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AMANDA PERSICO apersico@yrmg.com Looking for a getaway from the everyday toll and routine, hop on the train and ride your ticket to the end — to Aurora.
The steam train railed through the Police Village of Aurora in the 1850s and ended at Town Park. Advertisements in the Aurora Banner called to people from all over to come and celebrate
at the end of the railroad — or, as some might have said, at the end of the rainbow. After all, it was the railroad that helped grow the police village into a thriving community, bustling with travellers
supporting local Aurora businesses. Life focused around the railroad. Today, the GO Train travels
uReport the News newsroom@yrmg.com www.facebook.com/yrmgnews @yorkregion yorkregion.com/ureport
O See AURORA 3
COMMUNITY
Pride Parade draws colourful crowds to Newmarket KIM ZARZOUR kzarzour@yrmg.com Rainbows were running rampant down Main Street in Newmarket the morning of June 17 for the 2017 York Region Pride Parade. It was the first time the parade was held in the town after several years in Richmond Hill, and by most accounts, it was a roaring success. "This is just phenomenal," said Michelle Gouffray. "Newmarket really stepped up to the plate of inclusivity." The town’s Main Street was shut down for the Saturday morning event that culminated in a concert with a family-friendly party at Riverwalk Commons. The local farmers market and artisan fair drew even more crowds, making the village core a happening place on a sultry day. Kevin Dupuis, a pharmacist at the Main Street Robins IDA, hap-
Kim Zarzour/Metroland
Michelle Gouffray, who has volunteered with the York Region Pride parade in years past, said this year’s event in Newmarket was "phenomenal". pily donned a rainbow tie and decorated his storefront as part of the celebrations. Several pharmacy staff – on-duty and off – joined him to cheer the parade.
"Vendors have really embraced the whole idea," he said. "It’s fun, it brings a lot of people out and everyone’s in a good mood."
Several restaurants created festive offerings for the day, from rainbow hamburgers at Cachet restaurant to a colourful cheesecake confection at Hungry Brew Hops.
Francine Collins said she moved to Newmarket recently and was thrilled to hear the parade would be a few blocks away. "It’s fantastic," she said. "Newmarket is such a diverse community and this pulls everyone together. I imagine some people’s nose will be out of joint, but hopefully they’re in the minority." Vanessa H., 23, said she has just come out as gay and appreciated a chance to celebrate in a safe place. The Holland Landing resident said it isn’t always easy to be different in a small town and events such as this let young people know they don’t have to feel alone. Unlike Toronto, police were a big part of the Newmarket event, representing York Region, Simcoe South, Peel, Durham, RCMP and OPP. They were greeted with cheers and applause as they made their way down the street. l See NEWMARKET, page 2
NEWS
’Garbage food for garbage people’ not solution LISA QUEEN lqueen@yrmg.com Society needs to shift from treating the growing number of hungry as charity cases needing a handout to ensuring everyone has a basic income that allows them to feed themselves. That was a key message of Food Fight, a York Region Food Network seminar aimed at taking a bite out of food security issues at the Newmarket Community Centre June 20. "What we’re doing now is not
changing people’s lives or helping people. We’re still living with high levels of poverty and food insecurity and that’s bad for all of us," executive director Joan Stonehocker said. "All of us need to demand from our politicians that we change the way that we are doing things so we don’t have people who don’t have enough to eat." Skyrocketing housing costs, precarious employment and social assistance rates of about $8,000 a year for a single recipient are leaving people unable to afford
food, Stonehocker said. The inadequate answer, so far, has been to direct people to places such as food banks rather than addressing income inequality, she said. While many would rather blame low-income earners for their situation, it’s in taxpayers’ best interest to boost people’s incomes to reduce health and criminal justice costs, Stonehocker said. Food insecurity is a growing l See TAKING, page 10
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Dr. Lisa Simon, associate medical officer of health with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health, keynote speaker at a Food Fight seminar on food security issues in Newmarket, spoke about benefits of guaranteeing everyone a basic income.