April 2016 Edition of The Downsview Advocate

Read the full versions of the April 2016 Edition below:

Bathurst Manor Edition:

Inspiring Valedictorian Speech

Taejah Noble, a recent graduate of Elia Middle School delivered a moving speech to the 2014-2015 graduating class.

Congratulations class 2014-2015. Sometimes, the greatest relief you can get from a valedictorian speech, is when it is over. Quoted by your very own Taejah Noble, but I want that you will get at least something from this speech. Good afternoon,distinguished guests, principal Mr Yafeo,vice principle, Mrs Silvera, other staff members, visitors, parents, and of course my fellow graduates. I would like to start off by thanking the valedictorian committee for nominating me; it is such an honor and a privilege to be here. Wow, all of you graduates sitting before me are looking so lovely and well dressed. Visitors and Staff can you please join me in giving a big round of applause for our graduates. May I add, I am partly surprised to see some of you guys with your pants actually at your waist, one of the evident reasons why graduation is a special event.We all have a story, which includes a plot, a problem, and a solution. We all have a self-written book that's always being updated until we die. This book contains chapters and with our graduation tonight, we are closing a chapter. We are closing a chapter, but not the book because it is still the beginning and not the end. Now that we have established this chapter, I'm here to bring you anticipation, motivation, and preparation for the next chapter along with reminiscing and missing this one.Wow, look how much we have grown, we came from three recesses to one and from cubbies to lockers. If you really think about it, time has zoomed by like Usain Bolt . In our three years at Elia, they're like a cycle.We have our summer break and then after summer break we tend to forget what we have learned. That cycle has been repeated for the three years. Remember, in kindergarten reciting our ABC'S was one of our top priorities and we still use it now while utilizing a dictionary. This just shows that everything we learn and experience we bring with us in different ways. The excitement, awkwardness, adapting and fear on the first day of grade 6 we will bring yet again in grade 9, starting from the bottom all over again. We have grown as individuals, although with some of us, our height doesn't really show it. Who can remember the firstday of kindergarten where some of our parents were crying a river and some of us were the opposite, saying 'goodbye' with such ease. That confidence has been used in other areas of our development. That is, adapting to change while using what we already learned.I think one of the two most unforgettable memories at Elia is the first day and the last day. This is because we have our starting point and our finishing point; of course, in between we have our little milestones with several obstacles. How about those times we were learning something in class and questioned to ourselves 'when will this ever help me in life?' with a sigh and for others who were always intrigued. Who could forget the countless times we actually didn't want to come to school, both teachers and students or, for others who have always enjoyed coming to school. Those days where we would consistently watch the clock, thinking we could make the bell ring faster or, when a favorite class of ours was too short to enjoy. Then there is anxiety for some of us taking a test we studied for five minutes ago, or the anxiety of completing that test on time and stumbling upon a tricky question. I don't think there were any classes with Mrs. Ricketts where my name wasn't mistaken for Tajay instead of saying Taejah. When it comes to laughter, I cannot forget the countless outbursts from Mr. Spencer's weird remarks and I know I am not the only one. I absolutely cannot forget Mrs. Silvera's closing line for the morning announcements, which I would always try to attempt. Memories play a big role in our lives and sometimes make us happy when we need uplifting. I want all of you to think of your favorite memory through this year or people who have helped to create that memory. Now, I want you to keep that memory instilled in you and when hard days come along, retrieve that memory.I have a question for my fellow graduates; raise your hand if any of you sometimes felt like you came to school by force and not by choice? Well, for those of you who feel that way, that is common in the working world as well. Of course we have a long way to go before that, but I want you all to take something from this speech and bring it with you no matter where you are in your chapters. As words of motivation, success is great, but being unhappy and successful will not sustain. Robin Williams is an excellent example. I am saying this because we are still in the beginning of our book and are able to prepare for the end. As you excel and have the opportunity to choose the profession that you like, go ahead. Go ahead, so it does not feel like school all over again.I think one of the common mistakes some valedictorians make, is unrealistic anticipation. This means that the picture painted is just too hard to duplicate. I'm not going to bring your hopes up and predict that your future will be as smooth sailing because that is far from reality. As individuals we will all experience an inevitable change that varies for all of us. However, what is important is how we choose to handle it. This comes back to our story and we are all the main characters in our books. Some characters excel with minimal disruptions, others have so many disruptions and still manage to excel, but what is important among these characters? Excelling, something we are all capable of doing, but some of us fail to do. If that is any of you today, I ask that when you continue your story, you will find what helps you excel, and use it to your advantage of excelling until the end. In reality, I'll be blunt with you, life sucks sometimes, we are all going to go through hardships and have bad days, but in any story which main character doesn't? Therefore, do not focus on the inevitability of change, but on the capability of handling it.I would like to take this time to commend my fellow graduates and acknowledge those who have helped usget here. I would like to say thank you to my classmates, who have always helped me when I did not understand the work. How could I ever forget the parents, thank you all for helping your children excel in school as it is a hard job sometimes. I would like to thank all the teachers for helping us with our work and being so dedicated. You have provided us with many opportunities to learn and grew socially and academically special. Thank you for planning the trip to Montreal. Let's hear a shoutout from those who went. Of course, I would like to thank all my friends for creating unforgettable memories. Congratulations to all the students who have won an award today. I commend those of you who have done extracurricular activities such as robotics, sports, leadership, student council, performing arts, eco club, math enrichment, and anything else that I have not listed. Thank you to my other fellow graduates for sitting through my speech, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you to the administration for organizing this. There are many things that all of you have achieved throughout this year, so excellent job.Sometimes many of us considered school as a dungeon. However, there is something so strong about Elia, that even if the doors of this "dungeon" were open, I wouldn't escape, which may be different for others. Itis quite contradicting because I would always be the first one escaping to leave at the end of the day and I’m pretty sure my classmates are witnesses. Besides the foregoing, no matter the hardships and struggles experienced in this unique school, Elia has furnished and equipped my peers and I for an opportunity of a lifetime. It certainly catered to our development in a thorough way. We could never forget Elia, no matter what we thought of this school sometimes. I hope that when we all leave here, we will remember the things that have molded us as students and made us smile. Don't forget to thank the people who have helped you and made you smile, as you never know when you will see them again. Even though we have completed a chapter, this is just the beginning of a new in our chapter lives and we have the capability of handling our story until the end. It is in fact, the beginning and not the end. As I conclude this speech, I want to leave you all with an anonymous quote.. "In life we do things. Some we wish we had never done. Some we wish we could replay a million times in our head. But they all make us who we are, and in the end they shape every detail about us. If we were to reverse any of them we wouldn't be the person we are. So just live, make mistakes, have wonderful memories, but never second guess who you are, where you have been, and most importantly where it is you're going."

