Lots of good city happenings occurred in the past year

John Sewell —

There are a number of really good reasons to celebrate the year just passed.
A firm decision was taken to prevent jets from using the Toronto Island airport. This puts an end to the runway expansion which would have caused such problems for small craft using the Toronto Bay and its marinas, and it saves the immediate Downtown from the noise, air pollution and constant air traffic which would have accompanied jets.

Congratulations to No Jets TO for sticking with this issue and finally forcing this good resolution. Toronto is better for this decision.

It looks very likely that police will no longer be permitted to stop, question and for a few minutes detain individuals not involved in crime as they go about their business. This police action is called “carding” since the police entered the information they collected —name, address, parents names, school attended, tattoos, hair style, clothes style, race, friends with you—on cards, and that info was then put into a computer.
Black youths were carded three, four or five times more than white youth. Writer Desmond Cole says he has been carded more than 50 times and other young black men also count their numerous carding incidents by police in spite of not being involved in crime.

Minister of Community Safety Yasir Naqvi has introduced a draft regulation which would prevent carding by police officers in Ontario. Critics say the draft has not gone far enough, but one can expect some amendments in the New Year before the regulation is enacted. The minister is proposing a major shift in what police can do; one of the first useful changes in policing in several decades. It is not the only change needed in policing, but it is a very good first step and Minister Naqvi promises there is more to come.

As a bike rider I can tell you the new bicycle lanes Downtown are terrific. It is now safe to zip west along Richmond on a wide bike lane separated from vehicular traffic, then zip back going east along Adelaide. From July and the Pan Am Games, these lanes sported planters, adding greenery to these two drab 1-way streets. The number of bike riders using them skyrocketed and bikes proved to be the only sane way to escape the car and transit gridlock Downtown. It’s been a great change.

I can remember in the late winter and spring sensing the fear around the table of the meetings of Lifeline Syria. We had come together to see what might be done to encourage Syrian refugees to come to Toronto in much the same way as the Boat People—refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia—were encouraged in 1979. But we had a feeling there wasn’t much sympathy for Syrians here, that there was great hostility to them because of the dominant Muslim faith. Some around the table feared a backlash if we tried to be too friendly.

And while Chris Alexander, the minister of immigration in Stephen Harper’s government, refused to even meet with us or to reply to our letters asking for policy changes, Premier Kathleen Wynne stepped up with operating funds for Lifeline Syria.

Mayor John Tory’s staff refused to confirm that the mayor would be present at the Lifeline Syria launch in July, but to our surprise the mayor attended and made a strong statement in favour of welcoming Syrian refugees to Toronto. Since the election of Justin Trudeau’s government in mid-October, Torontonians have expressed overwhelming support for Syrian refugees. It is so terrific to realize that we live in a city of people who really care about the fate of others who we don’t know personally.

And it seems that we are ready to be serious about tackling climate change. Premier Wynne has the staff in place to implement a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gasses, and Prime Minister Trudeau has committed the country to be a leader in countering climate change.

Solitary confinement in prison is about to end or be severely restricted in Canada. Truth and Reconciliation with our aboriginal nations is beginning to be embedded in our ways of doing things. There are sunny ways on the horizon.
OK. So the world isn’t a perfect place. Toronto is still not the really good city it might be. We have far too much inequality. Not enough affordable housing. Too much precarious employment. A weak transit system. We could outline a long list of things to be done—a depressingly long list.

But let’s stop for a moment as we enter this New Year, and let’s celebrate the gains we did make. That celebration will give us fortitude and courage to continue to fight for a better city and world.
John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto. His recent book is How We Changed Toronto, 1969 – 1980.