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Mitzie Hunter
P H OTO BY L A N C E M C M I L L A N , I L LU ST R ATI O N

THE DOER
BY S U S A N K AO TO RO N TO STA R

The ex-cabinet minister has a successful track record,

but can she take her political game to the next level? A6

WEATHER HIGH 24 C | MAINLY SUNNY | MAP A22 SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023

Curbed enthusiasm
The warmer weather is here, and some restaurants are still waiting for the city
to approve their CaféTO patios. Will a new mayor solve the alfresco fiasco? A8

R . J. J O HNSTO N TO RO NTO STA R

INSIGHT TOGETHER

Hope She has

springs a class of
paternal thousands
FULL
Good riddance to Toronto teacher’s INDEX
A2
domestic despots: TikTok clips make ON0

how generations her a role model

have redefined far beyond the
fatherhood IN1 classroom A20
S U S AN K AO R I C H A R D L AU T E N S
TO RO N TO STAR TO RO N TO STA R
IL LUSTR ATION
ON0 ON
A2 | N E WS
A ROYAL BIRTHDAY BASH
King Charles III, centre, rides back to Buckingham Palace with 1,500 soldiers after the “Trooping the Colour” birthday parade in
London on Saturday. The ceremony is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II in the 1600s.
CO U R T S
Judge tosses impaired charge
after police muted body cams
The 26-second
gap suppressed
evidence, he rules
W E N DY G I L L I S
CRIME REPORTER
In a precedent-setting decision
with implications for police
forces using body-worn cam-
eras, a man accused of impaired
driving has been acquitted after
an Ontario judge found two To-
ronto officers deliberately mut-
ed their microphones to discuss
the investigation, mid-arrest.
Ontario Court Justice David
Porter tossed two breathalyzer
readings showing twice the le-
gal alcohol limit because the
two officers briefly switched off
their body-worn camera audio
during the October 2021 arrest.
The driver was acquitted last
week of two impaired driving-
related charges.
The decision to mute the mi-
crophones — which one cop
testified he thought was “stan-
dard practice” at the time —
amounted to “deliberate sup-
pression of evidence” that oth-
erwise would be disclosed to
the defence, Porter wrote in a
10-page decision.
“In my view, the court must
disassociate itself from this
conduct in the strongest terms,
to make clear its disapproval of
this conduct in the course of a
INDEX
Sections
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IN Insight
Regular features, puzzles
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Horoscope, A20 Sudoku, IN2
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Columnists
Chisholm, S1 Smith, S6
Keenan, A7 Walkom, IN7
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Poulin, S4
police investigation,” Porter
wrote.
The decision sets a “signifi-
cant” precedent that tells police
that obscuring body camera
footage — which is intended to
enhance transparency and ac-
countability — “will not be con-
doned by our courts,” said
Criminal Lawyers’ Association
president Daniel Brown.
“Any attempts by the police to
conceal this type of essential ev-
idence is both unlawful and un-
acceptable,” Brown said.
Stephanie Sayer, spokes-
person for Toronto police, said
the officers involved have since
received additional training on
body-worn camera use and are
not facing an internal profes-
sional standards investigation.
She noted officers muted the
audio for a short portion of the
11-minute interaction, about 26
seconds, according to the rul-
ing.
Toronto police’s body-worn
camera procedure prohibits of-
ficers from stopping or muting
the device except under specific
circumstances, such as when
dealing with a confidential
source or undercover officer or
to protect the dignity of another
person (including to allow
them to put clothing on).
“The service endeavours to
ensure that officers are contin-
ually trained on standard oper-
ating procedures to help them
properly carry out their duties
in service to the community,”
Sayer said.
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ADRIAN DENNIS
The case stemmed from an
early morning call on Oct. 29,
2021, about a “property damage
accident” near Elvaston Road
and Victoria Park Avenue in-
volving two vehicles and a
knocked-down stop sign. Re-
sponding officers Consts. Jef-
frey Ip and Thomas Corcoran
approached a driver sitting in a
silver Acura, which had heavy
damage to the front end, and
asked him whether he’d been
drinking. He replied, no.
According to body-worn cam-
era footage submitted as evi-
dence, Ip then asked Corcoran
if he was muted, and Ip replied:
“I am going to mute quickly for
investigations,” according to
the ruling. The video then con-
tinued without sound for about
26 seconds, the ruling said.
The driver later blew twice the
legal limit in two separate
breathalyzer tests adminis-
tered at Scarborough’s 41 Divi-
sion. He was charged with im-
paired driving and driving with
over 80 milligrams of alcohol in
100 millilitres of blood.
Dylan Finlay, the defence law-
yer representing the accused
driver, filed a Charter applica-
tion alleging his client’s rights
were violated by the muted au-
dio, which limited critical evi-
dence about the investigation
that would otherwise be dis-
closed.
Both officers admitted on the
stand that they muted the audio
deliberately and that they had
been discussing details of the
Thu: Midday: 0871
Evening: 3917
Fri: Midday: 8326
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Lotto 6/49
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Full results at olg.ca
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
A F P V I A G E TTY I MAGE S
investigation at the time. Porter
inferred, based on Ip’s body
camera footage, that the muted
conversation related to the “ex-
tent to which the police had, or
did not have, a reasonable ba-
sis” to demand a breath sample.
According to the ruling, Cor-
coran told the court he believed
that muting body-worn camera
audio was “‘standard practice’
of many Toronto police officers
at this time.”
He later acknowledged that he
would not do so now after sub-
sequent training and “admitted
candidly that the decision to
mute the audio in these circum-
stances was in violation” of the
training he later received, the
ruling states.
“The selective muting of as-
pects of an investigation by the
police … strikes at the very heart
of the integrity of police investi-
gations,” Porter wrote.
Porter’s move to exclude
breathalyzer evidence meant
the prosecution of the over .80
charge was ended; the Crown
had already stated that it would
not seek a conviction on the im-
paired driving count.
The judge noted that although
every impaired driving case is
serious, this one did not involve
any injury and that the evi-
dence did not prove there was a
collision with another vehicle.
Finlay, the defence lawyer,
called the decision “well rea-
soned and principled,” saying it
was the first ruling of its kind
that he’s aware of in Ontario.
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A I R T R AV E L
WestJet
to shut
down
Sunwing
THE CANADIAN PRESS
WestJet is planning to wind
down Sunwing Airlines, inte-
grating the low-cost carrier into
its mainline business within
two years as part of a plan to
streamline operations.
In an internal memo obtained
by The Canadian Press, Sunw-
ing Airlines president Len Cor-
rado said the change will open
up markets for the 18-year-old
company, as well as its workers.
“WestJet will eventually move
to a one jet aircraft operating
certificate (AOC) model and
Sunwing Airlines will be inte-
grated into WestJet. This is a
long-term move that will un-
lock greater scale and growth
opportunities for our people,
and specifically for our airline
employees within the group,”
Corrado said in the memo, dat-
ed Wednesday.
“While exact timelines are still
being finalized, the integration
is expected to take up to a cou-
ple years.”
The decision comes the week
after WestJet opted to fold bud-
get subsidiary Swoop’s opera-
tions under its flagship banner.
Both moves magnify the major
consolidation of the Canadian
aviation market that followed
WestJet’s acquisition of Sunw-
ing’s main airline and vacation
divisions last month.
“The WestJet Group remains
committed to growing sun fly-
ing in the East alongside expan-
sion plans in Western Canada,
and this strategy will only be
strengthened as we ultimately
transition to a one jet AOC,”
Corrado wrote.
Sunwing Vacations will con-
tinue as a separate brand,
spokesperson Julia Kaiser said
in an email, setting the stage for
WestJet planes to fly Sunwing
tour package customers to their
getaways.
Sunwing did not immediately
respond to requests for com-
ment on Saturday.
The upshot, some said, could
be a slimmer range of choices
for travellers.
“Consumers are going to get it
in the left ear again,” said John
Gradek, a lecturer at McGill
University’s aviation manage-
ment program. “It’s not good.”
He gave the example of a route
between Toronto and Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico, currently
flown by all three carriers —
WestJet, Swoop and Sunwing.
“WestJet as an organization is
not going to support three air-
planes going from Toronto to
Puerto Vallarta within an hour
of each other.
“Not going to happen,” Gra-
dek said.
Various vacation spots in
Mexico, the United States and
the Caribbean will probably see
fewer flights, he said.
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TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
UKRAINIAN REPORTS
NEW NIGHTMARE
London, Ont., couple accused of proposing erotic webcam ‘modelling’ while
hosting 19-year-old in their home. Other newcomers have similar stories
MAHDIS HABIBINIA
S TA F F R E P O R T E R
Growing up in Ukraine, Liza Krav-
chenko says, she always dreamed of
coming to Canada, “a free country
with kind people,” to build a differ-
ent life than the one she would’ve
had in the small city of Chernivtsi.
But Kravchenko says her intro-
duction to Canada became a three-
week nightmare.
Kravchenko, 19, alleges that Mary
Ann Babiera and Juan Varela of
London, Ont., proposed erotic web-
cam “modelling” to her as a way to
earn income after she arrived in
Canada, while hosting her in their
home. The Star has also spoken to a
volunteer who facilitates host fami-
lies for Ukrainians, who shared
messages proposing webcam work
from the couple to other women.
When the Star reached out to Va-
rela and Babiera, they said in an
email statement that there are “a
lot of fabricated allegations” and
they “do not want to talk more
about this topic,” pointing to a “sig-
nificant (loss) of business opportu-
nities due to the whole thing.”
The couple did not specify which
of the allegations are inaccurate
and refused further questions from
the Star. “The police came and
spoke to us and told us the case is
now closed,” their statement said.
“We are not a monster family.”
London Police Const. Sandasha
Bough confirmed with the Star in
early April that there was an active
investigation looking into multiple
complaints about the man and
woman without providing further
details. On April 13, Bough said the
investigation was complete and
there were no grounds for criminal
charges.
Experts say there is a spectrum of
exploitation that can happen to
people in vulnerable positions, not
all of which crosses the line into
criminality.
On the severe end of the spectrum
is human trafficking. Displaced
populations such as Ukrainian ref-
ugees are a known cause for spikes
in human trafficking cases, said a
global report published in January
by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime.
Experts say there are also subtler,
less coercive kinds of exploitation
of which refugees and other vul-
nerable populations should also be
wary.
Carly Kalish is the executive di-
rector of Victim Services Toronto
and has been working with traffick-
ing survivors since 2009. When she
was told of the details of this case
she said, “It follows a very typical
script of sexual exploitation and
how people are groomed and lured.
It’s textbook.”
Kalish said police tend to, under-
standably, have a strict threshold
for proof of criminality.
In December, amid the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, Kravchenko
posted on a Facebook group, with
more than 195,000 members, ded-
icated to connecting Ukrainians to
Canadian host families. Within a
couple of hours, she said, she re-
ceived a message from Babiera,
who was living in London, with her
partner, Varela, both in their 40s.
“I thought I (should) connect with
her more times and then I will de-
cide if it’s right or not,” Kravchenko
said.
Over three months of WhatsApp
calls and Facebook messages, Krav-
chenko said the couple promised to
help her get a driver’s licence, take
English classes, apply to post-sec-
ondary schools as well as see the
city and country once Kravchenko
arrived in Canada on a work permit
in March. “‘All (that) you want, you
will have,’” she recalled the couple
saying.
On the plane to Toronto she met a
young Ukrainian man, who was al-
so headed to London. But Babiera
and Varela refused to take him in,
though he eventually found anoth-
er host family through the help of a
local priest. Kravchenko said the
couple told her multiple times he
was “a bad, irresponsible kid” and
she “didn’t need to have friends or a
boyfriend.”
One week into living with the fam-
ily, Kravchenko said something felt
wrong.
Kravchenko said she was first ap-
proached by Varela, who proposed
a way for her to make extra money
by “modelling on webcam” — part
of the allegations the couple deny.
Despite stating she wanted a “nor-
mal job,” Varela and Babiera con-
tinued to pitch the webcam work
and proposition Kravchenko daily,
including “(Babiera) showing me
her toys for this job,” she said. Ba-
biera would later offer to do the
modelling with her after sharing
explicit images of herself and sex
videos with Varela, she said.
Over the course of Kravchenko’s
three-week stay, Babiera also sent
her explicit photos of other men
and young women in messages
shared with the Star.
“When (Varela) started to talk
about it every day, I started to un-
derstand (they were) trying to force
me into this step-by-step, slowly,”
Kravchenko said. “They really only
have jokes about sex and webcam-
ing,” she continued, recalling un-
comfortable conversations during
breakfasts together, questions
about her intimate life during din-
ners and how the pair advised her
to “show men her charm” when
they visited a local mall to hand out
resumes.
“I didn’t know that when I would
arrive in Canada, they would pro-
pose that I work on webcam. … I
was scared. I told them ‘no.’ But
they didn’t care,” Kravchenko said,
adding that she has many sleepless
nights.
“They told me I can be rich, like a
millionaire here,” she continued.
“(Varela) said he can be in the same
room as me (when I’m on webcam)
and hack anyone who I don’t want
to see me.”
The Star was shown text conver-
sations between Kravchenko and
Babiera where the latter said
“Ukrainian models are making …
$450 American dollars per day,” for
posting erotic content.
“I have a work permit and in the
papers it said I can’t be in the sex
industry. But (Varela) proposed to
me (that he can) change that … re-
make this work permit to say I
came here to be in the sex industry,”
Kravchenko said.
According to Immigration, Refu-
gees and Citizenship Canada, all
open work permits prohibit work-
ing in businesses related to the sex
trade and doing so may be in vio-
lation of the Immigration and Ref-
ugee Protection Act.
Kravchenko said eventually they
proposed finding her a Canadian
boyfriend, “not Ukrainian or Euro-
pean,” that she could make videos
with.
“I was like, ‘wow.’ I had only seen
this (happen) in movies or serials,”
Kravchenko said.
It was during the colder, windier
weeks of March when the pair al-
legedly offered Kravchenko work
in a food truck. She said she didn’t
feel comfortable in the neighbour-
hood, “there were lots of motels
and a lot of weird people.”
It wasn’t until Kravchenko called
a friend she met on the plane, who
is living with a local woman, Dacia-
na Birau, and her family, that she
said she found her escape.
Birau told the Star she felt she had
to help. After speaking with Krav-
chenko, she said, “I’m going to go
with you, take your clothes and
move you.” The two packed Krav-
chenko’s belongings, barely closing
the suitcase in their haste to leave.
Birau said the couple wasn’t home
at the time. Kravchenko said after-
ward the pair removed her from
their social media accounts.
“She didn’t have warm clothes.
She’s in the middle of town. She
doesn’t know anybody,” Birau said,
adding that the area where the food
truck was located is known for the
sex trade. “It’s a strategic place
there. She cannot be there. She’s
too young. Anybody could take her,
disappear in a second, and we
wouldn’t know anything.”
Kravchenko eventually filed a
complaint with London police.
Complaints prompted two Face-
book groups that connect Ukraini-
ans with Canadian host families to
ban Varela and Babiera from their
pages: Ukraine Help Middlesex, a
local London group, and Canada
Hosts Ukraine, the national group
where Kravchenko connected with
the couple.
Richard Hone, a London resident
and administrator of Ukraine Help
Middlesex, said he first learned of
the pair through the host of another
ON0
NE WS | A3
Ukrainian woman. Hone said the
couple initially offered to host her
through the Canada Hosts Ukraine
Facebook page. The Star saw mes-
sages of the couple proposing “web-
cam work” to the Ukrainian wom-
an, whose identity the Star has
agreed not to disclose for privacy
reasons. She is now living in Van-
couver.
“These people were recruiting un-
der the guise of hosting,” Hone told
the Star. “They have never hosted
through our local group which we
thought was odd … We gathered all
the posts and comments they’d
made on our local London group, as
did the national group.
“Once that was (done), we banned
them from the group including
multiple fake accounts.” According
to Hone, and in screenshots seen by
the Star, the couple had multiple
Facebook accounts under their real
names as well as names that coin-
cided with aliases they used on
their online pornographic videos
and other social media accounts
dedicated to that content.
“I do erotic webcam shows once in
a while. It is a good source of in-
come,” said one message viewed by
D R E A MSTI ME the Star, from Babiera’s Facebook
account to another Ukrainian
woman.
The Star could not independently
confirm how many women inter-
acted with Babiera and Varela, but
Hone said about “10 to 12 girls went
through their home,” including a
few couples.
When the Star reached out to one
of the administrators for Canada
Hosts Ukraine Facebook group
about banning the couple from the
page’s membership list, one admin-
istrator said, “Out of principle, I
can’t give you (any) information in
this context. It’s publicly available
Over three anyway.”
months of Although both pages remain open
WhatsApp to the public to find and view in
calls and order to be accessible, the Star con-
Facebook firmed that the couple (under their
messages, Liza real names and aliases seen in
Kravchenko screenshots) are no longer mem-
said Mary Ann bers of Ukraine Help Middlesex
Babiera and and Canada Hosts Ukraine Face-
Juan Varela book groups. Hone said banning
promised to the couple means they can also no
help her get a longer find or view the pages.
driver’s licence, “We’re really trying to combat this
take English because it does put a bit of a nega-
classes and see tive spin on anyone who wants to
the city and do hosting,” Hone said. “Ukrainian
country. Once women just want to build their lives
she arrived in here and it’s such a simple ask.”
Canada, she Giving credit to Birau and her
says they family, Kravchenko now has her G1
pressured her driver’s licence and recently took
against having her first English exam evaluation.
friends or a Kravchenko said she will also be
boyfriend. visiting colleges and universities to
prepare her application while she
studies to take the International
English Language Testing System
(IELT) exam.
“I started to change my character
(in Canada), I started being more
kind and I really like that,” Krav-
chenko said. “We went to the beach
30 minutes from here and if I
stayed (with Varela and Babiera) I
would have never seen the beach.”
Richard Hone is She told the Star she believes it’s
an administrator important for her to talk about her
of Ukraine Help experience with the hopes of help-
Middlesex, a ing other women.
Facebook group When asked what she would
connecting share with other women and girls
Ukrainians with who face what she faced, Kravchen-
host families in ko said the main piece of advice she
London. He said has is to “just say no.”
“10 to 12 girls “Don’t listen to people proposing
went through” you jobs that you don’t like. Just say
the couple’s ‘no,’” she continued. “Not ‘I will
home. think about it’ or something else.
Just say ‘no.’”
Canadians are largely unaware of
what trafficking looks like in Cana-
da, said James McLean, director of
research and policy at The Canadi-
an Centre to End Human Traffick-
ing, though it often follows a famil-
iar script in that it occurs within
relationships, with somebody in a
position of authority.
“It could be a host family, a family
Carly Kalish, member, a boyfriend,” he said.
executive “Separating someone from family
director of and friends would also be part of
Victim Services that formula,” McLean said.
Toronto, says Kalish added that luring and
the details of grooming often happens through
the case follow relationship-building; “trying to of-
“a very typical fer a basic need, like housing, food
script of sexual and shelter.”
exploitation “Why would (traffickers) con-
and how people vince (someone) to do this form of
are groomed work unless they’d be benefiting
and lured.” from it?” Kalish said.
BOTH THE CA NA DI A N A ND O NTA R I O
GOV E R NME NT W E BS I TE S P ROV I D E
S UP P O RT TO A NYO NE W HO HA S
E X P E R I E NCE D HUMA N TR A F F I CK I N G .
THE CA NA DI A N HUMA N TR A F F I C K -
I NG HOTL I NE I S A NOTHE R R E S O U RC E
FO R S UP P O RT A S W E L L A S V I CTI M
S E RV I CE S TO RO NTO.
ON0 ON
A4 | N E WS
M A N I TO B A B U S C R A S H
Grim task of ID’ing dead underway
Forensic experts say process will rely on fingerprints, dental records, surgical histories and DNA
A L L A N WO O D S
A N D A L E X B OY D
S TA F F R E P O R T E R S
DA U P H I N , M A N It is a grisly job,
but someone must do it.
In the wake of Thursday’s fiery
bus crash that killed 15 people just
outside Carberry, Man. — mostly
seniors from the town of Dauphin
out for an excursion to the casino —
lives no longer depend on the work
of the experts tasked with piecing
together the identities of the de-
ceased.
While RCMP say that all families
who have lost a loved one were noti-
fied by Friday evening, the work to
determine who is who among the
dead is still underway, delaying fi-
nal answers — including a public
list of victims — for a community,
and a country, still in shock.
But the high-precision examina-
tions being conducted of broken
and burned bodies and the recov-
ered teeth, fingerprints and genetic
material from the crash site on the
TransCanada Highway are vital for
horrified family members trying to
grieve their losses.
Dauphin city councillor Randy
Daley stepped out into sunlight Sat-
urday afternoon, taking a quick
break from his post at the curling
rink where officials had gathered
social workers and mental-health
professionals and even a few thera-
py dogs, all ready to welcome any-
one who might need the support.
Almost overnight his small town
of tidy, tree-lined streets had be-
come the epicentre of a national
wave of grief. Here, there is a sense
that the collision had taken out a
devastating proportion of town el-
ders who, although not yet individ-
ually named, represented collective
leadership. Signs with #dauphin-
strong were still popping up on
roadsides.
“There’s a whole lot of un-
knowns,” says Daley, who was elect-
ed to the local council last fall after
retiring from a career as an RCMP
officer, during which he got to know
the aftermath of road collisions all
too well. Still, this one is on a horri-
fying scale.
For the team of forensic patholo-
gists, anthropologists, dentists and
fingerprint experts, it is a deadly
serious task — one that is informed
by some of recent history’s worst
mass-casualty events, including the
2018 bus crash in Saskatchewan
that killed 16 members of the Hum-
boldt Broncos hockey team, the
2013 train derailment that killed 47
people in Lac-Mégantic, Que., and
the fire that killed 32 residents at a
seniors home in Isle Verte, Que, in
2014.
“I have two sayings about mass
disasters: haste makes waste; and
on the job is not the place to get
Ontario wants to know when hospital CEOs leave
Some fear new requirement in funding contracts lays groundwork for amalgamations, closures
ROB FERGUSON
Q U E E N ’ S PA R K B U R E A U
Ontario’s hospitals are facing a new
requirement that is raising fears
the provincial government is plan-
ning to interfere with the opera-
tions of smaller facilities, potential-
ly impacting local health care.
The requirement is written into
this year’s funding contracts be-
tween the government and health
facilities and states hospitals must
“immediately” notify Ontario
Health — the provincial agency
overseeing all aspects of health care
— when CEOs signal they’re plan-
ning to resign or retire.
While Ontario Health maintains
this is to improve its “system man-
agement role” in co-ordinating ser-
vices across dozens of hospital
campuses and other health facil-
ities, and the Ontario Hospital As-
sociation says it has “no concerns,”
New Democrat MPP and health
critic France Gélinas is skeptical.
“This does not sit well with me,”
Gélinas (Nickel Belt) said Friday,
pointing to recent controversy that
has embroiled Premier Doug Ford’s
government over the decision by
Haliburton Highlands Health Ser-
on-the-job training,” said Dr. Bob
Wood, a dental consultant and for-
mer chief forensic odontologist
with the Ontario Coroner’s Office.
The identities of those killed in
the crash have not been released
and may not be announced for sev-
eral days to come, Dr. John Younes,
Manitoba’s chief medical examiner,
said in a Friday news conference.
Visual identification of the dead is
difficult because of the damage
from the impact with the truck and
the ensuing fire that transformed
the bus carrying the 25 passengers
into a charred hull. The day after
the accident, a patch of scorched
grass several times the length of the
bus was still visible at the crash site.
“The reason we have to undertake
scientific means of investigation or
identification is that most, if not all
of the deceased have significant fa-
cial trauma,” he said at the after-
noon briefing. “So, identifying them
visually is not possible.”
The identification would rely on
fingerprints, dental records, surgi-
cal histories — like hip or knee re-
placements or medical prostheses
— and DNA, Younes said.
Such a mass-casualty event is
thankfully rare in Canada, but the
professionals who must make
sense of the tragedy have extensive
training and well-developed proce-
dures for handling the bodies.
“It’s the same thing, but just a dif-
ferent version of doing a single-
body identification,” said Wood,
who is also an associate professor at
the University of Toronto’s faculty
of dentistry.
It is common practice to divide
forensic investigators into two or
three teams.
One team collects and examines
the medical and dental records of
those who are unaccounted for af-
vices to close the emergency de-
partment at its campus in Minden.
The move earlier this month came
just as summer cottagers are about
to swell the Minden area’s popula-
tion, forcing them and year-round
residents to drive 25 kilometres to
the closest hospital ER in Halibur-
ton — which could put anyone seri-
ously injured in a cottage accident,
for example, in jeopardy.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones, fac-
ing opposition party attacks over
the closure, has repeatedly said the
decision was made independently
by Haliburton Highlands Health
Services. “The minister cannot
stand in her place day after day and
tell me … it is not her responsibility,
it is a board responsibility, and then
turn around and put into the fund-
ing agreement that they have to let
her know about a CEO’s inten-
tions,” Gélinas added.
“That does not add up.”
Gélinas said she fears the ground-
work is being laid for a round of
hospital amalgamations or closures
as happened in the late 1990s under
former premier Mike Harris — pos-
sibly through backroom pressure
to have joint CEOs for hospitals in
small towns, rural or northern ar-
ter an incident. They note any his-
tory of broken bones, medical pro-
cedures, implants, dental fillings or
root canals that may help to differ-
entiate one body from another.
Meanwhile, a second team con-
ducts scans, X-rays and other ex-
aminations on the physical re-
mains that have been recovered
from a place of death.
Then, it is a job of trying to match
the pre-death records to the recov-
ered human remains — a task
sometimes assigned to a separate
“reconciliation team.”
“It’s surprising how little differ-
ences in restoration pattern and
missing teeth make huge differenc-
es in the ability to discern one body
from the other,” said Wood, who
also worked in Thailand to identify
victims of the 2004 tsunami.
Dental records were key to identi-
fying the remains of those killed in
the Lac-Mégantic train derailment,
which resulted in a fire fuelled by
crude oil that burned for days after
the crash.
The blaze burned so hot that teeth
were incinerated, leaving “frag-
ments of jaws,” according to a 2020
Canadian Dental Association arti-
cle on the work of the forensic den-
tists in the case.
The dead from the Carberry bus
crash include two men and 13 wom-
en. Unlike in an airplane or a train,
the victims may not have been seat-
ed in pre-assigned places. While
mostly seniors — they ranged in age
from 58 to 88 — they hadn’t all
belonged to the same club or group,
and had all signed up for the trip
independently.
The intensity of the post-crash
fire may have incinerated any wal-
lets, purses, jewelry, tattoos, birth-
marks or other easily evident per-
sonal markers.
eas, or to use the departures of
CEOs to consolidate hospitals.
The health minister’s office re-
ferred questions about the new re-
porting requirement, and whether
hospitals would continue to be free
to hire replacement chief execu-
tives, to Ontario Health.
The agency said contracts known
as “hospital service accountability
agreements” simply needed updat-
ing to reflect its role under the new
Connecting Care Act. Ontario
Health was created by the Ford gov-
ernment in 2019 legislation to over-
haul a “disconnected” medical sys-
tem and eliminate gaps in care —
but problems such as long waits,
staff shortages and patients being
treated in emergency room hall-
ways persist in the wake of the CO-
VID-19 pandemic, despite Ford’s
2018 promise to end “hallway
health care.”
“To provide health system opera-
tional management and co-ordina-
tion, Ontario Health needs to re-
ceive information regarding major
governance changes that could af-
fect a health service provider’s op-
erations,” the agency stated.
“It is also important to maintain
up-to-date CEO contact informa-
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
And while it may still be possible
to identify the two men just by
looking at them, pathologists can
also look to physiological markers,
like pelvic bones, which are wider in
a woman than in a man, as well as
for things like pacemakers, surgical
screws or other evidence of unique
past procedures.
But Wood warned that positively
identifying one of the male victims
cannot then be used to identify the
second male by simple process of
elimination.
“Scientific identification” —
meaning identification through
fingerprints, dental records, med-
ical records or DNA — “is what’s
highly preferred by the forensic pa-
thologist.”
And the more points of positive
identification, the better it is to
avoid an error.
In 2018, one of the Humboldt
Broncos players — injured but alive
— woke up in the hospital to find
that he had been listed as one of the
The mood killed in the bus crash, a mix-up
remained attributed to the use of photo-
somber in graphs and information provided
Dauphin, Man., by the team to identify the victims.
Saturday as Having to use DNA would drag
the community the process out longer, said Lelia
mourned Watamaniuk, a consulting forensic
the death of anthropologist for the Ontario Fo-
15 people in rensic Pathology Service.
Thursday’s “It’s terrible to have to wait. But
crash. The the processes themselves they are
RCMP said all not instantaneous processes,” she
families who said.
have lost a “The chemical process of DNA
loved one were takes some time. It’s not just squirt-
notified by ed into a vial and you walk to the
Friday, while other side of the room and get the
Manitoba’s printout.”
chief medical Chief medical examiner John
examiner said Eunice, speaking at a media brief-
the identities ing, suggested analysis and com-
of the dead parison of the DNA in this case
may not be would likely take at least a week.
announced “There’s always a balance be-
for several days tween the feelings of the family and
to come. the need to do the job properly,”
Watamaniuk said. “It’s tragic and
horrible and a lot to ask, but better
STEVE LA M BE RT that it’s done properly.”
THE CANA DI A N It is exacting work that can also be
PR E SS emotionally taxing, though steps
are taken to deal with the psycho-
logical state of the professionals too.
One of Wood’s mentors, who was
sent to Guyana in the wake of the
1978 Jonestown massacre, which
resulted in the deaths of 900 cult
members, recalled there being a
prohibition on soldiers responsible
for collecting and transporting the
remains from staying with one par-
ticular body, for fear of getting emo-
tionally attached to the victims.
“The best way you can help these
people,” Wood said, “is to get them
identified in an expedient manner
and get them returned to their
loved ones.”
W I T H F I L E S F RO M ST E V E M C K I N L E Y
‘‘
tion for ongoing, routine commu-
nications.”
Speaking for the Ontario Hospital
This is Association, which represents the
province’s public hospitals, presi-
strictly an dent Anthony Dale said “from our
administrative point of view, this is strictly an ad-
ask from ministrative ask from Ontario
Ontario Health so they can keep their re-
Health so cords straight.”
Other small hospitals contacted
they can keep by the Star, speaking confidentially
their records to discuss internal matters, said
straight. they also have no concerns.
At Kemptville District Hospital, a
50-minute drive south of Ottawa,
ANTHON Y DA L E chief executive Frank Vassallo said
O N TA R I O the challenges facing the hospital
H O SPI TA L sector make it important to have as
A SSO CI A T IO N much collaboration between facil-
PR E SI DE N T ities as possible.
To that end, his small-town hospi-
tal recently reached an agreement
with The Ottawa Hospital, which
will send doctors down on week-
ends to keep the emergency de-
partment open Saturdays and Sun-
days — a mutually beneficial ar-
rangement because it will mean
less pressure on hospital ERs in
Ottawa. Other hospitals have also
forged voluntary regional alliances
to improve services.
Cancer affects us all. And that
should have an effect on you.

