Leaside Life Issue 170 July 2026

scheduled programming….

I hope you enjoyed our special youth issue, written, cover-illustrated, and edited by the under-25 set. It was my pleasure to hand over the reins last month to guest editor Carmen Fejer, a Carleton University journalism student who very ably managed the logistics of collecting stories for the issue, dealing with a disparate group of young creatives, and editing the varied features they submitted.

The fact the official youth issue is now past tense does not mean Leaside Life will forgo highlighting and celebrating the voices and contributions of youth. Far from it!

Take our cover story by Janis Fertuck, profiling Zhen ParkVandal, business operations coordinator for the WNBA Toronto

Jane Auster Editor Leaside Life

Tempo. I feel as if Zhen has grown up in the pages of Leaside Life . She’s contributed many thoughtful features over the past nine years, first as she considered the path of college versus university for students, like herself, at Leaside High. In a later issue, she told readers how she had traded her ballet slippers for…hockey skates – a move that clearly informed her later decision to study sport media at Toronto Metropolitan University. Leaside Life heard it first!

After the editorial deadline for the June issue had passed, we continued to receive emails and contributions from youth under 25. My message to you? We welcome your ideas and hope you’ll continue to view Leaside Life as an outlet for your creativity.

Reach us at leasidelife@gmail.com Bring it on! n

The waiting game. Residents fume over rec club memberships

by JAKE ROSS

As Leaside prepares for summer, some residents looking for ways to stay active are finding frustratingly long waits for neighbourhood recreational facilities.

Melissa Bunting, a former Leaside resident now living in Calgary, says she applied for membership to the Leaside Tennis Club 13 years ago. She moved to Calgary 10 years ago. In the three years between her application and her move, she didn’t hear back. Thirteen years later, she still hasn’t heard back.

most popular sport by participation, tied with golf.

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The waits come as tennis participation has been rising nationally. Tennis Canada reported that more than six million Canadians played tennis in 2025, an increase of more than one million since 2023. According to the organization, the sport has become Canada’s third

The pressure on court space also comes as Toronto is trying to accommodate the rapid rise of pickleball. The City says pickleball has “quickly emerged” in Toronto over the past five years, with demand for courts, programs and permits growing significantly. Through its city-wide tennis and pickleball court improvement work, the City has been adding pickleball infrastructure, including turning some tennis courts into pickleball courts.

According to the City of Toronto, as of 2024, there were more than 23,000 names waiting to join the City’s 61 tennis clubs. There were 2,420 names on the waitlist for the Leaside Tennis Club. That was the second most for all tennis clubs in Toronto, behind only the Davisville

Tennis Club, which had more than 5,700 individuals on its waitlist. These clubs operate on public land, but access to reliable court time can function like a scarce private benefit. The City allows people to hold multiple memberships and does not prioritize nearby residents, even when local waitlists stretch into the thousands.

Under the City’s policy, existing community tennis clubs are required to offer renewal to members in good standing from the previous year before accepting new members. Once a waitlist is established, it is supposed to be kept in strict sequence by the date applications are received. The policy also says a club can only establish a waitlist once it has at least 75 adult members per court.

For residents who are not members, access can be limited. The City says club courts are generally permitted

REAL ESTATE SPECIALIST

On her toes – Leaside’s Lilian Jarvis has the moves

Lilian Jarvis, born Lilja Jarvinen, who lives at Suomi-Koti in Leaside, has just celebrated her 95th birthday. You’ll want to learn more about this remarkable woman, who has spent much of her life dedicated to movement.

A life-changing memory is of living on Lippincott Street in Toronto and being taken at age 5 to the Finnishowned Don Hall on Broadview Avenue for a dance recital. She saw a little girl dancing on stage, and told her parents, “I want to do that too.” Her father didn’t agree – “the stage wasn’t a life for a girl.” But her father did arrange piano lessons for young Lilja and her sister. The lessons continued until Lilja was 13, when her sister-in-law heard the child banging away on the piano and saying angrily, “I don’t want to do this; I want to dance.” Lilja’s parents were convinced to discontinue the piano lessons and let their daughter start ballet lessons with Mildred Wickson. Lilja’s father, a masseur originally from Finland, changed his last name to Jarvis to make it easier for his

Lorna Krawchuk Publisher Leaside Life

LEASIDE PEOPLE

clients to pronounce and remember. For school purposes, Lilja’s first name became Lilian. When attending high school, at Jarvis Collegiate, she tried to suggest that she was somehow related to that neighbourhood’s famous Jarvis family.

The National Ballet of Canada comes calling

The National Ballet of Canada was founded at that time, headed by Celia Franca. Lilian was talented enough to become a charter member and principal dancer with the company from 1951 to 1963, when she retired, at 32.

Over the next few years, while in New York City, she turned to modern dance at the Martha Graham School. She was amazed that these dancers could use their bodies in ways that were very different from her training in ballet. Lilian had been very unhappy with her body, especially her “knock knees and a sway back, (so) experimenting with the way the body worked” led to her spending hours every day in (the more fluid) modern dance.

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In 1976, back in Canada, after a conversation with Celia Franca about the National Ballet’s 25th anniversary season, Lilian was invited to dance the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet that November. Lilian was 45. Her success as a principal in that role, at that age, convinced her that her exercise regime could benefit others as well as herself.

When she first developed her exercises, she named them BioSomatics but later switched to the trademark SomaticStretch.com. “The ultimate goal of the technique is to develop proper body mechanics and postural alignment, so the body works at its best both physically and physiologically.”

Starting in 1980, she ran a studio in midtown Toronto, created a 37-week exercise series for the Toronto Star, in 1985-1986, and wrote a book, Stress Releaser Sketchcloth, in 1994. At age 89, in 2020, Lilian was still actively teaching with SomaticStretch.

Her daughter, Meredith Sands Keator, became a co-director in 2013, and is also a shiatsu/acupuncture therapist. Meredith has further developed somatic training and is founder of Neural Resonance Therapy. Clearly, movement is in their blood. n

A Leasider helps build Canada’s first WNBA team

Zhen Park-Vandal has featured several times in the pages of Leaside Life as a writer, discussing her life shifts, notably in 2019 and 2020. Here we turn the tables and write about her since she left Leaside High Zhen Park-Vandal is a young Leaside resident with a job no one has ever held before. She is the business operations coordinator for the Toronto Tempo basketball team, Toronto’s brand-new team in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the only Canadian team and one of this year’s new expansion teams in the league. Her job is a far cry from Zhen’s original aspiration to be a ballerina, but when she realized it wasn’t a “viable career path,” she took several math and science courses at Leaside High School and had a co-op placement at the Ontario Science Centre in their business development department, which gave her “insight into planning and managing corporate events.” At the same time, Zhen started playing tennis and hockey and developed an interest in Toronto sports teams.

Janis Fertuck Columnist

and the LPGA Women’s Open. At the same time, women’s sports were growing in popularity and, as an advocate and supporter, Zhen became a Toronto Sceptres season ticket holder.

A pivotal moment

ENTER TO WIN TICKETS TO A TEMPO GAME!

This combined interest in business and sports led Zhen to the Sport Media degree program at Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University), which focuses on broadcasting and media coverage of sports. After a couple of years in the program and a variety of related experiences, she realized she was most interested in business-centred courses, including talent management, basic accounting and sports management. There she learned about different jobs and companies that interact with sports organizations and was inspired to investigate them further.

During her last two years, Zhen pursued internships that would prepare her for a future career. For example, she volunteered with the Kitchener Rangers OHL team as a member of their games operations division. But the position that was most helpful in leading to her Tempo job was an eight-month internship in fourth year at an agency where she focused on brand activations or promotions at events such as the NHL All-Star game, PWHL games

Zhen’s most important assignment was working at the press conference announcing Toronto’s WNBA franchise where she crossed paths with her future boss. She felt “honoured” to be part of that event and, after graduating in June, was interviewed – and won – her new job, in October 2024. Zhen was the fifth employee to be hired by the organization that now employs over 40 and is still growing. Her role is to support the executive team, with a focus on the president, and she acts as the office manager to ensure productive processes are in place. She also supports projects across all their departments. For example, she has worked on ordering apparel and equipment and participated in several “cool” events like announcing their general manager and hosting the first dance team auditions.

