I was all set with my editor’s message for April. It was to be a celebration of sorts. With Covid restrictions lifting, I was looking forward to a springier season, with the reopening of Leaside’s vibrant patio scene and the reappearance of greenscape everywhere.
Plus, April is the month that features one of my favourite days – Earth Day, on April 22nd. I’ve been “celebrating” Earth Day for a very long time, since the days when Earth Day featured more a playbill of entertainment, like poets and singers in “this land is your land” mode, than exhortations to do something concrete for the planet before it’s too late.
I was also going to highlight some of the enviro-themed content in this issue of Leaside Life. Like Susan Scandiffio’s profile of Indigenous leader Tobie Loukes, who, through her teaching, is bringing kids to a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture, history, and appreciation of earth’s bounty. I was also planning to highlight Glenn Asano’s profile of Leasider Tim Short, who wrote to us: “I am a resident of South Leaside and am very interested in the environment and the steps our society needs to take in order to get a better handle on our future. … Sometimes I feel like the environment is in a losing
In the first two weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 2.5 million Ukrainians fled the country. It is estimated that number could reach as high as 5 million.
In order to provide a safe refuge to those who have fled, Canada has announced that it is accepting an unlimited number of Ukrainians to Canada on an up to three-year visa.
These are open work and study permits, and will not be capped.
As when Syrian refugees needed assistance, the federal government has once again requested the assistance of The Neighbourhood Organization
(TNO) to provide support services to Ukrainians. These services include coordinating employment connections, navigating benefit programs, setting children up in the school systems, facilitating health care, providing language training and translation services, and more.
With the largest number of refugees expected to arrive after April 1st, the most pressing need will be temporary housing.
The majority of Ukrainians arriving will be women and children, and TNO is attempting to coordinate as many spots as possible for their temporary settlement.
If you have a room in your home
which you would be willing to offer for any of the Ukrainians who have fled their homes, please contact Jennifer Rajasekar at: Jrajasekar@tno-toronto. org or 416-421-3054, ext. 2201.
If you have any other questions regarding donations of money, please contact Jennifer.
Other places to help: https://www. complex.com/life/resources-for-canadians-who-want-to-help-ukraine/doctors-without-borders. n
Tobie Loukes is fiercely proud of her Indigenous roots.
And for those students lucky enough to be taught by her, Loukes is an inspirational wealth of knowledge about Indigenous culture and history.
Coupled with her passion for, and skill in artistic ingenuity and instruction, Leasider Loukes provides her students with multiple creative outlets to express their understanding of Indigenous identity, relationships, and sovereignty.
Loukes’s father is Anishinaabe from the Alderville First Nation Reserve. Loukes maintains strong ties to the reserve, where she stays during her time away from the classroom.
She has been teaching Arts, Fashion and Design since 2004 and currently teaches Grade 9 art and Grades 11 and 12 fashion and design, infusing Indigenous content into all of her courses.
Imparting her knowledge of anti-Indigenous racism, Indigenous world views and culture, Loukes invites
her students to explore various art forms used by Indigenous artists and learn to identify and describe rela-
tionships between the art forms and traditions, philosophy, and culture. Her innovative approaches and projects with her students have not only resulted in beautiful artwork, but her students, inspired by Loukes, have also sold various pieces of their work to raise money for Indigenous organizations.
Leading up to Remembrance Day, students used water colours to paint poppies. They then transferred their designs onto buttons which they sold to raise money for the Legion as well as the Indigenous Veterans Initiative.
In November, her Grade 12 students learned about the Indian Act and its link to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Using one of Loukes’s designs, students sewed tote bags which they sold to raise money for the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
As they sold out almost immediately, the students are now sewing more bags leading up to May 5th, the National Day of Awareness and Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People, also known as #RedDressDay. (Some bags will be sold on the Leaside Community Facebook page.)
“The students,” Loukes notes, “are excited to be able to sell their art.
Dr. Robert Heyding has an office on Eglinton Avenue. But the Leaside doctor’s practice transcends the boundaries of just one address.
In fact, he practises in various locations, often with clients who have no fixed address at all.
Citing his mother, Grace, as one of the greatest influences in his life, the doctor was introduced early on to a life of social justice action.
Grace founded Kingston’s version of Wheel-Trans. She visited the vulnerable in hospital and ran a swim program for people with special needs.
For four decades, Dr. Heyding has worked as a general practitioner instilled with the values his mom introduced.
On top of his GP duties, he also provides healthcare for the unhoused and for those experiencing addiction and mental health challenges.
In 1987, Joy Reid of 416 Drop-in Centre, which provides assistance for women with various challenges,
contacted Dr. Heyding to ask if he would consider providing healthcare on-site.
Dr. Heyding did, and has been doing so, ever since.
In the early days, he saw many patients without OHIP. As he points out, “just because you’re not getting paid doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”
With word spreading of his successful work at 416, Dr. Heyding was then asked by Peggy Ann Walpole of Street Haven if he would offer his services there, too. Agreeing, he would often work at the 416 during the day and Street Haven in the evening.
His patience, compassion and empathy have not been reserved simply for patients in shelters and drop-in centres. Often, he will drive to see housebound patients. He visits people whose neighbours have called, worried about them. And he is a doctor who will see patients unable to find help from other practitioners.
One of those patients is the daughter of Leasider Patti Kinch. After her daughter, with multiple special needs, turned 18 and aged out of pediatric care, Kinch visited and was turned away by over a dozen
Many of us first became aware of The Potter’s Studio when the directional signs for their twice-yearly sales would appear at Millwood and Overlea and also at Overlea and the top end of Thorncliffe – the signs with balloons bobbing in the breeze. Look for those signs again this spring – from April 28 to May 1.
The co-op started in 1972 on Dupont Street, relocated to Thorncliffe for more space in 1977, and moved from Unit 16 beside Iqbal Halal Foods to Unit 19 just east of Iqbal Kebab in 2020.
The studio has 50 members, making this a coveted work spot for potters who come from all over the city to be a part of this lively studio. Some members also have home studios and use the studio as an additional space. Others are based entirely at the studio. All have keys and can access the workspace anytime day or night. They closely follow all regulations for activities
during Covid, including how they conduct in-person sales, space out work stations, stay masked and remain properly distanced.
Cleanliness, including a daily clean-up regimen, is a requirement, especially in a shared space. The studio’s clay comes from The Pottery Supply House in Oakville and Tucker’s Pottery Supplies in Richmond Hill. Potters store their own clay on site. Luckily, both suppliers offer weekly delivery to the studio. The potters need to be diligent in keeping surfaces spotless for health reasons, and work must remain uncontaminated so glazes flow properly during firing. The studio is also diligent in testing glazes and ensuring works are food safe, and if not, are labeled properly. There are specific routines that must be followed. It certainly is a “labour intensive hobby,” says current president, Elaine Glynn.
As well as potting, part of belonging to this studio is that you share in various tasks – from regular cleaning, to managing the money, and taking on leadership roles because the studio, which does not have base government funding, is funded by membership fees and profits from their sales and classes.
A place for sharing, The Potter’s Studio holds in-house workshops, shares techniques, and provides mentorship for new members. Students of different levels can work together at their own pace, taught by professional potter Shayne Snaiderman. You can register for classes at https://thepottersstudio.ca. Funding from the City of Toronto supported two SPARK Partnership Projects in 2020. For the first: “Volunteers from The Potter’s Studio will work with The Neighbourhood Organization to organize a number of workshops for local young people to develop hand-building skills with clay,” says Glynn. “Giving back to the community, the youth will create clay art for the offices of The Neighbourhood Organization.” The second partnership, with the North York Women’s Shelter, will enable participants to work with clay for therapy and part of their healing process.
The studio did have a bit of an online brochure site before Covid, but now has a fully functioning website where you can learn more about the studio and its potters, register for classes, and purchase items made in the studio. You can also
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By the time you read this humble offering, I’ll be out of the country for the first time in, well, in a long, long time. My destination is not too exotic, though compared to where I’ve travelled since the lockdown kicked in now more than two years ago, it’s a different planet.
Yes, I’ll be in Florida (though many Canadians who have visited there already think it’s a different planet) with my twin brother and my brother-in-law restarting our annual golf pilgrimage that was suspended, like everything else, back in the spring of 2020. So traumatized have I been by the pandemic, I’d completely forgotten until just now that I even wrote my April 2020 column about our annual golf trip to Florida.
I see by the email trail that I innocently submitted the piece to my intrepid editor around March 12. And then, the next day, the NBA suspended the rest of their season tipping that first Covid domino that would lead to a complete shutdown. Needless to say, we never made that trip to Florida, and haven’t since, at least until now. (I say that in opti-
Terry Fallis Columnist
mistic hope that nothing thwarts this year’s adventure. But who knows, I may well have jinxed the whole thing by writing about it, just like I did two years ago.) But surely, we’ll make it this year (he says with fingers, and every other appendage, crossed).
I can report that I am definitely ready to get out of the house and swing a golf club in the warm Florida sun. I doubt the twoyear layoff has affected my game much, but I’ll just keep that idea to myself in case I’m struggling in the early games and need a convenient and convincing excuse. As is our tradition, we’ll play one round of golf every
morning for the five days that we’re there, finishing up around 10:30 or 11:00. Then we’ll zip back to my brother-in-law’s home just in time to plant ourselves on his couch to watch hours on end of the Masters golf tournament. (It’s no coincidence that our trip is timed to coincide with the Masters.) We’ll make brief but numerous trips out to the pool and hot tub all afternoon, but watching golf, right after playing golf, is really how we spend the lion’s share of our time when in Florida. Oh yes, there is also the chronic and deleterious indulging in a vast variety of snack foods.
One of the few outstanding questions about the trip is whether we’ll feel comfortable going out to dinner while we’re down there. The jury is still out on that one, but our brother-inlaw is a doctor (which might explain why he’s such a good golfer) so we’ll take his advice. It may be that we’ll be cooking for ourselves most nights, but after afternoons of stuffing our gullets with chips, cheezies, pretzels, and barbecued, honey-roasted peanuts, I don’t imagine we’ll need much for dinner. Given the time of year, it won’t be all golf, all the time. After all, we fully expect the Maple Leafs to be in the playoffs, so we’ll likely spend some of our evenings streaming the games and cheering on our beloved Leafs, hopefully to a first-round victory. (There I’ve gone and jinxed it again!)
I can assure you, we are more ready than you can imagine for this trip. I’ve purchased new golf shoes, had my clubs regripped, washed the dozen or so pairs of low-cut socks that I found moldering in my golf bag, acquired two dozen golf balls (that should almost last me through my first round), and stocked up on SPF 70 sunscreen to ensure I’ll return to Canada paler than when I left –none of which is likely to improve my score, but we are ready. We are so ready.
A two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Terry Fallis grew up in Leaside and is the award-winning writer of eight national bestsellers, all published by McClelland & Stewart. His most recent, Operation Angus, is now in bookstores. n
In May 2019, I wrote an article suggesting Leaside become one of the greenest neighbourhoods in the country. It’s always rewarding when Leaside Life readers reach out. Tim Short, who has lived here for 28 years, did just that.
He wrote, “I am a resident of South Leaside and am very interested in the environment and the steps our society needs to take in order to get a better handle on our future. … Sometimes I feel like the environment is in a losing battle, but there are signs that things may be changing.” So, I wasn’t surprised after our editor assigned me this story to find it was Tim and his business partner Richard Laszlo (www.laszloenergy. com ) who were promoting some new thinking about the good old heat pump. Thinking that couldn’t come at a more opportune time as we face soaring energy prices and challenging greenhouse gas emission (GHG) targets.
In 2018, Natural Resources Canada (NRC) reported that 52 per cent of Canada’s residential heating was produced by natural gas and that our homes produced 43.3 megatonnes of CO2 from space heating with the majority of these harmful emissions (61%) emanating from natural gas. Queue the heat pump. Heat pumps themselves do not generate heat, instead, they move heat from one place to another with the help of electricity. They take in heat energy from the outside air and transfer it indoors. Conversely, they can also function as air conditioning systems by absorbing heat from the indoor air and transferring it outside.