This Father’s Day, let’s honour the

men in our lives and those no longer
with us. Make a donation to improve
cancer care for future generations.

Give now at www.OurCancer.ca.

ON0 ON V2
A6 | N E WS
M AYO R A L R AC E 2 0 2 3
Can Hunter build on her positive impact?
The former MPP and cabinet minister has enthusiasm and energy, her colleagues say
K R I S T I N R U S H OW Y
Q U E E N ’ S PA R K B U R E A U
Mitzie Hunter and Kathleen
Wynne sat in the legislature, their
first time in question period since
the Liberals’ massive loss in the
2018 provincial election that re-
duced the party to just seven MPPs.
Premier Doug Ford noticed his
predecessor, and made a beeline to
her to pay his respects.
He congratulated Wynne on her
years as premier, and “at the same
time, he looked right at Mitzie and
he said ‘we’re gonna get you next
time,’ or something to that effect”
given his party’s otherwise strong
showing in Scarborough, Wynne
recalled.
“I just thought, ‘wow.’ She was so
calm and didn’t rise to the bait at all.
I just thought ‘you really know why
you are here, you are here to service
your community’ — and that’s why
she got re-elected,” Wynne said,
stressing she is not endorsing any
candidate in the Toronto mayoral
election.
On paper, Hunter — a cabinet
minister in the Wynne government
who recently resigned as MPP for
Scarborough-Guildwood to run for
mayor — should be the candidate to
beat, with her resume a strong mix
of both private- and public-sector
successes.
She had been regional director at
Bell, vice-president of Goodwill In-
dustries, CAO of Toronto Commu-
nity Housing Corporation and CEO
of the Greater Toronto CivicAction
Alliance before moving to provin-
cial politics in 2013. She won four
elections in a row — even in the
Ford landslides.
“She is full of positive energy,” for-
mer mayor John Tory told the Star.
Tory, who has known Hunter for
more than 20 years, said he, too, is
not backing any candidate.
But so far, with polling numbers
stalled at or below 10 per cent, the
challenge is whether Hunter will be
able to build on that energy. It was
something she struggled with in
her bid for the Liberal leadership in
2020, when she placed a disap-
pointing fourth.
Hunter’s trademark enthusiasm
has been on display since her
school days. Back in the early 1990s,
when she needed to work to get
through university, there was a re-
cession and jobs were few.
So she started an event and mar-
keting company, and wanted to
stage a fashion show in the parking
lot of a strip mall near Pharmacy
and Lawrence Avenues. She con-
vinced the reluctant landlord to al-
low it, and got tenants on board.
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That event — which was a success
— is something Hunter recalls as
one of her first big accomplish-
ments. While she’s gone on to much
bigger achievements, she also re-
members the smaller ones.
She toured a school in her riding
and saw students running around a
concrete yard, so she helped get a
playground there. After a visit to
the University of Toronto Scarbor-
ough, she wondered aloud why it
didn’t have its own medical school
when the downtown and Missis-
sauga campuses did, so she spoke
with the president there to get the
ball rolling.
“I see gaps and inspire the change
— not just to identify the change,
but the solution that is needed,”
Hunter said. “That’s what I do —
that’s my superpower.”
She is described by those she has
worked for as dynamic, enthusias-
tic, even relentless — although that
didn’t help her in her Ontario Lib-
eral leadership run, where she fin-
ished behind former cabinet min-
ister Steven Del Duca, fellow MPP
Michael Coteau and political new-
comer Kate Graham.
Some believe that job was a mis-
match for her strengths, saying she
wasn’t able to gain traction with
fellow Liberals. Others say she en-
tered the race too late.
“I wondered why she was running
for provincial leadership — I always
felt she was definitely more suc-
cessful as an advocate, locally,” said
one former colleague. “In her rid-
ing, she can bring the crowds. That
says a lot about her relationship
with community organizations. If
anything, local politics make the
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benko said. “It was always first-
Mitzie Hunter
class output that she produced.”
has a track
Hunter was born in Jamaica and
record of
came to Canada when she was
getting things
three years old; she’s lived in Scar-
done, but has
borough since she was 16. One of
struggled to
four kids — she has three brothers
gain traction in
— her mother worked at a manu-
the polls during
facturing plant and her father had a
Toronto’s
trucking company.
mayoral race.
Those who have worked for and
with Hunter describe her as deter-
SUSAN K AO mined, and also demanding of her
TORONTO STA R staff — something she acknowledg-
I LLUSTR AT IO N es — although her supporters say
USING PH OTO she is no less demanding of herself.
BY LANCE Those in the education sector,
M CM I LLAN who did not wish to be named, said
TORONTO STA R she was a solid minister who “knew
her file.”
“She was fundamentally good
with people, she considered her po-
sition and didn’t go off half-
cocked,” said the insider. “She was
steady and competent — which
isn’t terrible — but it’s less than is
needed for a high-profile job.”
most sense for her.” Others argued it was no easy task
Jean Augustine, the first Black being education minister under
woman to be elected federally and Wynne, a former parent activist,
serve in cabinet, has known Hunter trustee and education minister her-
since the early 1990s and said, “I self.
saw that she had within her the While in education, Hunter start-
urge to make a difference … she has ed the process of destreaming high
the energy, the demeanour, and her school education after realizing
nice broad smile that she brings … that students in applied classes
she wants to do good, to be in places were at a huge disadvantage. She
to make decisions for the good of ordered the York Region public
the community.” board to clean itself up after she
Augustine supported Hunter in sent in a team of investigators to
her Liberal leadership bid, but felt look at racism and dysfunction
by the time she entered the race, there, serious problems her prede-
“most people had already commit- cessors had ignored.
ted to other candidates,” so she In the legislature, she pushed for
faced an uphill battle. gun violence to be recognized as a
Despite that, Hunter ran a strong public health issue. Outside of the
campaign and gave a rousing house, she was the force behind the
speech at the convention, Augus- Ontario Liberal Party’s recent shift
tine said, adding, “for us, as Black T H E to a one member, one vote system
community members, it’s always P E O P L E , to elect a leader.
uphill.” THE Political veteran Andrew Bevan,
As a rookie MPP, Hunter was ap- P R O M I S E S who was Wynne’s chief of staff and
pointed associate finance minister is now a senior adviser on Hunter’s
and entrusted with creating the On June 26, campaign, said they gave her the
province’s high-profile, made-in- Toronto will important pension portfolio as a
Ontario pension plan. After that choose its next rookie because she had an MBA
success, Wynne then moved her to mayor, and the from Rotman School of Manage-
the education file. Toronto Star will ment, varied work experience and
Ginny Dybenko, the now-retired help you sort they felt confident she could handle
vice-president of communications through the such a public role.
at Bell Canada and Hunter’s boss crowded field. In education, she was known for
when she first started in the private On alternating visiting schools, always popping in-
sector, said “Mitzie stood out like a days between to the office to not only meet the
beacon … that bright light, it just now and June principal, but introducing herself to
shines in her eyes, and it always 22, watch for any staff she came across.
has.” leadership “She always says she cared about
Hunter worked well with others, profiles of all students in a classroom,” added
kept positive when navigating con- the main one former colleague, “but that she
flict and “the initiative she took contenders cared about the students in the
once she got the assignment — I and reality back of the classroom as much as
didn’t have to monitor it, I didn’t checks on their those in the front. That was really
have to lean over her shoulder,” Dy- key positions. her focus.”
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TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 ON0

NE WS | A7
M AYO R A L R AC E 2 0 2 3

Is it worth living in this city anymore?

EDWARD
of big city life: real estate and
other things might be more ex- Got questions?
KEENAN
OPINION
pensive than in smaller towns
and rural areas, but there’s mass
We have answers
transit that will take you places, On the Star’s This Matters
services at your doorstep, pub- podcast next week, Edward
lic spaces nearby that you can Keenan will be joined by our
During the televised mayoral go out and enjoy with other city hall reporters to answer
debate on Thursday night, people, lots of interesting questions about the election. If
there was a lot of talking about things to see and do in easy you want to hear your queries
the cost of living in Toronto, as proximity, fun stuff going on all about the candidates, issues or
there should be. Much of it fo- over the place you can experi- state of the city addressed,
cused, as it has throughout the ence with your neighbours. send them to ekee-
mayoral campaign, on property If the nuts-and-bolts stuff nan@thestar.ca using the
tax rates, in the form of attacks breaks down, it makes life hard. TO RO NTO STA R subject line “Election Mailbag”
on front-runner Olivia Chow If the nice-to-have stuff goes The CaféTO debacle is another example of how Toronto is by Monday at 9 a.m. We will
for the sky-high hikes her oppo- away, it makes it all a grind. If becoming costlier, while the trade-offs — like good transit and, answer as many as possible.
nents imagine she’ll implement both are in decline, you start to gasp, fun — are in decline, Edward Keenan writes.
despite her promises to keep ask yourself: what the hell am I
any increases “modest.” doing here? Why pay this cost? In his memoir of life in the ton or Fredericton if they’re to the extent it should.
But at a city council meeting Admittedly, some of this stuff cafes and salons and streets of lucky enough not to have been Like everyone, I’m concerned
earlier that day, there was an is complicated, or difficult, or Paris in the 1920s, Ernest Hem- relocated to the street. And with the cost of living. But I also
item that in my mind shone a expensive. But something like ingway wrote about being “very those of us still barely able to think we should be demanding
glaring light on another core just letting restaurants that have poor and very happy” because pay the sky-high rents are left to our politicians consider the val-
consideration of city life, one run patios the past two years “Paris was always worth it and wonder — as the city wrestles ue we get for those costs, too.
that maybe hasn’t gotten as with great success keep doing it? you received return for whatev- with the latest in an unending Our taxes, as Oliver Wendell
much explicit attention in the That should be simple. A ques- er you brought to it.” He called series of episodes of Making Holmes famously said, are the
campaign. It’s the quality of life tion a mayoral candidate — or a that city’s life (and titled that Things Hard that Should Not be price of civilization. The least
in Toronto — the value you get mayoral voter — could ask is: If memoir) “a movable feast.” Hard — if the feast has already those obsessed with our tax
for the cost of living here. we can’t get something so sim- In Toronto today, the very moved on without us. Wherev- rates could do is help provide
The item I have in mind was — ple right, how do we stand any poor and very young are relo- er it is, the feast certainly isn’t some.
once again — about the CaféTO chance of doing the hard things? cating to Hamilton or Walker- taking place on street patios yet, E K E E NA N@ THE STA R .CA
street patio program. As I’ve re-
cently written, after preparing
to implement the kind of reg-
ulatory love for the program
that might kill it — the city gov-
ernment’s patented suffocating
embrace of things they claim to
support — and then trying to fix
their approach earlier this year,
the program implementation
turned into a total three-ring
botch-up. So this week city
council was riding in to attempt
an emergency rescue: exempt-
ing many beloved restaurants
case-by-case from the decisions
of staff regulators and demand-
ing a better process next year.
It’s the middle of June, maybe
one day this summer we’ll actu-
ally be able to dine on a street
patio. Maybe.
As I wrote last week, this patio
thing is a roaringly successful
pandemic-inspired program
the city can’t seem to find a way
to just accept as a win. Which is
a big problem. But these last-
minute, case-by-case bespoke
interventions by city council
are also a symptom of a larger
problem, which is a slow and
seemingly constant choking off
of the things that make a city a
pleasure to live in.
Quality of life stuff. As the cost
of living here has been going
through the roof, it sure feels to
a lot of us that the quality of
living is declining.
Some of this is nuts-and-bolts
stuff: CBC reports that in East
York, a sinkhole in the middle of
the road big enough for a grown
man to sit inside has gone un-
repaired for two months; my
friends in Leslieville and the
Beach report that taking a
streetcar across Queen into
downtown now requires get-
ting off and switching vehicles
three times or more; zebra-
stripe markings at pedestrian
crossings have faded to the
point of invisibility in many
places and haven’t been re-
painted in years.
Some of it is more about the
nice-to-haves of city life, such as
the long-running drama over
whether park washrooms can
be open at times people might
want to use them, or whether
people should be allowed to
have a beer in the park, or
whether you can walk out to a
major street that’s alive with
people eating and drinking and
living together in public.
Into one of those bins or an-
other, you can pile on a series of
things about which complaints
have accumulated in this city,
gradually and then suddenly:
access to community recre-
ation programs, the shrinking
number of live music venues,
the dilapidated state of trash
bins, the frequency and reliabil-
ity of bus service, the annual
island ferry fiascos, the hostility
to providing benches for people
to sit on, the graffiti unattend-
ed, all the decaying-in-place pi-
lot-project infrastructure that
never gets made permanent —
and on and on.
Those two categories com-
bined are the value proposition
ON0 ON
A8 | N E WS
M AY O R A L R A C E 2 0 2 3
Temporary CaféTO patios were hugely popular during the pandemic. Now the program has been made permanent, with new city fees and requirements.
Can new mayor rescue CaféTO?
The clock is ticking on patio season and some restaurant owners say they’re still stuck in red tape
M AY WA R R E N
A N D DAV I D R I D E R
S TA F F R E P O R T E R S
Bright orange pylons sit outside
Roger Yang’s Queen Street West
plant-based Italian restaurant,
marking off a part of the road re-
served for his customers’ alfresco
dining.
The only problem: there’s no actu-
al patio where they can sit.
Yang is one of several small-busi-
ness owners left in limbo with this
year’s iteration of CaféTO. The pro-
gram, introduced in 2020 as a life-
line for struggling establishments
faced with multiple closures, allows
restaurants and bars to build small
patios spilling out onto streets and
sidewalks.
As the emergency phase of the
COVID-19 pandemic faded, council
voted last winter to make the pro-
gram permanent, introducing per-
mit and application fees to be
phased in over three years and re-
quiring operators to install tempo-
rary accessible platforms in curb
lanes.
But as the clock on the summer
season is ticking, Yang and other
owners say they’re still waiting on
approval from the city — while
some past patio proprietors say
they’ve been unexpectedly denied
— and they’re hoping Toronto’s
next mayor can sort out what they
say has become a bureaucratic
mess.
It’s become such a thorn that
prominent mayoral candidates
surveyed by the Star all vowed, if
elected, to move quickly to fix Café-
TO — with some saying rescuing it
for this summer would be their first
task after the June 26 election.
“COVID obviously has been tough
on everybody. It’s been really tough
on restaurants and budgets and ev-
erything. There’s many, many plac-
es that have closed down, and we’re
trying to make the most of the sea-
son,” Yang said.
His restaurant, Osteria Du, has
participated in CaféTO since 2020,
and already has a modular wooden
deck platform with about 20 seats.
Yang received approval from the
city to have a patio last week but
said he can’t set it up until he gets
approval for the deck itself.
“It’s June already. It’s not great.”
While there have been some com-
plaints about the program, notably
from drivers who resent the road
space the patios take up, it proved
hugely popular throughout the
pandemic. A 2022 study from the
Toronto Association of Business
Improvement Areas found CaféTO
brought in more than $203 million
in economic benefits for the city.
But with the added red tape, appli-
cations are down this year, to 500
from 837 in 2022 (applications for
temporary platforms are open until
July 1).
And some owners were stunned
to learn the patios they’d had in
place for the past three summers
were denied.
According to the city, 90 CaféTO
curb-lane applications were re-
fused, as of Wednesday, for issues
ranging from being too close to an
intersection to lack of access for
emergency vehicles. Eighteen of
those were overturned on appeal.
Tomas Morana, co-owner of Bar
Volo, near Yonge and Wellesley
streets, said their 50-seat patio was
denied in May, but they appealed
and just got the final “No” on Tues-
day.
The official reasoning, he said, was
that this year’s version of the Café-
TO program does not include lane-
ways. The city also had concerns
about service vehicles passing
through.
But in past years when the patio
has been set up, he’s seen these ve-
hicles get by with no problem, and
it’s tucked away on a quiet cobble-
stone street with little traffic.
Toronto likes to think of itself of a
world-class city, on par with Mon-
treal, New York and European cap-
itals,he said, but those places “prio-
ritize small businesses in these
public spaces over cars.”
“To find out in the middle of the
summer when you’re expecting to
get a patio that it’s been denied, it’s
awful,” Morana said.
On Thursday, city council voted to
review and improve the CaféTO
program for next year, and explore
options of financial assistance for
participating venues. It also re-
versed staff decisions and quickly
approved patio permit exemptions
for a handful of specific places that
had complained about refusals, and
asked for a report this week on “a
resolved plan to safely permit a Ca-
féTO patio” for Bar Volo.
Meanwhile, weeks have already
passed and many local restaurants
are still reeling from pandemic clo-
sures.
“This program was put in place as
an emergency measure to help res-
taurants through the crisis, but the
truth is we’re still very much in cri-
sis,” said Tracy Macgregor, the vice-
president for Ontario of Restau-
rants Canada, which represents the
industry.
“When you’re struggling to pay
payroll and struggling to pay your
suppliers, every day counts.”
City of Toronto spokesperson
Ashika Theyyil said in an email
Tuesdaythat out of the 500 CaféTO
applications for patios, 314 have
been installed.
Since this is the first year the pro-
gram is permanent, with the new
requirements approved by council
in February, “a detailed review of
each application and its traffic safe-
ty plan is required,” she said.
“The city anticipates that the ap-
plication process will be quicker for
CaféTO applications in future years
as curb lane café permits will be
renewable using previously ap-
proved designs and plans.”
In a press release Wednesday, the
city said that crews expect to com-
plete the installation of traffic safe-
ty equipment for curb-lane cafés by
Sunday, noting “traffic safety
equipment, such as concrete barri-
ers and ‘candlesticks,’ has been in-
stalled for approximately 90 per
cent of all CaféTO curb lane café
applicants that meet new program
requirements.”
Seven leading mayoral candidates
all told the Star they strongly sup-
port CaféTO and promised, if elect-
ed, a range of fixes for the ailing
program:
■ Mark Saunders said, as mayor, he
would waive this year’s application
and permit fees, simplify the appli-
cation process and look at ways to
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
R . J. J O H N STO N TO RO N TO STA R
transition from pandemic measure
to permanent seasonal feature that
works with other street users. “I’ll
move on these changes right away,”
he said.
■ Mitzie Hunter noted one of her
first campaign promises was a reju-
venation of the patio program. Her
fixes include cancelling and refund-
ing all application and permit fees
for this year and eliminating the
application fee in future years. As
mayor, Hunter said, “this would be
a high priority for me” with the fee
cancellation and refund happening
as soon as possible.
■ Anthony Furey said as mayor, he
would completely eliminate fees
for the program. If city staff take too
long to process an application, the
patio will be “auto-approved” and
“the mayor’s office will work with
staff immediately to commence my
auto-approval system.”
Roger Yang, ■ Olivia Chow said she would give
owner of businesses more certainty on rules,
Osteria Du on offer financial supports to make
Queen Street participation less costly, streamline
West, is among city hall approvals and “consider a
restaurateurs fee refund for this year.” She added
waiting for final she would “act quickly” to ensure
approvals from approvals in the pipeline move
the city before ahead, tell city staff to report to
setting up a council in the fall on improvements
patio. “It’s June for future years, and “get to the
already,” he bottom of how this happened.”
said. “It’s not ■ Josh Matlow said city policies for
great.” the patio program are largely con-
sistent with those of other cities but
under-resourced city staff have
TORONTO STA R shown a “lack of willingness to be
agile and flexible.” As mayor he
would make “rapid and necessary
changes” to improve CaféTO this
summer and commit to “compre-
hensive action” so next year the pa-
tio program can expand, including
in underserved areas.
■ Ana Bailão said she would reim-
burse charges for this year while in
future making the application
deadline earlier and streamlining
the application process. Bailão said
she would start working on im-
provements as soon as she becomes
mayor.
■ Brad Bradford said he would re-
A city fund application and permit fees
spokesperson for all participants in this year’s Ca-
said since féTO season and “hold city staff
this is the accountable and fix the program”
so that in future years patios can be
first year the installed in early May.
program is Bar Volo’s Morana said he’d like to
permanent, see better communication, an earli-
with new er start to the process, and city offi-
requirements, cials “loosen up” a bit on the re-
quirements.
“a detailed “Ultimately there needs to be
review something done, especially with
of each this new mayor, about this pro-
application gram,” he said.
“It is a hot topic, because it en-
and its traffic
compasses, in my opinion, all of the
safety plan is problems with the city.”
required.” WITH FILES FROM ALYSHAH HASHAM
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 ON0