With the goal of developing women’s basketball in the country, the Tempo will be Canada’s team and play regular season games in Montreal and Vancouver as well as in Toronto at both the Coca-Cola Coliseum and Scotiabank Arena. Zhen is excited about the “lasting impact the Tempo can have for girls and women in sport.” She explains, “They now have role models showing they can play professional basketball and be part of the sport industry.”

Her role, she says, is “making sure everything goes smoothly operationally” – all her work has been in preparation for this moment. The inaugural season kicked off on May 8.

Zhen adds, “(as of early June) we have played four home games, and they have been great! The fans and atmosphere have been amazing with everyone excited to cheer on the team. We’ve had two themed nights with our Asian Heritage game and Youth game. The highlights from both have been the community we’ve built and gotten to showcase at these games. We’ve seen so many young kids and families at the games, and it’s been great to see the team inspiring the next generation of basketball fans and players across Canada.” n

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Murphy family raises awareness and money for precision cancer research

by DANIEL GIRARD

Dan Murphy’s story is one of hope.

In June 2023, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease. The tumour was inoperable and had metastasized to his liver, a scenario where statistics typically measure life expectancy in months.

However, there’s nothing typical about Murphy, his cancer treatment or the prospect it offers patients — a way to get the most out of life while living with the disease.

Three years after his shocking and devastating diagnosis, Murphy describes his condition as stable — the tumour on his pancreas is still there, so too the lesions on his liver — but his life is full, enjoying travel, good times with family and friends, and celebrating milestones.

In a world where cancer is so often framed as a battle to be won or lost, Murphy, his family and his care team are focused not on a combative

approach to battling the disease but, rather, one centred on living with it.

“It was a choice,” says Murphy, 56, a married father of two who lives in North Leaside.

“I could spend my energy on dying, or I can spend the energy on living. We made a conscious choice to invest energy in living. It doesn’t change the outcome of my disease, but it sure as heck changes the path of living.”

It’s an approach advocated by Murphy’s oncologist at UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Dr. Erica Tsang, and enabled by the extraordinary potential of precision medicine, which uses a patient’s genetic makeup to tailor treatment.

Murphy, his wife, Kathy, and daughters Grace and Maeve, are so thankful for his treatment and bullish on the future of precision medicine, they are helping fund the groundbreaking research of Dr. Tsang, her fellow scientist Dr. Faiyaz Notta, and their teams at Princess Margaret.

The Murphy Family Fund has raised more than $1.3 million for personalized, precision medicine and research. The goal is $2 million to advance cancer treatments and transform patient outcomes, particularly in traditionally underfunded forms of the disease, such as the pancreas.

The path to precision medicine

Dan Murphy’s path to Dr. Tsang and precision medicine was through advocacy. Following the discovery of a tumour on his pancreas and before surgery, the Murphys raised the prospect of a link between his diagnosis and breast cancer, which his mother

Batter up with baseball at Bessborough

Our dad was a natural athlete. At 6’ 6”, his favourite sport was basketball (although if painting ceilings without a ladder were a sport, he could have turned pro). He was the starting centre for the University of Toronto Blues during his post-secondary years. And he coached the 1956 National Juvenile Champions from the West End Y. (As an aside, as young boys, when challenged by classmates with typical kid claims like “my dad’s a lawyer and has a huge office downtown” or “my dad owns a big company with 23 trucks,” my brother Terry and I wouldn’t bother with the “my dad’s a pediatric surgeon” chestnut. We’d win the day by going straight to “oh, yah, well my dad’s 6’ 6!” It never failed to shut them up. We could have charged admission to let kids come over and gawk at our giant of a father.)

But hoops wasn’t Dad’s only sport. He was the centre on his Jarvis Collegiate football team, and he really loved baseball. We were way too small for football but, like our father, we too were

Tim Fallis Columnist

pulled into the joy of baseball and Leaside was the perfect place to play. And play we did! Since we spent the summers at camp and the cottage, organized ball at Trace Manes or Talbot Park was out for us – instead, we played everything else involving a ball, a bat and a glove. Where to begin? Let’s start with box baseball at Bessborough. Never heard of it? I’m not surprised but, in the ’70s, it was a staple summer pastime in the boys’ schoolyard that had us hooked.

It’s an ingenious baseball derivative that can be enjoyed by as few as three or even two players. The outline of a white box was

CONSTRUCTION

chalked or spray painted onto the wall of the school (it’s still there!) and served as the batter’s box. Any tennis ball pitched inside the box was a strike – anything outside the box was a ball. A hit was scored as a single, double or triple based on where it landed in the field while any ball hit over the fence was a home run (a rare highlight at age 10!). After every three outs, the pitcher and batter change positions with the score being logged diligently. Yes, it’s a simple game, but we played it for hours and hours whenever we could. And when a wayward foul ball landed on the school roof, we just clambered up and retrieved it (our route up to the roof is still a closely guarded Leaside secret.)

Before school each day, when there were lots of kids hanging around the Bessborough yard, we played a game called workups. It’s another very clever takeoff on conventional baseball involving two batters, a pitcher, a catcher, four infielders and three outfielders. When a batter was called out, he grabbed his glove and headed back out to the field while all other positions rotated, gradually “working up” to the batter position. By the time the school bell rang, you’d played every position and even batted for a time. We loved it! As a bonus, if you caught a fly ball, you’d immediately change places with the batter. One day in Grade 3, Terry caught a fly ball in a workups game dominated by Grade 8 boys and suddenly found himself at the plate batting against kids five years older. He was the talk of the schoolyard. Needless to say, his hitting wasn’t nearly as impressive as his fielding, but he certainly turned some heads that day!

Games of “500” or “Running Bases” at Talbot Park, scoring the coveted bat boy role for a Leaside Maple Leafs game – even just playing catch in the backyard – are memories we’ll never forget. And coaching and watching my own kids play Atom and PeeWee ball on the same fields just added more baseball memories to our lives in Leaside. If that’s not a home run, I don’t know what is. n

Need shots? Bayside Pharmacy’s got you covered

Remember the ’70s pop song featuring Robert Palmer, Bad Case of Loving You, with its lyric ‘Doctor, doctor give me the news’? That request was much easier to meet in the ’70s than it is today. Getting a doctor’s appointment, even if you’re among the lucky ones with a family doctor, can be challenging, especially if you’re planning out-ofcountry travel.

Pharmacist Brian Mok (featured before in Leaside Life ), owner of Bayside Pharmacy at 1685 Bayview, and Jauher Ahmad, founder of Intrepid Health, including the 1685 Bayview location, offer a great option. When you enter the street level door, you’ll see the pharmacy to your right. Look left and you’ll see the Intrepid family care clinic, one of 17 walk-in and patient appointment clinics across the GTA accepting new patients.

For anyone planning a trip, whether you’re a registered patient or a walk-in, you can get the inoculations required for travel to specific countries or just to up the

Suzanne Park Columnist

safety factor when travelling. Brian can supply the medication. He, a Bayside pharmacist, or a care clinic’s doctor or nurse practitioner can give you the jab.

In addition to a typical pharmacy, Bayside offers other services including compression sock fittings by certified pharmacy staff. Compression socks are especially important for long flights and for those suffering leg issues like varicose veins. On Intrepid’s medical care clinic side, services include routine check-ups, chronic disease management, pediatric care, lab tests, minor fractures and other maladies. Jauher also mentioned, “we offer iron deficiency infusions, which typically have a sixmonth wait at a doctor’s office.”

The Ontario government is expanding pharmacy services as of July 1, 2026, including vaccines like Tetanus and treatment of minor ailments such as dry eye, calluses, and head lice. These were added to the pharmacy services’ list, approved in 2023, which addressed hay fever, pink eye, dermatitis, sprains and assessing risk for and prescribing antibiotics for tick bites.