TTC Changes are Inconsistent with Citizen’s Needs

By Lily Luong Do

Grassroots organization the TTC Riders may be only in its second year, but in the time allotted, they’ve managed to make their presence known advocating for all public transit users.

On June 24th, 2015 TTC Riders held a rally outside of City Hall along with the Fair Fare Coalition.

With all the recent contention the Toronto Transit Commission had over their budget issues on transit projects like the Spadina subway expansion, and the LRT city Councillors were amicable to accepting the TTC Riders report and mandate “Affordable TTC: A Ticket to the City.”

In meeting with Council members and other city staff, both groups indicated in discussion that while money has been spent on upgrading their infrastructure technicalities, their policies continue to fail their riders.

The riders most affected continue to be from communities like Downsview, where many riders have low-incomes, are adult students, or part-time workers, and also those who are disabled, but struggle with meeting the cost of accessing Wheel Trans services.

Some of the most affected are those on social service programs such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) where the support it gives lacks attention to the financial cost of transportation.

Stephen Johnson from Mayor Tory’s office agreed that there are major gaps to fill, and that he will bring the issue forward as priority.

As it stands a person on ODSP receives an average stipend that is anywhere between $300 and $400 a month, in relations to TTC costs it falls short on helping low-income households and individuals in accessing affordable transportation. At the end of the day, ODSP individuals can barely survive.

Councillor Joe Mihevic spoke about the new Presto system now utilized in most stations, but while the “pilot project” is streamlining: there are still many differences of opinion about whether this will save riders and the city money.

At the end of the day, the nickels just aren’t adding up.

Tell us what you think about the cost of riding the TTC. E-mail us at

info@downsviewadvocate.ca

Downsview family light show raises money for Sick Kids.

