Federal election results are on our website at www.beachmetro.com
Volume 50 No. 13
BEACHMETRO.COM
September 21, 2021
TO FIND out the winners and losers from last night`s federal election, please go to our website at www.beachmetro.com Due to our morning deadline yesterday, we are unable to have coverage of the results in this print edition of Beach Metro News. Election Day was Monday, Sept. 20, and the polls did
not even close until 9:30 p.m., long after this paper had been printed. However, we had reporters out covering the races in Beaches-East York, Scarborough Southwest and TorontoDanforth on Monday night and into this morning. You will be able to see our stories online on our website right now. With this election having tak-
en place under restrictions due to COVID-19, there may be the possibility that not all of the final results were made available by Elections Canada earlier today. There has been speculation that the counting of mail-in ballots may delay final results. Please visit www.beachmetro.com in the coming days for ongoing election coverage.
Beach Citizen of the Year Barbara Myrvold honoured By Amanda Gibb
PHOTO: ALAN SHACKLETON
Barb Myrvold sits beside her 2021 Beach Citizen of the Year plaque in the Millennium Garden in Woodbine Park after she was presented with the honour at a special ceremony on Saturday afternoon.
THE 2021 Beach Citizen of the Year is longtime resident Barbara Myrvold. She was presented with the award during a special ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Millennium Garden in Woodbine Park. Myrvold, who recently retired from a lengthy career at the Toronto Public Library, was named the 2021 Beach Citizen of the Year for her dedication and volunteer work with numerous organizations spanning more than 40 years. In the past, she has served on the City of Toronto Ward 9 Sesquicentennial Coordinating Committee, Beach Metro Community News board of directors, and Kew Cottage Advisory Board, to name a few. “Writing about history, working at preserving history, promoting local history, that’s the sort of the main volunteer activity I’ve been involved with,” said Myrvold. Her love of local history blossomed while she was completing a Master’s in Library Science many years ago in order to give her the option to advance in her career while she was working at the Locke Branch library in north Toronto. “One of the courses was to do a bibliography so I thought I might as well do something that would benefit the library and me, so I chose to do a bibliography on north Toronto,” she said. Myrvold said that her work on the bibliography inspired her to delve into the Beach’s history. “I thought ‘I wonder what the local his-
tory is of the neighbourhood where I live?’ And I discovered the local historical society, and many kindred spirits and lifelong friends that I met there. It all really came out of a school project,” she said. Today, Myrvold’s volunteerism spirit is evident in her work with The Beach and East Toronto Historical Society (TBETHS), and as a local history researcher and writer. She has many published works about local history and the history of other parts of Toronto. “In most volunteer activities, you get a lot back…I think the best volunteer work is something that meets your interests and your needs, and ideally, you volunteer for something that enriches you as a person and hopefully enriches your community, and the people you’re serving,” said Myrvold. She said that her volunteer work revolving around local history and serving the community has been a very rewarding experience. Although Myrvold is now retired, she still makes meaningful contributions to the Beach community. She’s currently coordinating an indexing project for TBETHS. “A lot of what I’m doing now is very much related to the work I did at the library…with a group of fantastic volunteers who are giving their time to input the information into a database so that this whole index…will be available to anybody anywhere because it will be on the Internet. Instead of being hidden in the archives, it’ll be out for the public to enjoy,” she said. Continued on Page 5
Small’s Creek defenders send big message to Metrolinx By Alan Shackleton
EAST TORONTO community members sent a 400-foot long message to Metrolinx last week demanding that the provincial transit agency not cut down more than 200 trees and build a concrete retaining wall in Small’s Creek Ravine. Residents, along with local politicians and candidates from both the
Liberal Party and the NDP, joined with the residents at the event held in East Lynn Park late on the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 16. “We can’t seem to get through to Metrolinx, so this a 400-foot message to them,” said Mitch Robertson of the Friends of Small’s Creek group that organized the protest. Area residents have been in dispute with Metrolinx over the im-
pact that the agency’s plans to build a fourth rail line along the Lake Shore East rail corridor will have on Small’s Creek Ravine in the area northeast of Gerrard Street East and Coxwell Avenue. Metrolinx’s plan for that fourth line will see 268 trees (a number of them mature oaks) removed from the north end of the ravine by the tracks and replaced with a 400-foot
concrete retaining wall. To symbolize exactly how long that wall be, residents created a replica of its full length by holding large cardboard signs end-to-end with messages written on them calling for Metrolinx to “respect” the community’s concerns and come up with a better plan for the building of the fourth line through the ravine.
Robertson pointed out that the Friends of Small’s Creek are in favour of the line and the expansion of public transit, but they feel there is a way to do so through the ravine that protects the natural area. However, he said negotiation with Metrolinx on the issue have been one-sided and alternatives suggested by Friends of Small’s Continued on Page 18