Both Brian and Jauher are experienced pharmacists who take pride in the many pharmacy students they’ve mentored over the years. When visiting the pharmacy, you may recognize one of Brian’s previous students, Hanna Schimjawicz, who worked for him at a pharmacy he used to run, just down the street. A year ago, Brian brought Hanna on board as Bayside’s pharmacy manager.

Careers and the connections we make along the way can have surprising twists and turns. Brian and Jauher originally met at pharmacy school and crossed paths occasionally throughout their careers. When they reconnected at their graduating class’s 20th reunion, things took a different turn. Jauher mentioned to Brian, “I’m looking to open an Intrepid Health clinic in Leaside. Any chance you’re interested?” After serious consideration, Brian responded, “Indeed, I am very interested.”

As with most entrepreneurial businesses, a few unexpected challenges delayed opening. Plus, Brian and Jauher are both committed to every client’s accessible access. This required additional structural changes to the space and the addition of a portable ramp. n

Mitch Bubulj Columnist

Mitch flipped for Jared’s pizzas

Bennington’s backyard cooking has never smelled – or tasted – better.

Jared Evans has fired up his home pizza oven, a Christmas gift from wife Olga, and is turning out perfect thin-crust delicacies that rival pies from pizza mecca Naples. Jared’s pizzas fill the evening air with subtle wafts of oregano, basil and fresh tomatoes, the making of which is like a culinary team sport.

Last Christmas, Bayview Vision optometrist Dr Olga Savitska had a Swiss-made coffee maker on her list while engineer-husband Jared had his sights set on a pizza oven that can be fuelled by either gas or wood. Both got their wish.

“The engineer in me likes to figure out how things work and how to improve a process,” Jared explains.

He makes his own dough, which he likens to a “chemical process.” And while he follows a recipe, he says that “no two pizzas are the same; I like the unknown in terms of fermentation of the crust…in the end they are distinct tastes and textures but

always crowd pleasers.”

His home pizza oven gets hot –really hot. “It goes up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, which cooks a pizza in two minutes; I prefer 650 degrees because the toppings brown to perfection while the base is mildly crispy

but never charred. Six minutes is all it takes to bake.”

Jared makes it looks easy. After his home-made mixture is ready, he spins it like a pro. This not only looks impressive but serves as a functional technique that evens out the dough, and at the same time creates a puffy outer layer all the while drying the surface for a crispy finish. Once assembled on the kitchen counter, he places his masterpieces on a large four-foot-long paddle. For me he created several spicy pepperoni and tasty asparagus-topped pizzas helped along by three-year-old daughter Adelaide, who was adept at spreading tomato sauce and garnishing the pizza with fresh toppings. Jared observed that, for some reason, “the last one is always the tastiest.”

No history of pizza-making Jared grew up in a small farming community close to Waterloo. “As a kid I was familiar with two cuisines: Mennonite fare, which was mostly

meat and potatoes and preserves, and German food – think sausages and sauerkraut.” His first job right out of university was with Apple in Silicon Valley. Once back in Canada he married and ended up in Toronto. First living in a west end condo, he relished world cuisine found on every main street. “I do remember good times at home with my parents, my brother and my sharing in the making of a meal; now with my own family, Friday nights are pizza nights with everyone readily taking on a task.”

Jared and Olga both went to Waterloo; he studied industrial engineering while Olga attended the School of Optometry and Vision Science. She remembers with a smile that “during Frosh Week we were told that it’s a sure thing that engineers and optometry students make a good match.” It’s a prophecy that has come true.

Along with the tasty pizzas that kept on coming, we also enjoyed a fresh salad picked from their backyard garden. Daughter Adelaide gathered lettuce leaves and was just as happy yanking at the plants as she was snipping them with scissors.

Find the recipes online by clicking the Leaside Cooks tab

Jared explains that his pizza recipe is from scratch and follows distinct stages so is labour-intensive, but like a good engineer he assures us that with practice the process runs like clockwork. And he also confides that “you can just as easily bake pizza in a conventional oven as you can in an outdoor home pizza oven.”

But his neighbours appreciate the aroma of Jared’s Friday night pizza baking under the stars just as much as invited guests like me. n

Yard work – Leaside’s hidden business community

by STAN FLEMMING and CARMEN FEJER

Most Leasiders have driven past it countless times without giving it much thought.

Tucked between Leaside Village to the south and the Smart Centres development to the north, east of Laird Dr., sits a five-acre industrial property that locals simply call “The Yard.” At first glance, it appears to be a collection of warehouses, workshops and storage spaces, but spend a little time there and you quickly realize it is something much more significant: a community of over 50 diverse businesses employing roughly 250 people.

The Yard history

The site has deep roots in Leaside history, back more than 90 years. Founded in 1935 by Clarence Ivan Grierson, APCO Industries estab lished itself as a manufacturer and distributor of specialty chemical and petroleum products and became a fixture of Leaside’s industrial landscape. In 2015, after decades of growth and leadership, David Grierson then President, oversaw the strate gic sale of the company’s chemical business operations. However, recognizing the long-term value of the property, he retained the land and facilities, pivoting toward a new chapter in the family enterprise. Rather than allowing the property to fade into history, owner David Grierson and partner Chuck Willoughby reopened its doors, and the space evolved into something new. What has emerged is a diverse busi-

ness hub. Landscapers, builders, automotive repair shops, distributors, printers, event companies, electricians, window specialists, and tradespeople all operate sideby-side in the Yard’s maze of industrial units.

There is even a rooster.

“We have people from everywhere here, all together in one big space,” said owner David Grierson.

That variety is part of what makes the space work. The Yard’s tenant roster is as diverse as it is memorable, ranging from Mr. Mow It All, keeping lawns in shape across the city, to Mr. Soft Serve Ice Cream, helping Torontonians cool off on hot summer days.

Local connections

While the businesses may differ, many tenants share a local connection. Most serve Leaside residents directly, creating a network of small businesses rooted in the surrounding community.

For some tenants, the Yard represents stability in our rapidly changing city – one where industrial lands are disappearing and affordable workspace is becoming increasingly scarce, making facilities like this essential.

That is especially true for landscapers, who have long been part of the site’s fabric. Leaside Landscaping, one of the property’s longest-standing tenants, is joined by companies like Gardenzilla, Vertical Landscape Architects, Christine’s Touch, Curbz, Mr. Mow It All and Moon Landscaping.

AML Auto Service owner Art French has worked in the area for years. Before moving into the Yard a few years back, the business operated across the street on Laird before redevelopment forced a relocation.

Workers across the Yard often know each other by name, grabbing drinks together or chatting after the workday is done. Businesses frequently refer customers to one another or lend a hand when needed.

“Being here now, it feels like a bit

of a community for us, we all know each other,” French said.

Another tenant, The Tate Group, moved into the Yard a couple of years back. Beyond finding a functional space, they report the best part is the proximity to Leaside.

“My daily commute went down from 90 minutes to 10 minutes – I can go home for lunch,” said Tate Group president (and Leaside Life co-owner) Stan Flemming.

That sense of community was something longtime co-owner Chuck Willoughby strongly believed in. Grierson and Willoughby started an annual Christmas party that brought tenants together each year.

“The companies help each other out, they promote one another,” Grierson said. “The Christmas party is a great chance to get together.”

That spirit is also reflected in the people managing the space.

Longtime site manager Larry Hurd, Grierson, Willoughby and Simon Stevenson of Leaside Landscaping all attended Leaside High School in the 1970s. Those local ties continue to shape the collaborative spirit that exists there today.

Hurd shared that the Yard currently has 10 spaces available, ranging from outdoor sea containers, small office and creative studios to larger warehouse units and a premium showroom quality unit.

What does the future hold?