 By David RosIt's a holiday tradition here in Downsview.For the past 15 years, every night as soon as the sun goes down during the holiday season, 165 Benjamin Boake Trail comes to life with an amazing show of lights.Nearly every inch of the front of Amatore and Pat DeSario's property is covered with Christmas lights and decorations. There are Santas, snowmen, Christmas trees, a nativity scene and various messages of holiday cheer.Putting together this display on a yearly basis has been a labour of love for the DeSarios. Getting it ready for the holiday season takes hundreds of hours of work and requires them to begin putting it together during the last week of September.“Most people think we hire somebody [to install the Christmas display], but, in fact, it's just my husband and I,” Pat said.When the DeSarios started installing their Christmas display, they noticed that people were coming from all around to admire it. With this in mind, they decided to use this as an opportunity to raise money for the Hospital for Sick Children.Their daughter had been diagnosed with type I diabetes and had been treated at Sick Kids during her youth, so Pat said that they wanted to give back to the hospital that had helped their daughter so much.“I'm blown away at how much work [the DeSarios] put into this every year and it's just such an amazing display,” said Connie Bleeker, an events associate for Sick Kids hospital. “I've seen pictures of it, but they just don't do it justice and I encourage everyone to come here in person and see it for themselves.”In front of the display, the DeSarios have a box where people can make a cash or cheque, which they will deliver to the Hospital for Sick Children in February. Over the past 15 years, they have raised more than $100,000 for the hospital.When they started, Pat said that this was something they never thought would be possible even in their wildest dreams.Mark Adler, the Conservative MP for York Centre, said that he lives in the area and that he took his own kids to see the display even before he was elected to office.“This is about community coming together for a great cause to help Sick Kids Hospital,” Adler said. “People come from far and wide to see this wonderful display, and it's such an amazing community event.”Last year, while the DeSarios were on vacation, a gust of wind took down their entire display and for a brief moment, they had considered calling it quits.“When we did come back from our holiday, the whole structure came down and [Amatore] says you know, why do this and look at what's happening, let's take a rest, and just out of the blue, God tells you that you have to do this,” Pat said. “he next day, I got that letter in the mail, and when we read it it just brought tears to our eyes, and we said, ok, we have to do it.”Pat said that she and her husband have already made plans to go to the States to look at adding to their collection for next year.

Pearson passengers pay the price for mismanagement

By Matias de DovitiisIt’s the holidays and I was trying to help a friend book a flight out of Toronto going through ticket prices when I remembered: we have one of the most expensive airports in the world.It is very expensive to fly out of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. It is more expensive than big European cities like London or Paris. It is more expensive than New York or Beijing. It is more expensive than Dubai, which is currently building the biggest airport in the world. In fact, it is more expensive than anywhere in the world except for a few cities in Japan and it is still the most expensive airport in the Americas. This has been true ever since they built the new airport terminal at Pearson. At the time, it was a very big project, but there are much bigger and newer airports in other places, and they are not as expensive.The airport fees out of Pearson (the ones you see and the ones the airlines pass on to you as a passenger) are so steep that hundreds of thousands of people drive to Buffalo and other nearby cities to fly from there every year.Big fees might be a good thing if passengers were getting a good return on their investment. After all, the airport is publicly owned and the fees go to maintain and operate it. The problem is that the airport is operated privately through an agency called the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) that operates like a private monopoly. While the agency does not make a profit for investors (it is not a for profit entity), it is filled with management types that make big salaries, but are doing a poor job of flying us in and out quickly.The airport famously failed last January during a cold winter spell. The airport was shut down, because the deicing operations were backed up and the computer systems failed. Hundreds of flights were delayed for days. The airport was in chaos, yet, the top management made big bucks and nobody got fired.CEO, Howard Eng was on vacation during the crisis and had to apologize publicly a number of times. According to the sunshine list, Howard Eng made $712,138 a year in 2012.CFO, Brian Gabel was responsible for the contracting out of the IT services that crashed during the January storm. He has since left the GTAA and probably received a big severance package on his way out. 2012 SALARIES OF GTAA OFFICIALS:Howard Eng, CEO$712,138*Brian Gabel, CFO$513,300Douglas Love, VP$906,240**Pamela Griffith-Jones, VP$407,950Patrick Neville, VP$392,945*Including incentives**Including a severance package of $514,000 

