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The Regent Park Community Health Centre has teamed up with Fred Victor and Unity Health Toronto (comprised of Providence Healthcare, St. Joseph's Health Centre and St. Michael's Hospital), to provide free Covid-19 testing to area residents in Regent Park and Moss Park. Currently testing is held every Wednesday from 1:30 pm to 4 pm, on a drop-in basis, at Fred Victor, located at 40 Oak Street. According to Michele Heath, the Director of Community Health at the Regent Park Community Centre, although the rates are not out of control, it is still high and that’s why it is important to ensure free pop-up testing so that everyone in the community can access. Regent Park is one of the more populated communities in downtown Toronto and it is important to have easy, free access to the testing to keep down the curve. The 40 Oak Street site has the capacity for 20 people at a time and can accommodate 50 - 60 people on each day the test is run. 40 Oak Street was chosen for t...

Black History Month is an annual observance during February every year to celebrate and appreciate African History and the histories of Peoples of African descent here in North America. It began in 1926 as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of African Americans. February was chosen because it coincides with the birthdays of two important figures in African American history that black communities had celebrated since the late 19th century; that of President Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all people held as slaves, whose birthday was on February 12, and of abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, whose birthday was on February 20. In honour of Black history month, The Corner in partnership with St. James Town TV, is interviewing inspiring Black leaders from the St. James Town area, who are serving their community and willing to share their experiences and aspirations with others. One such person is Annamie Paul. Annamie...

In celebration of Black History Month, The Corner in partnership with St. James Town TV, is interviewing inspiring leaders from St. James Town whose circumstances, struggles, and challenges are ones that most of us may be familiar with. In these interviews these leaders have been generous with their times and have opened their hearts by and sharing their stories and experiences with the community. In this article we are going to talk about a woman we are proud of who came out of our community in St. James town. Her name is Marci Ien. Black History Month is an annual observance during February every year to celebrate and appreciate African History and the histories of Peoples of African descent here in North America. It began in 1926 as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of African Americans. February was chosen because it coincides with the birthdays of two important figures in African American history that black communities had celebrated since the lat...

In the Moss Park community, located between Jarvis and Sherbourne Street, on 257 Dundas street, you will find a colourful rainbow accented building that The Friends of Ruby call “Home”. The Friends of Ruby Home was designed to appeal to youth, not just any youth, but LGBTQI2S youth between the ages of 16 - 29 years who are in need of transitional housing and support. Friends of Ruby was founded in 2014 by Egale Canada as Egale Youth Services to meet the needs of LGBTQI2S youth in the Greater Toronto Area. LGBTQI2S refers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Two-Spirited. The catalyst for providing the home was Egale’s “Not under my roof” study that shone light on the crisis of LGBTQI2S youth homelessness due to disproportionately high rates of family rejection, violence and trauma. “Not under my roof” is a sentence that many LGBTQI2S youth hear at a sensitive age, growing up with their families. It's a repetitive message of rejection, harassment, and unaccept...

The corner has announced restarting COVID-19 testing again in St James Town. Testing is being carried out by Sherbourne Health Center and is taking place at the St. James Town Community Corner (The Corner), located at 200 Wellesley St. East. The testing will last from January through March, 2021. It is free of charge and anyone could pop up to do the testing without an appointment. The results come up within 2-3 days and health professionals are sure to contact those who got positive covid results to inform them, and see if they need any help with staying home in quarantine for 14 days. In addition, The Corner offers multiple wrap up services including gift cards, free meals for those experiencing food insecurity, grocery delivery and information on isolation rooms as well as any kind of financial or medical assistance that residents could be in need of. This is not the first time The Corner has offered the free pop-up testing clinic during the pandemic. “Public health ...

SEATON HOUSE GETS A MAKE OVER With the revitalization of Regent Park considered a success, the area west of Sherbourne Street, considered part of the Moss Park community, is witnessing a symphony of construction activity. George Street, once the privy of rooming houses, low-income housing and Toronto’s largest homeless shelter, is now getting a City of Toronto initiated makeover. It now appears that governments are embracing the notion that the continued wellbeing of our communities requires a certain level of fiscal investment, and that the social safety net needs to be expanded, not diminished. The center piece of this construction activity is the George Street Revitalization project, located west of Sherbourne Street on the northern part of George Street, in the Moss Park area. Initiated by the City of Toronto, the revitalization project prominently features the modernization of Seaton House, the City’s oldest and largest homeless shelter. Seaton House has operated as a ...

Transformational long-term care facility for some of Toronto’s most vulnerable populations being built in the Moss Park area. With the revitalization of Regent Park considered a success, the area west of Sherbourne Street, considered part of the Moss Park community, is witnessing a symphony of construction activity. George Street, once the privy of rooming houses, low-income housing and Toronto’s largest homeless shelter, is now getting a City of Toronto initiated makeover. It now appears that governments are embracing the notion that the continued wellbeing of our communities requires a certain level of fiscal investment, and that the social safety net needs to be expanded, not diminished. In addition to the redevelopment of Seaton House, the city oldest and largest men’s shelter, (see part one of the George Street Revitalization), the George Street Revitalization will feature a long -term care facility and senior support services. The goal of these new services in the commun...

220 Oak Street gets an up-grade to its exterior and interior facilities. 220 Oak Street is a high-rise apartment building located on the eastern edge of Regent Park and is therefore not part of the greater Regent Park Revitalization. Built in 1972, it has twenty-seven floors, and is owned and operated by Toronto Community Housing. Residents of the building comprise a broad range of low-income residents from a diversity of social and ethnical backgrounds that include families, newcomers, seniors, and people with mental and physical disabilities. Paradoxically, social housing has always presented opposing interpretations, on the one hand there are the misconceptions and stigma associated with being on social assistance (most often perpetrated in the media), while on the other hand there are the personal stories of resilience in the face of complex social and physical challenges. When asked about life at 220 Oak Street, most residents would highlight the sense of belonging to a commu...

What does one do when you are often awaken in the middle of the night by the carryings on of an illicit drug trade and sex trafficking in the street below or regularly find drug paraphernalia and used condoms outside your home? What do you do when you are told that police can’t do anything about minor assaults, vandalism and break-ins in the area due to the lack of community officers or an unwillingness to arrest or prosecute offenders due to covid-19? Well, if you are David Saad, you join your local Neighbourhood Watch Association and get together with your neighbours to hire a private security company to patrol your homes. David Saad, is a father of two residing in a house located in the Seaton and Dundas Street area, and he is leading a fight to make his neighbourhood safer. David and his neighbours have started a GoFundMe campaign, to raise the funds needed to hire security guards to nightly patrol five streets (Seaton, Ontario, Milan, Berkeley and Poulette) from Dund...

In the first of these series, Jamelia explores various hubs available to young people in Regent Park. On September 2012, the Daniel’s Spectrum opened up its doors to the public. Located in the heart of Regent Park, on 585 Dundas Street East, the building was designed specifically as an arts hub, and it shows. The outside building décor is illuminated with vibrant colours and a digital display, symbolizing that there is something bold going on inside. To get more insight into this boldness, I had a conversation with Jermyn Creed, the Community Manager of the Daniels Spectrum, about the role it plays in the community and the broader city. According to Jermyn, Daniels Spectrum is an important part of the Regent Park community because it gives low-income residents of Regent Park access to a wide variety of arts programming that normally would be out of their reach. The building not only gives youth a place to hang out after school but also offers opportunities for children and youth to ge...