Still, uncertainty hangs over the future of industrial spaces like this across Toronto. As redevelopment continues pushing eastward along Eglinton and Laird, properties once dedicated to trades and small businesses are increasingly being eyed for residential or commercial projects.

When asked what the property could look like 15 years from now, Grierson admitted the future is dif-

ficult to predict.

“You know, a lot has changed in the last 15 years,” he said. “Who knows what the future will hold? This area is unpredictable. Maybe there’ll be a high-rise or a shopping mall here. We can’t predict the future. We can just try to show everyone what we’ve got.”

For now, led by President David Grierson and his daughter, Vice President Crystal Grierson, the Yard’s strength is its rare brand of local ecosystem: a hidden pocket of entrepreneurs, skilled tradespeople and small business owners quietly keeping Leaside humming.

Every morning, as garage doors roll open, forklifts hum to life, and the rooster makes his call, the Yard wakes up again – mostly unnoticed by the hundreds of commuters passing by, but essential in ways many of them may never realize. n

Glen Weaver’s wartime memories of Leaside

by MITCH BUBULJ

Glen Weaver was born two weeks before the Wall Street stock market crash, setting off the Great Depression. “The Great Crash,” as it became known, and other historical events like World War II and Hurricane Hazel all played a part as he came of age in Leaside.

“My dad was an engineer and surveyor; when jobs became scarce during the Depression he moved the family to Red Lake, 2,000 kms northwest of Toronto,” Glen explains. There his dad created townships in the bush so that gold prospectors could tie their claims to a legal jurisdiction. “At $34 U.S. an ounce, gold at the time drove the mining economy in Northern Ontario – Red Lake became known as the ‘Depression Sanctuary.’”

Eventually Glen’s dad was able to secure a job in Toronto and relocated to Port Credit.

“Dad got tired of the commute – it was before the QEW – so in 1938 he bought a brand new house at 67 McRae.”

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Bayview and Millwood and made deliveries for Kerr’s Drug Store at the corner of McRae and Bayview (now a real estate office).

“Houses were being built everywhere and so we would collect Coke bottles discarded by the workers. We got two cents per empty and used the money to buy ice cream at the Kresge’s on Bayview (where Dollarama is located today): four scoops for five cents.”

Glen turned 10 just a few weeks after the outbreak of World War II. “My dad joined the RCMP Reserve and reported for training every weekend. He was tasked with seeking out enlisted men who had gone AWOL and saboteurs,” Glen

Glen was one of the first students to attend the newly built Rolph Road School in 1939. “It was meant to open the beginning of September, but it was delayed a month because of an outbreak of infantile paralysis – polio.”

His house was close to the school, the trip made even shorter by his hopping the backyard fence of 14 Rumsey, Mrs. Johnston’s house. At the time Rolph Road went to Grade 8. He recalls one music class when he didn’t feel like singing. His teacher, Mr. Gillespie, took him out of class and told him he needed to participate, giving him a “few good whacks” on the palm of his hand with a yardstick. “After that I discovered I had a pretty good voice; we never told our parents about getting the strap since they would punish us for upsetting the teacher.”

There was no Leaside High so Glen and his mates who lived south of Millwood biked to Jarvis Collegiate in all sorts of weather. “Kids living north of Millwood ended up going to Oakwood.” At Jarvis he played on the football team and marched in the band.

Earning money using his wits

“Impacted by the Depression, Dad didn’t believe in giving me or my sister an allowance,” Glen says, so he decided to buy a Toronto Star and Toronto Telegram paper route. It cost $40 and required buying a bike big enough to carry stacks of papers, but by pedaling hard he made a profit. He worked for a spell at the Shell station at the corner of

remembers. “We billeted two young women, CWACs, who took my sister’s room; my sister ended up in my room, and I got the basement to myself.” His mom, like nearly 400,000 other Canadian women, took a job in the war goods sector. “She was able to walk to work, at Canada Wire and Cable, producing tank harnesses, all the while managing things at home.”

Like his friends, Glen saw films at the Bayview Theatre (now Shopper’s Drug Mart). “It cost a quarter, for which we saw an A-list film, a B movie, animated shorts and newsreels.” Glen preferred to be outdoors on his bike or playing sports. He remembers skating at Millwood Park (now Trace Manes Park) and freezing after a few hours on the rink. “Between the hockey rink and the

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The future starts here

We’ve been busy and we’re going to be busier

by John Scott and Paul Bolté

Since our last article in the May issue of Leaside Life, Don’t Mess With Leaside (DMWL) has been busy. Thanks to our volunteers, community partners, and the continued support of Leaside Life, our efforts to reduce litter through awareness, education, and action continue to gain momentum.

Thank you,

195th Toronto Pathfinders!

One recent highlight was learning about the outstanding efforts of the 195th Toronto Pathfinders, featured in Leaside Life’s June Youth issue. The Pathfinders, a branch of the Girl Guides of Canada for girls aged 12 to 14, spent an afternoon cleaning litter throughout Leaside.

a volunteer contact list of more than 65 residents. Email us at dontmesswithleaside@gmail.com. This growing network helps us organize cleanups, respond to litter concerns, and keep volunteers informed about upcoming activities. Want to get involved? We’d love to hear from you.

Found Leaside litter?

In just two hours, they collected an impressive nine bags of litter from local streets, parks, and public spaces, helping to make Leaside cleaner and greener. Their hard work demonstrates how young people can make a meaningful impact through simple acts of community service and environmental stewardship.

Leaside Day success

Leaside Day was another wonderful opportunity to connect with residents, discuss litter concerns, share ideas, and introduce more people to DMWL.

A special congratulations goes to Rachel Ivey, winner of our Cigarette Butt Contest. Participants were asked to guess the number of cigarette butts collected during local cleanups. The actual total was 401, and Rachel’s guess of 404 was remarkably close.

The contest also highlighted a larger issue. Cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet, with trillions discarded improperly every year. Because cigarette filters are made from plastic, they can take years to break down while releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. While this is a global challenge, it’s also a local one. Every cigarette butt dropped in Leaside has the potential to enter storm drains and waterways.

Growing our volunteer network

DMWL launched a new email address in May and has already built

One of the most valuable ways residents can assist is by letting us know about litter hotspots in the neighbourhood. If you notice an area that needs attention, please send us an email. Community reporting helps us identify problem areas and organize cleanup efforts where they are needed most.

Pop-up pick-ups coming soon

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be organizing a series of pop-up pickups throughout Leaside. The idea is simple: identify a littered area, gather a few volunteers, and transform it into a cleaner space. We provide the garbage bags. You bring a pair of gloves and your enthusiasm. Watch for announcements through our volunteer email list and local community Facebook pages.

A fashion statement

Our DMWL t-shirts continue to spark conversations and build awareness throughout the community. If you’d like information on t-shirts, our litter picker upper program, or volunteer opportunities, send us an email.

Looking ahead

While we’re proud of the progress being made, there is still work to do. Our mission remains simple: “Changing litter habits through awareness, action, and community pride.” Lasting change happens when people choose to be part of the solution. Rather than focusing on blame, DMWL stresses participation, community pride, and helping people understand the impact of litter on our neighbourhood and local waterways. Together, through small actions and collective effort, we can continue making a meaningful difference. n

by community tennis clubs but also have six free prime-time hours each week for public play, with some exceptions. The City tells users to contact local clubs for public-access hours or membership information.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

The Leaside Tennis Club’s website doesn’t give specific details on wait times. It just says, “There is currently quite a long wait time for Adult membership.” According to the Davisville Tennis Club’s site, the average wait time to become a full member is five to 10 years, while the average wait to become a daytime member is three to five years.

A spokesperson from the City didn’t respond to a query about the average wait times for recreational club memberships in Toronto.

The issue is not new. In materials attached to the 2016 policy update, the last time it was reviewed, the City noted that some community tennis clubs had long waitlists and that access for members and non-members was not always equitable. One recommendation from that review was to increase public access from four prime-time hours per week to six. There are plans to review the policy in 2027.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Rachel Chernos Lin, City Councillor for Ward 15 – Don Valley West, said that her office has received complaints from both residents and club presidents alike about the long waits. The statement called it “a concern,” that residents can hold memberships at multiple city clubs simultaneously and said that access to the clubs “should be made available to as many residents as possible.”