Mr. Armindo Silva - Holding on for life on the high seas

By Tom RakocevicYour quiet unassuming neighbour may have an incredible story. Perhaps it’s a heart-warming tale or even a miracle. Maybe through fortitude or sheer luck they were able to overcome impossible odds to survive a disaster. You’d never know as they leisurely tend to their garden and give you a friendly wave.We all have our stories; the older you are, the more you have. This new column entitled, “My Story” celebrates the fascinating lives of our community members by having them share an interesting experience. If you have a unique story you wish to tell in an upcoming issue, or know somebody that does, contact the Downsview Advocate at info@downsviewadvocate.ca.“Oh salty sea, how much of your saltAre tears of Portugal!To get across you, how many mothers cried,How many sons prayed in vain.”Fernando PessoaThough Armindo Silva immigrated to Canada in 1970, it wasn’t the first time he set foot in our country. In 1947, two years before Newfoundland joined confederation, the “Milena” a 700 hundred ton fishing schooner of the Portuguese fleet docked in St. John’s during one of its typical 6-month voyages on the open seas. A young, 14 year-old messboy named Armindo jumped out to see this new land on the other side of the Atlantic from his native Portugal. Working the messroom on the Milena’s long and arduous journeys, he saw a great many things.Today, Mr. Silva recalls the work of those fishermen aboard the Milena.“After all these years, I never saw such hard labour,” he said.Out at sea for months at a time, when the fish were plenty, the men worked 18-hour days for weeks straight catching, cleaning and salting cod.His recollection of these times were published in the Portuguese historical journal “O Ilhavense” and he is the author of Milena:1948 – Memorias de uma Campanha. This fascinating book written in the Portuguese language describes 7 different ordeals the crew faced while out at sea. One such event occurred in August of 1948 when Armindo, the ship’s youngest crewman was only 15.---In August 1948, when the Milena lost its propeller in the waters off of Greenland, the captain set a course for the safer waters of the Grand Banks using only the wind to guide the large vessel. They were only a day from Newfoundland’s shore when the wind died and the crew found themselves stranded. As the ship’s messboy, Armindo spent a great deal of time in the company of the ship’s officers. To this very day, he remembers the apprehension of the captain following a sudden and tremendous drop in barometric pressure, “Boys, we are going to suffer,” the captain said.Sure enough, the breeze returned that late afternoon, but it just didn’t stop. It grew and grew until the winds threatened to tear the men from the deck and fling them out into the ocean – a cyclone had come.The storm brought terrible darkness and crushing winds. Mr. Silva still remembers the terrifying waves that reached as high as 30 metres, “It was an inferno,” he said.The next morning, with the waters and winds still raging, Armindo was attending to the captain, first mate and deck boss. The captain had the ship in a holding pattern against the ongoing storm. He turned to his chief mate, “What do we do to get out of this?”The older and very experienced first mate replied, “Captain, the Milena is a strong ship but won’t last long if we keep fighting the sea like this.”The deck boss agreed, “We are going to sink if the storm doesn’t end soon.”The captain was silent for a long time. When he spoke it was with a grim determination, “Ok then. Call the men, and ready them for the worst. We will ride the wind. We are in God’s hands now.”With the crew assembled, the captain ordered his men to raise the sails and turn the rudder on his command. The ship was fighting the waves and wind, but to ride the storm they would have to turn 180 degrees. This was a dangerous proposition as the ship’s starboard side would be exposed during the maneuver and the great schooner could flip.The captain surveyed the terrible waters for what seemed an eternity. “Now!” he yelled.BOOM! The sails simply vanished.At the mercy of the ocean, the ship rocked back and forth to the point of near capsizing. The waves crashed on the deck washing away all 58 utility boats. Five men were unable to hold on and went overboard “screaming like children,” Armindo said.Mr. Silva cannot recall how long the men fought to turn the boat in that watery Hell. “We survived because the small forward sail held on. It was a miracle; it was the hand of God,” he said.When they finally turned they were propelled at a speed of 18 knots, almost double what they could achieve with the sails up and propeller at full speed on a normal day.They were able to save four of the men, Mr. Silva remembers with tears in his eyes, but one was unaccounted for. “I heard a shout, ‘There’s a man out there on that wave!’ and we all looked. I saw him way out there. He looked so small and alone in the water. We all began yelling to the captain to save him. The captain said it was impossible, that we would all die if we tried. He gave the order to go on,” He said. “We saw him three times and then we never saw him again. He left a pregnant wife at home. He was the nicest guy on the ship, lost at sea on his first trip.”---Listening to Mr. Silva tell this frightening account, I watch my silver-haired neighbour with quiet awe. Where others boast, Mr. Silva is a gentleman of quiet humility.Mr. Silva served two years aboard the Milena and spent the next 11 as a fisherman in the Portuguese fleet. At age 27 and already a veteran of the seas, he became a sailor on a Dutch merchant ship that docked at many international ports.“Working the merchant ship was easy. I was a week at sea between ports. I could come home every month. Also, that’s when I married Maria Fernanda,” He says with a big smile.Maria Fernanda and Armindo married in 1963, and happily celebrated their golden anniversary last year. They immigrated to Canada in 1970 with their two young children aged 5 and 2.Mr. Silva left the sea behind to work on land where he could raise a family. After 27 years of hard work in construction and manufacturing he began a well-deserved retirement in 1997 and has lived in Downsview since 2004, where he keeps a beautiful property and always wears a smile for others. The next time I come home from work feeling I’d had a tough day, I will remember 15 year-old Armindo holding on for dear life in the stormy Atlantic, and I will feel a little bit embarrassed.

