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winter confidence Volume 53 No. 12
BEACHMETRO.COM
September 3, 2024
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BuskerFest fun in Woodbine Park
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Terry Fox Run set for Sept. 15 in the Beach By Alan Shackleton
PHOTO: ALAN SHACKLETON
Daniel Craig and Kimberly Craig of The Street Circus perform at BuskerFest in Woodbine Park on Friday. The annual festival in support of Epilepsy Toronto took place over the Labour Day long weekend and also featured the annual Bark in the Park celebration.
MPP concerned over impact of closing South Riverdale’s safe injection site By Amarachi Amadike
THE PROVINCE of Ontario recently announced a new policy banning safe injection sites from operating within 200 metres of schools or childcare facilities. The announcement on Aug. 20 means that 10 facilities in Ontario — including the South Riverdale Community Health Clinic (SRCHC) near Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue; the facility which prompted the provincial government’s review of all its safe drug consumption sites — will shut down. “Our Board and senior staff will be carefully reviewing the Minis-
ter of Health’s announcement this afternoon and the implications for consumption and treatment services (CTS) in the province,” said SRCHC Director of Community Engagement and Communications, Gabriella Skubincan in an email statement to Beach Metro Community News shortly after the announcement. Safe injection sites, designed to prevent overdoses by providing supervised drug use, have a polarizing reputation. With more than 500 fatalities from opioid toxicity in Toronto last year, and more than 2,600 opioidrelated deaths across all of On-
tario, advocates, such as TorontoDanforth NDP MPP Peter Tabuns, believe that providing drug users who are on a path to sobriety with a controlled environment will be beneficial to their well-being. “The experience of other communities, according to health professionals, is that a lack of safe facilities means more public drug use, much more demand on local ambulance and hospital services, more needles scattered about and likely more deaths on the street, in the washrooms of local restaurants and in people’s homes,” said Tabuns. But critics point to reports of
increased violence in neighbourhoods that host such facilities. Following the death of Leslieville resident Karolina Huebner-Makurat, the 44-year-old mother of two who was killed by a stray bullet in a daytime shooting near Queen and Carlaw in July of 2023 (the intersection where SRCHC is located), the facility was put under the microscope as community members called for a halt to its safe consumption services. Before the incident, residents had urged officials to help control the rising violence, which they attributed to SRCHC’s safe consumpContinued on Page 2
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ORGANIZERS OF this year’s Toronto-Beaches Terry Fox Run are grateful for the huge community support of the run since 1982, and are looking forward to hosting this year’s run on Sunday, Sept. 15. The run begins at Woodbine Beach Park, 1675 Lake Shore Blvd. E., at 9 a.m. and participants are welcome to join in anytime up to 1 p.m. In-person registration begins at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 15 at the pavilion across from the Woodbine Beach Bathing Station. Those planning to take part are also encouraged to register in advance at https://run.terryfox.ca/55940 Jessica Tepper and Bridget Keroglidis are the volunteer organizers for the Terry Fox Run in the Beach. Keroglidis has been involved with the local run as an organizer since 2022, and has personal experience of dealing with the fight against cancer as it took her mother’s life. She said the theme of the 2024 Terry Fox Run, which is No Matter What, is especially meaningful to her. ““I love this year’s theme because it highlights the resilience of Terry Fox, and his strength and courage. Terry said we were going to have a world without cancer ‘No Matter What’,” said Keroglidis. Tepper has been involved with the Beaches Terry Fox Run for the past three years, and said the participation of so many community members makes the job of organizing the event a rewarding one. “It’s really quite amazing the support, and to see how many people come out. They bring their families, their kids and dogs. Whole families take part from the youngest child to grandparents and it’s a real tradition for them,” said Tepper. Continued on Page 3