The statement called for the City to consider reviewing local clubs’ membership and waitlist practices and consider recommendations to improve the process. n

Stephanie Bowman

Happy Canada

As the MPP for Don Valley West, I extend my warmest wishes to all residents as we come together to celebrate Canada, this wonderful country that we call home - the true north, strong and free!

1,200+ responded to Leaside Residents Survey!

Over the past several months we have spent a great deal of time collecting and then discussing the results of the Leaside Residents Survey. More than 1,200 residents participated, and we shared the findings at Leaside Day and continued the conversation at the recent LRA Town Hall. So where do we go from here? Perhaps the better question is: What kind of community do we want to live in?

Glenn Asano The Business of Leaside

LEASIDE RESIDENTS SURVEY

YOU HAD YOUR SAY!

MANOR ROAD UNITED CHURCH

For years, I’ve believed that strong neighbourhoods don’t just happen. They depend on people who care enough to show up, participate and invest in something larger than themselves. More recently, I began thinking about a neighbourhood as a shared garden. Gardens don’t take care of themselves. Someone has to do the planting, watering, weeding and pruning that bring a place to life. Looking back, I realize these two ideas are really saying the same thing. Communities don’t simply inherit their future. They shape it. The biggest takeaway we’ve learned from the survey is that Leasiders care deeply about our ’hood. They care enough to worry about traffic and safety, to debate development, to speak up about walking conditions. Most importantly, they care enough to participate. They care enough to volunteer. Leasiders show up. To me, this is Leaside’s superpower, it’s our extraordinary strength. So, what should our go-forward playbook be?

Access results with the QR code at left.

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Keep listening

The survey should not be a onetime exercise. Communities evolve. Priorities change. The Leaside Livability Index gives us an opportunity to establish a baseline, and we should revisit it over time. Not because a community can be reduced to a number, but because communities that learn are communities that improve.

Go deeper

Traffic. Safety. Walking. Development. Broad surveys can tell us where to look, but they can’t tell us everything. Some issues deserve follow-up conversations and more focused listening. Understanding should come before solutions. In fact, one of the most interesting lessons came not from the averages, but from looking beneath them.

The crosstab analysis reminded us that there is no single “Leaside experience.” Long-time residents and

newer residents often see things differently. People living at ground level and people living in larger buildings experience the neighbourhood differently. Younger residents, older residents and families bring different priorities and perspectives to the table. That shouldn’t surprise us. Healthy gardens need both deep roots and new growth.

Long-time residents bring history, relationships and institutional memory. Newer residents bring fresh eyes and new ideas. Empty nesters, youth, and families with young children all experience mobility, safety and belonging through different lenses. World-class communities don’t emerge because everyone agrees. They emerge because people learn how to understand one another and navigate differences wisely.

One encouraging observation from the survey was that concerns about walking conditions crossed many of these boundaries. Regardless of age, tenure or housing type, residents want a neighbourhood that is safe, comfortable and welcoming for people of all ages. In that sense, walking may be less a source of division and more a reminder of what we have in common.

Make participation easier

One of the most hopeful findings from the survey wasn’t about problems at all. Many residents said they would like to become more involved, but weren’t sure how. That may be one of the best problems a community can have. The challenge isn’t motivation. It’s maybe more flexible “pathways.” We need to make it easier for people to find opportunities to contribute, without asking them to sign up for a second career.

Think beyond organizations

No single group owns community. Not Leaside Life. Not the Leaside Residents Association. Not the schools, sports organizations, businesses or community groups. The survey itself succeeded because residents worked together. Perhaps collaboration itself should become part of our go-forward playbook.

And finally, think bigger

At Leaside Day this year, Gil Penalosa challenged us not to aspire to become the best neighbourhood in Toronto, but the best neighbourhood in the world. At first, that

sounded impossibly ambitious and I cynically laughed it off when I heard it. But the more I think about it, why not?

Perhaps he wasn’t talking only about rankings and investment, maybe it’s about a mindset. His “8 80 Cities” idea – that if everything we do is great for an 8-year-old and an 80-year-old, it will be better for everyone – is a pretty good visionary place to start. World-class communities are not communities without problems. They’re communities that listen, that adapt and overcome, that renew themselves, and that make it easy for people to participate. They understand that roads, parks and buildings matter, but that a community’s greatest strength has always been its people. After all, you can build a neighbourhood out of concrete, but you can only truly grow one with people.

Leaside Day 2027

Maybe next year’s Leaside Day becomes more than a celebration of our local volunteers and their organizations. Maybe it becomes

an annual opportunity to reflect on the state of our community. Maybe some of the issues raised in the survey deserve deeper conversations. Maybe we’ll discover better ways to welcome new residents and future volunteers.

I don’t know exactly where all this will lead. But I hope that 10 years from now we won’t remember the charts or the presentations, I hope we’ll remember that this was the moment we became a bit more connected and more willing to shape our future together. Because, after all, great communities, like great gardens, do not grow by accident.

See you all at Leaside Day in 2027!

What kind of community do we want Leaside to become? What seeds should we be planting today? What should we be measuring tomorrow? And if we truly embraced Gil Penalosa’s challenge, what would “the best neighbourhood in the world” actually look like? Let us know at leasidelife@gmail. com n

Leaside’s Chris Burkett inspires in the PWHL

Chris Burkett’s Leaside hockey roots are helping shape the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

After playing and coaching minor hockey in the community where his grandparents lived and where his parents met as teenagers at Talbot Park, the 47-year-old Burkett went on to play in what is now the GTHL before spending four years at Queen’s University in Kingston.

After graduation, he built a career in law, including work on cases involving victims of human trafficking, before hockey eventually pulled him back in through the women’s game.

“I had a great journey through hockey,” said Burkett. “It gave me so much personally. There’s so much potential for good from the game.”

Now, as vice president of league operations for the PWHL, he is helping build a sustainable future for the best women’s hockey players in the world. Besides Toronto, the league includes teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, Seattle, Vancouver, and is expanding into Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San José.

Inspiration from his roots

His desire to tackle difficult causes was shaped by his parents: a father who at age 82 still works as a labour arbitrator and a mother who taught special education.

“I grew up in a house where we honoured and celebrated putting in effort and time to help,” he said.

“Jayna Hefford, former Olympian (and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee in 2018), who also resides in East York, was introduced to me by a mutual friend in April 2020,” Chris said. “At the time she was running the PWHPA, and I was with Deloitte. We began working closely together shortly after that first meeting on the project to build a truly professional league. The rest is now history.”

The league has a single owner –Mark Walter and his wife Kimbra –who also own the Toronto Blue Jays’ heartbreakers, the L.A. Dodgers, as well as the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA.

That belief in the game’s value is central to his work. Hockey, he said, teaches resilience in a way few sports can. “There’s no other sport where you’re immediately going to fall down and have to get back up,” he said. “No one is born knowing how to skate.”

That approach has followed him into hockey. When he became involved with the women’s game, he said he was struck by a simple question: why did a truly professional league not already exist?

“The more I understood about the game, the athletes, and the fight to try to build a truly professional league, the more I felt, how has this not happened?”

The early days were frantic. After helping negotiate the collective bargaining agreement in 2023, he joined the small executive group tasked with launching the league. There were players and ownership, but no venues, general managers, coaches, or full infrastructure. “We were doing everything,” he said.

The league opened Jan. 1, 2024, at the former Maple Leaf Gardens, now Mattamy Athletic Centre. For a Leaside kid who grew up attending Leafs games with his father, the moment was emotional. Billie Jean

Planting great ideas – the trees of Rolph Road School

It was an eventful day in Leaside when Rolph Road Public School opened its doors on Sept. 18, 1939. The town’s only other public school, located on Bessborough Drive, had long struggled to accommodate an explosion in student enrolment, fuelled by Leaside’s rapid growth. In 1935, there were 285 elementary school pupils in Leaside: by 1939, over 700, and counting.