NE WS | A9

Federal byelections will gauge mood of Canadians

ALEX BALLINGALL
OT TAWA B U R E A U
OT TAWA At the tail-end of a
combative parliamentary session
comes four chances to gauge the
mood of the Canadian electorate:
on Monday, voters in a quartet of
federal ridings will cast ballots in
byelections to fill vacant seats in the
House of Commons.
What might the results tell us, af-
ter months in which concerns
about Chinese government med-
dling and increasing costs dominat-
ed the political debate before the
House is set to rise this month?
Each riding has its own dynamic at
play, from a battle with the far-right
in the Conservative heartland to
questions about Liberal enthusi-
asms in previously rock-solid red
regions.
Here’s what to look for in Mon-
day’s byelections.
Portage-Lisgar
Normally this would be a Conser-
vative lock. And it still might be. But
the entry of far-right People’s Party
of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier
into the race makes this one to
watch.
The rural Manitoba seat belonged
to Candice Bergen from 2008 until
she resigned this year after serving
as interim Conservative — and offi-
cial opposition — leader before
Pierre Poilievre won the Tory
crown last September. But this was
one of the ridings where Bernier’s
PPC chalked up a strong, if losing,
showing in the 2021 federal elec-
tion; the People’s Party candidate
placed second with 21.6 per cent of
the vote, almost 19 percentage
points higher than the party re-
ceived in 2019. Bernier hopes his
status as leader can get him the seat
— 2,600 km away from the one he
used to hold in the Quebec region of
Beauce, before losing it in 2019.
In his effort to win in Manitoba,
the PPC leader has argued Poi-
lievre’s Conservatives aren’t right- Pedneault is hoping to claim the
wing enough. Bernier — a former seat and has been campaigning
cabinet minister who almost won hard in recent weeks.
the Conservative leadership in 2017 Another factor in the political mix
— has attacked sexual education in is how voters will respond to recent
schools, denied any link between concerns about supports for mi-
climate change and wildfires, nority anglophones in Quebec, af-
blamed “mass immigration” for ter recent moves to promote
high housing prices, and denigrated French by the provincial and feder-
trans youth as “mentally confused al governments. Garneau himself
children.” had lampooned the Liberals’ Bill
From their end, the Conservatives C-13 over concerns about its impact
are intent not just to defeat Bernier, on English speakers in the prov-
but to politically “destroy” him, in- ince.
siders say. Poilievre and his party’s Even so, the senior Liberal insider
candidate Branden Leslie have dis- predicted with “no doubt” in their
missed Bernier as a parachute can- mind that Gainey will win the rid-
didate for a party with no hope of ing on Monday.
replacing the Liberal government,
even as they have criticized him Winnipeg South Centre
while alluding to a conspiracy theo- Poilievre has described this riding
ry associated with the far-right as a “Liberal stronghold” — a signal,
about global elites at the World worked on Poilievre’s leadership The entry perhaps, that his party sees it as a
Economic Forum conference. campaign. of far-right long-shot. The Liberals have held
Liberals, meanwhile, are watching That’s enough drama to make the People’s Party the riding for all but four of the last
Leslie’s campaign closely and al- race more interesting to political of Canada 35 years, with the late cabinet min-
ready trying to highlight how he is observers. But as one senior Liberal Leader Maxime ister Jim Carr occupying the seat
branding himself on the campaign insider said Friday, the prospects of Bernier in the from 2015 until his death from can-
trail. Team Trudeau pulling off a win re- race for the cer last December.
More than anything, however, main slim. It’s “basically the worst Portage-Lisgar Carr’s son, Ben Carr, is now run-
Monday’s result in Portage-Lisgar riding” for Liberal chances in Onta- federal seat ning for the Liberals, and party in-
could offer a hint about the appeal rio, the insider said. The Liberals makes this siders are confident he will win.
of Bernier’s brand of politics in have only held the riding for 11 years byelection One quirk to the race, however, is
Conservative-dominated regions. since 1949, and that was when the one to watch. the sheer number of voting options.
right was split between the Pro- A group called the Longest Ballot
Oxford gressive Conservatives and Re- Committee has rallied to sign up
Here’s another contest where what form/Canadian Alliance. J E F F M C INTO S H scores of candidates from across
might have been a surefire Conser- T H E CA N A DI A N the country so that 48 people are
vative victory now appears less cer- Notre-Dame-de-Grâce— P R E SS now running in this byelection — a
tain (but, as even their main com- Westmount F I L E P H OTO record in a federal election. Accord-
petition admits, still likely). This Montreal riding is considered ing to the group’s social media
The outgoing MP, longtime Tory a likely Liberal lock, with former posts, the idea is to draw attention
Dave Mackenzie, held the south- party president Anna Gainey — a to the Liberal government’s broken
western Ontario seat for nearly 20 member of the team that helped promise to change the electoral sys-
years. But after his daughter lost Justin Trudeau rise and take over tem from its current “First Past the
out on the Tory nomination to re- the party more than 10 years ago — Post model” that awards the seat to
place him, and some groups cried vying to replace outgoing MP and the candidate receiving the most
foul over the disqualification of a former cabinet minister (and astro- votes.
“pro-life” candidate, Mackenzie de- naut) Marc Garneau. Despite this, one Liberal source
cried the process and threw his sup- In the recent past, the greatest said the party has “no reason to
port behind the Liberal candidate competition the Liberals have fear” losing their long-held Winni-
— David Hilderley — and started faced in the riding is from the New peg seat after polls close Monday
openly campaigning against the Democratic Party. But this time, night.
Conservatives’ Arpan Khanna, who Green Party co-leader Jonathan W I TH F I L E S F RO M STE P HA NI E L E V I TZ

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ON0 ON SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR

A10 | N E WS

Beloved Hungarian restaurant to close

Country Style owner
retiring in August
KARON LIU
FOOD REPORTER
After 60 years in operation, Coun-
try Style Hungarian Restaurant will
soon be serving its last schnitzel
platter. Closing as of Aug. 1, it is the
last remaining restaurant that once
made part of the Annex a hotspot
for Hungarian cuisine.
“I’m going to miss it. This is my
life. Everyone’s so sad and I already
can’t sleep,” said owner Katalin
Koltai, who first worked at Country
Style in the early ’80s before she
bought the business and the build-
ing at 450 Bloor St. W., from its
previous owners in 2001. Koltai is
retiring and said Vietnamese res-
taurant Dear Saigon will be open-
ing a third location in the space.
“I tried to sell it to a Hungarian
family but no one took it. I have to
sell it. I’ve been here doing it for 25
years and I have to finish,” said Kol-
tai. “(The new owners) are good
people. The building is ours and we
wanted to find good people.”
ST E V E R U SS E L L P H OTO S TO RO NTO STA R
Katalin Koltai, who runs Country Style with her daughter, also named Katalin, is retiring
after working at the restaurant since the early 1980s. She bought the business in 2001.
dubbed as “The Goulash Archipela-
go.”
One of their most popular menu
items is the showstopping wooden
platters for two that consists of two
types of schnitzel, sausage sliced to
resemble delicious coils of octopus
tentacles, big fat cabbage rolls, fried
potatoes, beets and dumplings.
nal Chimneys, a Hungarian pastry
shop that opened in 2017.
“To be beside one of the most
long-standing, and probably the
last, Hungarian place in the area is
an honour,” Eva’s co-founder Jason
Butler told the Star in 2021 about
opening adjacent to the last restau-
rant from that era. “I guess we re-
established a bit of a little Hungari-
an neighbourhood, but they’re the
ones who have been there through
and through.”
The Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund
GOAL $650,000
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A notice about the restaurant’s Tens of thousands of Hungarians or Mastercard,

impending closure was posted to
the restaurant’s Facebook page on
Monday, eliciting dozens of users to
share memories of their favourite
meals there. Some reminisced
about the platters and uborka salá-
ta. For others, eating at Country
Style was a childhood ritual after
church service.
arrived in Canada during the late scan this QR
1950s and ’60s after the Hungarian code or use our
Revolution. Many opened book- secure form at
stores, butchers and salons in thestar.com/faf
neighbourhoods like Yorkville, By cheque:
Kensington Market and the Annex. Mail to The To-
Nostalgic diners will remember ronto Star Fresh Air Fund, 8 Spadina
One of the said. “She has two small kids and it’s restaurants such as The Coffee Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 0S8
most popular not easy. Maybe one day she’ll open Mill, Korona, Hungarian Castle and ■ By phone: 416-869-4847

The schnitzels were always lightly
breaded and fried to a deep golden
brown, and made a delicate crunch-
ing noise with every bite.
Koltai’s daughter, also named Ka-
talin, works alongside her mother
at the restaurant but the senior
Koltai doesn’t want her to continue
the business. “You don’t get holi-
days, weekends, Christmas,” she
dishes is up (another Country Style). Maybe Hungarian Rhapsody, the latter of Tax receipts will be issued.
the Wooden later.” which Koltai briefly ran before tak- FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL:
Platter, which Known for its checkerboard table- ing over Country Style. As the years Instagram:
comes with cloths, comforting cups of goulash went on, the number of Hungarian @torontostarchildrenscharities
two different and gargantuan schnitzel platters businesses diminished as the own- Facebook:
schnitzels, with a steak knife plunged down ers retired, or moved out of the @thetorontostarchildrenscharities
sausage, the centre, the cosy restaurant fa- neighbourhood. Twitter: @TStarCharities
cabbage roll, voured by generations of families You can still get a taste of Buda- LinkedIn: The Toronto Star Chil-
home fries (and very hungry students) was pest in the Annex, however. Next dren’s Charities
and beets. once a part of what was lovingly door to Country Style is Eva’s Origi- #StarFreshAirFund

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TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
S N OW B I R D S
Pilot faces allegations
of sexual misconduct
A L L A N WO O D S
S TA F F R E P O R T E R
A member of the Canadian mil-
itary’s aerial acrobatics squad, the
Snowbirds, has been grounded over
allegations of “sexual misconduct,”
the Canadian Armed Forces an-
nounced Saturday.
Details of the allegation were not
disclosed, but a statement by the
Air Force commanders in Winni-
peg and Moose Jaw, Sask., which is
home to the Snowbirds, said the
complainant is also a member of
the military.
“The (Royal Canadian Air Force)
takes all allegations of this nature
seriously and is co-operating with
investigators fully,” the statement
read. “The member facing allega-
tions has been reassigned to non-
operational duties at 15 Wing
Moose Jaw.”
Department of National Defence
spokesperson Jessica Lamirande
said the member is a pilot, but she
noted no charges have been laid.
Lamirande said the department
isn’t releasing where or when the
alleged misconduct occurred.
The Snowbirds, a high-profile
stunt-flying team that acts as an
ambassador for the Canadian mil-
itary, will as a result fly as an eight-
aircraft team — as opposed to the
normal nine — “for the foreseeable
future,” the statement read.
The announcement came just as
the team was scheduled to fly over
Moncton — a performance that was
cancelled Saturday afternoon due
to bad weather and poor visibility,
the City of Moncton said. Members
of the Snowbirds were still sched-
uled to hold a Saturday autograph-
signing session as part of the Sol-
dier On Air Display.
The team is slated to return to the
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Off-duty GTA paramedic
not guilty in fatal crash
JA S O N M I L L E R
CRIME REPORTER
An off-duty paramedic has been
found not guilty after a judge ruled
prosecutors failed to prove he was
driving when his car plunged
through a guardrail into Lake Onta-
rio in Oakville, killing a Mississauga
man. Aaron Dobbs, who was a Peel
Region paramedic at the time of the
November 2018 crash that killed
Shawn Harpur, 27, was cleared of all
charges, including impaired opera-
tion and dangerous operation caus-
ing death, and failing to provide a
breath sample.
“Mr. Dobbs had been driving ear-
lier in the evening, but it does not
necessarily mean that he was driv-
ing when the car went into the wa-
ter,” Superior Court Justice Erika
Chozik said Friday.
“Since I believe Mr. Dobbs’s evi-
dence about what happened up un-
A Canadian til the time of the accident, I have
Air Force no reason to disbelieve his evidence
statement said that he was not driving.”
the Snowbirds The central issue at trial was who
will perform air was behind the wheel when Dobbs’s
displays as an car rammed through a guardrail at
eight-aircraft the foot of Maple Grove Drive and
team instead of into the lake. Harpur’s body was
nine “for the later found washed up not far from
foreseeable the crash site; an autopsy revealed
future.” that he died from a combination of
hypothermia and drowning.
Chozik said it’s plausible Dobbs
A N DR E W and Harpur had switched seats, as
F R A N CI S Dobbs recounted. “Regrettably, the
WALLACE mechanism of the crash remains
TORONTO STAR unknown,” she added.
FILE PHOTO Dobbs provided credible evidence
about the series of events leading
up to the crash and his sobriety,
claiming he had only had a few
beers and maybe two sips from a
vodka bottle in the space of three
hours, Chozik said.
As for declining to provide a
breath sample, Chozik found that
his refusal was a result of his genu-
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ine confusion about what he was
supposed to do. The judge ex-
plained she was not satisfied that
the officer made a clear demand for
the sample.
The Crown’s case against Dobbs
hinged in part on the testimony of
Harpur’s friend, Ryan Chwalka,
who told the court about how he
and Harpur had met Dobbs for the
first time that night before going
bar-hopping around Mississauga.
The night soured after Dobbs
asked Chwalka, who had at least 17
drinks and a bit of cocaine, to exit
the vehicle because of his drunken
behaviour.
At the March trial, Chwalka testi-
fied that the last time he saw Har-
pur alive, he was riding in the front
passenger seat of Dobbs’s sedan.
Chozik said she could not rely on
this testimony, noting that Chwalka
was not an objective witness and
had a clear animus toward Dobbs,
who gave a “far more reliable” ac-
count.
Dobbs, who testified in his own
defence, said that when he let
Chwalka out of the car at Lakeshore
Road and Devon Road, he and Har-
pur switched seats.
He said the crash happened soon
after, with a sudden impact, as Har-
pur was looking for a street. As the
car filled with water at about 3 a.m.,
Dobbs was the only one to make it
out alive.
A Halton Regional Police officer
arrived at the “chaotic” scene to
find Dobbs soaking wet and bang-
ing on the door of a nearby home,
seeking help. Police described
Dobbs as exhibiting confused beha-
viour with slurred speech.
However, Chozik said police pro-
vided inconsistent accounts and
failed to properly detect whether
Dobbs was impaired. Expert testi-
mony further indicated that police
could have mistaken symptoms of
hypothermia for intoxication.
ON0 ON SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR

A12 | N E WS
M AYO R A L R AC E 2 0 2 3

Who and what is Toronto for?

City’s hypocrisy is on display as massive ads placed near where homeless were violently evicted

SHAWN
MICALLEF
OPINION

Is Toronto just a place to make

money? Or is it a place for everyone
to live a good life while prospering?
Is it a place to be happy?
Toronto’s clean-slate mayoral
election is a referendum on this
matter, even if not articulated as
such. Everyone — even Tory loy-
alists who voted with him for years,
thinking Torontonians have forgot-
ten — is saying Toronto needs to
change course.
Sharpen the focus of all that into
an existential civic question: Who
and what is Toronto for?
It’s a question I thought about
when “Collision Toronto” signs ap-
peared in Toronto public parks this
week, including Trinity Bellwoods
and HTO, lit up with lights and
looking something like the familiar
Toronto sign in Nathan Phillips
Square, where yet another Colli-
sion sign has appeared.
Most who pass by the signs prob-
ably wonder what “Collision” is. To
my Windsor-born eyes, the slanted
typeface of the red foam letters
looks like the zoomy signs autobo-
dy shops sometimes have. Are they
pounding out car dents in the park
now? Others have joked that it’s a
wry statement on Toronto’s “Vi-
sion Zero” road safety efforts.
Collision is actually a huge tech
conference returning to Toronto
from June 27 to 29. It welcomes
“innovators, tech professionals and
visitors from around the world.” In
the tech world, it’s a big deal, and
the current cost to attend is nearly
$1,000 for a “general attendee” tick-
et or $3,495 for an “executive” one.
Knowing that, the Collision signs
in the parks, particularly in Trinity
Bellwoods, are troubling — just 50
metres or so from where the sign
faces Queen Street, the City of To-
ronto violently evicted people liv-
ing in tents during the very bad
summer of 2021. Part of how offi-
cials justified it all was that the en-
campments interfered with the use
and enjoyment of parks.
There were more tents than Colli-
sion signs but use and enjoyment
carried on in Trinity Bellwoods,
Dufferin Grove and other parks
where encampments existed. No-
body would say it was an ideal situa-
tion but it coexisted, even if tensely
at times. The signs, though fewer,
are bigger than tents. They inter-
fere with somebody’s enjoyment,
surely.
When asked about how the signs
came to be, a city spokesperson said
that Toronto is thrilled to have the
conference back. “Collision worked
with City staff and did site visits to
city locations to ensure placement
of signs did not interrupt regular
operations and use of the parks,”
they said. “The City issued a
month-long permit for the sign at
Trinity Bellwoods, along with re-
turning signs to HTO Park and Na-
than Phillips Square. Permit fees
were paid for the installation of this
sign.”
The city also said Collision is
North America’s fastest-growing
technology conference and that
“Toronto aims to attract foreign di-
rect investment to Canada in the
form of company expansions and
relocations, promote international
trade and partnerships with Cana-
dian companies, entice venture
capital investment in Canadian
companies and promote the To-
ronto and Canadian innovation
ecosystems.”
In isolation, all of this is fine. At-
tracting the tech sector, Collision,
even temporary signs in the park,
are all fine. But they aren’t in isola-
tion, they’re in Toronto, and Toron-
to has history and it has hypocrisy
in how different things and people
are treated.
Toronto is a machine for making
lots of money, and that fact governs
nearly everything else.
Bike lanes have become a culture
war wedge issue and in order to
fight back, their supporters rou-
tinely feel they must argue in terms
that bike lanes are good for the local
economy rather than relying on the
indisputable fact they save life and
limb. The economic argument is
critical in Toronto, other concerns
are secondary.
In Toronto, the approach to resi-
dents became corporatized under
John Tory. We are “clients,” busi-
ness matters, rather than city citi-
zens. Quality-of-life issues are sub-
servient to economic ones. Life and
economy are profoundly linked, of
course, but some candidates are
trying to suggest committing to
quality-of-life issues, big and small,
is somehow anti-business. Ana Bai-
A large lão did this last week during the
“Collision CBC housing debate, suggesting
Toronto” ad Olivia Chow’s position that Toron-
appeared in to should build its own affordable
Trinity housing is somehow anti-develop-
Bellwoods Park er.
this week. After decades of living here, I’m
While big tech certain the machinery of money-
money can making will continue to churn on
easily put signs without pause no matter what ef-
for expensive forts are made to make life more
conferences in affordable and livable here. And yet,
public spaces, there’s a reluctance to embrace so
there’s a many things that make life in this
reluctance by town worth living, even small stuff.
leaders to Public washrooms, drinking in
embrace so parks, and patios.
many things Big tech money can put signs for
that make life expensive conferences in parks
in this town with no problem but independent
worth living, businesses trying to open CaféTO
like keeping patios continue to face incredible
washrooms struggles, even after councillors
open, Shawn made performative statements last
Micallef writes. week that they would fix the red
tape. Small businesses make mon-
ey, but perhaps not enough for To-
R . J. J O H N STO N ronto to care.
TO RO N TO STA R Who is Toronto for? Big business
only? Or people and small busi-
nesses trying to make and live a
reasonably good and prosperous
life here?
Evidence suggests the answer, but
the new mayor can start to change
that.
TW I TTE R : @ S HAW NMI CA L L E F

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WORLD | N E WS | A13
U G A N DA

Dozens dead in attack on school

Rebels armed with guns, machetes kill 38 students, abduct six in massacre near Congo border