Glenn Asano
The
Business of Leaside
Awareness gap about the performance of cold climate heat pumps
A study published in Dec. 2021 by Heather McDiarmid for Ontario Clean Air Alliance Research notes there is a “gap in consumer and industry awareness of the performance and reliability of cold climate heat pumps.” She notes that heat pumps are a highly attractive option that provides major efficiency gains, and consumers are most likely to install high-efficiency heat pumps when they are replacing their old air conditioning units. If Ontario is going to hit its target of reducing emissions by 30 per cent over 2005 levels by 2030, then we would be wise to pay attention to the strategies in Ontario’s Environment Plan, which includes a commitment to encourage the use of heat pumps, along with Toronto’s TransformTO climate action plan that calls for fuel switching all buildings to “electric heat pumps or alternative sources of low emissions heating.”
Tim points out that we all have heat pumps in our home today – in the form of a refrigerator, a freezer and an air conditioner. The key insight here is that these versions of a heat pump are designed only to cool (i.e., a one-directional heat
pump). Typically, if you were to replace your furnace and air conditioner with a pump that is capable of both cooling and heating, the cost is significant (e.g., $20,000). Tim says “this approach is a non-starter.” The game-changing thinking that Tim and Richard are highlighting is about a hybrid way to deploy a heat pump. In a hybrid system, the air conditioner is replaced with a heat pump. The heat pump is used the majority of the year and the gas furnace only kicks in when the temperature dips below a pre-set level.
Since most homes in Leaside have a natural gas-fired furnace, Tim explained the procedure to switch to a hybrid solution would involve an installer who opens up the top of the blower box just above the furnace, pulls out the cool-only heat exchanger and installs a heat and cool exchanger so it can accommodate a heat pump that’s going to send cool air in the summer and heat in the winter. It keeps the same refrigerant lines. It keeps the same power line going to the air conditioner. It keeps the same furnace. It keeps the same duct system. All of that stays exactly the same. What changes is, of course, the heat pump so you’ll need a smart thermostat if you don’t already have one. “This is a very attractive solution,” he says.
Think about this for a minute: Switching to a heat pump is the equivalent of taking a gas-powered car off the road.
Leasiders who are facing the prospect of replacing their air conditioner should strongly consider
Leasider Tim Short beside a newly installed heat pump at his parents’ home.
the estimated $3,000 incremental cost of replacing it with a heat pump capable of both heating and cooling. With a lower initial capital cost, the case for adding the benefits of a heat pump becomes much stronger. In addition, it will improve over time because there is a $15 per tonne incremental increase every year on the price of carbon which gets added to the cost of natural gas. When coupled with energy price shocking events such as the RussiaUkraine war, the effective price gap between electricity to operate the heat pump versus natural gas will continue to shrink.
If the economic case is looking brighter, then the environmental case for swapping out your air conditioner for a heat pump is brilliant. Tim told me there are approximately 250,000 air conditioners installed every year in Ontario because they wear out. He emphatically states that “nobody should be installing another traditional air conditioner ever again; it should be a heat pump.” According to Tim’s calculations, a typical detached home in Leaside could eliminate approximately 1.8 tonnes of carbon per year by using a heat pump. As I said before, this would be the equiv-
alent of taking one gas slurping car off the road. A result certainly much cheaper than buying an electric vehicle!
With spring in the air and summer just around the corner, if you are considering replacing your air conditioner, it would be a mistake not to investigate the benefits of a heat pump before you make your final decision. As an added incentive, NRC’s Canada Greener Homes Grants are available to help Leasiders make their homes more energy-efficient by offering up to $5,000 for qualified heat pumps to help homeowners make energy-efficient retrofits to their homes. Encouraging homeowners to switch away from furnace oil and natural gas produces a significant reduction in GHG emissions, and every new heat pump installed in Leaside will make us greener.
Are you considering the benefits of a heat pump for your home? Are you aware of other impactful solutions that can help Leaside become one of the greenest neighbourhoods in Canada? Let us know at leasidelife@gmail.com. n
The simple act of shopping local has a profound impact on our community. When you support local businesses, your money recycles in our community, creating a circular effect that helps create more local jobs and supports the merchants who choose to call Leaside home.
Local owned and operated businesses also tend to contribute more to local charities and fundraisers than their national counterparts.
Commencing on April 1st, Leaside Life, in partnership with local technology innovator the Hope Factory, is relaunching the shop local campaign now known as Leaside Local
This past December Leaside Life partnered with Toy Drive Local to create a unique local cause marketing program to allow local merchants and businesses to create meaningful connections with new customers, encourage repeat visits from loyal shoppers and drive sales and ultimately raise donations for a worthy cause. We were thrilled that this local initiative helped raise
an additional $10,000, which was donated to the Leaside Toy Drive.
The inaugural program was such a success for all parties involved that this time the Leaside Local campaign has decided to support two very important causes.
Fifty per cent of the funds raised will go to The Thorncliffe Food Bank, which has been a lifeline for
when consumers spend at participating local merchants, the merchant and other local booster businesses donate a portion of the transaction to support the two designated causes.
The campaign’s goal is to raise $25,000.
We need your help.
The powerful platform the Hope
our neighbours in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park who experienced increasing food insecurity during the pandemic.
The other half of the funds raised will be directed towards the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, which is supporting relief efforts in Ukraine. As Russia continues its vicious assault on Ukrainian civilians, the need for humanitarian aid grows every day.
The program works in this way:
Factory has developed is fully secure and runs through the Visa and Mastercard networks. Once you register and use your credit card to make purchases at participating merchants, those merchants and boosters will do the rest and automatically make the donation.
Visit leasidelocal.com to find out more and register to participate. For more information on the program, see pages 20 and 21 or visit leasidelocal.com n
PALM SUNDAY
April 10th, 8am and 10am
MAUNDY THURSDAY
April 14th, 7:30pm
GOOD FRIDAY
April 15th, 10am
EASTER VIGIL
April 16th, 8pm at St. Augustine’s
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
EASTER SUNDAY
April 17th, 8am and 10am
Unlike Kermit the Frog, Meera Jain, a Grade 4 and 5 teacher at Bessborough Elementary and Middle School, finds it easy to be green. She says that for years she considered herself eco-friendly because she drove a hybrid and always recycled. But over time, she realized there was more she could do. “The more I learned, the more passionate I became about reducing plastic pol
Councillor Jaye Robinson and the City of Toronto present:
Sunday, April 10 | 10:00am - 2:00pm York Mills Collegiate Institute (490 York Mills Road)
Thursday, April 28 | 4:00pm - 8:00pm Leaside Memorial Community Gardens (1073 Millwood Road) AND
a co-leader of the Eco Club. This involved implementing school-wide
initiatives such as doing “eco-audits” in classrooms and making recommendations about saving energy, organizing clothing and toy drives, and introducing “boomerang lunches” where students learn to recycle their waste, put it in the compost bin, or take it home in reusable containers. She hopes to revive the club as soon as restrictions lift. At home, Meera and her husband, Mark, are raising their daughters, Anika, 7, and Eva, 4, in an ecominded household. Major elements of their green family lifestyle are following a plant-based diet, buying most items like clothing from second-hand stores, doing much of their own baking and cooking, buying in bulk using glass jars, and making their own cleaning products and toiletries.
Meera concludes that “eco-education has always been, and will continue to be, a strong component of what and how” she teaches. She hopes for a growing green consciousness in the world and will keep spreading her eco-message because “small steps can lead to big changes.” Take that, Kermit! n
Diverse and interesting
I have recently devoured your December issue and found it full of diverse and interesting articles. I would like to congratulate you on such an informative publication.
I came away feeling I know my community better. Thanks so much for your presence in the Leaside community. With gratitude,
Cathie and George Salter
White House Meats
I just read the article on White House Meats and wanted to correct the comment that was made that there are no retail meat cutting courses offered in community colleges.
While there may not be any local courses offered, retail meat cutter (trade code: 245R) is an apprentice-
able trade in Ontario. Seaway Valley Meat Cutting Institute (Cornwall) is a registered training delivery agent for the program. Fanshawe College and George Brown College also offer courses.
Alice Power
Kudos to Leaside Life!
I was just reading the March 2022 publication and wanted to reach out and let you know how much I enjoy reading Leaside Life . It is an amazing publication, keeps me abreast of the community happenings and is a joy to read every time I receive it in my mailbox. You have a great team who brings awareness and diversity to the articles and experiences that all of us get to share through your work. Kudos to the Leaside Life team and publication. Thank you.
Maurene McQuestion
Thanks to our proximity to Toronto’s ravine system and the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Leasiders have grown accustomed to sharing their habitat with a variety of wildlife –everything from hawks, raccoons and foxes to deer, skunks, and coyotes.
While these animals often provoke wonder and excitement – and sometimes fear and anger – none has ever come close to creating the kind of drama and notoriety achieved by a lowly groundhog named Butterball, who 70 years ago captured the attention not only of Leaside but the entire country.
Butterball was the pet of Toronto Star nature writer Hugh Halliday, who lived at 25 Le May Rd., just west of Bayview Ave. The animal was clearly not your average groundhog. According to Halliday, he could dance, stand up straight like a soldier, and liked to sit on Halliday’s typewriter.
One day in August 1951, Butterball decided to leave the Halliday residence and go exploring.
Discovering that his pet was gone, a distraught Halliday posted notices
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throughout Leaside and Davisville Village describing the animal’s features and behaviour. Details included the fact that Butterball was 10 inches tall, had a small cut on one of his
acknowledges we are hosted on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat.
We also recognize the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and the Inuit peoples.
We also recognize our responsibility in respecting and protecting the land and water systems that surround us in the east end of Toronto, that being the Don River, or Wonscotonach in Anishinaabemowin, so that these resources can be enjoyed and flourish for all life and for generations to come.
ears, had “no enemies and readily performs for strangers.”
The Toronto Star and the Canadian Press picked up the story, triggering hundreds of responses from people claiming they had spotted the missing rodent. One report had him as far away as Heath Street.
Local children formed search parties and scoured the neighbourhood looking for Butterball. One group included children of Frank Teskey, coach of the St. Anselm’s Atom Bombers hockey team. Another consisted of boys from the Randolph Road area.
Despite the publicity (newspapers from cities as distant as Regina and Vancouver carried the story), Butterball continued to elude capture. Eventually, the Randolph Road boys found him at the Shipway Iron and Wire factory at Millwood and Southvale, where he spent the night under a steel pile. He had been gone two days and had travelled over a mile from his home.
During that time, Butterball had been attacked by at least a dozen dogs at various places and had fought them all off. A Leaside boy
named Ralph Strutt witnessed one of these attacks. When a large black dog started harassing Butterball, Ralph recounted how the feisty groundhog “turned around, his hair bristled, he showed his teeth and he charged. He made that dog run for his life.”
Once found by the boys, Butterball became quite friendly – entertaining and playing with them until his owner was notified and retrieved him.
Newspapers covered Butterball’s “rescue” as extensively as his disappearance. The Toronto Star put the story on its front page, giving it two columns and two large photos. The headline in the Regina Leader Post enthused “Butterball Comes Home.” The Windsor Star exclaimed “Butterball Licks ’em All.”
A celebrity had been born. Thus ended the saga of Butterball the Groundhog – another fascinating episode in Leaside’s colourful history.
*On Sunday, April 10, the LHPS is hosting the official launch of its own specially brewed “Heritage” beer. [See ad on page 13] The launch will take place at the Amsterdam Brewery on 45 Esander Drive – from 2-4 p.m. All are welcome. n
How To Get Involved:
1. Visit our website to register in the LeasideLocal program
your eligible Visa or Mastercard
3. Shop at participating local Merchants and a donation will be made to the orncli e Food Bank + the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.
Safe & Secure | Free To Enroll
It’s April and that means the beginning of dandelion season. Depending on how you feel about this plant, the sight of dandelions will either fill you will joy or drive you absolutely crazy.
Any day now, their fresh green leaves will begin to poke through the soil of our garden beds, pop up in lawns and even squeeze their way through cracked pavement. Soon after, their mini golden pompom blooms (100 florets filled with pollen) will open and dot our gardens in the most unexpected places.
Should we love them or hate them? Are dandelions wildflowers, herbs or weeds?
Dandelions have deep roots in history and are quite possibly the most successful existing plant. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans enjoyed the plant as food, medicine and magic.
Europeans loved the dandelion for its beauty and nutritional value and as a green growing first aid kit. That’s why they brought it with them wherever they went and that’s
why they are here. Today, dandelions grow in every continent except Antarctica, making the dandelion a truly global plant.
Why down on dandelions?
But for many adults, dandelions are uncontrollable weeds that destroy our vision of order and artistry.
According to pesticide companies, dandelions are most definitely weeds and lawn enemy No 1. That’s why every bottle of weed killer has a picture of a dandelion on it.
On Earth Day in April 22, 2009, the Ontario pesticide ban came into being. Every year since then, I’ve noticed more and more dandelions in Leaside. Are we becoming more comfortable seeing them? Will we be eating them soon?
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend local foraging. Roadside plants suffer from engine exhaust, and most lawns have reduced environmental quality from years of herbicide and insecticide use. No one really knows how long it takes for soil to replenish itself. What’s worse is that even though the pesticide ban has been in place for a while, weed killers are still available at our local hardware stores.
Leaside Village Medical Clinic The
We look forward to serving our community!
Leaside Village Plaza Unit 206, 25 Industrial St., East York, Ontario www.LVMC.ca • 416-487-2442
(above the Shoppers Drug Mart/PetSmart)
All parts of the dandelion plant are useful. The leaves are a rich source of vitamins A, B1, B2 and C with more calcium and iron than spinach. The flowers can be used to make wine and jam as well as a dye for textiles. The roots can be dried and crushed to make a caffeine-free coffee substitute, and the milky latex within the stem has been used as a mosquito repellent. During the Second World War, this dandelion latex was considered a source for tire manufacturing. More recently, I read an article about how Cole Haan is creating a new shoe made from natural dandelion rubber.
Berti Spencer loves dandelions too. Though she has lived in Leaside for 40+ years, she grew up on a farm in Switzerland and learned to love everything about dandelions. I can only imagine her memories of rolling fields ablaze with the golden blooms. Her sister still lives there and makes good use of the entire plant.
With so many positive attributes, why would we ever consider the dandelion a mere weed?
Kids are big fans. The flowers are so bright and perfectly proportioned to their tiny little hands. This makes it easy to create the ideal pint size bouquet for every mom and grandma on Mother’s Day. I remember doing exactly that. But most of all, dandelions are simply loads of fun for kids when they blow the cloud of seeds into air and then silently make a wish. Yes, kids seem to think dandelions are the best.
But understanding the importance of pollinators seems to be changing the way we look at our gardens and especially how we see plants and their contributions. We know now that herbicides, pesticides and insecticides harm the environment, so we are looking at other options for a healthy garden.
Could our new love of pollinator gardens change the way we see dandelions? Bees see dandelions as an early source of nourishment.
Soon every Leaside gardener with spring fever will be out in the garden raking up leaves and pulling out weeds. But this is not the time to be a tidy gardener. The leaves that you (hopefully) left in your garden bed last fall are now slowly breaking down to add a rich fertilizer to your soil. This leaf litter is where many species of butterflies and moths overwinter as pupae. Our native ground bees are just beginning to wake up and so are bumble bees and honey bees, all in search of food which isn’t always available. But if they’re lucky, they might find some nutritious dandelions nearby. This is one of those magical moments in time when a gardener can do something really important by doing absolutely nothing!
Visit leasidelife.com for the extended version of this article. n
Nominations are now open for the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame and for Athlete/Team of the Year, 2022.
Nominations are now being accepted for Historic Teams for induction into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame. Visit leasidesports.com to nominate or for eligibility criteria. DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS MAY 31, 2022.
The Leaside Sports Hall of Fame gratefully acknowledges the generous support over the years from and from the following community partners:
To nominate please visit www.leasidesports.com
To donate use QR Code or visit www.leasidesports.com
With spring definitely in the air, the Idler finds a wealth of happenings to write about in and around Leaside.
St. Cuthbert’s brings back its bake & book sale
A sure sign that a more normal spring in upon us – the St. Cuthbert’s Church Bake & Book Sale is scheduled for Sun., April 24th from 1 to 4 p.m. (Please be masked). This active congregation has managed through the past couple of years with many virtual online events and now looks forward to welcoming parishioners and the community back for in-person events. St. Cuthbert’s Church is located at 1399 Bayview Ave. Don’t forget to check out the exterior renovations while you’re there.
hairdressing duo to retire after 25 years.
Sisters Azniv & Armineh Chouldjian of Leaside Hair Design on Millwood will be retiring this
month after 25 years of business in Leaside. When asked what’s next, Azniv says she is looking forward to “doing all the things I couldn’t do all these years of working long hours, especially the simple things, like long walks and finally reading all those novels I’ve put off for so long.” We hope you enjoy your well-earned retirement. Our locks will certainly miss you.
In March 2021, Leaside Life columnist Janis Fertuck shared the inspiring story of Shirley McNaughton and her lifelong work with Blissymbolics , the graphic communication system for children with severe speech and physical challenges.
Recently, the Blissymbolics Communications Institute was awarded a $46,500 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to help with its Bliss i-Band program. The music group was founded by psychologist Audrey King and educator Shirley McNaughton in 2013 with seed funding from the Lillian Meighen and Don Wright Foundation. The goal was to enable
persons with disabilities to participate in making music together, often for the first time, playing a wide range of instruments in the Garage Band app on iPads. “The long arc of the project, dreamed of by Shirley, that each member would develop their own individual recognizable playing style, has been accomplished,” said music director Aaron Lightstone.
But there are truly no words to fully describe the joy created through the accomplishments of these committed volunteers and band members. The Idler encourages you to visit their website blissiband.com to listen for yourself. Look for a fourth narrative video – “Journey of the Bliss i-Band,” set for release on YouTube later this month.