The new school helped solve the problem. It brought the total number of classrooms to 17 compared to just seven classrooms four years earlier. In addition, while it was originally built as a one-storey structure, the school was also designed to have a second storey quickly added to handle more students if necessary.

Ted DeWelles Leaside Heritage Preservation Society

rural areas. Inspired perhaps by this program, Rolph Road students began raising money to plant trees at their own school. By spring 1940, they were able to generously donate 65 saplings representing 30 different types of deciduous trees.

While the community welcomed the new school, its grounds – like most newly completed construction sites – required landscaping. Trees, especially, were needed.

Service is Our Specialty Service is Our Specialty

At the time, Ontario had embarked on a province-wide beautification campaign promoting tree planting – especially at schools and in

On May 7, the trees were officially planted as part of a formal ceremony involving many of Leaside’s most prominent citizens – among them, Mayor Howard Talbot, Leonard Wrinch, chair of the Leaside Board of Education, Rolph Road principal Willis Wright, and the Reverend Canon P.M. Lamb of St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church. Officials from the Ontario education department were also present, as were members of the Leaside municipal council, students and their parents. Mayor Talbot himself –whose daughter, Marjorie, was a student at the school – planted one of the saplings, as did Betsy Wrinch, Leonard Wrinch’s daughter. It’s difficult to determine how many of the original trees have survived. Aerial photos of the school from 1947 to 1992 clearly show that some trees have disappeared or been replaced. In 1989, to mark the 50th anniversary of the school, then principal Peter Joyce was photographed standing next to one of the original

trees – a maple.

Today, at least one of the trees –also a maple – is still standing in front of the school. How many others remain is anyone’s guess.

In October 2014, a new generation of students and alumni planted a tree to commemorate the school’s 75th anniversary. It stands near the school’s metal fence on the east side of Rolph Road. Hopefully, it will continue to survive and serve as a tribute to those earlier students who long ago helped beautify one of Leaside’s most historic buildings. n

Principal Peter Joyce, 1989

WEAVER From Page 18

figure skating rink there was a corrugated tin shack with a coal-burning stove in the middle. We’d go in to warm up; we’d dry our socks on the heater. The stench was rancid, but it was better than freezing!”

One of his best memories is going to Philadelphia in 1946 accompanied by Mayor Talbot and Reeve Bill Morgan, both Leaside Lions founders. He was one of 70 members of the Leaside Lions boys marching band to compete, coming in second. “The American boys marched at Quick March speed while we used Slow March speed – it really wowed them.”

After graduating from the U of T in Civil Engineering he married his girlfriend Jean, “from the other side of Bayview.” Their St Cuthbert’s wedding was on the 15th of October 1954 – Hurricane Hazel. He had to carry her to his blue Buick convertible – the car in which he courted Jean – to avoid the pools of water. Glen raised his family of six children in Don Mills and lived around the world with work but reckons his coming of age in Leaside made him who he is. n

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What’s the latest with 922 Millwood?

The application for a midrise building at 922 Millwood Rd. at Randolph Road (backing onto Krawchuk Lane) is coming to North York Community Council (NYCC) on July 7th. On July 29th City Council will decide whether to approve it or not. We won’t see a staff report with its recommendations until one week before, but the application has been revised since the virtual community consultation, held on Dec. 10, 2025.

What are the changes? First, it’s been downsized, from eight to seven storeys. The revised proposal shows six storeys of residential units and one storey containing a mechanical penthouse and an amenity room. Accordingly, the number of units has been reduced from 60 to 44 units, and the total gross floor area reduced by 24 per cent. In other numbers, the percentage of one-bedroom units has increased – from 63 per cent to 75 per cent. How does this work for people wanting to downsize from a house or an apartment? Or for families wanting to move into the area?

Impact on 928 Millwood

A major issue is the impact on 928 Millwood Rd., the four-storey condo building next door, to which the plans show 922 Millwood to be joined (at the sidewall). The LRA has suggested that any additional height and storeys above the fourth floor should be stepped back from the floors below by at least two metres, and the floors above the fourth floor facing the existing building (eastward) should have at least a three-metre stepback.

At the December community consultation meeting, no one from 928 Millwood Rd. got to speak! Unfortunate, as this building and its residents are most impacted by the proposed development. Fortunately, one owner/resident, Christine Simmons, has submitted a letter to the City detailing concerns from the perspective of 928 and its residents.

Among the issues she raises are lack of green space (the plans show a lot coverage of 87 per cent), the impact on Krawchuk Lane and its users, pedestrian safety, resident dropoff and pickup, and garbage collection. She points out that 928 Millwood is on a much larger lot, with fewer units (35), larger setbacks, and a U-shaped driveway with dropoff and short-term parking,

The 922 Millwood application proposes access for waste management, resident/visitor parking, and moving into and out of the building to be from Krawchuk Lane. The revision incorporates a “Type G” loading system for waste management instead of street loading and pickup on Randolph, as proposed in the previous application. However, given the limitations of Krawchuk Lane, which is designated as one-way, moving trucks will not be able to back up to the bay/parking ramp.

Christine points out access concerns from a pedestrian perspective: where will residents be picked up or dropped off; stopping that close to a corner is dangerous. Where and how will delivery vehicles make deliveries? She fears that “the reality will be, they will use the 928 Millwood Rd. driveway, since the entrance is right next to our building; not a good option for the residents of 928 Millwood.”

There are also numerous issues

with the building’s rear projection past the 928 Millwood building. She recommends that the building “not be allowed to extend beyond the rear of our building above the ground floor.” She adds that the additional height of 922 Millwood will “block the view of the sunsets and cast a shadow on our rooftop patio.” The applicant’s shadow studies do not investigate this perspective! Nor does the applicant provide any studies of soil contamination – surely this is a must-do given the history of this site as a dry cleaner.

Next steps

Please write and/or attend the North York Community Council meeting and express your concerns. I fully expect that Council will turn it down based on the legitimate planning concerns, given its location at the heart of Leaside and the weight of community opposition; however, we can also expect an Ontario Land Tribunal appeal of such a decision. So, this will not be quick. But neither is construction anymore either! n

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Advancing community priorities in Leaside through action and partnership

In May, the findings of the 2026 Leaside Residents Survey were presented. This survey, which garnered an impressive 1,218 responses, highlights the top priorities and concerns of Leasiders, including traffic and congestion, crime prevention, pedestrian safety and neighbourhood development. These results match with the issues I hear most about as the City Councillor representing Leaside and are an affirming indication that the subjects I have focused on in my time at City Council are aligned with the most pressing concerns facing our community.

Since coming into office nearly two years ago, traffic and congestion, as well as pedestrian safety have been key concerns of mine. I have worked to implement a range of measures to mitigate congestion in the community, including the recent introduction of a motion calling for the City to work with Metrolinx, at Metrolinx’s expense, to manage rush hour traffic on Brentcliffe Road during the closure of Beth Nealson Drive.

My office has also been actively working with the City’s new Chief Congestion Officer, Andrew Posluns, to address local traffic issues – as a result, we are now in the early stages of reconfiguration at the intersection of Brentcliffe Road and Eglinton Avenue East. I am also looking forward to the installation of two Intersection Pedestrian Signals on Bayview Avenue at Sutherland Drive and Parkhurst Boulevard/Soudan Avenue – both of which are set to be installed in the coming months and will significantly improve pedestrian safety and ease crossing concerns for residents.

Similarly, crime prevention and community safety have been key subjects of focus in my office, particularly in light of the concerning uptick in auto thefts, break and enters, robberies and home invasions in Ward 15. In response, I have worked extensively with Toronto Police Service (TPS) on critical community safety initiatives

Rachel Chernos Lin Councillor, Don Valley West

and have hosted several safety-focused town halls in communities across Don Valley West with TPS representatives in attendance, including one specifically for Leaside. While there is still work to be done in this area, it has been encouraging to see the community band together in response to these incidents.