RODNEY MUHUMUZA A boy is

K A M PA L A , U G A N DA Suspected
rebels attacked a school in a remote
area of Uganda near the Congo bor-
der, killing at least 41 people in a
nighttime raid before fleeing across
the porous frontier, authorities
said. Thirty-eight students in their
dormitories were among the vic-
tims.
Some students were burned be-
yond recognition, and others were
shot or hacked to death after mil-
itants armed with guns and ma-
chetes attacked the school in the
frontier district of Kasese, a local
mayor told The Associated Press.
In addition to the 38 students, one
guard and two residents of the local
community in Mpondwe-Lhubiri-
ha town were killed in the attack,
said Mayor Selevest Mapoze. A
Ugandan military statement said
the rebels abducted six students,
taken as porters of food looted from
the school’s store.
The school, coed and privately
owned, is located about two kilo-
metres from the Congo border.
Authorities are blaming the mas-
sacre at Lhubiriha Secondary
School on the Allied Democratic
Forces, or ADF, a shadowy extrem-
ist group which has been launching
attacks for years from bases in vola-
tile eastern Congo. Villagers in the
Congolese provinces of Ituri and
North Kivu have been the victims
of the group’s alleged attacks in re-
cent years.
But attacks on the Ugandan side
of the border are rare, thanks in
part to the presence of an alpine
brigade of Ugandan troops in the
region.
The attack has sent shock waves in
this normally peaceful East African
country whose long-time leader
cites security as a strength of his
government. It is also a blow to the
country’s armed forces, who since
2021 have deployed in parts of east-
ern Congo under a mission specifi-
cally to hunt down the militants
accused of attacking a school.
Speaking to reporters, the com-
mander of Ugandan troops in Con-
go said the rebels spent two nights
in Kasese before carrying out their
attack.
ADF rebels, when under pressure,
“divert” their pursuers’ attention
by splitting into small groups that
then launch violent attacks in other
places, said Maj. Gen. Dick Olum,
suggesting that the latest attack was
an attempt by the rebels to ease
battlefront pressure.
“A typical ADF signature,” he said,
“because this is pressure. They are
under huge pressure, and that’s
what they have to do to show the
world that they are still there, and
to show the world that they can still
do havoc.”
The school raid, which happened
comforted at
the scene of an
attack on
Mpondwe
Lhubiriha
Secondary
School in
Mpondwe,
Uganda, on
Saturday.
Authorities
said some
students who
were in their
dormitories
were burned
beyond
recognition and
others were
shot or hacked
to death by the
militants.
children’s rights,” adding that The school
schools should always be “a safe raid, which
place for every student.” happened
The ADF has been accused of around
launching many attacks in recent 11:30 p.m.
years targeting civilians in remote Friday, involved
parts of eastern Congo. It rarely about five
claims responsibility for attacks. attackers,
The ADF has long opposed the according to
rule of Ugandan President Yoweri the Ugandan
Museveni, a U.S. security ally who military.
has held power in this East African
country since 1986.
The group was established in the AFP VIA
early 1990s by some Ugandan Mus- GE T T Y I M AG E S
lims, who said they had been side- P HOTO S
lined by Museveni’s policies. At the
time, the rebels staged deadly at-
tacks in Ugandan villages as well as
around 11:30 p.m., involved about in the capital, including a 1998 at-
five attackers, according to the tack in which 80 students were
Ugandan military. Soldiers from a massacred in a town not far from
nearby brigade who responded to the scene of the latest attack.
the attack found the school on fire, A Ugandan military assault later
“with dead bodies of students lying forced the ADF into eastern Congo,
in the compound,” military spokes- where many rebel groups are able
person Brig. Felix Kulayigye said in to operate because the central gov-
a statement. ernment has limited control there.
Winnie Kiiza, an influential politi- The group has since established ties
cal leader and a former lawmaker with the Islamic State group.
from the region, condemned the In March, at least 19 people were
“cowardly attack” on Twitter. She killed in Congo by suspected ADF
said “attacks on schools are unac- extremists.
ceptable and are a grave violation of THE ASSO C I AT E D P R E SS

WA R I N U K R A I N E Ukrainian
servicemen

Rescuers looking for help residents

get down from
a rooftop and

flood survivors face onto rescue

boats during

new threat — snipers

Risky Ukrainian evacuations have saved
about 150 people from Russia-held areas
S A MYA K U L L A B ,
E VG E N I Y M A LO L E T K A
AND SAM MCNEIL
KHERSON, UKRAINE At last,
help came for Vitalii Shpalin. From
a distance, he spotted the small
Ukrainian rescue boat traversing
floodwaters that had submerged
the 60-year-old’s entire neighbour-
hood after a catastrophic dam col-
lapse in the country’s embattled
south.
He and others boarded with sighs
June 6 has devastated towns along
the lower Dnieper River in the
Kherson region, a front line in the
war. Russia and Ukraine accuse
each other of causing the breach.
In the chaotic early days of flood-
ing, Ukrainian rescue workers in
private boats provided a lifeline to
desperate civilians trapped in
flooded areas of the Russian-occu-
pied eastern bank — that is, if the
rescue missions could brave the
drones and Russian snipers.
The boats have carried volunteers
Valhe, evacuated from the Russian-
occupied town of Oleshky. “I have
my friends who stayed there, peo-
ple I know who need help. At the
moment, I can’t do anything except
to say to them, ‘Hold on.’”
At least 150 people have been res-
cued by Ukraine from Russian-
controlled areas in the risky evacu-
ation operations, government
spokesperson Oleksandr Tolokon-
an evacuation
in a flooded
neighbourhood
near Oleshky,
Ukraine,
last week.
T H E A SS O C I AT E D
P R ESS
know how,” she said, declining to
give her last name for safety rea-
sons.
Rescuers have often used infor-
mation provided by relatives of
those stranded. Military drone pi-
lots have searched for people and
plotted routes through the fast-
moving waters laden with debris,
while navigating around Russian
troop positions. They also have de-

of relief — interrupted suddenly by
the crackle of bullets.
Shpalin ducked, and a bullet
scraped his back. He felt one pierce
his arm, then his leg. The boat’s
rescue worker cried into the radio
for reinforcements. “Our boat is
leaking,” Shpalin heard him say. An
older man died before his eyes, his
lips turning blue.
Their vessel, taking civilians to
safety in Kherson city across the
river, had been shot by Russian sol-
diers positioned in a nearby house,
according to Ukrainian officials and
witnesses on the boat.
“They (Russians) let the boats
through, those coming to rescue
people,” Shpalin said. “But when
the boats were full of people, they
started shooting.”
Massive flooding from the de-
struction of the Kakhovka Dam on
and plainclothes servicemen, shut-
tling across from Ukrainian-held
areas on the western bank to evacu-
ate people stuck on rooftops, in at-
tics and elsewhere.
Now, that window is closing. As
floodwaters recede, rescuers are in-
creasingly cut off by putrid mud.
And more Russian soldiers are re-
turning, reasserting control.
Accounts of Russian assistance
vary among survivors, but many
evacuees and residents accuse Rus-
sian authorities of doing little or
nothing to help displaced residents.
Some civilians said evacuees were
sometimes forced to present Rus-
sian passports if they wanted to
leave.
“The Russian Federation provid-
ed nothing. No aid, no evacuation.
They abandoned people alone to
deal with the disaster,” said Yulia
nikov said. It is a small fraction
compared to the nearly 2,750 peo-
ple rescued from flooded regions
controlled by Ukraine.
A local organization Helping to
Leave, which helps Ukrainians liv-
ing under Russian occupation to
escape, said it received requests
from 3,000 people in the occupied
zone, said Dina Urich, who heads
the organization’s evacuation de-
partment. “We will surely do every-
thing we can, but we also cannot
expose our people to danger,” Tolo-
konnikov said.
“Russians keep threatening us
and fulfilling their threats by shoot-
ing people in the back,” he said.
Olha, another resident of Oleshky,
said she had heard about the rescue
missions, but didn’t know how to
get on a list. “If we could, we would
have done the same, but I didn’t
‘‘
livered water, food and cigarettes to
people with a note “from Santa.”
Valerii Lobitskyi, a volunteer res-
cuer, said shelling often derailed
the missions. He has been shot at The Russian
once, and on another occasion had
to abort a mission to rescue an old- Federation
er woman after a close call with a provided
Russian motor boat. nothing ...
Every civilian evacuated from the they
eastern bank carried a harrowing
abandoned
tale of survival, of racing to relocate
to higher ground. They described people alone
the initial scramble on the morning to deal with
of June 6. Within hours, the water the disaster.
came gushing in, reaching their an-
kles and then submerging entire
floors. YU L I A V A L H E
In Oleshky, many residents AN EVACUEE
moved from the outskirts of town FROM RUSSIA-
to the centre, which sits on an ele- O C C U P IED
vated plain. TOWN OF
THE ASSO C I AT E D P R E SS O LES HK Y
A14  TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
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TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 ON0

Please sign the guest books for these notices at legacy.com/thestar

DEATHS, MEMORIALS, BIRTHS Death Notices 416-869-4229, deathnotices@thestar.ca Births, In Memoriams 416-777-7777, starad@thestar.ca

DEATH NOTICES

Repeat Notices

ARABEY, Helena HAKODA, Kenneth

BODI, James KANE, Gordon
BURNET, Donald KELLEHER, James
CAMPBELL, Lorna MOLLICA, Bruno
CARTER, Roger RUTHERFORD, Patricia
ELSON, (Margaret) Elizabeth SPRANG, Annabelle
GARRISON, Laura STRUDWICK, David
GOLEC, Richard

Due to space restrictions, the notices may not appear in strict alphabetical order.
Please refer to this index for a complete alphabetical list of the notices appearing in today's paper.

HELENA ARABEY
(nee KOKOT) (MARGARET) ELIZABETH RICHARD JOHN GOLEC GORDON ALLAN KANE
ELSON
Passed away on May 23, 2023, in On June 9, 2023, Richard Passed away, after a valiant
Toronto. Born in Poland on July Suddenly, at St. Joseph's John Golec, age 74, of battle with cancer on June 5,
28, 1926. She was a holocaust Health Centre, on June 14, Brampton, Ontario, passed 2023, in Canta Gallo, Manabi
survivor, and immigrated to 2023, with family. Elizabeth away peacefully at home, with Province, Ecuador, in the
Canada postwar with her parents, will be missed by niece and his family at his side. company of his wife, Angelica.
residing in Toronto. She worked nephew, Christine and Jim; Richard is survived by his Gordon was born on July 1,
in the library system until 1962, her extended family, friends, loving wife, Linda (née 1937, in Montreal, Quebec.
where she met and married her and students. Liz was a Paspalis); his son, Daniel; his Formerly of Verdun, Quebec,
future husband, Bill (deceased). positive force of optimism, daughter-in-law, Janice; and and Toronto, Ontario. He
They ran a translation business laughter, and happiness. She his grandchildren, Sebastian, enjoyed life in Cumbaya,
until retirement. She leaves LORNA A.B. CAMPBELL also really liked giving gifts! Allister, Jasper and Eva. Quito, then Mirador San Jose,
behind her brother-in-law, Nick June 18, 1953 - April 12, 2023 The family will receive friends Richard was predeceased by Ecuador, for the past 25
(Jan); and niece and nephew, on Sunday, June 18th, from his son, Matt; his parents, years.
Nicole and Peter. Burial at York 1-3 p.m. at the Turner & Porter Stanley and Mary; and his Survived by his wife, Angelica
Lorna was the much-loved
Cemetery, 160 Beecroft Road, Yorke Chapel (2357 Bloor St. brother, Ted. Mora Kane; son, Graham;
and adored "baby" sister of
Toronto, on Wednesday, June 21, W., Toronto). If desired, He enjoyed a career as a civil mother-in-law, Jacinta Mora;
Fran, Vicky, Stella and Colin;
2023, at 2 p.m. donations in her name can be engineer until his retirement sisters, Thelma Boa-Youmato
the dear close friend of
made to the Trillium Health in 2013. At that time, he and Beverley McKenzie;
Bonnie; and the best friend
Partners Foundation turned his focus and energy brothers-in-law, Luis Gonzalo
since childhood of Doreen.
(Queensway Health Centre) or to golf, gardening and being Mora and Julio Cesar Mora;
She will be spoken of often,
the Toronto Humane Society. a proud papa to his and sisters-in-law, Pat Kane
ensuring that she will never
Memories can be sent grandchildren. and Gloria Ibarra Campaña.
be forgotten.
through the Turner & Porter Please join us for a memorial Also survived by his nieces
Lorna will always be
JAMES ANTHONY BODI website. service in his honour. and nephews, Keith (Louise),
remembered for her kindness,
Visitation will take place on Lindsay and Heather Boa;
generosity, empathy, love and
Saturday, July 8, 2023, from Kelly De Angelis (Ricky) and
James Anthony Bodi passed sense of fun. She was the
10:00 - 11:00 a.m., with a Bradley Kane; Alexandra Mora
away, on June 14, 2023, in his sweetest of people, but would
memorial service from 11:00 Martines, Genesis and
84th year. He is survived by his readily stand up for the
a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at Brampton Michael Mora Ibarra. Great-
beloved partner, Lynn Gibson; his underdog in any unfair ght
Funeral Home & Cemetery, uncle of Mathias Paul Moran
children, Jason, Jennifer and or situation. She also had the
Arbor Memorial, 10061 Mora.
James; and his siblings, Diane gift of being able to listen to
Chinguacousy Rd., Brampton. He was predeceased by his
and Stephen. He was and counsel people in
Reception to follow. The son, Denis; parents, Thomas
predeceased by his father, distress, while guiding them
family requests that in lieu of and Elizabeth (Betty) Kane;
George; mother, Katherine; to a viable solution or a better
owers, contributions to Mt. brother, Gary; and his
stepmother, Anne; and elder place in their lives.
Sinai or to the Canadian brothers-in-law, Bob Boa,
brother, Victor. Lorna is missed terribly by all
Cancer Society be made in George Youmato and Ross
her family and the many
Richard's name. McKenzie.
Jim was a small businessman friends who were fortunate
Gordon, who was left a
throughout his life, owning enough to know her. We will
LAURA MAY GARRISON paraplegic as a result of a
plating shops, metal share many happy memories
workplace accident, was
manufacturing businesses and of her, always remembering
admired for his tenacity and
lately Barrett Technical, a her ready smile. Peacefully, passed away with determination to continue
specialty paint shop, which he family by her side, on doing the things he loved. He
continued to take care of right up Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at had an innate curiosity and
to his death. He enjoyed judo, Lakeridge Health Oshawa, in could x anything. He was a
hockey, squash and tennis in his her 99th year. Beloved wife generous and kind person,
younger years as well as travel and best friend of the and liked to see everyone
when he could nd time. late Gord Garrison (2009). happy. He loved children and
Loving mother of Carolyn animals. He had a bird, turtle,
In lieu of owers, the family Garrison, Terri Garrison sheep, chickens, ducks, cows,
requests donations be made to (Don Shackleton), Catherine a bull named Muñeco, and
his favourite charities: The Nature Lavender (Kelly) and Murray three dogs; these animals
Conservancy of Canada, Beyond Garrison (Heidi). Cherished gave him joy and laughter.
Bride Rescue Foundation or DAVID ERNEST
grandmother of Paul and The funeral took place on
Home on the Hill Supportive STRUDWICK
Jamie Leigh Goodman, WWII Veteran, served as June 6th in Quito, Ecuador.
Housing. MacKenzie Laura Boyd- Worshipful Master for Simcoe
Garrison, Justine and Brett Lodge No.79 in 1989; served as
A Memorial Service will be held ROGER CARTER Shackleton, and Ryan, Kyle District Secretary in 1994-95 for
JAMES "KEVIN" KELLEHER
Tuesday, June 20th, at 1535 June 9, 1941 - May 29, 2023 and Brady Lavender. Great- District No.5.
South Gateway Road, grandmother of Blake James "Kevin" Kelleher died on
Mississauga, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Goodman; and great-great- May 31, 2023, while riding his
Following this will be a Reception Roger C. H. Carter of Toronto David peacefully passed
grandmother of Taitum and bike by the Humber River. He was
at the Vue at the Royal Woodbine, passed away, on May 29, away, at Margaret Bahen
Noah. Laura was past born in 1943 in Minnesota, USA.
195 Galaxy Boulevard, Toronto. 2023, at the age of 81. Born in Hospice, Newmarket, on
President and Life Member of He is survived by a brother and
Winnipeg, MB, to parents, Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in his
the Kinette Club of Oshawa, sister, plus extended family in the
Felix Roger Carter and 99th year.
DONALD SCOTT BURNET past Chairman of several US. After serving in the US Air
Josephine Gladys Carter (née Beloved husband of late
home and school Force in Germany and attending
Dunphy), he received his early Doreen (née Watts). Loving
associations, past member of college in the US, he went to the
We are deeply saddened to schooling in Selkirk, MB, father of Susan (Mark) Luttrell
the Women's Advisory University of Manitoba for his
announce the passing of Donald where he was active in sea and Jennifer (Mark) Poirier.
Committee of the Ontario Masters. Kevin was a PhD
Scott Burnet, on June 8, 2023, in cadets. Proud grandpa of Alexander
Government, volunteer for the candidate at Queen's in Kingston.
his 90th year, at Lakeridge Health He spent the 1960-1961 and Jacob. Also survived by
March of Dimes and she He travelled the world for
in Oshawa. school year teaching at Grand his sister-in-law, Dorothy
continuously dedicated her business (Minotaur) and pleasure.
Rapids, Manitoba, before Hodgson.
time anonymously, supporting He loved classical music and
Don is now reunited in heaven pursuing his post-secondary Special thanks to Barbie, Dr.
several other worthwhile opera, literature, art and more.
with his wife of 41 years, education at Carleton Harvey, Dr. Mulhern, and the
charities and organizations. A Kevin requested no service.
Margaret; sister, Barbara; brother, University in Ottawa. There he sta at Margaret Bahen
Celebration of Life will be Rather, do something for
Ken; and parents, Charles Eric became involved in the Hospice for their
held at a later date. As an someone in his memory.
and Marguerite Burnet. He will be movement to protest the war compassionate care of David.
expression of sympathy,
deeply missed by his children, against Vietnam and David loved the outdoors.
memorial donations in Laura's
Mike (Joelle), Diane (Pierre), subsequently became a Right into his 99th year, he
memory may be made to the
Dawn (Andrew), and Chris lifelong member of the could be found walking the
Canadian Cancer Society, the
(Lynne); grandchildren, Alexandra Marxist-Leninist Party of grounds or enjoying a good
Barn Cat Co-op of Durham
(Nicolas), Michelle, Vicky (Adrien), Canada. book under the tree at his
Region, or any animal rescue
Katrina, Nicole (Brandon), Kelsey He studied journalism at the condo. He had many
charity of your choice. Online
(Evan), Greg (Julie) and Adam Ryerson Polytechnic Institute interests, reading (Dickens,
condolences may be shared
(Nina); and great-grandson, and was elected to the faculty P.D. James, John Grisham)
at: www.armstrongfh.ca
Clément. council in 1968. Eventually he and music (Frank Sinatra and
began a long career with Pavarotti) among his
Born in Montreal October 1932, Canada Post, becoming a favourites. David enjoyed
PATRICIA IRENE
Don earned his Chartered shop steward and staunch being part of the community,
RUTHERFORD
Accountant designation in 1957 union activist with the and especially looked forward
(nee HARDY)
and worked at the Royal Trust for Canadian Union of Postal December 24, 1946 - June 3, 2023 to his weekly bridge games at
many years before retiring in Workers, receiving lifetime the local seniors centre. An KENNETH YUKIO
1994. Don and Margaret were membership when he retired. avid football fan, he cheered HAKODA
active volunteers at the West Over the years Roger loyally A full life, well lived. Forty-two on his beloved Crystal Palace.
Rouge Sports and Recreation maintained his family ties, years of faithful marriage to David loved his family and It is with heavy hearts that we
Association, and in 1994 were a usually taking long train or David; working with children, friends, and was known for announce the passing of
driving force behind the rst West bus rides out west, sometimes fellowshipping with friends in his many sayings and cheers Kenneth Yukio Hakoda, in his
Rouge Family Day, which is still making surprise appearances Bible studies and churches; and that will be remembered and 70th year, on Saturday, June
being held annually to this day. when least expected. Left to warm relations with neighbours, repeated in his honour. So, in 10, 2023, at Sunnybrook
Don will be fondly remembered mourn his passing are cousins, and David's sister, Mary, closing: "Here's to my Hospital. A loving and
by his family and friends for his brothers, Bert of Qualicum and her son, Jesse. mother's youngest son and all devoted father to Stephen
kindness, mischievous sense of Beach, BC, and Dale of Patricia loved and trusted the those that love him." and Amy. Ken will be sadly
humour, rousing renditions of Winnipeg Beach, MB; sister, Lord Jesus and walked with Him A visitation will be held at missed by sister, Carol (Jay);
the White Cli s of Dover , lush Betty of Parksville, BC; and through all the struggles, joys and Skwarchuk Funeral Home, 30 and niece, Caitlin; extended
gardens, and as a ercely their families; and many, many crises of life; a woman who felt Simcoe Road, Bradford, on family, and longtime friends.
competitive tennis player ("Tennis more colleagues and friends. deeply for others' troubles, and Monday, June 26, 2023, from Predeceased by his parents,
anyone?"). A Celebration of Life will be rejoiced with them in the good 6-8 p.m., with a Masonic Yutaka "Richard" and Aiko.
held on Saturday, June 24th, times. Service held under the Ken will be remembered for
The family would like to thank the 2 p.m. at 2445 Lake Shore Memorial service in Mount auspices of Simcoe Lodge his warmth, passion for music
sta s at Chartwell/Livita Blvd. W., Etobicoke. Pleasant Funeral Centre, June 29, No.79 A.F. & A.M., G.R.C. at 6 and his many other hobbies.
Centennial in Oshawa, and Amica 2023. Visitation at 10:30 a.m. p.m.
in Whitby, for the care they Service at 11:00 a.m., followed by In David's memory, donations A Funeral Service will take
provided Don in recent years. reception and interment of ashes. may be made to the Margaret place at 11:00 a.m. on
 
   For now we see through a glass, Bahen Hospice or to the Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at
A private Celebration of Life will 416-259-3705 darkly; but then face to face. charity of your choice. the Toronto Buddhist Church,
be held later this year in Quebec. RidleyFuneralHome.com I Cor. 13:12 1011 Sheppard Avenue West.
Exceeding Expectations for over 90 Years!

To view obituaries or to sign a guestbook, visit thestar.com/obituaries

ON0 ON SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
DEATH NOTICES IN MEMORIAM

BRUNO MOLLICA

It is with sadness that we

announce the passing of our
adored husband, papa, and
nonno, Bruno Mollica, on June 13,
2023, after a long battle with
cancer. Bruno passed surrounded
by love and is now able to rest,
having lived a life dedicated to his
family.
Bruno is the adored husband of
44 years to Rita; beloved papa to
Lisa (Mollica) and Peter Gentile, ANTONIO FERNANDES
and Kristina (Mollica) and Andrew
Askandar; and doting nonno to Happy Father's Day, Dad!
Lily and Matteo Gentile, and Laila Love, Richard
and Daniela Askandar. Bruno is
also remembered by his parents,
Frank and Mariebelle Mollica; as MALCOLM PENNY
well as his brothers and sisters, October 30, 1916 - June 18, 2004
Francine, Suzanne, Estelle, Rita,
Raymondo, Roberto and
Leonardo. He is also cherished by Every day in some small way
his countless nieces and Memories of you come our way;
nephews, great-nieces and Though absent,
nephews, and his loving sisters you are ever near,
and brothers-in-law. Still missed, and always loved.
Bruno will be remembered as a Pauline and Frank.
man with an unwavering
dedication to his family, an
unmatched work ethic, and a
commitment to helping anyone
and everyone that needed it. His
deep e ect on the lives of so
many people has been evident
during his illness, and the support
felt by his family is a testament to
his impact on the world.
All are welcome to join the family
at a visitation at Meadowvale
Funeral Centre on June 20, 2023,
from 2:00-4:00 and 6:00-8:00
p.m. Funeral Mass at St. TERRY SMITH
Leonard's Parish (187 Conestoga
Dr., Brampton) on June 21, 2023,
at 10:00 a.m. In loving memory of Terry.
In lieu of owers, the family asks Sadly missed by daughter,
that donations be made in his Dr. Ashley and wife
name to Our Place Peel Youth
Shelter or the Canadian Wildlife
Federation.

