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Accomplishments this year include a strong Fort York Guard, a big grant for the Indigenous Arts Festival, four full issues of The Fife and Drum and a complete corporate restructuring.
In no special order, here’s what we got done this past year: • Recognized the valuable contributions of departing board members Harriet De Koven, Patricia Fleming and Mima Kapches, with special recognition to founding board members Joe Gill and Richard Dodds, who retired this year after 24 years of service. • Welcomed four new directors currently serving on the board of the Fort York Foundation: Len and Suzy Rodness, Scott Mullin and Neeraj Seth. • Celebrated the history of the Friends with an event in May at the Blue Barracks attended by Joe Gill and other early directors, who took turns recalling the founding and early years of the Friends. The event was recorded for posterity by director Alison Rose. • Welcomed Robert W. Bell who, in September, became Executive Director of the Friends of Fort York & Garrison Common in addition to his duties as Executive Director of the Fort York Joe Gill in 2019. Photo by SC Foundation, which began in February. • Initiated a synchronization of the work of the Friends and the Foundation and welcomed all directors of the Foundation (who were not already directors of the Friends) onto the board of the Friends, bringing the number of directors to 18. • Upon legal advice, took steps to update required compliance filings with CRA and Corporations Canada and held a Special Meeting of Members in November to restructure the organization, assigning voting membership solely to the current board of directors in keeping with modern governance best practice. • Secured close to $25,000 in grants from HRDC Canada and City of Toronto Museums & Heritage, and contributed about $75,000 of our own funds, to the Fort York Guard. This year it employed 19 young men and women, aged 16-24. In June, 1st and Simcoe some of the Guard worked with City staff at the Indigenous Arts Festival. In addition to parading for the July Day celebrations, the Guard travelled to Fort George for the annual military muster. Our squad won all the drill competitions save for the “perfect volley” in competing against the contingents from Fort George, Fort Erie and Fort Malden. • Published four issues of The Fife and Drum during its 23rd year, the first full volume edited by Bob Kennedy with the continuing skilful design of Ted Smolak. Authors included Sandra Shaul, Carl Benn, David Roberts, Natasha Henry, Sharon Lefroy, Donald Graves, Julia Herbst, Wayne Reeves, Tanya Grodzinski and Fort York’s own Ewan Wardle, Kevin Hebib and Colin Sedgwick-Pinn. We also published new art and photography by Greg Legge, Phillip Cheung and Birgitte Nielsen-Worrall. • Organized a dinner on a cost-recovery basis for current and past directors of the Friends in April at the Blue Barracks and welcomed the new Director of City of Toronto Museums & Heritage Services, Cheryl Blackman. • Prepared a priority projects draft document and formally met with the new Director of M&HS and her staff to discuss these ideas and how the Friends can be helpful to the City with regard to capital and programming needs of the fort. • Encouraged the work of Councillor Cressy and Ms Blackman in prioritizing the completion of the Fort York Visitor Centre, particularly the steel escarpment. • Through the work of the Precinct Advisory Committee, which met once during 2019, continued following Metrolinx’s plans to electrify the railway corridors in relation to the landscape and sight lines of Fort York National Historic Site. The PAC also maintained a watching brief on evolving plans for the redevelopment of the city abattoir site and the Wellington Destructor. • Observed with great satisfaction the opening of Garrison Crossing, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge first advanced for this location by the Friends nearly 20 years ago. The concept was developed largely by du Toit Allsopp Hillier and the Friends, as published in the report Fort York: Setting It Right in 2000. • Changed our official mailing address (see below). • Secured a $90,000 grant from the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives program of Canadian Heritage (Government of Canada) for the Indigenous Arts Festival, Cheryl Blackman, newly in charge of Toronto Museums & Heritage which filled the fort for nearly a week in June. Festival sponsors Services, enjoying the annual Directors Dinner in April with Andrew Stewart, Tyler Wentzell and Shawn Micallef. Photo by Sid Calzavara were thanked at the IAF breakfast by our Chair, Don Cranston.
250 Fort York Blvd, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3K9 info@fortyork.ca www.fortyork.ca The Fife and Drum 13
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