Planning and development-related issues are incredibly challenging, especially for members of the public who may not have the time or background to navigate the planning process. This is further complicated by provincial overreach and undermining of the City’s planning process, as well as the flurry of decisions from Queen’s Park on matters affecting local development. A key example is their recent decision on Major Transit Station Areas, which significantly increased the scale of intensification allowed near transit stations across Toronto. On a smaller scale, in the years leading up to my arrival at City Hall, several policies permitting new forms of development, including multiplexes and garden suites, came into effect. Working on adjustments and refinements to these policies in response to local concerns has been a particular focus for me at City Hall, and the partnership of individual community members and organizations like the Leaside Residents Association have been integral to these efforts.

The feedback I receive from the residents of Don Valley West, whether raised at Coffee Chats and Town Halls, or just through calls to my office, informs my approach at City Hall. I look forward to continuing our partnership and collaboration to make Leaside a safe, inviting place to live and play for all our neighbours.

MURPHY From Page 8

died of 18 months earlier.

Murphy’s general practitioner informed him there was a potential link. Dan had genetic testing that showed he has a gene variant that puts people at higher risk of several cancers, including pancreas.

That led to Murphy’s meeting with Dr. Tsang, who was co-leading a clinical trial on the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer and the same gene variant. The initial plan was chemotherapy, then surgery, then more chemotherapy. A CT scan before joining the research study revealed the cancer had spread to his liver, meaning surgery was no longer an option.

But even as she delivered that news, Dr. Tsang also offered hope. Her team’s research was showing positive results in treating pancreas cancer patients with similar genetics to Murphy.

“We were so shocked. We had thought it was Stage 2 or 3,” says Kathy (Pashby) Murphy. “But in that same meeting, Dr. Tsang talked about Dan’s quality of life. We didn’t understand at first that she meant helping him live with quality, not keeping

“I just feel so lucky to be living here, to be benefiting from this world-leading science.”

him comfortable while dying.

“And precision medicine is the enabler of that.”

Every two weeks, from June 2023 until January 2024, Murphy received chemotherapy tailored to his genetic makeup. Dr. Tsang supported his decision to take breaks for family vacations, then, when the chemotherapy eventually was making him feel lousy for longer periods between treatments, she switched him to a maintenance drug, again geared to his specific genetic mutations.

Precision medicine at work

Since January 2024, Murphy has taken two pills twice a day that focus on attacking the ability of the cancer cells damaged by chemotherapy to repair themselves.

Dr. Tsang calls it “a really exciting time” in pancreatic cancer research because through genome sequencing scientists are learning more about what drives the growth of tumours and that opens the door to being able to develop and use more drugs to target it.

“Precision medicine is more than just a catchphrase, it’s transforming how we treat cancer and hopefully improve the quality of life for patients globally with fewer side effects,” she says.

Dan Murphy says, “we realized very early on we were on to something special” with Dr. Tsang, so they donated towards her research. From there, the effort snowballed, with family, friends and community members fundraising through a wide range of initiatives over the past few years, including a walk and a foot-

ball camp, cookie, lemonade and hot chocolate sales, and even a friend who cycled in Italy on behalf of The Murphy Family Fund.

“People want to help, they want to take action in a situation they cannot control,” Kathy Murphy says. She adds that when The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation has arranged for presentations about the work of Drs. Tsang, Notta and their teams, donors “come away inspired and believing researchers are on the cusp of more breakthroughs in treatment.”

That belief drives the Murphys. They are tireless advocates on behalf of patients with pancreatic cancer, not just through fundraising for precision medicine research and treatment but in calling for more widespread genetic testing in people with all types of cancers.

Dan Murphy, patient advocate

Dan Murphy, a patient advocate with the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, regularly shares his story about precision oncology with patients and their families. He’s also among more than 15,000 cancer patients across Canada who contributed their clinical and genomic data in a new pilot program designed to advance cancer research and treatment.

“I just feel so lucky to be living here, to be benefiting from this world-leading science,” he says. “And it feels like it’s just the early days of these advancements, so anything we can do to help speed things up for the next set of people, to give them hope, that feels good.” n

King (for whom the PWHL’s most valuable player trophy is named) dropped the ceremonial first puck and the building was filled with fans witnessing a new chapter in women’s sports. “Having gone to lots of Leafs games as a kid, turning onto Carlton Street and seeing lineups of people and a guy on the corner going, ‘Tickets, anybody need tickets?’ It was an amazing full-circle moment,” Chris said.

The belief the league had arrived was clear weeks later, when a game at Scotiabank Arena, which seats almost 19,000 for hockey, sold out in 20 minutes. “That’s when I knew,” he said. “We really had captured lightning in a bottle.”

Still, he says the work is not finished. The league must earn every fan, grow carefully and maintain the quality of play. The impact is already visible in the girls lining the glass with signs, dreaming of a professional future that earlier generations could barely imagine.

“To me, that’s when it hits the hardest,” he said. “They can now have that dream.” n

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Spring forward. Fall down.

by DAVID CRICHTON

I head down McRae on my way to the RBC at Laird and Wicksteed. Jerry, The Wonder Mutt, is in tow. The sun is shining. The temperature is a perfect 22 Celsius. It and the breeze are cooperating with my all-natural, non-toxic deodorant to limit the bacteria buffet my apocrine glands might otherwise be serving up. This spring day has just started and it is already perfect.

Jinx.

a few millimetres of expensive prescription eyeglass frame between it and the concrete.

THE LEASIDE OBSERVER

My right leg is the first to stop dead, mid-stride. Quickly followed by my left. Both my hands challenge gravity to a race. Gravity, 1. Hands, 0.

What follows would have made Newton’s apple envious. My right shoulder comes down fast and hard, then skids. For a split second my head isn’t attached to a neck. It’s a rubber ball in the stretchy leg of my mother’s pantyhose that I used to bounce off Wilson Avenue Elementary’s gym wall. Somewhat thankfully, when my right temple hits the sidewalk there are at least

As my eyeball becomes level with humility, I see my glasses spin in slow motion and slide under a parked car beside me. The chemical in one’s brain that kicks in at times like this does not fail me: the Embarrassment Gland immediately squirts, snapping me up off the pavement in an instant. I see my left hand is covered in blood. I delicately grope my head with my right. More blood. Surrounding me is a yard sale of my pockets’ contents – toonies, keys, receipts and a couple of fuzz-covered breath mints.

A guy, 60 feet ahead of me, who hears the gelatinous slap of my noggin, turns around and asks if I’m okay. I blather something that must make him think I’ll live, because he turns and walks off. An attractive young woman comes up behind me and asks the same. I think. The Embarrassment Gland contracts again. I tell her, “I’m fine. That sidewalk…it’s got a big…Geez.” Is she restraining a giggle? I can’t blame her. Had it been me witnessing me going down like a drunken marionette and talking gibberish, I’d be in tears. I start thinking about an article I read earlier that week, about concussions and memory loss. And how my father is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. “Great,” I think, as I dab at the wound on my temple, “will this affect my memory? This could be a story for the paper I write for…I just hope I can remem…

Re: “Leaside’s built heritage just got richer.”

Regarding your article in the May 2026 Leaside Life. My husband and I bought the house you pictured at 224 Bessborough Dr. in early 1980, and we lived there until 1987. According to the real estate ad in the Toronto Star on Dec. 6, 1979, the house was built in 1916. The addition was added by the couple who purchased the house from us and was added in 1987. I do not have any information as to whom it was built for, but it is described as an original farmhouse. At least this solves part of the mystery.

Penny Robinson

Re: Myopia, paranoia, and yellow despair: a comedy in three acts

I only just got to David Crichton’s desperate article from your March edition. I too received one of those dreadful $100 parking tickets the

day after he did. I was picking up a print from State of the Art on Bayview. I hate parallel parking on Bayview, so I had tried, unsuccessfully, to find parking in one of the lots and, of course, the side streets were down to one lane. The laneway behind the east side shops, where I’ve stopped before, had not yet been ploughed so I was about to head home when I spotted two newly vacant spots right in front of the store. I pulled in and dutifully bought 15 minutes from my Green P app, picked up my beautifully framed picture, then decided to check out a couple more shops so I added another 15 minutes, not noticing that I already had the dreaded ticket. I had noticed the parking officer ticketing other cars, but assumed those drivers had not paid for parking. I could not believe it. All the other cars were ticketed too. I asked the officer why, and she said it was a snow route, but I could fight it if I wanted. I was home before my Green P time had expired! Bayview is signposted as a snow route year-round, but I assumed

there would be some indication that you couldn’t park at that time as they do when they are clearing the side streets. Bayview had been ploughed; it was not snowing (three days after the storm) and the snowbanks were still there with no removal equipment in sight. I vented on the local Leaside Facebook page and learned from feedback that Green P (also City of Toronto owned) should not have allowed me to buy that time. I contacted them to request that they pay the ticket, which, of course, they would not, but they did relent and credited me the cost of the parking. The City of Toronto website did state that a snow emergency was in effect. I started the process of filing a dispute but it was not that simple, would possibly take up to 10 months by which time I was concerned that if I was away or missed the fact that I was still required to pay, it might end up costing me more, so I caved in and paid the fine. I comforted myself that, as a dutiful citizen of Toronto, I was helping them offset their snow clearance costs. There was an option to send comments which I did (no response received).

I kept an eye on those snowbanks, and I believe it was more than three weeks later before they were removed! Consequently, there was no logical reason for any cars to be ticketed at that time, other than a cash grab.

Oh and, to add insult to injury, there is a service charge of some $2.50 to pay your fine online! Given that the only other option is to pay by cheque (requiring postage) or to drive and pay for parking or take the TTC to the nearest City office to pay the bill, I thought that was the icing on the cake (or snow drift). So, I greatly appreciated David’s rant as I certainly did my fair share of ranting.

Linda Wright

A response from the BIA

I read the complaint letter regarding the condition of the sidewalk in front of the former ValuMart in your May issue. I’ve asked our maintenance crew to perform a clean-up. Just for the record, this will be the third time since the start of the year the BIA has had to deal with a mess in this area. We’d like people to know that it’s the BIA (and therefore, our local businesses) that steps up to take care of such issues, not the City.

Henry Byres, Coordinator, Bayview Leaside B.I.A. www.bayviewleasidebia.com

EventsJuly

ST. CUTHBERT’S, LEASIDE

ANGLICAN CHURCH

1399 Bayview Avenue 416 485 0329 stcuthbertleaside@toronto.anglican.ca www.stcuthbertsleaside.com

Gard’n Angels gather every Wednesday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – noon. Come garden with us! For info, email gardnangels@ gmail.com

Lemonade on the Green Drop by again this summer, any Wed. morning (except July 1) between 10:00 a.m. and noon for a cold drink, a cookie and a chat. Treats for dogs too. Tai Chi is on summer break. Resumes in September.

Weekly services of Evening Prayer every Friday @ 7:00 p.m. on the Green. Join us!

SUMMER WORSHIP AT NORTHLEA UNITED, LEASIDE PRESBYTERIAN & LEASIDE UNITED

All services are at 10:30 a.m. Sunday mornings.

Contact each individual church office for their specific online attendance info, otherwise we will see you at 10:30 a.m. Sunday mornings!

Northlea United @ 125 Brentcliffe Road. July 5, 12, 19 and September 6. Live Streamed at northleaunited.ca and on YouTube all summer. For info email office@northleaunited.ca.

Leaside Presbyterian @ 670 Eglinton Ave E. July 26, August 2, 9. Call 416 422 0510 or admin@ leasidepc.ca for info.

Leaside United @ 822 Millwood Rd August 16, 23, 30. Call 416 425 1253 or robert@leasideuc.com for info.

LEASIDE LIBRARY

165 McRae Drive 416 396 3855

For a list of programs at the Leaside branch, visit www.tpl.ca/leaside.

WILLIAM LEA ROOM

Sun., July 19, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Sports Card Show

Wednesdays July 8, 15, 22, 29

Duplicate Bridge Games and Lessons Thurs. July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

Duplicate Bridge Games and Lessons

For more info, visit www. Torontobridge.ca

Thank you for visiting Leaside Memorial Community Gardens on Leaside Day. We were proud to be the host venue! n

Move. Sweat. Recharge

Find your community at Oxygen Yoga & Fitness Leaside.

Transit woes continue

I have frustrating news from the transit front, related to the two-year closure of Beth Nealson Drive during construction of the Ontario Line.

You will recall from previous Leaside Life columns that a new temporary bus route service (Millwood route 156) was announced by the TTC early this spring to replace the 88 South Leaside bus, which has until now provided important service to central Leaside, the Leaside Business Park, and Thorncliffe Park.

Unfortunately, Route 156 turns out to be a downgraded limited-service route, running only every half hour, and not at all in the evening. In comparison, Route 88 ran every seven or eight minutes at all hours from early morning to late evening. The Leaside Residents Association is working with our Thorncliffe Park partners to press for more adequate TTC service, and improved transit connection between Line 5, Laird Station and inner Leaside. We should not have to settle for less than full-service transit during the two-year Beth Nealson closure.

Carol Burtin Fripp Co-president LRA

almost two years ago by North York Community Council. We’ve been informed that they should be installed in the next four months. Over the years, those intersections have been the scene of numerous accidents and near-accidents, involving pedestrians, motorists, buses and cyclists. IPS technology is specifically designed to create safer conditions for pedestrians crossing busy or fast-moving main streets. These intersections have become busier, and more dangerous, in recent years. We have hopes that the IPS installations will mark a big improvement. I will report in more detail when the installation dates are confirmed.

Survey results

New lights are coming! There is better news regarding the two Intersection Pedestrian Signals (IPS) on Bayview Avenue at both Sutherland Drive and Parkhurst Boulevard, which were approved

The recent Leaside Survey identified traffic (speed and volume) as residents’ major complaint about living in our neighbourhood. No surprise! Lack of enforcement of 30km, No Left Turn, and No Trucks signage rules are all common complaints. Some respondents have suggested that Leaside also needs more sidewalks: specifically, sidewalks on both sides of each street, as many Leaside streets have pavement on only one side. Do you agree? Would new sidewalks create a safer environment?

Do you have particular traffic issues on your street? I’ve been contacted recently about increased traffic volume on and around Glenvale Boulevard and parking woes. We hear about overnight parking on residential streets and daytime parking, especially on streets adjoining transit routes near Bayview and Laird. As this is a municipal election year, it’s the opportune moment to press candidates and the City’s Leaside Neighbourhood Transit Plan team for action.

The LRA board generally meets monthly on the first Wednesday of each month, at 7:30 p.m. However, this year, July’s first Wednesday is Canada Day, so our July board meeting will be on Wed., July 8th, in the Trace Manes building at Rumsey and Millwood. You are welcome to join us. n

Leaside Life took a big chance in June, and the resultant ripples are tsunami sized. For the first time in our 15-year history, we created an issue written, drawn and edited by local youth. We have received much positive feedback from the community, both oral and written. Here’s what some of the contributing writers had to say about the impact the experience had on them:

“Writing for Leaside Life allowed me to channel my passion for community into writing and spread my ideas to readers.” — Lukas Korkuti, Grade 12 student, Leaside High School.

“It felt good writing about our school and Student Council so the wider Leaside community can find out about the work we do, and how we make a positive impact.” — Keira Stekovic, Student Council president, Leaside High School.

“As a student, my writing the Leaside Cooks article was a great learning opportunity; I have a new respect for deadlines, and I also got to learn about a unique culture – Georgian culture – and its food.” — Dylan Tkaczuk, Grade 10 student, Leaside High School. n