Founded in 1953, The Leaside Atom Baseball Association (LABA) is a shining example of what makes Leaside such a great community to raise kids. This house league baseball (hardball) organization is the perfect way to introduce boys aged 9-11 to the game. After two years on pause because of Covid, they are back. One of the great things about this league is that games are played in May and June and then off for the summer with playoffs resuming in September. This is a perfect option for cottage goers to play ball and still enjoy the summer. The backbone of this organization has been the volunteers, whose countless hours and commitment have kept the association strong for almost 70 years. The group has some extraordinary long-time
Time for another update! (For background, read my columns in Leaside Life , March, June and September 2021.) Here’s what’s happening with our Talbot quad (1783-85 Bayview Ave.) just south of the Leaside LRT station site, fast coming to completion.
Last time out, we described how Metrolinx asked for a meeting with the Leaside Residents Association in July 2021 to discuss a “heritage impact assessment” (HIA), which contemplated “commemoration” (following demolition) of 1783-85 Bayview Ave., the quadraplex owned by Metrolinx. The LRA did not comply, and instead submitted questions to Metrolinx regarding its process and whether Metrolinx was following the province’s own heritage policies, given that the property was owned by the province, with status as a “Provincial Heritage Property.”
After that, radio silence until we were asked to attend a meeting on February 17 with ERA Architects, a well-known heritage consulting firm, for input to a “strategic conservation
Geoff Kettel Saving old Leaside
plan” (SCP). This sounded hopeful. It appeared that Metrolinx was now acknowledging the property’s status as a Provincial Heritage Property and were following the Standards and Guidelines for Conservation of Provincial Heritage Properties. The three questions raised by ERA and our responses are as follows:
1. What do you value about this property?
The Leaside community values the property as part of an intact row of four-unit apartment houses – 10 in total. The row fits well into the Leaside townscape of modest houses and apartments that were built in the period between 1928 and 1953, when almost all of Leaside was built. The row is part of the compre-
If you are working as support staff at Sunnybrook Hospital, you have more on your plate than you can handle. Filing your taxes is probably the last thing on your mind. I can help you.
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hensively planned Town of Leaside, which may be, and likely is, the first new town established on garden city principles in Ontario. Eight years after the launch of the world’s first garden city in Letchworth, England, Frederick Gage Todd laid out the Town of Leaside – one of three model new towns laid out on Garden City principles for the Canadian Northern Railway. Landscape architect Frederick Gage Todd is recognized as the leading Canadian exponent of the Garden City approach to developer-built housing projects during the early 20th century.
The four-unit apartment house at 1783-1785 Bayview Ave. retains its architectural integrity both on its exterior and in its interior. As the Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report (CHER) done for Metrolinx by Taylor Hazell Architects noted: “The interior(s) of the units are remarkably intact, consistent throughout and have refined detailing.”
2. What’s most important about this property?
The quads maintain the overall character of the Leaside Garden Suburb and its cohesive built form. Henry Howard Talbot, the successful builder of this row of apartment houses, was also responsible for the heritage-designated garden apartments farther south on Bayview Ave. and numerous single-family houses in Leaside. Talbot is responsible for providing a variety of innovative housing types that have lasted into the early 21st century. His career as a builder led to Talbot’s becoming a mayor of the Town of Leaside. The apartment house at 1783-1785 Bayview Ave. backs onto the park named for him, drawing the connection between his apartment house and the open space. Also, the position of the apartment house at the western edge of Leaside and first in the row gives it a gateway function in the community. And of course, besides its cultural heritage value to our community, the building offers a more affordable housing choice in Leaside.
3. What should be the future of the property?
We would expect the apartment house at 1783-1785 Bayview Ave. to remain a four-unit apartment house. We would also want any
Spring is a time for renewal, rebirth and especially after two long years of Covid restrictions, a time of rejuvenation. This month, the Don Valley Art Club is springing back to life and is returning to the Papermill Gallery, located on the historic Todmorden Mills site, to host its first “in-person” art show in over two years. An interesting fact about the Papermill Gallery was that in the 1800s, it was the first of its kind in Upper Canada to produce machine-made paper and provided newsprint for some of the colony’s first publications.
“If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” —
Edward HopperThe Don Valley Art Club, established in 1948, has long been considered an important part of the Toronto arts community, and Leaside is fortunate to have them as our near neighbours. The club, with more than 180 active members, has for almost 75 years gathered to give artists a forum to create original paintings, drawings, sketches and other media.
The in-person show runs from April 27 to May 8 with over 100 new pieces available to enjoy and purchase. The show will continue
the studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing in the landscape. This centuries old art form was a favourite style of the French
online until May 15th, where many more artworks can be viewed. In addition, on Sun., May 1st from noon to 4 p.m., visitors can observe and interact with several “plein air” artists. “Plein air” is about leaving
Impressionists, and allows artists to capture the subtleties of the changing light and colour on the landscape. Papermill Gallery is located at 67 Pottery Rd. Admission is free, with free parking on site. n
We are here to help and proud to serve our community!
Bayview & Fleming
1601 Bayview Ave.
Toronto, ON M4G 3B5
416-489-1873 8am - midnight*
Bayview & Broadway
1860 Bayview Ave.
Toronto, ON M4G 0C3
416-482-9841 8am - 10pm*
Leaside Village
25 Industrial Street,
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* Except holidays
IDLER From Page 24
volunteers: Pete Dudley, who has been involved since 1965, Ray Edamura, who has been involved for 40 years, and Norm (Charlie) Ahier, who has been active since the 1970s. They are always looking for new volunteers to join and refresh the group. Many of the current volunteers started as players and then returned later in life to give back their time to the program in various roles as executives, coaches and senior umpires. Interested in registering or volunteering – check out the new website: Leasideatombaseball. com or email: labaatmail@gmail. com. See you at Trace Manes Park this spring. Play ball!
On April 14th at 7 p.m. the Leaside Garden Society will be featuring guest speaker Anna Leggatt sharing her expertise on container gardening. Anna Leggatt, a Toronto Master Gardener for more than 30 years, is a former high school teacher of botany and chemistry. She also worked for 30 years at the Kortright Centre for Conservation and is the past chair of the Ontario Rock Garden Society. Monthly meetings will continue to be hosted on Zoom, and new members and guests are welcome. Interested? Visit www. leasidegardensociety.org or email: leaside@gardenontario.org.
Leaside’s collaborative practice and mediation expert Deborah Graham co-authors new book
Long-time Leaside resident and collaborative family lawyer and family mediator Deborah Graham has released her latest book, A Guide to A Sensible Divorce. Graham, along with Stella Kavoukian and Alison Anderson, has written a comprehensive guide to help parents as they navigate the stresses of separation and divorce. Deborah provides a legal overview as well as negotiation tips and guidance on how and when to settle. Anderson, a financial professional, provides insight into the financial decisions surrounding divorce, while Kavoukian, a social worker, provides guidance on how to support your children. The book is available on Amazon. To learn more about Deborah’s practice, visit: deborahgraham.ca. n
by GEOFF KETTEL
Last month’s Leaside Life mentioned the recent approval of garden suites, “as of right,” carte blanche across the city. But while City Council passed the bylaw on February 3rd, it was not unanimous (our Councillor Jaye Robinson was one of five who voted against), and subsequently six residents’ associations, scattered across the four districts, plus the Confederation of Resident and Ratepayer Associations (CORRA) appealed the legislation to the Ontario Land Tribunal. In addition, an alliance called “Building Better Neighbourhoods” has formed to support responsible renewal of communities. The rules that will govern the way forward need to result in stable communities maintaining character and function, recognizing the need for more housing options, but steering clear of the creation of expensive housing and profitability for developers.
The appellants state that the City clearly overreached provincial regulations limiting garden suites to single detached, semi-detached, and
townhouses in extending its approval to multiplexes. They believe there is no legal authority, nor is it good planning, to allow garden suites in zoning for multiplexes and low-rise apartments without development of appropriate standards. Several residents’ associations (including LRA) had raised concerns in submissions to City Planning, and the Planning and Housing Committee, but their planning concerns and specific recommendations that would improve the regulations, quality of life for present and future residents, and better protect existing trees and green space, were left unaddressed in the legislation, disregarded in the apparent rush to get the legislation adopted and implemented before the pending close of Council’s term in July.
Originally, garden suites were claimed to be a solution to the housing crisis and part of efforts to improve housing affordability, but lately that argument has been toned down to one of “increasing housing options.” Based on evidence from laneway suites, rents for garden suites can range between $3,000 and $5,000, and the greatest interest is coming from investors. In Toronto, almost one in three houses is purchased by investors. This poses the very real risk of destabilizing our housing market. Here’s why:
• Investors and speculators compete with individual home buyers for the limited supply of homes, so the
price of a home will skyrocket.
• At the size currently proposed, the rents that would be generated from a garden suite would not be considered affordable.
• Individual home buyers who are already struggling to keep up with the rising cost of housing will find themselves priced out of the market.
There is a risk of neighbourhoods transitioning from being owner-occupied to investor-owned. There is evidence of this following the introduction of garden suites in Barrie, Ont. Barrie later changed the entire scope of their garden suite bylaws because streets were changing from resident to investor ownership, with home prices and rents both rising to unaffordable levels.
Originally, garden suites were claimed to represent “gentle density” that did not negatively impact the streetscape – because they were in the backyard, hidden behind the street wall. However, the City-approved policy allows the primary dwelling to be demolished in order to build the garden suite behind, thus deflating that argument and raising the spectre of an increase in demolitions.
Other issues raised by residents and residents’ associations include:
• Height (too tall) and minimum setbacks from the primary dwelling (too little) giving rise to issues of shadowing, and loss of soft landscape and reduction in permeable
SUITES continued after the policy’s approval), such a meeting was held in one ward. Again, a garden suites policy could have been developed without these flaws.
surface area.
• Density (floor space index measure) is not a performance measure for garden suites so neighbourhood intensification can no longer be reliably tracked.
• Allowing basements in garden suites increases the potential damage to tree roots and endangers tree health.
• “One size fits all” minimum performance standards, despite the varied lot sizes and characteristics, and built form typologies in neighbourhoods across the city.
• “As of right” approval for garden suites that meet minimum performance measures prevents neighbours from being advised of the application, and having their say via a notice and hearing at the Committee of Adjustment. These are the issues those following the matter have raised – but it’s also the case that few know about this. The City has held virtual meetings, made a video, and created a survey reaching a few thousand people at most across Toronto. None of the meetings has been ward-based and promoted at the neighbourhood level. Recently (but
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Garden suites interrupted? Hopefully, the City will use this appeal process to start a real dialogue on the current one-size-fits-all framework being forced on communities across Toronto.
In the meantime, please share your views with Councillor Jaye Robinson. n
From page 26
development on the LRT Station site (1787 Bayview Ave.) to limit its impact on the apartment house as well as on Talbot Park.
However, since the meeting, ERA recently provided a draft SCP report to LRA which suggests that the heritage values are not strong enough for the building to be retained. The implication is that the building may be demolished before it is disposed of by Metrolinx to the private developer.
What’s next? – maybe it’s time to man the ramparts and load the cannons, as we said a year ago. n
EDITOR
From page 2
battle, but there are signs that things may be changing.”
But then world events overtook us, and my mood, along with the mood of Canadians everywhere, shifted to Ukraine and the latest chapter in our dark history. But, one bright spot: already, there are efforts to welcome refugees who need support.
Just over five years ago, we wrote about the work of the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office (TNO), which helped find homes and jobs for hundreds of Syrian refugees. Once again, TNO is mobilizing. According to CEO Ahmed Hussein, TNO will be working closely with the government to sponsor and settle Ukrainian refugees. TNO coordinates efforts to help the refugees with their paper work, employment, and other official matters. The biggest part of their work at the outset will be finding shelter for the mostly women and children who have to flee the violence. Leasiders may be called upon to open your homes and your hearts.
Answer that call if you can. Read on in this issue to learn more. n
From page 8
add yourself to the studio email list to receive notices of new work on the site and in-person sales events. Metrolinx plans for this end of Thorncliffe Park Drive mean the studio will have to move again. They are certainly keeping their eyes open for space as attractive as their current location. n
HEYDING
From page 6
doctors in the city.
Then Kinch approached Dr. Heyding, who, after listening to her story, agreed to accept her daughter into his practice. For her family, this was a moment of overwhelming relief.
Even though he told her he was about to retire, he’s been seeing Kinch’s daughter for 12 years.
“Dr. Heyding is one of those doctors you hear about in Reader’s Digest stories,” says Kinch. “Caring for his community, lending his hand to special projects like homeless shelters, and taking your phone calls immediately. He looks after so many of us and we are so grateful for him. He is one in a million.”
Dr. Heyding has seen those he’s helped in shelters get married, land jobs, and have children. And he has provided life-changing care for patients like Patti Kinch’s daughter. While he’s helped so many and has always “enjoyed being able to help,” he points out very matter-offactly, “I was taught to be a doctor and this is what I needed to do.” n
We can hit climate targets. We have the technology. We have the capacity. We can afford it.
We need green government to help get it done.
Now that Ontario has removed Covid masking and distancing mandates, how comfortable do you feel? Are you going out more? Dining in restaurants instead of just ordering for pick-up or takeout and delivery? Attending events in public venues with larger groups of people? What is your post-pandemic tolerance –and comfort – level?
I ask these questions for a reason. The Leaside Residents Association has been holding our monthly board meetings on Zoom since the pandemic was declared, supplying Zoom contact details to all Leasiders who wish to attend or depute. We also held our AGM last year virtually. We are now discussing whether the time has come to return to in-person meetings. We need your input.
There are advantages to both virtual and in-person approaches. On the one hand, online meetings allow an almost unlimited number of attendees to participate. No need to head out into winter weather and search for a parking spot, no need to hire a babysitter, no need to get out of your pajamas. You are not
Carol Burtin Fripp Co-president, LRA
risking contact with anybody else’s Covid germs. There is no commuting time.
On the other hand, in-person meetings can provide more interaction, and feel more comfortable to those less adept with computers. You can look people in the eye, not just into their on-screen eyes. You can ‘read the room.’ But you are not protected from contact with the germs of others. Another consideration: in-person meetings would not be attendable online, since our usual venue at Trace Manes does not have Wi-Fi or the equipment to broadcast meetings, let alone to fully interact via a hybrid model.
What do you think? Would you be more likely to attend our LRA monthly meetings if we returned to in-person gatherings? The Trace
Manes building’s meeting rooms can once again be booked. Should the LRA return to Trace Manes? If so, how soon? Would it make a difference to you if we considered holding our meetings outside once the weather is warm enough, to allow more personal distancing options?
How comfortable are you with online versus in-person LRA meetings in general? Do you have a preference? The LRA prefers to take direction from you, our members, rather than decide on your behalf. You can contact us via our site ( www.leasideresidents.ca ) or Leaside Life magazine.
Please let us know. This is an important step for all of us.
Our next LRA monthly board meeting is on Wed., April 6th, at 7:30 p.m., still on Zoom. After that date, the ‘how’ is really up to you! If you’d like to watch or participate, please let us know by that date and we’ll be glad to send you the Zoom access details. You can find us at www.leasideresidents.ca. n
LOUKES From page 4
They love being entrepreneurial.”
Several of Loukes’s students have become passionate about sewing, and with the donation of machines from Leasiders, Loukes was able to accommodate 12 students who didn’t have machines at home. Students have been using the machines for their own projects and are sewing additional tote bags as part of the volunteer hours they must complete before graduation.
Leasiders also pitched in to help with a sculpture project which Loukes is working on with her students.
Using women’s shoes donated by those in the neighbourhood, each student will create a sculpture with a shoe and found objects. The shoes will be spray-painted red and used collectively as part of a large installation to mark the National Day of Awareness and Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Loukes’s expertise in the field of Indigenous studies has led to her facilitating a First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) course with York University.
The course is designed for teachers wishing to effectively integrate the rich cultural history and traditional teachings of the FNMI into their own instruction.
With her passion for imparting her Indigenous teachings and culture, Loukes has become a treasure for students and anyone fortunate enough to be able to listen to and learn from her. n
I am pleased to announce that the City is returning to a ward-based format for this year’s Community Environment Days. Historically, the Community Environment Days in Ward 15 are among the best-attended in all of Toronto. This year, our local events will be held on Sun., April 10, from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at York Mills Collegiate Institute (490 York Mills Rd.) and Thurs., April 28 from 4:00-8:00 p.m. at Leaside Memorial Community Gardens (1073 Millwood Rd.).
Environment Day is a great opportunity to clear out items found during spring cleaning such as used electronics, paints, solvents and glue, batteries, household hazardous waste, and fluorescent bulbs. Up to two free bags of compost per household will be available for pickup, while supplies last. In addition to properly disposing of non-landfill items, the City will also be collecting donations of:
• Sporting goods
• Books (excluding textbooks)
• Cameras, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays
Councillor, Ward 15, Don Valley West
• Dress-up clothing and costume jewelry
• Clothing, footwear, accessories, and linens
• Small household items
• Musical instruments and board games
• Eyeglasses, walking aids, and hearing aids, and
• Non-perishable food.
As the former Chair of Public Works and Infrastructure, I introduced the City’s first-ever Long Term Waste Management Strategy (LTWMS) to guide waste management in Toronto for the next 30 to 50 years. Through the LTWMS – including programs such as blue bin recycling, green bin organics, yard waste, household hazardous
waste, grasscycling, and backyard composting – the City of Toronto diverted nearly 400,000 tonnes of residential waste from landfill in 2017.
Solid Waste Management Services have always identified Community Environment Days as an important initiative to help divert waste from the landfill. For example, in a 2020 report, they estimated that over 1,400 tonnes of textiles have been collected at Toronto’s Community Environment Days since 2003, representing nearly 25% of all the reusable items brought to these events. Textiles are one of the most common contaminants found in Toronto’s blue bins, reducing our recycling program’s effectiveness by tangling sorting machines, damaging equipment, and costing the City millions in processing fees.
You can find more information on the items that will be accepted for drop-off or donation at my Community Environment Days by visiting www.toronto.ca/environment_days. I look forward to seeing you there! n
