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In the St. James Town Community, Rose Avenue Public School, has integrated community gardening into their curriculum with the help of Green Thumbs. In the heart of St. James Town, you will find one of the most multicultural schools in North America, Rose Ave Public School. The school has a student population of over 650 for over 15 years they have integrated community gardening into their curriculum with the help of Green Thumbs. Green Thumbs started collaborating with Rose Avenue School in 2007 when Sunday Harrison, Executive Director of Green Thumbs, approached the school and asked if they were interested in having their own school garden. According to Sunday Harrison, “It was amazing that the school was open to the idea and right away they got interested in the program”. They have co-developed the garden spaces with the school ever since. Sunday tells us how amazing the teaching staff at Rose Ave school are. They are very engaged. “Out of our three schools, they (Rose Av...

In recognition of the large Bengali community living in Regent Park and St. James Town, we interview award winning filmmaker Lalita Krishna and director Elizabeth D’ Costa about their latest film Bangla Surf Girls. The film premieres on-line at the 2021 Hot Docs Film Festival (April 29 – May 9, 2021) As a producer Lalita Krishna is interested in stories that change lives and focuses on issues related to poverty, women’s rights, child labour, and domestic violence. Through 20 years of experience in the documentary industry, Lalita sees that these issues do not only happen in poor far away countries but also have relevancy here in North America. The film Bangla Surf Girls, follows another Bangladesh film called Untying the Knot about the survivor of a domestic violence attack and her fight to defend women’s right and social oppression. This is not Lalita’s first time visiting Regent Park TV. Lalita is the filmmaker and producer of Shooting for Change, a documentary about t...

An interview with the founder of INFINIGUARD, a social enterprise based in Regent Park that trains and hires local youth to provide security services. Founded in 2019 by Murwan Khogali, a resident of Regent Park, Infiniguard offers free security training and provides employment opportunities to members of the community, including youth at risk, new immigrants, and women.  According the Executive Director of the InfiniGuard services, “After establishing myself in the security industry and gaining over 10 years of experience as a leader, I decided to create a social enterprise that will cater to the residents of Regent Park and other low- income communities across the GTA.” Currently the company has been a trusted choice for some renowned clients in Toronto, including the Daniels Corporation, and Murwan is hoping to finalize deals with prestigious residential condos within Regent Park area for their security/concierge services.  InfiniGuard, brings together the comm...

People gathered at Moss Park in support of encampment residents, following trespass notices served by the City with possible criminal charges and evictions. The Moss Park community rallied together on April 3rd at an event organized by the Encampment Support Network (ESN) and Building Roots, to support encampment residents’ right to live in the park, pleading the City to “let them stay”. This action was taken following trespass notices served on March 19th and posted on tents, tiny shelters, trees and posts, expressing to enforce removal of encampments by April 6th. The event hosted speakers, music and dance performances, as well as featured free food and arts and crafts activities. By engaging the community on the issue, organizers and encampment residents looked to show that the park can indeed be shared by all, opposing one of the claims expressed in the trespass notices, that encampments are prohibited because they may “create nuisance” or “interfere with the use and enjoymen...

MPP Suze Morrison on eliminating the loophole that allows the Pay Day loan industry to charge ultra-high interest rates. A Private Members Bill C-274 (Mar 11, 2021) tabled by National Democratic Party (NDP) finance critic MP Peter Julian, is calling on the Federal Government to close loopholes allowing Pay Day companies to charge criminally high interest rates. In Regent Park where we have one of the most diverse neighbourhoods in Toronto, and where many people have been struggling during the pandemic, this kind of change could be a welcome sign of relieve to struggling people in the area. Regent Park TV News invited NDP MPP Suze Morrison the Provincial representative for Toronto Centre to delve into the matter, and to explain what the bill entails. The Pay Day loan industry has been called unsustainably expensive, predatory, pernicious, and inordinately targeting low-income people. And yet in spite of the negative public opinion, Pay Day loan companies continue to proliferate ...

In this article we explore how community agencies in the St. James Town community are working together to respond to food insecurity issues and increased demands caused by the pandemic. Since the pandemic, difficulty affording food has been particularly increasing. Food insecurity is still one of the major issues in St. James Town especially after the economic drop that affected many people due to COVID 19 lockdown. Although food banks and other community agencies are working really hard to address the problem of food insecurity, they also face a number of challenges. One of the biggest challenges they face is running out of funding. The St. James Town Community Co-op is a social enterprise that operates various food initiatives in the St. James Town area. The Co-op have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by providing an emergency food relief program run out of the Wellesley Community Centre at Sherborne and Wellesley Street. The Co-op is struggling with running out of f...

Community Arts organization works to support Regent Park residents by keeping them creative in order to cope with the stress of a COVID19 lockdown. None of us have ever before experienced a pandemic. Borders closed, country wide lockdowns, overburdened health systems, lost jobs, inability to see loved ones, the impending fear of getting or spreading the virus, and the list goes on. This global emergency has literally turned our world upside down and with it brought massive fear, uncertainty, and instability. How to cope with something of this magnitude? How to keep the mind from spiraling under the crushing stress and anxiety? Especially when in lockdown, confined and isolated. Truth is, we have all dealt with it differently. Some took to excessive exercising to deal, reading, endless baking or plant caring but for many of us, art and keeping creative has been a sure outlet from the chaos. Making art, (no experience necessary) has proven to reduce stress and anxiety levels, improvin...

The Downtown East Advocacy Letter calls for urgent, temporary action by The City and others during the COVID-19 winter but also for long term solutions for people experiencing homelessness and Toronto’s housing crisis. The Canadian winter is a force to be reckoned with, one that thousands of folks experiencing homelssness unfortunately have to face each year living on the streets. This puts many at not only risk of frostbite but death as well. This first pandemic winter of 2021, made things even worse for unhoused people, as doors were literally shut on them due to COVID-19 closures by the City of previously existing out of the cold sanctuaries like community centres and warming centre programs were suspended indefinitely. A questionable decision by the City and its staff given that many of these vulnerable folks end up at already overburdened hospitals with serious injuries and no place else to go after. This is one of the issues outlined in the Downtown East Advocacy Letter, a ...

Youth Empowering Youth conducts a survey of Regent Park youth on the issues and barriers to youth programming. Regent Park is a diverse community in Toronto. Revitalization in Regent park is gradually transforming this community towards a brighter future and a better social cohesion, but the challenges continue to exist, particularly for the youth of this community. With one of the highest populations of young people in the city, almost everyone agrees that youth in Regent Park needs more supportive initiatives and services, so they can succeed in life. Initiated in 2019, Youth Empowering Youth (YEY), aims to empower and support youth residents, by reducing and eliminating barriers to programming for youth in the community and identifying supports that the youth of Regent Park needs, and can benefit from. The YEY program is a completely youth led program intended to mobilizes a collective effort by the youth, for the youth. In December 2020, a survey, funded by United W...

A discussion with TASSC about Indigenous needs in the St. James Town area St. James town is one of the most populated, diverse and multicultural neighbourhoods in Toronto. It has a population density of 44,321 many of whom are from immigrant and newcomer communities. However not many people know that St. James Town is also home to approximately 1000 indigenous residents. Who are the indigenous communities that live in the area and what are their needs? To help answer these questions we turned to the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC). TASSC is an organization made up of 18 different native organizations that are serving communities across the city in different areas. It offers many services like housing and shelter, employment, education, in addition to cultural and many other support services. According to Lindsay (Swooping Hawk) Ketschmer - The Executive Director of TASSC, the needs of indigenous communities could vary from an area to another. However...

“Revitalization” is coming to St. James Town North in the way of safer, greener and more accessible spaces for residents. St. James Town, which is bounded by Bloor Street East to the North, Wellesley Street to the South, Jarvis Street to the West, and Parliament to the Street east; is considered to be one of North Americas most densely populated neighbourhoods, and research by the Wellesley Institute has identified that St. James Town suffers from: “overcrowding, lack of green and public spaces, poor building and neighbourhood maintenance, and a general lack of resources for serving the large and diverse population.” There are 19 high-rise apartment buildings ranging in 14 to 32 stories in height, with a population density of 44,321 people per square km (Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Population. Neighbourhoods data set at: www.toronto.ca/open). Many of the buildings are named after major Canadian cities, The Winnipeg, The Halifax, The Vancouver, The Montreal, The Calgary, ...

The life experiences and personal struggles of Canadian politician George Smitherman. George Smitherman was the former Toronto Centre Riding Member of Provincial Parliament from 1999 to 2009 (representing the communities of St. Jamestown, Regent Park, Moss Park, Cabbagetown and Church and Wellesley). George Smitherman served as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care from 2003 to 2007 and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure from 2008 to 2009. George was also the Deputy Premier of Ontario from 2006 to 2009. George resigned as a MPP to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in 2010, finishing second with 35.6% vote and losing to Doug Ford who won with 41% of the vote. George Smitherman was born in1964, one of four children, and spent his early years growing up in central Etobicoke, in the City of Toronto. His parents were from a middle-class working background and were not very educated. His mother managed the family as his father worked very hard managing a trucking business. George w...

The summary of a conversation with former Toronto Centre Riding Member of Provincial Parliament (1999 – 2010), George Smitherman about his political life. George Smitherman was the former Toronto Centre Riding Member of Provincial Parliament from 1999 to 2009 (representing the communities of St. Jamestown, Regent Park, Moss Park, Cabbagetown and Church and Wellesley). George Smitherman was the first openly gay cabinet minister and served as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care from 2003 to 2007 as well as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure from 2008 to 2009. George was also the Deputy Premier of Ontario from 2006 to 2009. George resigned as a MPP to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in 2010, finishing second with 35.6% vote and losing to Doug Ford who won with 41% of the vote. When George Smitherman first received the Liberal Party nomination for Toronto Centre Riding in 1999, it’s fair to say not many residents of riding including Regent Park, Moss Park, St. James Town or...