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What the Friends did in 2020 ike most organizations this past L year, the Friends of Fort York & Garrison Common found many of their usual activities constrained by the arrival of Covid 19. The fort was subsequently closed for much of the year. That also reduced, of course, the most tangible benefits of membership – free admission to Fort York and discounts in the Canteen – as well as invitations to co-sponsored special events on site (there weren’t any). In light of this, current memberships have been extended for another year. Meeting on Zoom, the work of the board nevertheless continued. Two new Directors joined the The Fort York Guard in 2020 was raised Liam Chisholm, Stuart McPherson, Douglas board, while two others, after long (middle row, left to right) Stuart Murray, service, retired. Elizabeth Quance, Sean La Prairie and Ethan Scott. Photo an original who worked for many years for the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, and who was the board’s recording secretary, retired in the spring. Her trenchant observations, indomitable humour and thorough knowledge of the issues will be missed. Ted Smolak, another long-serving original, resigned from the board but will continue – to everyone’s relief and delight – producing The Fife and Drum. A professional graphic designer, Ted continues to make a huge contribution to the Friends. When the plague lifts, there will be a party for these two! Len and Suzy Rodness joined the board early in the year. Len is a partner at Torkin Manes LLP, a full-service law firm recognized by Canadian Lawyer last year as the best regional practice in Ontario. Suzy is an executive at TMDL, a residential property management firm long established in the GTA. We got to know both when they were co-chairs of Magna Carta Canada, the project that brought a copy of the great charter to
250 Fort York Blvd, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3K9 info@fortyork.ca www.fortyork.ca
for a six-week summer campaign. They are (back row, left to right) Holly Benison, Fanson, Malcolm Garvey, Neil Ballantyne and Hazel Scott Pankratz; and Hayden Landolt, Sally O’Keeffe, Julia Fowell, Ada Cooke-Baskier and (front row) by Sid Calzavara Canada in 2015. It was the first travelling exhibition to occupy the brand-new Fort York Visitor Centre. The Annual General Meeting was held in Zoom on May 28. Among the highlights was the final accounting of 2019’s contribution to the Indigenous Arts Festival: by way of various granting agencies, the Friends acquired no less than $142,500 to pass along to the fort for use in support of the festival in June. Although nothing similar was possible this past year, plans are in train for a hybrid online/onsite event in 2021. Two other initiatives were undertaken in promotion of the history of the fort. A comprehensive submission was prepared for the City team that’s creating a new master plan for Exhibition Place – which plan, incredibly, failed to notice that the CNE grounds encompass the battlefield of 1813 (see the F&D Oct 2020). And, although progress has been complicated by the pandemic, the board revived its History & Architecture The Fife and Drum 15
for a six-week summer campaign. They are (back row, left to right) Holly Benison, Fanson, Malcolm Garvey, Neil Ballantyne and Hazel Scott Pankratz; and Hayden Landolt, Sally O’Keeffe, Julia Fowell, Ada Cooke-Baskier and (front row) by Sid Calzavara
Committee. Its goal now is “to build a network of historians and archaeologists, mobilize them, and give them a platform” in various social media as well as in our own journal. But the largest projects of the Friends – the Fort York Guard and The Fife and Drum – successfully soldiered on despite the plague. Fourteen members were in place for a six-week campaign in co-operation with the expertise of Anton Degiusti and Kevin Hebib. The payroll was a healthy $63,500, raised from federal summer grants, the City and our own investments. Four issues (including this one) of The Fife and Drum were produced. In April, Fred Blair explored the household goods of the families of early York as revealed by their claims for compensation following the American occupation in 1813. The aesthetics of an early-modern depiction of the fort were probed and there was coverage of two aspects of Fort York’s great culinary history program: the flavours of Jewish communities in Toronto, and the innovations of contemporary Black chefs updating traditional AfroCanadian cuisine. In July, Jose Antonio Brandao – a leading scholar of seventeenth-century Canada – reviewed the historiography and our current understanding of Haudenosaunee warfare in Ontario. Two other articles by historians Donald
Graves and Tyler Wentzell looked at Toronto in the immediate post-war period 100 years ago – the period of the flu epidemic and the Red Scare. In October, lastly, retired archivist Victor Russell outlined the involvement of the New Fort’s soldiers in the origins of hockey in Toronto and uncovered the beautiful and long-forgotten Cosby Cup. Along with the continuing features of Mrs. Traill’s Advice and the works of artists inspired by Fort York, Donald Graves returned with a new account of the atrocities of warfare along the Niagara Frontier. An excerpt from his forthcoming history of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, the story was illustrated with original new drawings by Greg Legge.