Youth opportunities, housing major issues in Ward 8

 By David RosAnthony Perruzza will take on five challengers in seeking a third term as city councillor for Ward 8. Perruzza who was first elected to city council in 2006 and defeated Peter Li Preti in a tight race in 2010, said that he is focused on providing more opportunities for young people in the ward.“We need to engage young people in productive activity, in mentorship programs, in job opportunities, and recreational activities, essentially getting them off the street, getting them active, getting them involved, and giving them the kind of skills that will get them to move on into a productive adulthood,” he said. “Really, it's providing a sense of hope to them.”Anthony Vescio, who is running for council against Perruzza said there needs to be better jobs in the area. “I believe that [the area] has been deprived in the last term of council, I believe that it's been deprived because there's no jobs for the young people in the area,” Vescio said. Vescio also cited the often poor maintenance of rental properties in the ward as an area of concern. “I've been having a lot of issues in terms of the housing here [often] the housing is not maintained and the tenants are not in a good set of mind,” Vescio said. “That's the response I'm getting at the door.”Princess Boucher, a mother of 7, who is running for city council also cites housing issues as one of the biggest issues in Ward 8. “I am connected to the issues of the people who live here on a daily basis because I am the one who lives in the Ontario housing, I am the one that goes to the food bank, I am the welfare recipient and I am also a single mother,” Boucher said. If elected, Boucher said she would like to provide safe, affordable housing for low income families and would like to increase the presence of security cameras at housing projects.Perruzza said that tenant issues were one of his top priorities when he was elected to city council in 2006 and continue to be a major priority, adding that he was instrumental in pushing forward the city's Multi Residential Apartment Building (MRAB) program. As part of the program, the city sends out auditors to rental properties in order to make sure that landlords keep the properties at the standards dictated by city by-laws. “I pushed early on when I first got elected because I wanted to implement a landlord licensing scheme to clean up the housing in the area,” Perruzza said. “Thousands of buildings across the city have been audited since that program started and housing has improved a little bit because of that.”Perruzza also said that he played a key role in passing the Yonge-University-Spadina subway extension, that will bring four new subway stops to Ward 8, adding that he felt this was one of his proudest achievements on city council. If re-elected, Perruzza also promises to expand property tax cancellations and water rebates programs for seniors. “Their pensions are simply staying flat while the cost of everything else around them are going up,” Perruzza said. “Things like energy costs, things like splitting costs, things like food costs and with their pensions essentially flatlined, it's becoming more and more difficult for seniors to hang on.”Also running for city councillor in Ward 8 are Thomas Barclay, Arthur Smitherman and Suzanne Narain. Barclay is a political science student from the University of Toronto grew up in the Jane-Finch area, Smitherman ran for city council in Ward 8 in 2010 and came in fourth with 268 votes and Narain, a substitute teacher and current Ph.D student at the University of Toronto grew up in the area and has been active in several community groups including Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty.