Leaside was once home to Ontario’s infamous film censor. Who knew!

For over 50 years every film shown in Ontario movie theatres was first screened at a nondescript, one-storey brick building at 1075 Millwood Rd., adjacent to the Leaside Memorial Community Gardens. It housed the Ontario Board of Censors (later known as the Ontario Film Review Board), one of Ontario’s most powerful government agencies.

Founded in 1911 as the Ontario Classification Board, the Censor Board was based for many years in Queen’s Park, but by 1948 it had moved to new state-of-the-art headquarters in Leaside. Few people knew the building was even there, as it was virtually unmarked. This was deliberate, as the Board and its staff preferred keeping a low profile. The building’s features included: a fireproof brick vault for storing films, a 100-seat private theatre (later reduced to 35 seats for added comfort), equipment for film-editing and film-cutting, administrative

Ted DeWelles Leaside Heritage Preservation Society

offices and a board room. There was also a recreation area for employees. When the Censor Board first moved to Leaside, board membership comprised a chairman plus three additional members. By the 1980s when the board was screening nearly 3,000 films a year (according to the Toronto Star, Dec. 5, 1984), its number had grown to over a dozen full- and part-time members. At least one was a Leaside resident – Fred Scholes, who lived at 179 Bessborough Dr. and served on the Board from the late 1940s into the late 1960s.

Board decisions were non-transparent and confidential – and its powers were vast. It classified films (as family appropriate, adult accompaniment, or restricted to 18 and over), enforced cuts to images and dialogue, and had the authority to ban movies outright. It exercised control over coming attractions,

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