The Sir Isaac Brock Bridge reopened on time December 28 and streetcar service resumed a few days later. It was in early March 2020 that the City warned us that the grand old bridge on Bathurst at the edge of Fort York National Historic Site would be closed to all vehicles for eight months. Now, there’s new concrete, pavement, tracks, lights, wiring, an LRT stop and a fine new coat of paint on the steel. Photos by the F&D
The most spectacular efforts of Toronto History Museums have not been in sales or even history, however, but art. In December was unveiled the Awakenings series of short videos, part of the City’s response to anti-Black racism and the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. “Toronto History Museums recognized the need,” says the mayor’s December 14 news release, “to reassess the way in which it develops, delivers and evaluates its programming.” The cultural bureaucracy of the City is therefore “embracing partnerships that embody Indigenous voices, stories and knowledge into programs, collections management and sites.” The seven-member task force assembled to manage Awakenings includes one historian, Natasha Henry of York University. The mayor’s news release declares this activist task force to exist “under the principles of anti-oppression, anti-colonialism, sustainability, advocacy and storytelling.” You can see the first videos of the series in YouTube; search “Toronto Awakenings.”
Lastly, some congratulations are in order. The Governor General’s list of new Members of the Order of Canada at the end of 2020 included Elder Carolyn King, C.M., former Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit. The citation pointed to “her expertise in community development, her advocacy of Indigenous-led initiatives, and her efforts to improve Canadians’ understanding of First Nations.” Carolyn has long been involved around Fort York and there’s beautiful evidence on a grand scale of one of her initiatives – the Moccasin Identifier project – carved into the rock of nearby Trillium Park at Ontario Place.
Lastly, some congratulations are in order. The Governor General’s list of new Members of the Order of Canada at the end of 2020 included Elder Carolyn King, C.M., former Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit. The citation pointed to “her expertise in community development, her advocacy of Indigenous-led initiatives, and her efforts to improve Canadians’ understanding of First Nations.” Carolyn has long been involved around Fort York and there’s beautiful evidence on a grand scale of one of her initiatives – the Moccasin Identifier project – carved into the rock of nearby Trillium Park at Ontario Place. Erica Ropollo (on the left) is a Lieutenant (Navy) of the Women’s Royal Sergeant (Navigator Bomb Aimer) in Bomber Command, c.1943; Colin Samantha Horne is a Corporal in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, unconvinced) that he was “back in again.” Photo courtesy Baycrest Centre
Our own Andrew Stewart has been recognized by the Ontario Archaeological Society with a Charles & Ella Garrad Award for outstanding service to the OAS and to archaeology in general – and in particular, to ideas in archaeology. The nomination cited Andrew’s “own cross-disciplinary and innovative research” as underlying the honour. With degrees from Trent, Toronto, Cambridge and Santa Barbara arcing from anthropology to physical geography, Andrew skillfully and with perseverance edited for ten years Ontario Archeology, broadening the venerable society’s discourse of landscape. He has focused on floodplains, cutting-edge digital mapping (including some for the F&D) and Fort York National Historic Site itself, Toronto’s founding landscape. As an original Friend of the fort and the chair of the Fort York Foundation, Andrew (along with the late Steve Otto) was crucial to the raising of the Visitor Centre. The best part of this award, though, is that it’s for a mid-career scholar and activist! Thanks, Andrew, and congratulations from all of us. For Remembrance Day this year, the public was obliged to stay home but the history staff at Fort York could still mount a small and meaningful event. In the centre is Marvin Gord, aged 99, once a Leading Aircraftsman in the Royal Air Force. He’s the veteran leading Marvin’s Million, a quest to walk a million steps raising money for the Baycrest Centre, his home and a leading site of geriatric research. For his walk at Fort York, he was issued an RAF wedge cap and rank badge. The medals are his own but the staff is dressed in uniforms that Marvin could remember.
Canadian Naval Service, c.1944; Kevin Hebib is an RCAF Flight Sedgwick-Pinn is an RCAF Pilot Officer, Fighter Command, c.1940; and c.1944. With rank and headdress, Marvin was assured (but happily
18 The Fife and Drum December 2020
Original printed pages
