Bell woods<br />
Community Legal Worker<br />
The Metro Toronto Associ<br />
. ation for Community Living<br />
needs people willing to<br />
spend a few hours a week<br />
with a person with a developmental<br />
disability. Call<br />
Volunteer Services,<br />
968-0650.