ANNABELLE JEAN
CHARLIE BYRNES
February 13, 1934 -
January 14, 2015 WHERE LIVES PASS,
LEGACIES CARRY ON
SPRANG
(nee McCONKEY) Dear Dad:

Our 9th Father's Day without

Peacefully, and surrounded by you. Missing you and your

FOREVER.
her family, on June 15, 2023, smile beyond words. We trust
Annabelle Jean Sprang (nee you and Missy are taking
McConkey) passed away, at good care of each other. We
age 85. Ann, as she was miss you both SO MUCH.
known to her family and many
friends, lived a full and active HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
Celebrate the life
life right up to the last few
months. While her greatest With much love always,
joy came from spending time Charlotte, Glen and Nancy
with her family, especially her
grandchildren, she also loved
xoxo of your loved one
the great outdoors and the
simple pleasure of walking in
the woods and she had a
JOSEPH BATTY
December 16, 1928 - June 18, 2022
by helping to build
great passion for music which
was expressed through
A year has gone by but the
a new SickKids for
singing in and directing
barbershop choruses and
quartets, which she did for
heartache remains. I miss you so!
We love you. future generations.
many years. Predeceased by Your wife Lynn, daughter Ann,
her parents, Orville and Jean and sons Ian and David.
(nee Tully) McConkey; and her
brother, Ron; Ann is survived WILLIAM THOMAS CRAIG
It’s going to take all of us
by her sister, Brenda; her
husband, Ken; her children, Missing you on this rst Father's
to build a new SickKids.
Geo (Michele) and Jenny
(Mark); and her three
Day without you. You were the
best father and I love you dearly. A new SickKids will mean
grandchildren, Christian, Hug mom and Tammy for me.
Benjamin and Evelyne. The
family wishes to express their
Love you forever, Kelly xoxo more lives saved, and allow
deep gratitude to the sta of
Hospice Simcoe who took SickKids to keep providing
such outstanding care of Ann
during her nal days. In lieu of To place world-class care, not limited
owers, the family would
prefer donations to the a death or by a 70-year-old hospital.
Canadian Cancer Society.
in memoriam A new SickKids will mean
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
for every family.
“BRING BACK LIFEGUARDS”
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JOHN WATT
Email: wattj928@gmail.com
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 ON0

WORLD | N E WS | A17

Union rally kicks off Biden campaign

U.S. president strikes economic populist tone during first campaign event for 2024 election

SEUNG MIN KIM
AND WILL WEISSERT
PHILADELPHIA U.S. President
Joe Biden delivered an unapologet-
ically economic populist message
Saturday during the first rally of his
reelection campaign, telling an exu-
berant crowd of union members
that his policies had created jobs
and lifted the middle class. Now, he
said, is the time for the wealthy to
“pay their fair share” in taxes.
Biden spotlighted the sweeping
climate, tax and health care pack-
age signed into law last year that cut
the cost of prescription drugs and
lowered insurance premiums —
pocketbook issues that advisers say
will be the centrepiece of his argu-
ment for a second term.
“I’m looking forward to this cam-
paign,” Biden said to cries of “four
more years!” before adding, “We’ve
got a record to run on.”
His choice of Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania — and a friendly
union audience — as his first official
campaign stop reflected their cru-
cial role in his reelection effort. The
city was the site of his 2020 cam-
paign headquarters and the state
was one of a handful that had voted
for Republican Donald Trump in
2016 but flipped back to Democrats
four years later.
Until the rally, Biden’s primary re-
election campaign activity had
been fundraising as the campaign
tries to amass an impressive fund-
raising haul before the year’s sec-
ond quarter concludes at the end of
the month.
The president raised money at a
private home in Greenwich, Conn.,
on Friday and soon will hold fund-
raisers in California, Maryland, Illi-
nois and New York.
More than 1,000 union workers
representing professions from car-
penters and airport service workers
to entertainers and heavy service
equipment engineers — most wear-
ing T-shirts bearing their union’s
logos — began chanting “Let’s go,
Joe!” and “We want Joe” and blow-
ing whistles hours before the presi-
dent arrived.
Biden did not mention any of his
Republican opponents by name,
but said many in the GOP “oppose
everything I’ve done.” Pointing to
high inflation rates, Republicans
have criticized “Biden-omics” a
term the president tried to turn
back his opponents on Saturday.
Joe Biden’s “I don’t know what the hell that
2024 campaign is,” he said, “but it’s working.”
was officially The event, which organizers said
endorsed by included unions representing 18
several of the million workers nationwide, re-
U.S.’s most called then-candidate Biden open-
powerful ing his 2020 presidential campaign
unions on at a union hall in Pittsburgh.
Friday. Several of the nation’s most pow-
erful unions — including the AFL-
CIO, American Federation of
Teachers and the American Feder-
ation of State, County and Munici-
pal Employees — officially en-
dorsed Biden’s campaign on Friday.
The first-of-its-kind joint endorse-
ment among the unions, and the
backdrop of hundreds of workers
are part of a meticulously choreo-
graphed effort to show the support
of labour behind what Biden him-
self calls the most pro-union presi-
dent in history.
The union endorsements fol-
lowed Wednesday’s joint endorse-
ment from major environmental
groups, a back-to-back backing by
design, according to a campaign of-
ficial, meant to demonstrate that
tackling climate change through
green jobs does not threaten work-
ers’ rights.
Biden claimed in his remarks that
if Wall Street bankers went on
strike, no one would notice. But if
unions members walked off the job,
“the whole country would come to
a grinding halt.” He also criticized
those worth more than $1 billion
(U.S.) for paying, he said, as little as
8 per cent in federal taxes.
That prompted a man in the audi-
ence to shout, “What do you pay?”
to which Biden responded, “I pay a
hell of a lot more than that.”
THE A SS O CI ATE D P R E SS

Saudi foreign minister visits Iran MICHIGAN

Meeting is part of restoration of diplomatic ties after a seven-year rift
T H E A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
T E H R A N Saudi Arabia’s foreign
minister arrived in Iran’s capital on
Saturday, the latest step in the res-
toration of diplomatic ties between
the two Mideast rivals, Iranian
state media reported.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan was offi-
cially welcomed by his Iranian
counterpart, Hossein Amirabdolla-
hian, Iran TV said. He carried a
message from the Saudi king to Ira-
nian President Ebrahim Raisi and
the two were due to meet later Sat-
urday, Iran TV said.
Later, Prince Faisal said Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman
and King Salman officially invited
Raisi to visit Saudi Arabia, accord-
ing to the state TV broadcast of a
joint news conference.
The visit comes after U.S. Secre-
tary of State Antony Blinken visited
Saudi Arabia earlier in June. In
March, Iran and Saudi Arabia
agreed to re-establish diplomatic
relations and reopen embassies af-
ter seven years of tensions. The
move sent shock waves through the
Middle East, especially Israel,
Iran’s arch-enemy.
Prince Faisal was expected to offi-
cially inaugurate the kingdom’s
embassy in Tehran later Saturday.
Until the mission is completed, em-
ployees were working from a Teh-
ran hotel, Iran TV said.
Both nations reopened their dip-
lomatic missions in recent weeks.
The agreement to reestablish dip-
lomatic relations was a major
POLAND
Iranian Foreign breakthrough brokered by China
Minister that lowered the chances of further
Hossein Amir- conflict between Riyadh and Teh-
Abdollahian, ran — both directly and in proxy
right, welcomed conflicts around the region.
Saudi Amirabdollahian said at a joint
counterpart news conference that the two sides
Prince Faisal bin discussed co-operating on regional
Farhan in security and other topics. “We
Tehran on voiced our concern about the con-
Saturday. tinuation of war in Sudan and dis-
cussed some regional and interna-
tional topics of interest,” he said.
AT TA K E N AR E Raisi, in a meeting with Farhan
AFP V IA G E T T Y the Saudi foreign minister, wel-
IMAGE S comed the establishment of rela-
tions between Tehran and Riyadh,
according to the president’s web-
site. He said the only enemy of
Muslims is the “Zionist regime,” re-
ferring to Israel. Raisi said the nor-
malization of relations with Israel
by some countries is not only a se-
curity issue but also against the Is-
lamic community’s wishes.
One of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s greatest for-
eign policy triumphs remains Isra-
el’s U.S.-brokered normalization
deals in 2020 with four Arab states,
including Bahrain and the United
Arab Emirates. They were part of a
wider push to isolate Iran in the
region.
Man charged
with threat
of synagogue
massacre
FBI tipped off by
online posts that
glorified shootings
T H E A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
D E T R O I T A19-year-old Michigan
man has been charged with threat-
ening a mass killing at a synagogue
on the fifth anniversary of the mas-
sacre at two New Zealand mosques
by a white supremacist gunman,
federal officials say.
Seann Patrick Pietila of Pickford, a
township in Michigan’s Upper Pen-
insula, was arrested Friday and
charged with transmitting a com-
munication containing a threat to
injure another, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office said. Prosecutors say he
planned to target the Shaarey Ze-
dek congregation in East Lansing.
He allegedly made threats on so-
cial media, including Instagram,
that included comments about
neo-Nazi ideology, antisemitism
and glorifying mass shootings, most
notably the 2019 mosque shootings
in Christchurch, New Zealand, The
Detroit News reported.
Pietila was arrested the same day a
truck driver was convicted of
storming a Pittsburgh synagogue in
2018 and fatally shooting 11 congre-
gants in an act of antisemitic terror.
The attack at the Tree of Life syna-
gogue was the deadliest attack on
Jews in U.S. history and came after

U.S. ambassador marches in Warsaw Pride
Participation sends message to NATO ally with anti-LGBTQ government
VA N E S S A G E R A
WA R S AW The United States am-
bassador held a U.S. flag high as he
marched in the yearly Pride parade
in Warsaw on Saturday, a clear mes-
sage of Washington’s opposition to
discrimination in a country where
LGBTQ people are facing an uphill
struggle.
“America embraces equality,”
Mark Brzezinski said, as he
marched with more than 30 other
members of the U.S. Embassy and
alongsides representatives from
Canada, Austria and other western
countries in the Equality Parade.
In recent years western govern-
ments have been alarmed by a con-
servative government in Warsaw
that depicts LGBTQ people as
threats to the nation and its chil-
dren. The participation of the U.S.
ambassador sent a clear message to
the government of Poland, a NATO
member on the alliance’s eastern
flank where the U.S. has increased
its military presence since Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine last year.
Poland has for decades consid-
ered Washington its key guarantor
mate of hostility from the govern-
ment and Catholic Church. LGBTQ
members have been especially wor-
ried because of elections this fall.
The conservative nationalist ruling
party, Law and Justice, has openly
criticized the community ahead of
past elections, an attempt to mobi-
lize its conservative base.
As Polish President Andrzej Duda
campaigned for re-election in
2020, he called the promotion of
LGBTQ rights an “ideology” more
destructive than communism. The
education minister, who oversees
schools, was appointed to that job
after saying LGBTQ members are
not equal to “normal people.”
Last summer, the ruling party
CZ AR E K S OKO LOWS K I T H E ASS O C I AT E D P R E SS leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski,
mocked transgender people, saying
of security, but the importance of U.S. “we must protect ourselves from
U.S. protection has only grown with Ambassador madness.”
the war playing out across its bor- Mark And this spring, Poland’s commis-
der in Ukraine. Brzezinski sioner for children’s rights ordered
The U.S. is also seen as a guarantor waves an inspections of schools ranked as
of protection to the LGBTQ com- American flag the most LGBTQ-friendly, saying
munity, which a few years ago was at the Equality he wanted to make sure principals
fighting for the right of same-sex Parade were checking their employees
union or marriage, but recently had in Warsaw against a pedophile registry.
been more concerned about a cli- on Saturday. T H E A SS O C I AT E D P R E SS
the attacker had ranted incessantly
on social media about his hatred of
Jewish people.
Rabbi Amy Bigman of Shaarey Ze-
dek said the synagogue had notified
its congregation of 220 families af-
ter learning Friday afternoon about
the investigation from FBI agents,
and that an arrest had been made
and that person had been charged.
“We wanted our congregation to
know that federal, state and local
authorities are aware of the situa-
tion that didn’t happen because our
law enforcement was on top of
things, which we are thankful for,”
Bigman told The Detroit News.
She said the synagogue was main-
taining its usual security measures.
The investigation began with a tip
earlier this week that someone was
making threats on Instagram to
commit a mass killing, according to
acriminal complaint filed in federal
court.
When FBI agents arrested Pietila
at his home Friday, they found a
cache of weapons, knives, tactical
equipment, a red-and-white Nazi
flag and makeshift plans for killing
members of the Shaarey Zedek
congregation on March 15, 2024,
according to the complaint.
Pietila is being held temporarily
without bond pending a detention
hearing Thursday in federal court
in Grand Rapids. He faces up to five
years in federal prison.
ON0 ON
A18 |
TOGETHER
Scarborough Town Centre is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the temporary return of the hot air balloons that used to entertain generations of children.
INFLATION CONTINUES
Scarborough Town Centre’s iconic hot air balloons are back. And people are emotional
K AT I E DA U B S
SENIOR WRITER
In the middle of the Scarborough
Town Centre, just past the churn-
ing fluff machine at Build-A-Bear
workshop, something is mesmeriz-
ing shoppers.
It’s not the exhibit of the mall’s 50
years, where you’ll find photos of
pet talent shows, beauty pageants,
and the Barenaked Ladies donating
blood, although that is definitely
worth your time. It’s floating above,
in tandem with all that history be-
low: the balloons.
Kerry-Ann Crawford, 43, looks up
with delighted reverence. When
she was a kid, the hot air balloons
put you under a spell as they rose
and fell, powered by heat and un-
seen magnets and barely percep-
tible guide wires. When she was a
teenager, and Toonie Tuesdays at
the movies and KFC made you feel
rich, nobody had a cellphone. But
they had the balloons, and that’s
where they met.
When the balloons disappeared in
2009 because of building code up-
dates, Crawford didn’t notice. But
like most Scarborough kids, she
missed what they represented: her
childhood.
As the mall celebrates its 50th an-
niversary this year, it has brought
back the balloons for a short stay.
Even though they are no longer ris-
ing and falling — the bespoke heat-
ing system is long gone — it doesn’t
matter. People seek them out like
an old friend, phones held aloft in
disbelief. “Honestly, it’s beautiful to
have them back,” Crawford says.
Before there were hot air balloons
in this climate-controlled mall,
there was farmland. In the 1970s, in
a copse of trees south of Highway
401 at McCowan Road, a new sign
appeared: a mall was coming soon.
It would be an integral piece of a
new development that included a
civic centre and office towers, part
of a new “downtown” for the
sprawling borough. It would be
Scarborough’s answer to Yorkdale
mall, a tourist attraction in its own
right, and politicians hoped it
would elevate the world’s under-
standing of Scarborough beyond
the Bick’s pickle factory and the
bluffs.
Balloons a ‘last-minute addition’
From the outset, the mall had a flair
for civic grandeur. When Scarbor-
ough Town Centre opened in May
1973, one child from every school in
the borough cut the ribbon, as the
local MPP pronounced it the “fin-
est shopping centre on the North
American continent.” When 17,000
people crammed into the Y-shaped
mall, no reporters mentioned the
balloons. Maybe you couldn’t see
them beyond all the people, or per-
haps they weren’t yet operational.
According to the mall’s history, they
were a “last-minute addition” in-
stalledin a serpentine fountain out-
side of the Simpsons department
store.
In the 1970s, the hot air balloon
industry was changing the advertis-
ing game. In Ontario, there was a
handful of people who could make
or fly the whimsical conveyances.
They were floating billboards and
Labatt Blue, Export A, Pepsi-Cola,
and Re/Max, all had one. Why
shouldn’t Scarborough Town Cen-
tre?
According to the mall, a firm
called Beal and Heard designed the
original balloon setup, and Peter
Owens — one of Canada’s hot air
balloon pioneers, then in his early
20s — supplied the balloons made
from parachute silk.
Larry Horrak, who had a balloon-
ing business with Owens, remem-
bers going to the mall to check
them out.
“Kids and adults would guess to
see how long it would take, which
one would fly first,” he says. “It was
a moving, dynamic display. It was a
centrepoint for the mall.”
In the 1990s, Bruce Blanchard of
Kawartha Balloons, took over the
file, sourcing lightweight sailing
fabric from the U.S. It usually took a
week of design and sewing in his
workshop to make a batch of five
balloons with fun flourishes like
pennants, scallops and seasonal de-
signs. He’d drive them to Scarbor-
ough, snap a photo, and return in
six or seven months with a new
batch. He even made a snowman
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
Celebrating
people & places
A NDR E W F R A NCI S WA L L ACE TO RO NTO STA R
with a top hat one year.
Blanchard hadn’t thought about
any of this in years and so it was “a
bit of a shock” to get a call from the
mall earlier this year asking if he
could make a few more.
Petition to bring balloons back
In the intervening years, an appre-
ciation of his work had been fanned
by social media nostalgia. In 2021,
Jesse Asido, the creator of Insta-
gram’s Scarborough Spots, started a
petition to bring the balloons back.
He’s worked with the mall in the
past, and this March they gave him
a call.
“We had a two-hour meeting that
was called ‘the balloon meeting’
which is hilarious as a 38-year-old
man … but I know how much these
balloons mean to Scarborough,” he
says.
“We have this emotional connec-
Visitors to the tion to them,” he continues. They
Scarborough were the iPads of their time —
Town Centre something a tired parent could rely
take in a photo on for a break. For many immigrant
display marking families, they were a point of pride,
the mall’s 50th to photograph and show family
anniversary as back home, he says.
hot air balloons For Asido, they’re especially poi-
fly overhead. gnant because so many touch-
stones of his Scarborough child-
hood are completely gone — turned
ANDREW into condominiums or retail.
FRANCIS “It’s extremely rare for anything
WALLACE to come back,” he says. “I think
TO RO N TO STA R that’s why Scarborough is really
loving these balloons. It’s a little bit
of hysteria. When I was there the
first day, it was almost like people
were losing their minds a little bit.”
For Randell Adjei, the Scarbor-
ough-raised poet laureate of Onta-
The hot air rio, the balloons are a metaphor for
balloons were a Scarborough’s rise. “They just had
mainstay from this sense of elevation, this sense of
1974 through togetherness, you know? We’re all
2009. in the balloon together rising up.”
Kerry-Ann Crawford grew up in
Malvern, and her husband grew up
SCA R B O RO UGH in southwest Scarborough. For
TOW N C E NTR E both of them, this was the place, the
centre of their universe — especial-
ly after the Scarborough RT con-
‘‘
nected the mall to the subway line.
“Scarborough Town Centre is the
heart of Scarborough,” she says.
“Although a mall is generally like
We have this the centre of capitalism, it’s more
than that,” says Adjei. “It’s about
emotional community. It’s about my friends
connection to that I met at the mall, the memories
them. that I have there, the experiences
that I’ve had, the movies that I
watch, you know?”
J E S S E A S I DO “It’s the gathering place,” he says.
SC A R B O RO UGH “There’s something special about
SP O TS it.”
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 ON0

TOGETHER | A19

‘One time
for the ends’
Scarborough Shooting Stars looks to shine
light on city’s hotbed of basketball talent

LIBAAN OSMAN ough parents had to trek down-

TO R O N TO S TA R
When Sam Ibrahim heard some-
one else was trying to bring a pro-
fessional basketball team to Scar-
borough, he knew there could only
be one other person crazy enough.
At the time, there was no arena
hosting pro games in the area, no
solid infrastructure nor corporate
support. Why go to all this trouble
to start a Scarborough basketball
team from scratch?
But both Ibrahim, an entrepre-
neur who grew up in Scarborough,
and Nicholas Carino a.k.a. OVO Ni-
ko, a founding member of Drake’s
October’s Very Own brand, had the
same vision.
Now, the two are in their second
season as co-owners of the Scarbor-
ough Shooting Stars, part of the Ca-
nadian Elite Basketball League, the
premier men’s professional basket-
ball league in Canada, which start-
ed in 2019.
They hosted their first home game
in early June at the Toronto Pan
Am Sports Centre, bringing basket-
ball fans from across the city to
Morningside and Ellesmere.
Down to the team’s dance crew
and the food service at games — the
Shooting Stars are Scarborough-
centric. Soca, dancehall and afro-
beat play during time outs, and Ja-
maican beef patties and samosas
are served throughout the game.
The team’s slogan, “One Time for
the Ends” — posted in caps all over
one side of the venue — means so
much to everyone.
Gone are the days when Scarbor-
town to take their kids to a basket-
ball game. They finally have some-
thing they can call their own.
“You need to feel the difference
between watching an NBA game
and our basketball game,” said Cari-
no. “We’re showing a little piece of
Scarborough culture.”
Scarborough has been a hotbed of
basketball talent for years. From
current NBA player Nickeil Alexan-
der-Walker to locals who made it to
the league, like Justin Jackson and
Kyle Alexander, over the years
Scarborough has been responsible
for some of the best basketball tal-
ent to come out of Canada.
This year, a Scarborough private
school — Royal Crown Academic —
won the Ontario Scholastic Basket-
ball Association Championship. Al-
so, Scarborough native Leonard
Miller is projected to be one of the
only Canadians selected in the
2023 NBA draft.
That’s why it made sense for Ibra-
him and Carino to advocate for a
pro team in Scarborough. Not only
does a team showcase the talent
that’s already been flourishing, it’s
also an opportunity to give back to
the place where both owners devel-
oped a passion for the sport.
Carino, a 38-year-old Scarbor-
ough native, used to walk from his
parents’ home and dribble his ball
past the Sheppard Avenue Bridge,
all the way to Scarborough Town
Centre, and wait to play at the local
YMCA.
“To have a professional team in
Scarborough to me is mind-bog-
gling,” Carino said. “We never had
that growing up. We never saw that,
although there’s a lot of great talent
that’s come from Scarborough. …
This was an opportunity to shed a
light on Scarborough.”
He grew up playing club basket-
ball with the Scarborough Blues,
and in their free time, he and his
friends would travel across Scar-
borough looking for pickup games.
Ibrahim was also an avid basket-
ball player when he was growing up
in community housing in Scarbor-
ough. He’s since become president
of a workplace recruitment compa-
ny and has reinvested in his home-
town through business and basket-
ball.
This year he invested $25 million
in a partnership with the Universi-
ty of Toronto Scarborough to create
a namesake entrepreneurship cen-
tre. And he was a founding member
of Playground Global, which
opened its first basketball facility in
Scarborough.
“Honestly, owning the team is al-
most like us giving back,” Ibrahim
said. “It’s really about community
engagement and involvement.”
To build out the Shooting Stars’
staff, they sought talent with the
same local roots.
Former NBA all-star and Toronto
Raptors development consultant
Jamaal Magloire is the team’s vice-
president and senior adviser.
Sam Ibrahim, Head coach Chris Exilus formerly
left, and played in the NCAA and coached
Nicholas Carino Carino growing up.
are in their “Being from here, we always talk
second season about the water is different up
as co-owners here,” said Exilus. Bringing the
of the whole city here for a change is spe-
Scarborough cial, he added. “We’re bringing light
Shooting Stars, to something that was already shin-
part of the ing. It’s always been great here, it’s
Canadian Elite always been a great community …
Basketball but now with the Shooting Stars up
League. here, we’re bringing light to those
people.”
The team has partnered with Jus-
PLACE NE W tice Fund Toronto, which supports
STUDI O S those in conflict with the law, to
help connect with the broader
community. They’ve created a fel-
lowship program to give youth in
Scarborough an opportunity to
gain firsthand experience working
in a sports industry environment.
Entering their second season in
the CEBL, both Ibrahim and Cari-
no are hoping to bring home a title.
The team currently holds a 2-4 re-
cord to start the 2023 season, sit-
ting third in the CEBL’s eastern
conference.
“This team is for the community,
it’s about the community, run by
guys who are from this communi-
ty,” said Ibrahim. “It’s a great place
to take your family … and we want
as many people to experience it as
possible.”

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ON0 ON
A20 | TO GET H E R
Atouch of
CLASS
Etobicoke teacher’s fashion sense
and love of educating are helping her
pull in TikTok views, followers
M A D I S O N WO N G
TO R O N TO S TA R
Before her classroom fills up with
students, TDSB teacher Zahra Has-
san will quickly set up her phone
and use the aisles between the
empty desks to create a runway to
show off her teacher outfit of the
week.
Sporting looks like oversized
sports jerseys and pastel suits and
dancing to sped-up throwback
songs, the Grade 8 math teacher
showcases a vibrant fashion sense
and personality that have captured
the attention of thousands on Tik-
Tok.
“What if our teachers were slay-
ing, we just didn’t know?” reads one
comment.
In this case, Hassan’s students
recognize her iconic fashion sense
— they were the ones who insisted
she make a TikTok account two
years ago.
To her surprise, the videos on her
account, @misswondroussoul,
picked up traction almost immedi-
ately. Many have gone viral, she’s
amassed over 82,000 followers and
S TA R S
MECCA
WOODS
HOROSCOPES
Although we had a new moon just
a couple of hours after midnight,
the lunar vibes are still fresh as we
begin the day.
While we usually set intentions at
a new moon, we might want to hold
off on launching big plans for now.
We may be too foggy to handle
things effectively.
On a positive note, this could be a
good day to spend time with fami-
ly, do home-related chores or
indulge in some self-pampering.
Working on creative ideas or en-
gaging with art can be fulfilling as
well.
ARIES
(March 21 to April 19)
You don’t need to put any more
activities on your calendar right
now. What you need is a relaxing
day at home or some quality time
with family.
TAURUS
(April 20 to May 20)
three million likes, and commen-
ters who have long left middle
school lament that they didn’t have
a teacher like her.
“Growing up, I didn’t have any
teachers that looked like me,” the
Etobicoke-based teacher said. “So
this is me, putting myself out there
… I wanted to be my most authentic
self — this is Ms. Hassan.”
Hassan says that with her social
presence, other Somali folks have
started to approach her around the
city and praise her for representing
their communities online and in
the Toronto education system.
“Because of the systems in place,
there were never opportunities for
people like us to take up space in
such an authentic way,” said Has-
san.
“When people see representation,
and they see themselves on plat-
forms … they can relate just off the
bat. It’s such a beautiful feeling.”
Hassan takes the role an educator
has in students’ lives seriously. She
still recalls comments from some of
her own teachers and guidance
counsellors that made her feel less-
than, so she has made it her mission
Try not to stress about the future or
something that may be temporarily
out of your reach. Reframe any
negative thoughts. Make a list of
the positives in your life.
GEMINI
(May 21 to June 20)
You might not be feeling super
confident today. Think about some
of the qualities that you appreciate
about yourself and keep them at
the forefront of your mind.
CANCER
(June 21 to July 22)
Who and what inspires you? You’re
encouraged to seek them out,
especially if you’re feeling melan-
choly or anxious. Doing good for
others can also raise your vibra-
tion.
LEO
(July 23 to Aug. 22)
Don’t be so quick to make yourself
available to folks. You’ll do a lot
better enjoying some quiet time
alone.
VIRGO
(Aug. 23 to Sept. 22)
Be mindful of who you decide to
team up with or the new commit-
ments you take on. Make sure the
opportunity is the right fit for you.
to do the opposite.
“I remember telling myself, if I
ever became an educator, I never
ever want to make my students feel
small. I want them to feel as big as
humanly possible,” Hassan said.
“It’s important to create a space
that is positive, where students can
be themselves, where they can
bring their identities (and) inter-
ests into the classroom, and it’d be
reflected right back through the
curriculum that I’m teaching.”
Her content is now a mix of her
daily outfits, day-in-the-life-of-a-
teacher vlogs and musings on what
it’s like being a new educator. Addi-
tionally, she posts about her pas-
sions outside of the classroom, her
involvement in community groups
like Fikia Dada Rescue Centre,
which raises money for school tu-
ition for girls in Kenya, and local
non-profit Smile for Sache, which
supports vulnerable communities
and those impacted by gun vio-
lence.
Hassan’s following is made up of
not just students who find her on-
line. The community of #Teacher-
Tok is filled with educators who
LIBRA
(Sept. 23 to Oct. 22)
Before you jump to the next project
or idea, make sure to complete
what you’ve already started. If
you’re starting something new,
take the process slowly.
SCORPIO
(Oct. 23 to Nov. 21)
If you’re on the fence about a ro-
mantic interest or you sense some-
thing’s up with your partner, talk
about it. An honest conversation
can clear the air.
SAGITTARIUS
(Nov. 22 to Dec. 21)
Avoid overextending yourself to
people. Be a bit more protective of
your heart, energy or resources.
CAPRICORN
(Dec. 22 to Jan. 19)
Things may not go according to
plan today. You could end up feel-
ing like you’re going in circles.
Maybe that’s your cue to go and
have some fun or ask for some
backup.
AQUARIUS
(Jan. 20 to Feb. 18)
Don’t undersell your talent. Your
time and skills are valuable. Mean-
while, giving a little love to your
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
Zahra Hassan, share both jokes and support with
a Grade 8 math colleagues.
teacher in Due to the pandemic, most of
Etobicoke, has Hassan’s full-time teaching career
gained millions had been virtual. And although she
of likes on supply-taught in person before, she
TikTok for her admits that transitioning to in-per-
fashion sense son teaching with her own class felt
and vibrant daunting.
personality. But the global community on
#TeacherTok came through with
resources and encouragement.
RICHARD
L AUTE N S
In fact, another social app, Club-
house, connected Hassan with Eri-
P H OTO S
TO RO N TO STA R
trean educator Aya Jowhar, who
now teaches Grade 6 at the same
school.
Jowhar says her friend and co-
worker’s “welcoming aura” shines
bright, noting that Hassan often
‘‘
keeps her class open during lunch-
time, holds extracurricular activi-
ties for students and cares about
their mental health.
When Jowhar also admires that Hassan
is breaking stereotypical ideas of
people see
what teachers should look like.
represent- “Sometimes when you go to her
ation, and comments, there’s a lot of positives.
they see But there’s always a couple where
themselves people point out, ‘That’s not how a
teacher should dress.’ But we’re all
on platforms diverse, right? So we can express
… they can ourselves through our clothing,
relate just which is something she does so
off the bat. beautifully,” said Jowhar.
It’s such a Hassan emphasizes that it’s im-
portant other young, racialized
beautiful teachers or teachers-to-be use their
feeling. voices and are unafraid to make a
mark in the education system.
“If you are leading with good, only
Z A H R A HA S S A N good will come. If you’re taking the
T D S B T E A CHE R time to understand the school, the
community and immerse yourself
and really get to know your stu-
dents in every aspect, I think you’re
going to be amazing,” said Hassan.
“Sometimes we take it for granted
because we’re just doing a job. But
representation, again, does matter
so much.”
home space can support your
well-being.
PISCES
(Feb. 19 to March 20)
You’re encouraged to do some-
thing self-affirming today. Put
yourself out there by doing some-
thing bold. Take a creative risk or
experiment with your personal
style.
“Game of FOR TODAY’S BIRTHDAY
Thrones” You’re tough as nails, but you’re
star Richard also sentimental and sweet. You
Madden work hard, and you love hard, too.
turns 37 today. No matter what happens in life,
you’ll stick by the people you love
and weather the storms with them.
You’re perceptive, innovative and
consistent. You often hit your goals
because of your savviness and
willpower. Although you love to
win, you’re not scared to lose or
make mistakes. You know that
growth doesn’t come without a few
growing pains. This year, the future
looks bright with career and fi-
nances. What you want is within
reach.
BIRTHDATE OF:
Richard Madden, actor;
Evan Mobley, pro basketball player;
Kim Dickens, actor.

PUZZLES
ON0 ON
& BRAIN SNACKS
GUARDIAN CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Bear under repaired
end of bridge (6)
4 Record spread of
congestion (3,3)
9 Hackneyed collection
of jottings? (11,4)
10 Smile and leave
American to Mexican
(6)
11 Sensible to follow
sourpuss, but not
straightforwardly (8)
12 Unable to cope with a
fork supper? (8)
14 It’s Red Revolution,
the worst (6)
15 This boxer is chicken
(6)
18 Weapon made by boy,
no dove (8)
21 Starve, if thrown out of
such a hotel (4-4)
22 Stay on the wing (6)
24 Stay calm to avoid
sunburn (4,4,5,2)
25 Stagger time with
swimmer (6)
26 Keen about demand
for patterned material
(6)
DOWN
1 Selfish behaviour to
gripe about (3,4)
2 Evil spirit making
November follow
March (5)
SUNDAY CROSSWORD
BUILDING BLOCKS: A well-structured puzzle
ACROSS
1 Louvre’s Venus __
7 Recurring themes
13 Docs
20 How police may act
21 Skillful
22 Paint remover
ingredient
23 Performance in
outdoor public spaces
25 One far from a star
26 Become absorbed in
thought
27 Actress Thurman
28 Uncanny glow
30 Take a crack __
31 Bovine bellows
34 Kind of roast
36 Mid-March VIP
37 Bit of baby talk
38 Assist
39 Dubbed ones
41 Sits in hot water
43 Long tales
44 Traditional in nature
47 Be furious
48 Hold back, as breath
49 Unsatisfactory
50 Loud speaker
52 Choose
54 Stash cash
57 Quick cuts
58 Sentry’s command
60 Mid-body joint
62 Do not exist,
informally
63 Choreography,
essentially
64 Work hard
65 Wrestler/actor John
66 One concerned with
nest eggs
67 Midwest hub
68 Saldaña, in Star Trek
69 Angler’s spool
70 Those, in Spain
71 Penpoints
72 Part of the media
73 Kenyan people
74 __ Faire (jousting
venue)
75 The depleted __ Sea
76 High-strung
77 Opposite of 44
Across
78 “Swell!”
80 Pass by
82 Food court locale
83 Small bay
84 Website with
Throwback Thursday
crosswords
85 Weep
90 Skiers’ transportation
92 JFK commanded one
in WWII
94 Significant others,
these days
95 Tiny taste of tea
96 It’s southwest of
UConn
97 Job openings
98 Fusses
100 Do a vet’s job
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR A21

KAKURO Best described as a number
crossword, the task in
Kakuro is to fill all of the
empty squares, using
numbers 1 to 9, so the sum
of each horizontal block
equals the number to its
left, and the sum of each
vertical block equals the
No. 28,220 number on its top.
set by Vulcan LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
WORLD’S SMALLEST CROSSWORD
CLUES ACROSS CLUES DOWN
1: Italian sauce (4) 2: Rigor of a fever (4)
5: Pain (sl) (3) 3: Spirited dance form (4)
6: Tower in the water (3) 4: To a higher position (2)
7: Riffle (4) 6: (Chem) symbol thallium (2)
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
ACROSS: 1 Cat, 4 Tire, 5 Rait, 6 Yod
DOWN: 1 Ciao, 2 Arid, 3 Tet, 4 Try
DISTRIBUTED BY KNIGHT FEATURES, #3932
3 End call, engagement 18 Force one’s way WUZZLES DON’T QUOTE ME
being cancelled? (4,3) through American BY TOM UNDERWOOD BY WIGGLES 3D INCORPORATED
THEME
5 One’s work here street (6) Are You with Me?
should bear fruit (7) 19 Transform one with a Rearrange the words below to complete
6 Value of sacred book pain reliever (7) the quotes.
for fussy functionary 20 Member of scrum CUT DEBATE GREAT LEADERS OFFER
(9) supports midweek SOLUTION UNDERSTAND
7 Chairman’s match (7) “Great _______ are almost always _______ simpli-
supporters? (7) 23 From south, excellent fiers who can ____ through argument, _______
and doubt to _______ a __________ everybody can
8 Put third at worst (6) railway going to the __________.”
13 In awkward North Country (5)
- Colin Powell (1937-2021) U.S. statesman
position,
sort of fine ENCOURAGE NOT OWN STRONG THEIRS
THINGS
(2-3-4)
“_______ leaders __________ you to do _______ for
16 Insect eating
your ____ benefit, ____ just _______.”
citrus for food
- Tim Tebow (1987-) U.S. football player
(7)
17 Show inmate
reforming, TRIVIA
1. Who is next in line for
getting parole at
the British throne after
last (7) King Charles III?
See answers below 2. What Canadian
women’s magazine
began publishing in
by Gary M. Larson 1928?
3. Who won the sup-
porting actor Oscar for
‘Everything Everywhere
101 Calligraphy mishap All at Once’?
102 Arrived
103 Sign of a stage hit 4. What did climber
104 Bugs Bunny’s Laurie Skreslet become
girlfriend the first Canadian to do
107 Gave as a bonus in 1982?
109 Ginger ale mocktail
115 Lower body exercise 5. What towering
116 Deep dish Toronto landmark
117 Postponed discussing opened in June 1976?
118 Garden lattice 6. Who was the first
119 Gave the OK
120 Green-lighted woman to fly across the
Atlantic Ocean solo in
DOWN 1932?
1 Preceder of Windows 7. What character on
2 AMA member ‘The Simpsons’ owned
specialty
3 Scratch up the local bar named
4 Lines on an invoice after him?
5 In __ of (replacing) 8. What became
6 Decides (to) Canada’s first urban
7 __-jongg park in the eastern GTA
8 Concert hall
9 Walks heavily in 2015?
10 Slightest trace 9. For what winter sport
11 Giant’s interjection has Cindy Klassen won
heard by Jack six Olympic medals?
12 Military board game
13 Plaid cotton fabric 10. What large national
14 Sparkling success park lies north of Banff
15 Agnus __ (Mass and east of Mount
prayer) Robson?
16 Appointment
confirmation ANSWERS:
17 Dairy product with Park
curds
18 Central New York lake
10. Jasper National
19 Some mattresses 9. speed skating
24 What a brat might be 6/18/23
called 73 Sheds, as feathers Urban Park
29 The Senate, for 75 Off-road rides, for 8. Rouge National
instance short 7. Moe Szyslak
31 Opponent of Chiang 76 Polynesian tubers
32 Squeak silencer 77 Fabricated LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 6. Amelia Earhart
33 Eccentric 79 Predict 5. the CN Tower
35 GI support group 81 Doctor’s orders
36 What some tickets 82 Paltry 4. climb Mount Everest
reserve 86 Venerable movie 3. Ke Huy Quan
39 Advance soldier channel
40 Denny’s alternative 87 African snake
2. ‘Chatelaine’
42 Ensnares 88 Southwestern creek 1. Prince William
43 Popcorn topping 89 Work covertly
45 Shells out 90 Cousin of Juliet
ANSWERS
46 Solitary ones 91 With less tread
48 Twilight heroine 92 Factories
51 Ready to harvest
53 Would-be singer’s
93 Repaired, as a roof ANSWERS TO
97 Bradbury books WUZZLES:
obstacle 99 Parcels (out)
54 Sort of sword
100 Brazilian dance
55 Up and about
2. Tendons
56 Girl in Archie Comics 103 iPhone voice 1. A triple-A rating
57 Particle not 105 Tom Hanks title role
radioactive of ’23 ANSWERS TO
59 Haughtiness 106 Pipe problem DON’T QUOTE ME:
61 Monty Python 108 Weaken with water:
member knighted in Abbr. not just theirs.”
2019 110 Successor of 31 Down things for your own benefit,
63 Actor LaBeouf 111 Californian’s ender for
leaders encourage you to do
Angel
understand.” • “Strong
64 Postgraduate projects a solution everybody can
65 Treetop bed of rhyme 112 Work hard debate and doubt to offer
67 Sandwich spec 113 Either of two Virginian can cut through argument,
68 Ornate vases Declaration signers always great simplifiers who
72 Pig of tots’ TV 114 Teacher’s deg. “Great leaders are almost
ON0 ON SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR

A22 | WE AT H E R

Dustin Family Circus

For Better Or For Worse

Daddy Daze

Sherman’s Lagoon Rhymes With Orange

Zits Adam @ Home

SECTION IN SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR ON ON0

WA R I N U K R A I N E LABOUR

Capture culture Coroner’s retort

Team of engineers scan historical Working conditions, new reforms
sites to preserve them IN8 have industry eyeing union IN3

INSIGHT D I S PATC H E S , I N 2
OPINION, IN7

FAT H E R ’ S DAY: T H E T H R E E - Q U A R T E R L I F E C R I S I S

The patriarch
in progress
Tyrannical papas were common in
the recent past, but even if Ted
Lasso is fictional, it seems like
fatherhood is changing for the better

ularly so in “Inside Story.” The

When I began to reimagine
myself as a writer a few years
ago, after a long career as an edi-
tor, Amis — with his magnifi-
cently high bar for vocabulary
subtitle of the book — which the
English press exuberantly
loathed, living up to Amis’s de-
scription of its “cruising hostil-
ity” — is “How to Write,” and it’s
worth reading for that reason
alone. But it’s the novel’s unex-
pected sweetness — Amis’s
sweetness — that stays with me.
Martin Amis often came across
as a hard case, but he wrote well
about love, and never more so
than in “Inside Story.”
“This is literature’s dewy little
secret,” he said. “Its energy is the
TO RONTO STAR I LLU STRAT IO N

and sentences and fearlessness energy of love.” There’s Amis’s

C AT H R I N B R A D B U RY
CO N T R I B U T I N G CO L U M N I S T
This Father’s Day, I’m thinking
about Martin Amis, the famous
son of a famous dad. Partly be-
cause of what he had to say about
fatherhood in his final book,
and freshness — had quite a lot radiant love for Christopher
to say about my often-bad prose. Hitchens and Saul Bellow, who
For example: His vast forehead both die in the book; his love for
has just creased with pain over his children, lucky to have such a
the words reimagine myself. He tender father as Martin Amis;
called those kinds of catch and his sometimes more com-
phrases “moldering novelties” plicated love for his own father,
Kingsley Amis.
(Seen it, done it; He went ballistic;
I don’t think so) in a 2007 in- Kingsley and Martin’s public
terview with Charlie Rose. It’s sparring often sounded like a
S US AN KAO

“Inside Story.” And partly be- the best two-minute tutorial on contest over which writer could
cause he’s a writer I carry around writing I’ve ever heard. come out with the zingiest line
in my head, even more so since Amis, generous about writing about the other. Kingsley, who
his death last month at 73. throughout his life, was partic- SEE FATHERS, IN6

MIDDLE EAST M A R JA N S A DAT commander who was known for According to the Human Rights

An uneasy
S TA F F R E P O R T E R
On a summer day in August 1998,
the sound of heavy gunfire could be
heard non-stop from every suburb
being anti-Shia, arrived and threw
some of the bodies into the well.
A bullet hit the leg of one of the
diplomats, and he pretended to be
dead among the corpses. When the
Watch report, Taliban forces car-
ried out a systematic search for
male members of the ethnic Haz-
ara, Tajik and Uzbek communities
in the city.

partnership
in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Pick-
ups full of Taliban fighters entered
the capital of the strategic Balkh
province in northern Afghanistan.
No one in the city knew who
Both Iran and the Taliban would be targeted.
Soon the fighters knocked down
hate the West, but they also the gate of the Iranian consulate
and shot nine diplomats and an Ira-
hate each other nian journalist, killing all but one, in
the basement of the building.
Abdulmanan Niazi, a Taliban
attackers left, the wounded Iranian
diplomat, Allah Madad Shahson,
fled the city and, after 19 days and
800 kilometres, reached the border
of Iran.
“My leg was bleeding profusely.
My colleagues were torn to pieces
in front of my eyes,” he said.
It’s an account the Taliban have
disputed, insisting the Iranian dip-
lomats were killed before the Tali-
ban entered the city.
The Hazaras, a Persian-speaking
Shia ethnic group, were particular-
ly targeted. During the house-to-
house searches, scores of Hazara
men and boys were summarily exe-
cuted, apparently to ensure that
they would be unable to mount any
resistance to the Taliban.
The outcry in Iran’s Shia-led gov-
ernment was immediate.
Three days of public mourning
SEE TALIBAN, IN5
ON0 ON
IN2 | I N S I G H T
D I S PAT C H E S
ED U A RD O V ERD U G O T H E A SS OC IAT E D PR E SS
Adriana Veliz, left, and Lucy Millan search for the
queen bee from their most recent rescue.
M E X I CO
Women work to Charges dropped Turkey says new
save capital bees in camper’s death law falls short
M E G A N JA N E T S K Y
“Knife,” Adriana Velíz says with the concentration of a
brain surgeon.
Shrouded in a white bee suit, she lies stretched out on
the ground in one of Mexico City’s most buzzing dis-
tricts. Taking the knife, she pries open the side of a light
post and flashes a glowing red lantern on a humming
bee hive.
Velíz is on a mission to save about 20,000 bees inside.
She heads a group of mostly women who are working
hive by hive to relocate bees that would be exterminat-
ed if they remained in Mexico’s crowded capital city.
The group, Abeja Negra SOS, was born in 2018 when
Velíz — a veterinarian working for the city government
at the time — noticed that when authorities received
calls about beehives, the automatic response was to
exterminate the bees.
She and other colleagues began looking for an al-
ternative.
“We do these rescues because it’s a species that’s in
danger of extinction,” said Velíz, who works for Abeja
Negra SOS. “We give them a second chance.”
Globally, bee populations have been decimated in
recent decades. The United States alone is estimated to
have lost around 25 per cent of its bees in the past 40
years. Earlier this year, beekeepers in southern Mexico
mourned the “mass killing” of millions of bees by
pesticides.
The drop is often blamed on human causes: the use of
damaging chemicals, destruction of natural habitats
and climate change. Scientists and world leaders warn
that bee population decline could have a wide range of
detrimental ripple effects.
Adriana Correa Benítez, a professor researching bees
at National Autonomous University of Mexico, said
loss of bees could make it more difficult for Mexico to
mitigate climate change.
“They don’t just pollinate what we eat,” she said.
“They also pollinate native plants that regulate the
entire ecosystem. And now, with climate change, refor-
estation is so important and (bee pollination) really
influences that.”
Over the past five years, the group has travelled across
the sprawling city of nine million, saving bee colonies
from trees, street gutters and lamp posts. They have
relocated around 510 hives, with an average size of
about 80,000 bees.
The group takes the bees to the rural outskirts of the
city, where they can recover and grow strong. They
later donate the bees to local bee farmers or release
them into the wild.
“With what we do, we may not be changing the world,
but we’re at least changing the situation in our city,”
Velíz said.
T H E A SS O C I AT ED P RESS
E A SY
T H E A SS O C I AT E D P R E SS
Samantha Moran stands next to her husband
Tobias, who had been facing a murder charge.
AUSTRALIA
R O D M CG U I R K
The wife of a man accused of killing his German
backpacker girlfriend 18 years ago welcomed Austra-
lian prosecutors dropping all charges Wednesday,
while the dead woman’s father described the decision
as a stab in the heart.
Charges against German immigrant Tobias Moran,
43, of murder and perverting the course of justice were
withdrawn in Lismore Local Court in New South
Wales state, the Office of the Director of Public Prose-
cutions said. No reasons were given.
The naked body of 25-year-old Simone Strobel from
Rieden, Bavaria, was found hidden under palm fronds
in a Lismore park on Feb. 17, 2005. She was found six
days after she was reported missing and close to where
she had been camping in a Lismore trailer park with
Moran, then known as Suckfuell, his sister Katrin
Suckfuell and friend Jens Martin.
Moran’s Australian wife, Samantha Moran, said in a
press statement outside their upscale City Beach
home in the west coast city of Perth, “It was the right
decision.”
“Tobi, I and our whole family are extremely relieved
by the … decision to withdraw the charges against
him,” the mother of her husband’s three children said.
“I’m deeply ashamed that this happened to Simone
in Australia, a visitor to our country who Tobi has
always described as an angel on Earth,” she added.
Tobi Moran stood beside his wife during her state-
ment but remained silent.
Moran was arrested in Perth in July 2022. He was
extradited to New South Wales and charged with mur-
der and perverting the course of justice. A Sydney
court released him on bail and allowed him to return to
Western Australia state.
Prosecutor Kim Gourlie had told the bail hearing that
Moran lied about “crucial events,” including the na-
ture of his relationship with Strobel and their use of
alcohol.
Defense lawyer Tim Game told the court the prose-
cution case was “nonexistent.”
Samantha Moran used her statement to send her
condolences to the Strobel family, particularly parents
Gustl and Gabi who “continue to suffer terribly from
the loss of their daughter.”
“Whilst today’s news is a relief for our family, we are
conscious that this news does not give answers to the
Strobel family,” she said.
Gustl Strobel said the decision to end the prosecution
“knocked the ground from under my feet.”
“It’s like a stab in my heart. The authorities in Austra-
lia make such a fuss and then nothing comes of it,” he
said in a statement reported by Nine Network televi-
sion.
T H E ASS O C IAT E D PR E SS
MEDIUM
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
A DA M I HS E TT NE WS AG E N CY
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson shakes hands
with the head of the U.S. Marine Corps.
SWEDEN
F I R AT KO Z O K A N D S E LC A N H AC AO G L U
Sweden may not win Turkey’s support to join the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization next month as the
country’s new anti-terror law is failing to crack down
on Kurdish militants, Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said.
“Sweden’s expectations don’t mean we’ll meet them,”
Erdogan told Turkish media last week. “Sweden must
first of all eradicate what this terrorist organization is
doing. In this picture, we can’t have a positive ap-
proach.”
Erdogan’s remarks suggest his reluctance to approve
Sweden’s membership to NATO will continue beyond
the alliance’s upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania,
next month. That will extend the Nordic country’s
period of limbo since looking to join the group along-
side neighbouring Finland following Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine in 2022.
Finland was approved to join in April. NATO allies are
urging Erdogan to allow Sweden to follow suit, with all
members needed to agree on newcomers. The Kurdish
issue remains a sticking point, with Turkey long having
fought separatist militants from the ethnic group in its
own country.
Sweden insists that it’s in compliance with an agree-
ment hammered out at NATO’s summit in Madrid a
year ago, which allowed the expansion process to move
forward.
Representatives of Turkey, Sweden and Finland met
Wednesday in Ankara to discuss the issue. The head of
the Swedish delegation, Oscar Stenstrom, said after
the meeting he insisted his nation has “fundamentally
changed” how it tackles the Kurdish PKK group, which
is designated as a terrorist organization by the Europe-
an Union.
A new anti-terrorism law went into force in Sweden
on June 1 this year, but Erdogan criticized the country
for not yet using it to prevent or disperse anti-Turkey
protests. He encouraged the country’s security forces
to step in, ensuring a more effective crackdown.
Stenstrom said that while the new legislation doesn’t
make it illegal to express sympathy for extremists, such
expressions can be used as evidence to prove that a
suspect has provided assistance to terrorist groups.
NATO allies see Sweden’s accession clinching
NATO’s control of the Baltic Sea and give the alliance
the upper hand in the Arctic region — both strategic
gateways for Russia — even as Moscow is bogged down
in its invasion of Ukraine.
Bringing Sweden into the fold would simplify defence
planning for the alliance. NATO would benefit not just
from Sweden’s combat aircraft, naval prowess and
other military assets but also be able to easily shuttle
troops or equipment across Nordic territory.
B LO O MB E RG
HARD
6/18/23
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
N E VA DA
Remains found
45 years ago
identified as
Ohio woman
R I O YA M AT
LAS VEGAS In 1978, a garment
bag containing a woman’s heavily
decayed remains was discovered in
a remote area of northern Nevada.
The case soon went cold — and the
victim remained nameless for 45
years.
But on Wednesday, Nevada State
Police announced that advance-
ments in DNA testing have finally
led to an identification. She was
Florence Charleston, a Cleveland,
Ohio, woman who had moved to
Portland, Ore., shortly before her
death.
How Charleston wound up dead
and buried in a shallow grave 860
kilometres away from her new
home is still a mystery. Police said
Wednesday in a news release an-
nouncing the DNA match that the
investigation into her death is on-
going.
Charleston relocated to the Pacif-
ic Northwest sometime in the early
1970s, police said. By then, she had
lost contact with her relatives, in-
cluding a niece who would play a
major role many decades later in
the police investigation.
Charleston’s remains were found
inside the garment bag in October
1978. Inside the bag, officers with
the Pershing County Sheriff’s Of-
fice — the initial lead investigating
agency — also found some articles
of women’s clothing.
An autopsy revealed the decom-
posing remains belonged to a wom-
an in her 40s but failed to deter-
mine a cause of death, police said.
The case was later entered into
the National Missing and Unidenti-
fied Persons System, along with a
rendering of what detectives
thought the woman looked like at
the time of her death.
According to that entry, the wom-
an was thought to be five-foot-five
with red or auburn hair. Investiga-
tors also thought she may have
been left-handed. The clothing
items found with her remains in-
cluded a dark-green sweater with a
white safety pin attached to the
front, dark-green trousers and a
long-sleeved pink sweater.
In spring of 1979, Nevada State
Police detectives were called in to
help with the probe. They tried dig-
ital facial reconstruction. They
compared dental records with oth-
er missing persons and unsolved
cases. They looked for clues in the
articles of clothing dumped with
the remains.
But their efforts were unsuccess-
ful.
Then last March, police said, they
teamed up with Othram Inc., a pri-
vate laboratory specializing in fo-
rensic genealogy analysis that has
helped close countless other cold
cases nationwide.
In a separate news release, Oth-
ram said Wednesday they used
DNA taken from the remains “to
develop a comprehensive DNA
profile for the unidentified wom-
an,” leading investigators to
Charleston’s niece.
Using a DNA sample provided by
the niece, police said, the lab was
able to link the 45-year-old remains
to Charleston.
T H E A SS O C I AT ED P RESS
Last March,
police teamed
up with
Ontario coroners
Othram Inc.,
a private
laboratory
specializing
in forensic
looking to unionize
genealogy
analysis that
has helped
close
countless
other cold Constitutional challenge filed amid concerns about reliance on
cases
nationwide
nurses for investigations, system that places all coroners on call
LIAM CASEY
Burned out and fed up with working condi-
tions they say are unfair, Ontario’s coroners
are pushing to be allowed to unionize —
despite their first raise in more than a decade
and a law preventing them from doing so.
The Ontario Coroners Association says cor-
oners are frustrated with a new computer
program that has increased workloads and
lost data, and are concerned about growing
reliance on nurses for investigations and a
system that places all coroners on call.
Association president Dr. Jeannie Walton
says Ontario’s approximately 350 coroners
want to be paid fairly, with the raise an-
nounced this month marking only the begin-
ning of improvements that are needed.
“It’s a start, but it’s nowhere near sufficient,”
she says. “We’re not asking for anything out-
rageous.”
The province’s chief coroner has accepted
responsibility for the years-long wait for bet-
ter pay and admitted the troubles with the
new computer system, but pledged better
days ahead with “significant reforms” un-
derway.
Dr. Dirk Huyer says he understands why
coroners are trying to unionize, noting they
were told for years that their pay was going to
increase and working conditions would im-
prove.
“I was too slow and I think people distrust
that I was actually interested and supportive
of them,” he says.
Huyer, who became chief coroner in 2013,
says he initially chose to hold any changes
until after the end of an inquiry into serial
killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer, who killed eight
long-term care residents in southwestern
On Wednesday, Ontario. That probe reviewed the coroner’s
Nevada police work.
announced that But then came an auditor general’s review,
advancements so Huyer waited longer. Following that,
in DNA testing Huyer brought in PricewaterhouseCoopers
led to an for a review of the coroner system in 2021.
identification “There’s no question I was too slow on it and
of remains I regret that,” Huyer says.
found in rural Ontario’s coroners have now filed a consti-
Nevada in 1978: tutional challenge to be able to unionize —
Florence doctors are not allowed by law to do so — and
Charleston, a voted 96 per cent in favour of joining the
Cleveland Ontario Public Service Employees Union. A
woman who hearing is set for November.
had moved to If the coroners cannot achieve full union-
ization, they hope to come up with some-
Portland, Ore.,
shortly before thing akin to the Ontario Medical Associa-
her death. tion, which represents doctors and can nego-
tiate with the government on their behalf.
The recent pressure has yielded some gains.
NE VADA STAT E Earlier this month, Huyer presented a se-
POL IC E V IA T H E ries of reforms, including an increase in pay.
ASSOC IATE D As of Oct. 1, coroners will earn $525 per
PR E SS death investigation, up from the $450 per
investigation they’ve earned since 2011. They
will also have higher premiums for night and
weekend work.
Walton, of the Ontario Coroners Associa-
tion, says the raise doesn’t come with a plan
for the coming years.
“There’s no contract, mention of annual
increases, just ‘here’s your new salary’ and
boom, that’s it,” she says. “But we have seen
the chief coroner willing to listen lately,
which is a huge improvement.”
Huyer has also set a “call schedule” to ad-
dress the issue of coroners saying no to in-
vestigating a death. Walton says that ap-
proach is “missing the mark.”
“Most coroners have other jobs — their
practices, their clinics — and this will require
them to give up that work in order to be on
call,” she says.
Huyer says the call schedule is necessary.
“We have a significant number of cases that
are being done without physicians attending
to scenes,” he says. “We don’t like that.”
ON0
IN SI GHT | IN3
Dr. Jeannie Walton says that while coroners can carry
Walton, out death investigations remotely, they don’t
president of the like doing so.
Ontario The situation usually involves being on the
Coroner’s phone with a police officer on scene who
Association, needs to take photographs and examine a
says QuinC, body by following instructions, she says.
anew case “It creates a lot more work for us and po-
management lice,” Walton says.
system, “has Another change being brought in by Huyer
significantly is an increased reliance on nurses.
increased the There are about 15 nurses who work as
workload coroners, Huyer says. They manage medical
burdens of assistance in dying cases and cases that don’t
everybody.” fall under the Coroners Act.
Their duties will be expanding.
Currently, family doctors should be going to
A A RO N LY N E T T patients’ homes if they die suddenly with a
T H E CA N A D I A N known health problem. But about two mil-
P R E SS lion Ontarians are without a family physician
and a doctor might refuse to attend a scene
even for those who have one — so nurses will
fill that gap, Huyer says.
Nurses will also be responsible for review-
ing all long-term care death notices and, this
fall, will be responsible for investigating all
“uncomplicated accidental hip fracture
deaths for those over 60” where going to the
scene isn’t required.
‘‘
STE V E R USS E L L TO RO NTO STA R
Walton expressed concern with those
changes.
“They’re taking away more paid work for
We have a us,” she says.
significant Another issue for coroners recently has
been a new case management system, called
number of
QuinC, Walton says. Coroners now fill out
cases that much more data on each investigation, she
are being says.
done without “It is the most horrendous computer sys-
physicians tem you can imagine,” Walton says. “It has
significantly increased the workload burdens
attending of everybody.”
to scenes. Death investigation data has also gone
We don’t missing in the system, she says, which means
like that. coroners look at their notes and input the
data again.
“Recently a coroner was sent 20 cases, some
DR. DIRK HUYER of which were back to when the system was
O N TA R I O ’S C H I E F implemented in 2021 and asked to re-enter
CO RO N E R all the data,” Walton says. “This is a serious
problem.”
The system frustrations have led to many
coroners refusing to pick up cases, Walton
says.
Huyer admits the program creates more
work, but says the wage increase is partly to
reflect the increased workload. While some
data did go missing, he says most of it was
recovered and the issue has been addressed.
He also says data collection through the
new system is crucial.
“The best way for prevention is population
health data,” he says, adding that race and
Indigenous identity are now mandatory
fields. “So we’re asking them now to collect
determinants of health.”
THE CA NA DI A N P R E SS
ON0 ON
IN4 | I N S I G H T
CO LO M B I A P L A N E C R A S H
They pinned their
hopes on ayahuasca
After weeks looking for young survivors, an Indigenous elder took
a traditional hallucinogen and said ‘We’ll find the children today’
REGINA GARCIA CANO
B O G OTA The weary Indigenous
men gathered at their base camp,
nestled among towering trees and
dense vegetation that form a disori-
enting sea of green. They sensed
that their ancestral land — Selva
Madre, or Mother Jungle — was
unwilling to let them find the four
children who’d been missing since
their charter plane crashed weeks
earlier in a remote area in southern
Colombia.
Indigenous volunteers and mili-
tary crews had found signs of hope:
a baby bottle, half-eaten fruit, dirty
diapers strewn across a wide
swatch of rainforest. The men were
convinced the children had sur-
vived. But punishing rains, harsh
terrain and the passing of time had
diminished their spirits and
drained their stamina.
The weak of body, of mind, of faith
do not make it out of this jungle.
Day 39 was do or die — for the
children and the search teams.
That night at camp, Manuel Ra-
noque, father of the two youngest
children, reached for one of the
most sacred rituals of Indigenous
groups of the Amazon — yagé, a
bitter tea made of plants native to
the rainforest, more widely known
as ayahuasca. For centuries, the
hallucinogenic cocktail has been
used as a cure for all ailments by
people in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador
and Brazil.
Henry Guerrero, a volunteer who
joined the search from the chil-
dren’s home village near Araracua-
ra, said his aunt prepared the yagé
for the group. They believed it
would induce visions that could
lead them to the children.
“I told them, ‘There’s nothing to
do here. We will not find them with
the naked eye. The last resource is
to take yagé,’ ” Guerrero, 56, said.
“The trip really takes place in very
special moments. It is something
very spiritual.”
Ranoque sipped, and the men
kept watch for a few hours. When
the psychotropic effects passed, he
told them it hadn’t worked.
Some searchers were ready to
leave. But the next morning, 40
days after the crash, an elder
reached for what little was left of
the yagé and drank it.
Some people take it to connect
with themselves, cure illnesses or
heal a broken heart. Elder José Ru-
bio was convinced it would eventu-
ally help find the kids, Guerrero
said.
Rubio dreamed for some time. He
vomited, a common side effect.
This time, he said, it had worked.
In his visions, he saw them. He told
Guerrero: “ ‘We’ll find the children
today.”
The four children — Lesly, Soleiny,
Tien and Cristin — grew up around
Araracuara, a small Amazon village
in Caquetá Department that can be
reached only by boat or small plane.
Ranoque said the siblings had hap-
py but independent lives because
he and his wife, Magdalena Mucu-
tuy, were often away from home.
Lesly, 13, was the mature, quiet
one. Soleiny, 9, was playful, and
Tien, nearly 5 before the crash,
restless. Cristin, 11 months then,
was just learning to walk.
At home, Mucutuy grew onions
and cassava, and used the latter to
produce fariña, a type of flour, for
the family to eat and sell. Lesly
learned to cook at age 8; in the
adults’ absence, she often cared for
her siblings.
The morning of May 1, the chil-
dren, their mother and an uncle
boarded a light plane. They were
headed to the town of San José del
Guaviare. Weeks earlier, Ranoque
had fled his home village, an area
where illegal drug cultivation, min-
ing and logging have thrived for de-
cades. He said he feared pressure
from people connected to his in-
dustry, though he refused to pro-
vide details about the nature of his
job.
“The work there is not safe,” Ra-
noque said. “And it is illegal.”
He said he left Mucutuy nine mil-
lion Colombian pesos (about
$2,900), before leaving to pay for
food, other necessities and the
charter flight. He wanted the chil-
dren out of the village because he
feared they could be recruited by
one of the rebel groups in the area.
They were on their way to meet
Ranoque when the pilot of the
Cessna single-engine propeller
plane declared an emergency due
to engine failure. The aircraft fell off
radar a short time later.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday … The
engine failed me again … I’m going
to look for a river … I have here a
river to my right,” pilot Hernando
Murcia reported to air traffic con-
trol at 7:43 a.m., according to a pre- A soldier stands on May 18 in front of the wreckage
liminary report released by avia- of the Cessna C206 that crashed in the jungle of
tion authorities.
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
said he and others started packing
up their camp.
But one of the men who’d walked
up to the plane spoke up.
“Hey,” he said, according to Guer-
rero. “I didn’t see the kids.” The
man slowly realized that when they
found the wreckage, they hadn’t
seen any children’s bodies. He’d ap-
proached the plane and seen the
children’s bags outside. He noticed
that some stuff appeared as if some-
one had moved it after the crash.
The bodies of three adults were
recovered from inside the aircraft.
But there was no sign of the chil-
dren.
The military’s special operations
forces changed its strategy, based
on the evidence that the children
might be alive. No longer were they
quietly moving through the jungle.
“We moved on, to a second phase,”
1st Vice Sgt. Juan Carlos Rojas Sisa
said. “We went from the stealth
part to the noise part so that they
could hear us.”
They yelled Lesly’s name and
played a recorded message from
the children’s maternal grand-
mother asking them in Spanish and
the language of the Huitoto people
to stay in place. Helicopters
dropped boxes with food and leaf-
lets with messages.
On the ground, nearly 120 mem-
bers of the military and more than
70 Indigenous people were search-
ing for the children, day and night.
They left whistles for the children
I VA N VA L E N C I A T H E A SS O C I AT E D P R E SS P to use if they found them.
They began to find clues to the
children’s location, including a
footprint they believed to be Les-
ly’s. But no one could find the kids.
Some searchers had already
walked more than 1,500 km — the
distance between Dallas and Chica-
go. Exhaustion was setting in.
Guerrero made a call and asked
for the yagé. It arrived two days
later.
On day 40, after Elder Rubio took
the yagé, the searchers combed the
rainforest again, starting from the
site where they found the diapers.
His vision had reignited hopes but
provided no specifics on where the
children might be. Groups fanned
out in different directions. But as
the day went on, they returned to
“103 miles out of San José … I’m Military base camp with no news.
going to land.” personnel and Sadness set in at camp. Guerrero
Indigenous told Ranoque as teams returned:
The Colombian military launched leaders stand “Nothing. We couldn’t … there is
asearch for the plane. About 10 days on the tarmac nothing.”
later, with no plane and no signs of during the Then came the news. A soldier
life found, the Indigenous volun- arrival of the heard via radio that the four chil-
teers joined the effort. They were four missing dren had been found — five kilo-
much more familiar with the ter- children at the metres from the crash site, in a
rain and the families in the area. military airbase small clearing. Rescue teams had
One man told them the plane was in Bogota on passed within 20 to 50 metres on
making an odd noise when it flew June 10. several occasions but missed them.
over his house. That helped them Historically, the A helicopter lifted the kids out of
sketch out a search plan that fol- military and the dense forest to hospital. They
lowed the Apaporis River. Indigenous were covered in foil blankets and
As they walked the unforgiving groups have hooked to IV lines due to dehydra-
terrain and took breaks in groups, feuded, but tion. Their hands and feet showed
ants crawled on them and mosqui- deep in the scratches and insect bites.
toes feasted on their blood. One jungle, after Ranoque said Lesly reported that
searcher almost lost an eye to a tree food supplies her mother died about four days
branch, and others developed al- and optimism after the crash. The children sur-
lergy- and flu-like symptoms. diminished, vived by collecting water in a soda
They kept searching. they shared bottle and eating cassava flour, fruit
Historically, the military and In- water, meals, and seeds. They were found with
digenous groups have feuded, but GPSs and two small bags holding clothes, a
deep in the jungle, after food sup- satellite towel, a flashlight, two phones and a
plies and optimism diminished, phones. music box.
they shared water, meals, GPSs and Tien and Cristin had birthdays
satellite phones. while searchers looked for them.
Sixteen days after the crash, with All four remain in the hospital. A
morale running low among all custody fight has broken out, with
search parties, searchers found the some relatives claiming Ranoque
wreckage. The plane appeared to was violent against the children’s
have nosedived. mother. He has admitted to verbal
The group assumed the worst. and occasional physical fights,
The men had found the wreckage which he called “a private family
and seen human remains. Guerrero matter.” He’s also said he’s not been
able to see the two oldest children.
Officials, medical professionals,
special forces and others have
praised Lesly’s leadership. She and
her siblings have become a symbol
of resilience across the globe. The
Colombian government, mean-
while, has boasted of the co-opera-
tion among Indigenous communi-
ties and the military as it tries to
end national conflicts.
“The jungle saved them,” Presi-
dent Gustavo Petro said. “They are
children of the jungle, and now they
are also children of Colombia.”
That’s true, Ranoque told AP, but
the Indigenous culture and rituals
saved them, too. He credits the yagé
and the vision of the elder among
their group.
“This is a spiritual world,” he said,
and the yagé “is of the utmost re-
spect. It is the maximum concen-
tration that is made in our spiritual
world as an Indigenous people.”
That’s why they drank the tea in
CO LO M B I A A R MY P R E SS O F F I CE the jungle, he said: “That was so
that the goblin, that cursed devil,
would release my children.”
Solano in the Caqueta state of Colombia. THE A SS O CI ATE D P R E SS
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
MIDDLE EAST
Ties more
‘tactical than
strategic’
TA L I B A N F R O M I N1
were declared and a large military
exercise began on the border of Af-
ghanistan, though there was no
outright fighting.
Iran produced a film about the
tragedy, “Mazar-i-Sharif,” and the
country continued to support the
anti-Taliban Resistance Front, as it
had been doing previously, until
September 2001.
Recently, Iran and the Taliban had
seemingly entered a new chapter in
their relations. They had two com-
mon enemies — America, and after
the Taliban seized control of Af-
ghanistan in 2021 — the Islamic
State group.
Iran handed over the Afghan em-
bassy in Tehran to the Taliban in
February, although Iranian officials
referred the matter to “internal Af-
ghans” maintaining that they had
little involvement.
But on May 18, 25 years after the
massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif, Irani-
an president Ebrahim Raisi ac-
cused the Taliban of not respecting
“common water rights between the
two countries,” leading to a border
conflict. The Hirmand Water Trea-
ty, which determines the water
quota between Afghanistan and
Iran, was signed in 1973. Tehran
claims that their share of the water
has decreased, while the Taliban
claims the river water has de-
creased overall.
Then late last month, videos of
rocket shells landing in the border
district of Nimroz province of Af-
ghanistan and the city of Zaranj, the
capital of the province, were widely
published on social media.
Two Iranian border guards and a
Taliban fighter were killed in the
hours-long confrontation.
On May 31, the Taliban escalated
the fighting by sending a convoy of
American-made armoured tanks to
Islam Qala in Herat, on the border
with Iran.
There is also a battle raging on
social media.
In the latest case, one of the com-
manders of the Taliban, Abdul Ha-
mid Khurasani, said in a video mes-
sage that the Taliban fighters will
fight Iran with more vehemence
than they fought the U.S., and if the
leadership of the group allowed, he
will also invade Tehran.
While Iranians have responded
with equal rhetoric on social media,
interior minister Ahmad Vahidi
called it a brief conflict and was
measured in his description.
Relations between the Taliban
and Tehran are unstable for many
reasons, Rahmatullah Nabil, the
former spy chief of Afghanistan
said. Nabil added that considering
the problems inside Iran, including
unrest over the death of Mahsa
Amini and the pressure and sanc-
tions from the West related to the
country’s nuclear program, Iran
was unlikely to go to war with the
Taliban.
Nearly nine months after the
death of Amini, protests in Sistan
and Baluchistan persist, and almost
every Friday after prayers, protest-
ers can be heard chanting “death of
Khamenei,” referring to Iran’s su-
preme leader Ayatollah Ali Khame-
nei.
The relationship between the pre-
dominantly Sunni residents of the
region and Iran’s Shiite theocracy
has long been fraught.
On the other hand, the Iranian
government recently increased the
number of executions of Baluch
protesters, an ethnic minority, fur-
ther inflaming the people of that
region.
“What experience has shown is
that the coalition of different ideol-
ogies such as Tehran and the Tali-
ban is not long-lasting, and due to
their heterogeneity and vulnerabil-
ities, it is unlikely that they become
strategic allies,” Nabil told the Star.
“Iran’s hosting of Taliban oppo-
nents, including some Jihadi com-
manders, former NATO-trained
Afghan security forces, the orga-
nized and war-experienced Fate-
miyoun Army, and some disaffect-
ed Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders is a
means of (putting) pressure on the
Taliban.”
For a long time, Iran has support-
ed Shia groups from Iraq to Syria
and from Lebanon to Yemen in
proxy wars with its regional rival,
Saudi Arabia.
The Fatemiyoun Army is a Shia
militia formed in 2014 to fight
against the Islamic State group in
Syria and to support the Bashar
Assad government. The fighters
were recruited from among the Af-
ghanistan refugees and then fund-
ed, trained and equipped by the Is-
lamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
of Iran.
Hossein Dehbashi, a historian, ac-
cused the Iranian government of
failing to respond to the border
conflict with the Taliban. He be-
lieves Iran’s hatred of the U.S. has
caused them to turn their backs on
Afghan women, Persian speakers
and Shias.
Dehbashi believes that relations
between Iran and Afghanistan have
historically ebbed and flowed based
on challenges related to water, refu-
gees, drugs, security, Persian-
speakers and Shias, but currently
all those challenges are in play at
I N SI GHT | IN5
An Afghan man once. “For the Taliban, the relation-
walks along the ship with the Islamic Republic (of
Afghanistan- Iran) is more tactical than strategic.
Iran border It seems that they showed favour to
crossing of Tehran mostly as a bargaining chip
Islam Qala in to score points with Europe and
2021. Iran has America.”
been host to Iran has been host to millions of
millions of Afghan refugees for more than 40
Afghan years. The migration began with
refugees for the occupation of Afghanistan by
more than 40 the Soviet Union in 1979 and con-
years. The tinued with the beginning of inter-
migration group wars between different Jiha-
began with the di groups and then the first round of
occupation of Taliban rule in the 90s.
Afghanistan by Ahmad Farid Tookhy, senior fel-
the Soviet low at the Toronto-based Institute
Union in 1979. for Peace and Diplomacy, believes
that Iran’s response to the Taliban’s
return to power can be character-
PE TRO S ized as necessary engagement
GIA N N A KO UR I S without formal recognition.
T H E A SS O C I AT E D “The authorities in Tehran were
PR E SS chiefly concerned that the with-
FIL E P H OTO drawal of international forces and
the collapse of the (Afghan) repub-
lic would create an environment
ripe for the strengthening of IS-K
(the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic
State group) on their eastern bor-
ders. Since they consider IS-K a
bigger threat than the Taliban, they
have decided to engage with the
Taliban to counter a common ene-
my,” Tookhy said.
Tookhy said that the handover of
the Afghan embassy in Tehran to
the Taliban is part of Iran’s policy of
engagement and it does not signify
the formation of an alliance, be-
cause ultimately, Iran remains po-
litically and ideologically opposed
to the Taliban.
“Iranian authorities have insisted
on the need for the formation of an
Iranian inclusive government in Afghani-
president stan that allows for meaningful par-
Ebrahim Raisi ticipation of all ethnic and religious
accused the groups in governing the country.”
Taliban of not Tookhy said that the Taliban ex-
respecting pect Tehran not to support anti-
“common water Taliban groups. They would also
rights between like to be recognized as Afghani-
the two stan’s legitimate government by
countries,” Iran at some point down the road.
leading to a Iran, on the other hand, expects the
border conflict Taliban to respect their political
last month. and economic interests in Afghani-
stan. In particular, it expects the
Taliban not to allow IS-K and other
S E PA H N E WS Sunni extremist groups to prolifer-
AF P V I A ate on Afghan soil.
G E T T Y I M AG E S “Iran has always insisted that they
expect the Taliban to respect water-
sharing agreements between the
two countries and encouraged the
Taliban to respect the rights of Af-
ghanistan’s Persian-speaking and
Shia groups.”
According to the latest investiga-
tive report of a national Afghan
news agency, 80 per cent of senior
Taliban officials (ministers, gover-
nors) are Pashtuns, and none of the
Hazaras (Shias) are part of this
structure.
“It is true that Iran hosts a signif-
icant number of Afghan political
figures and groups opposed to the
ON0
Taliban. Iran has developed deep
ties with these groups over the past
few decades. For a long time, Iran
has sought to hedge its options in
Afghanistan. Its hosting of these
anti-Taliban figures is a product of
that history and in line with that
hedging policy,” Tookhy said.
Tehran and the Taliban may not
appear to be natural partners; one
is a Shia state, the other is a Sunni
extremist group, and Tehran has
blamed the Taliban for killing its
diplomats in Afghanistan in the
past.
But the two found common
ground because of the “enemy of
my enemy is my friend” principle,
explained Michael Kugelman, di-
rector of the South Asia Institute at
the Wilson Centre in Washington.
“They were united in their oppo-
sition to the U.S. and its war in Af-
ghanistan. This led to Iran provid-
ing sanctuary to some Taliban lead-
ers and some modest forms of mil-
itary support to Taliban fighters,”
Kugelman said.
Kugelman believes that Iran is
hedging, to plan for the possibility
down the road of a return to conflict
in Afghanistan, especially if the Ta-
liban loses power and there is civil
war.
“Tehran wants to ensure good re-
lations with as many key factions as
possible, beyond the Taliban. Natu-
rally, it would support key Shia
leaders, but it has cast a wider net
than that. The idea is to manage
relations with many key Afghan po-
litical actors, so that it will continue
to have influence and leverage in a
potentially post-Taliban Afghani-
stan, or in an Afghanistan where
Taliban power is contested and new
power centres emerge.”
“This is long-term planning, given
that the Taliban is unlikely to lose
power or have its political control
come under threat anytime soon. ”
“In terms of Iran, its two biggest
concerns are that the Taliban target
IS-K and that it has more Shias in
its administration. Iran’s not get-
ting what it wants on either front.
The Taliban are targeting IS-K in
ground operations, but it hasn’t
weakened the group in a big way.
And the Taliban regime continues
to not be inclusive, with very few
Shias.”
“The relationship between Teh-
ran and the Taliban can best be
described as an uneasy partner-
ship,” Kugelman said.
On the recent border conflict, Ku-
gelman said the Taliban is in a pre-
carious diplomatic position be-
cause it hasn’t received recognition
from any country, which makes it
all the more important to maintain
good relations with its neighbours.
But we have seen rising tensions
between the Taliban and its neigh-
bours Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
Worsening relations with Iran
would mark the third crisis in
neighbourhood relations, which is
something the Taliban can’t afford.
ON0 ON
IN6 | I N S I G H T
FAT H E R ’ S DAY: T H E T H R E E - Q U A R T E R L I F E C R I S I S
Farewell is generational
FAT H E R S F R O M I N1
rarely finished his son’s books,
called Martin’s left-leaning politics
“howling nonsense.” Martin,
whose memoir “Experience” is
about his father, called Kingsley
“the laureate of the hangover.” But
Kingsley and his mother gave Mar-
tin a convivial and high-spirited
home — and the kind of extrava-
gantly permissive upbringing
where “you were allowed a ciga-
rette on Christmas Day once you
turned five.”
“Inside Story” had this to say
about the other kind of home, with
the other kind of father, where ease
had no place and was terrified out
of the children. These were the au-
thoritarian households, where the
man was in command. Amis had no
time for that kind of home, and in
“Inside Story,” he bids goodbye not
only to those fathers, but also to the
generation that produced them:
“Goodbye to the patriarchs, the
little overlords, the goosers and
gropers, the disseminators of dis-
quiet, the wife crushers and daugh-
ter torturers, the fathers that every-
one fears, the enemies of ease, the
domestic totalitarians of the mid-
twentieth century.”
I did not have such a father, but as
someone born in the time that
Amis is referring to — 1955, small-
town Ontario — I saw them in ac-
tion. Going to a house with an angry
dad was like visiting a new and dan-
gerous land, where you needed to
understand the customs quickly if
you wanted to get out alive.
On one terrifying sleepover, age
seven, I watched a real-life version
of Jonathan Franzen’s fictional
scene in “Corrections,” when the
father of the household made his
four-year-old son sit over a plate of
cold and wrinkled fish long after
everyone went to bed. I remember
a father up the street putting his
face right up in the mother’s face
and telling her to shut up, and being
frightened not just by what he had
said but that no one seemed sur-
prised. I remember going to the
opening of a Hayley Mills movie in
Toronto, a big treat. I was squirmy,
excited and chatty — talking
through movies was de rigueur at
the Roxy Cinema in Grimsby — un-
til that friend’s father leaned over
and said in my ear: “If you say one
more word, I’m going to drag you
out of here.”
I had a sheltered childhood, par-
ticularly in an era when the ma-
rauding father Amis wrote about
was often tolerated: better not to
rock the boat. My father, and my
uncles, too, were affable men. My
dad whistled around the house,
sang in the car, and taught me not to
cry when I lost at crazy eights, be-
cause being a good sport was the
same as being a good person. He
wasn’t openly affectionate.
He said “I love you” for the first
time when he was in his 80s, in a
Thanksgiving Day toast to his chil-
dren. I don’t recall being hugged or
kissed, either. But he was nothing
like the “mood tyrant” Amis de-
scribed. (“Tyrants of mood don’t
hug and kiss,” said Amis, whose
own parents did plenty of both.) I
never heard my father raise his
voice. “Jeez” and “Come on, now,”
were as bad as it got with his wife
and five children.
I’m not saying he didn’t have his
despot moments. Pointing down at
the single dandelion I’d missed in
my centuries-long weeding of the
backyard. Refusing to let me get
into his brown Chevy sedan in my
spectacularly threadbare jeans that
he seemed to find as threatening as
communism or atheism; and I sup-
pose that was the point. (It took
years to wear in jeans to that level of
frayed perfection; this was before
you could simply buy them that
way.) I found my father’s fastidi-
ousness, a trait I sometimes now
share, ridiculous and irritating, but
never frightening. Nor even patri-
archal — my mother would not
have stood still for that — although I
suppose that it was. And I think he
would have done better if he had
known better. That’s the job of par-
ents, generation to generation: to
do better.
In my own parenting generation,
with my own comfortably urban set
of married friends and our millen-
nial children, fathers hugged and
kissed their sons and daughters un-
til the kids pushed them away.
None of them used their kids as a
steady source of unpaid labour, ei-
ther, or for any household labour
whatsoever. (Parents overcorrect
the mistakes of their parents). The
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
“Ted Lasso” is monster father was an aberration,
celebrating the and usually — sadly and accurately
kind of inter- — credited to the even worse father
generational he suffered under. (Kingsley Amis’s
parent learning poem “In Memoriam W.R.A.”
that makes us about his father, ends, memorably:
better as a I’m sorry you had to die/To make me
species. At the sorry/You’re not here now.) I think
least, it has the children we produced, now in
everyone their late 20s and 30s, are terrific.
talking about Anxious, yes — we crammed too
fathers again. much into their lives and ours as we
raised them. But they are also
thoughtful, curious, creative, and I
CO L I N H U T TO N hope we gave them that, too.
AP P L E T V P LU S If Martin Amis’s farewell to patri-
archal authority was not just per-
sonal but also generational, and I
believe it was (generations were
significant to Amis), he’d likely
agree the young dads being cele-
brated today are another giant step
forward for fatherhood. Not in ev-
ery family, and not everywhere. But
Kingsley Amis, in many more families, in many
left, rarely more places, the good father is now
finished his the standard-bearer.
son’s books, I see it in my own son. I never saw
calling Martin’s a better dad, and he’s not the only
left-leaning devoted millennial father, speaking
politics of raising the bar magnificently
“howling high. He walks his son every morn-
nonsense.” ing. He plays with him for hours in
But Kingsley the park, phone off. He has visible,
and Martin’s expressed emotions. He defers to
mother gave the needs of his wife as often as he
him a convivial thinks of his own. And he works
and high- mostly from home, the better to be
spirited closer to his family. Each of those
home and a things was uncommon a genera-
extravagantly tion ago, and unthinkable in my
permissive father’s generation.
upbringing. Watching my son parent makes
me think backwards and forwards:
About how much better I could
DAV I D M . have done. About how my son’s
B E N E TT thoughtful parenting will be a life-
G E T T Y I M AG E S long boon to my grandson. And
about how my grandson will build
on that love to be the best father he
can be. And so it goes.
“Ted Lasso,” a show about fathers,
sometimes has the kind of cornball
writing that would make Martin
Amis bow his head in sorrow. Or
maybe not: Amis was hard on the
craft but kind to the writers. But I
think he might have appreciated
the series’ stand against domestic
totalitarians. What makes a good
father, and a bad one, is the central
question of almost every episode of
the three-season series.
Ted (spoiler) finally faces his own
father’s suicide, and his mother’s
terror of taking about it (“F--- you,”
for that, Ted says four times to his
mother in the penultimate episode,
wrapping up with a bashful, “Oh my
goodness, I’m sorry about that.”)
He becomes the father he wants to
be — Lasso gives up his career in
England to return home to his son
— after he forgives his father for
abandoning him. There’s a little too
much closure, a word Amis writhed
over. Unresolved father complexes
have likely propelled half of the
world’s achievements, after all.
“And nobody ever gets over any-
thing,” Amis wrote. Still, “Ted Las-
so” is celebrating the kind of in-
tergenerational parent learning
that makes us better as a species. At
the least, it has everyone talking
about fathers again.
Another great writer, and one, like
Amis, who wrote greatly about fa-
thers, died this past week as I wrote
this piece. Cormac McCarthy, ge-
nius of the bleak and brutal, died on
June 14, at 89. I reread the death
scene at the end of “The Road,” a
post-apocalyptic father-son love
story. The book shows what a father
will do for his son, stripped down to
stark survivalism: Kill anyone who
tries to hurt your child; hang on to
your loved ones to your last breath.
At the end of “The Road,” the father
is dying, and his son is begging him
not to go.
“You said you wouldn’t ever leave
me.” That’s the son, talking to his
father; neither is named in the
book.
“I know. I’m sorry. You have my
whole heart. You always did. You’re
the best guy. You always were. If I’m
not here you can still talk to me. You
can talk to me and I’ll talk to you.
You’ll see.”
We linger in the generations we
produce, long after we’re done rais-
ing them. Partly as memories, but
also as reminders of how to behave.
Not as an authority, but as someone
our children might still want to talk
to, even after we die.
CATHR I N BR A DBURY I S A TO RO N TO -
BA S E D J O UR NA L I ST A ND F R E E L A N C E
CO NTR I BUTO R FO R THE STA R . S H E I S
THE AUTHO R O F “ THE BR I GHT S I D E ,”
P UBL I S HE D BY P E NGUI N R A NDO M
HO US E . R E ACH HE R V I A E MA I L :
MCBR A DBURY @ GMA I L .CO M
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 ON0

