Community News Update - October 12, 2021

Dear Community,

I hope that everyone has a had a restful Thanksgiving long weekend. I find during these COVID times those extra seconds to relax and decompress are now more important than ever.

Over the last two days, Ontario reported 848 new cases of COVID-19, 458 on Monday, and 390 today. Once again, when we analyse this data we can see that the majority of cases are being found in people who remain unvaccinated. It’s incredibly important that we all make sure that we all get vaccinated, and if you haven’t gotten your shot yet, you can find your nearest vaccination site at the link below.

Click here to find your nearest vaccination site.

On Friday we learned that the Ford government would be removing capacity limits from a number of venues and sites around the province, including movie theatres and stadiums. Curiously left off this list were our many local businesses like restaurants, who were told to maintain their capacity limits and distancing.

Now, what’s different about our local businesses, and big businesses?

The amount they spend on corporate lobbyists.

Frankly, this represents another instance of the Ford government choosing his big fish buddies over everyday Ontarians, who are trying to get by. He owes Ontario an explanation for why he’s treating these businesses so differently.  

Tomorrow evening, there will be an important community consultation on the redevelopment of Canada Square at Yonge and Eglinton. 

The City of Toronto's planning staff will be on hand to hear feedback from residents on the Midtown Working Group's proposal for the space. Some of the key concerns that they have identified are: 

• A large public park
• A new elementary school
• Childcare
• Post-secondary institution
• Significantly increased office space for innovative jobs and community organizations
• Cultural facilities such as a theatre space for the performing arts.

If you would like to attend this meeting, it will be happening tomorrow, October 13, from 6:30 to 8:30PM and you can register by clicking here.

one2give is an amazing organization in our community who do work to help organize and activate folks to support important organizations and causes, and they’re now halfway through their seventh campaign. This time around their working to support Anduhyaun Inc, which provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for Indigenous and non-Indigenous women and children fleeing violence.

So how can you support?

Well, one2give has set up drop sports around the city that will be operating until October 18, and they’re specifically looking for the following items:

• New twin bedding (sheet sets, pillows)
• New women’s clothing (T-shirts, leggings)
• Non-perishable food (pasta, tomato sauce, pancake mix, etc..)
• Shampoo, conditioner, bottled soap
• Gift cards (Tim Hortons, or Walmart)

This is an incredibly important cause, and I’m proud to support the work of One2Give. To find one of their drop spots, or check out their full online wish list you can purchase from, check them out on Instagram here.

Hydro One is set to be doing some work in our community later this year, just north of the CPR railway tracks that run north of Dupont, east and west of Avenue Road (from Huron St. to Yonge St). To prepare for this, they are going to be delivering a presentation about the tree and vegetation maintenance that this will entail. The work they will be doing could include the trimming and potential removal of trees and other vegetation around the power lines.

After the presentation, there will be an opportunity for questions from the audience to representatives from Hydro One.

The meeting will be on Zoom from Thursday, October 14 from 6:30 to 7:30PM and you can register here.

Our local theatre scene continues to be bustling – and coming up this weekend the TYT Theatre is going to be launching their first performance at the Wychwood Theatre (located in the Wychwood Barns). For their first production, they are putting on the ‘Fireside Munsch!’ where they will be reliving a number of Munsch classics.

Their first run of shows sold out – so they’ve added more performances to their calendar for this, and next weekend!  

You can get your tickets here.

They’re going to have a whole lot more programming coming up soon, and if you can check out the upcoming shows on their website here.

Coming up on October 20, George Brown College will be hosting a consultation meeting for George Brown students where they will discuss their experiences around access to food through the college, if you’re interested in attending, you can register here.

Then on November 5 and 6, they will be hosting their first National Student Food Summit, where this year’s topic will be Students Leading Change: Addressing food insecurity through policy. There will be speakers from around the country, and if you’d like to register, you can do so here.

In Solidarity,

Jill Andrew