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®
INSIDE Forget the cold, these kids are still enjoying rugby/ 2
Police hang out with St. Felix Centre kids Pilot project could launch city-wide JUSTIN SKINNER jskinner@insidetoronto.com
Is Ford right where he wants to be? / 4
A pilot project that was run out of the St. Felix Centre could wind up being used as a blueprint to improve relations between youth and police across the city. The St. Felix Centre has traditionally run a youth drop-in centre on Friday nights to serve young people in the Alexandra Park co-op and the surrounding area. When officers from 14 Division paid an informal visit to the drop-in centre, it sowed the seeds for the partnership, which saw four officers attend the weekly sessions and play sports, board games and video games with the young partici-
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I
n the snowy hills of Banff, Alberta, there are only two Chinese restaurants – neither of which Christina Chong has any intention of visiting any time soon. The East York native will be spending her first ever Chinese New Year away from Toronto. She moved to Banff three months ago for a coveted job at an accounting firm – and so far she doesn’t expect the Chinese atmosphere to be quite as authentic as Toronto’s. The 23-year-old usually spends the holiday listening to her vivacious uncle Gary order a traditional eight dish meal to their round table, usually at one of many suitable restaurants in the Richmond Hill-Markham area – one of the Toronto area’s five hot spots for Chinese immigrants and exceptional
pants. “The officers at 14 Division were targeting high-risk neighbourhoods to make their presence known,” said Elisabeth Leroux, who is studying the results of surveys handed out to participants in the partnership. “We thought it would be a good opportunity to help improve the relationships our youth have with the police.” Police spent 16 weeks attending the drop-ins to interact with the youth. Leroux’s research included surveys handed out to St. Felix Centre youth prior to the police becoming a regular presence at the Friday night sessions. “A lot of our kids have had personal run-ins with the police >>>POLICE, page 3
Sochi-central at Ryerson for city’s LGBT community dim sum. This year’s Chinese New Year’s celebrations will run from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15. >>>THE CHINESE, page 13
JUSTIN SKINNER jskinner@insidetoronto.com With the Olympics set to start in Sochi, a group of organizations are coming together to provide a safe and welcoming space for the city’s LGBT community to join together and watch outdoors. PrideHouseTO will see a large viewing screen and outdoor lounge area set up at Victoria
and Gould streets on the campus of Ryerson University. The venue will serve not only to provide members of the LGBT community a friendly venue, it will also serve to raise awareness of PrideHouseTO in general. “PrideHouse is a group of 15 different organizations that came together for the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games,” said >>>RUSSIA’S, page 3