| IN7
JORDAN BITOVE PUBLISHER
ANNE MARIE OWENS EDITOR BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
NICOLE MACINTYRE MANAGING EDITOR, NEWS
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TORONTO STAR, ESTABLISHED 1892 — JOSEPH E. ATKINSON, PUBLISHER 1899 - 1948

Trudeau fighting
unnecessary war
Ukrainians for use against Rus-
THOMAS sia.
WALKOM We promised to train Ukraini-
OPINION an fighter pilots. But we have no
jets for our own use, much less
for training Ukrainians. In any
case, the 88 jets that we are or-
There’s nothing like a good little dering won’t be ready for years.
war. It gets the blood flowing. We don’t have enough troops
When spirits are down it pro- to create an emergency force to
vides a nice little pick me up. fight homegrown forest fires.
Does life feel pointless? War Yet we are acting as if we did.
provides its own raison d’être. We are commanding NATO
So it should come as no sur- troops in the Baltics. Yet when
prise when the peace-loving it comes to spending two per-
Canadian prime minister be- centage points of gross domes-
comes a fan of war. War had tic product on defence, we al-
been something alien to the Ca- ways come up short.
nadian psyche. Now it’s central. We have committed Canada
The key to all of this is the war to playing a role in the U.S. cre-
between Russia and Ukraine. ated Asia-Pacific alliance
Logically, this war has nothing against China. Yet the exact na-
to do with Canada. Russia has ture of that role is unclear.
not attacked Canada. Nor is Common to them all is a level
there anything that suggests it of enthusiasm aimed at boost-
wants to do so. ing the morale of Canadian GR EG P E R RY FO R THE TO RO NTO STA R
But that has not deterred the troops, even when the troops in
bully-boys in the Canadian gov- question exist only as polite fic-

A gap year could change

ernment. They are banging the tions.
drums of war and will be heard. This is not to suggest that all
Where there is no provocation, Canadian armed forces are

your life for the better

one will be created. mythical. Many are already
Thus, the Canadian govern- committed to fire and flood
ment has seized a Russian fighting. Indeed, the govern-
transport plane whose only ment promises to create a na-
crime was to be caught flying tional force to provide man-
legally in Canadian airspace. power during times of stress.
The transport is to be sold off All of this comes with the pro- M A R S H A B A R B E R and what I wanted to study. And women earn approximately
with all proceeds earmarked for viso that first dibs go to those CO N T R I B U TO R as I watched my bank account $50,000 less. Perhaps that re-
the Ukrainian government. fighting a real war against Rus- grow, my determination to flects a delayed jump into the
In normal times, a saw-off sia and its supporters. After all, Later this month, Grade 12 stu- make it to university grew labour market with a degree.
over such a dispute would be the Canadian government wins dents will be graduating from stronger by the week. Parents also worry that stu-
heard by an independent panel. no international kudos for sup- high school. Many of them will The gap year concept is par for dents who take a gap year won’t
But this is not a normal dispute. plying emergency forces with head off to university or college the course in much of Europe. continue on to university. How-
It’s Canada’s war and we’re material to fight forest fires. this September, and that could According to recent Universi- ever, according to the GYA, 90
thrilled to be playing a part. It does, however, win plaudits be a mistake. ties and Colleges Admissions per cent of students return to
In fact, we are so thrilled that for supplying our Ukrainian al- If your child wants to take a Service (UCAS) data, more than post-secondary education
we are doing things that don’t lies with bullets, even when we gap year away from academics, five per cent of British students within a year. We live in a soci-
make much sense. don’t have enough ammunition seriously consider it. It could take gap years, certainly more ety that’s in a hurry. In a social-
We promised to give the of our own. change their lives for the better. than in North America. Stu- media age, we want immediate
Ukrainians tanks. But the only T H O M AS WAL KOM IS A TO RO N - I say this as a university pro- dents report an increase in their pay offs. But time away from the
tanks we have are ones cobbled TO - BAS E D FR E E L AN C E CON T R IB - fessor who has watched too maturity and self-confidence academic treadmill to reflect
together out of spare parts. U T I NG COLU M N IST FOR T H E many 17 year olds flail. I also say according to the U.S. Gap Year and plan next steps can be
From this we have confected STA R . R E AC H H IM V IA E M AIL : this as a parent whose son took Association (GYA). deeply valuable.
eight workable tanks to give the WA L KO MTO M @ G M A I L .CO M a gap year. And finally, I recom- Students also report an in- Coincidentally, I spent my gap
mend it as someone who took a crease in academic motivation. year working as an assistant in
gap year herself. When my son started universi- the library of the university
After finishing the final year of ty, he earned the grades needed where, so many years later, I’d
high school, I worked to earn to become a physician. My become a professor. I wouldn’t
money for the university degree daughter didn’t take a gap year have missed that opportunity
I couldn’t have otherwise af- per se but took a co-op program for the world.
forded. I held jobs ranging from where she alternated between A gap year is a time to allow
carnival barker to barmaid in a study and work semesters. She wisdom and experience to
London pub, to electrolysis got grades that enabled her to catch up with academic knowl-
trainee to daycare assistant. do a PhD in clinical psychology. edge. That’s a gift. If you’re a
That year after high school In fairness, there’s a financial parent, I encourage you to sup-
was particularly formative. cost. Statistics Canada issued port this. Your child will thank
I learned the importance of data last year that suggests that you.
showing up and putting in a men who’ve taken a gap year Marsha Barber is a journalism
ST E V E R U SS E L L TORO N TO STAR good day’s work. I had time earn approximately $57,000 professor at Toronto Metropolitan
The Canadian government has seized Volga Dnepr Airlines’ away from studies to think less between the ages of 17 and University and a poet with
Antonov An-124 cargo plane and given it to Ukraine. about what I really wanted to do 31, when the study ended. And Ottawa’s Borealis Press.

For Black people, the political process is dubious

ERICA IFILL
CO N T R I B U TO R
In Toronto’s municipal elec-
tion, do Black Lives (still) Mat-
ter? That is the question to be
pondered after there were no-
ticeable absences from the first
— and only — municipal leader-
ship debate focused on issues
important to the Black commu-
nity this election season.
The June 6 debate was orga-
nized by Operation Black Vote,
a non-partisan organization
whose mission is to increase
Black visibility in the political
arena. Invitations were sent out
to the six front-runners — Ana
Bailão, Olivia Chow, Mitzie
Hunter, Josh Matlow, Brad
Bradford and Mark Saunders —
plus other Black candidates, in-
cluding former MP Celina Cea-
sar-Chavannes and break-
through grassroots candidate,
Chloe Brown, who came in
third in the last mayoral elec-
tion.
Of those invited, three were
absent — and they were all
white: Ana Bailão, Josh Matlow
and Brad Bradford (whose wife
had delivered their second child
the day before).
According to the City of Toron-
to’s data, Black Torontonians
make up 9 per cent of Toronto’s
population and growing (the
2016 census reported the Black
population in Toronto at 7.5 per
cent); they are the third-largest
“ethnic” category in the city, af-
ter South Asian and Chinese.
The data indicate that this
could be the first mayoral elec-
tion in Toronto where Black
voters could credibly influence
the outcome. But the three can-
didates who failed to show up to
the debate missed a golden op-
portunity to do so.
Quite the statement.
When the three campaigns
were contacted about their self-
imposed exclusion from the de-
bate, only two responded.
Bailão’s camp emphasized her
commitment to working with
the city’s Black community
When it comes to political
or economic power, Black
communities are still at the
back of the bus
should she be elected, stating
that “it’s important the Mayor
understand the diversity and
intersectionality of Black com-
munities and I’m committed to
continuing to listen and work
with Black communities …”
Matlow, whose history as
school board trustee included
advocating against an Afrocen-
tric school aimed at preventing
at-risk Black youth from drop-
ping out, responded, “Josh has
long supported and actively en-
gaged with Black communities
in Toronto, and will continue to
do so as Mayor.”
Regarding his prior stance on
the Afrocentric school, his team
was quick to point out that a
mischaracterization had taken
place: “His position was that Af-
rocentric curriculum should be
available to all students in the
TDSB regardless of the school
they attend.” He also had a prior
commitment — a $2,500-per-
plate fundraiser. (When asked
about this, his team laid out his
history of working on projects
with Black people.)
Bradford’s campaign did not
respond to inquiries, meaning
they refused to engage on the
issue of why he did not engage
in Black issues. And contrary to
their current outreach strategy,
a trip to the Patty King does not
suffice as meaningful political
engagement.
But this is what Toronto does:
it drapes itself in the cloak of
multiculturalism by emphasiz-
ing its Black cultural markers
with Jamaican Patois-driven
slang and Caribbean and hip-
hop infused music.
However, when it comes to
political or economic power,
Black communities are still at
the back of the bus and are tak-
en for granted.
The lack of Black political
voices taken seriously in the
halls of municipal power is not
primarily the fault of Black vot-
ers, rather it is the result of a
white political structure whose
agents refuse to take the needs
of Black voters seriously.
Humans prioritize showing
up to events they care about
and for politicians seeking
votes, even more so. Former
MPP Mitzi Hunter pointed to
the absentees in her closing re-
marks, when asked: “Why do
they deserve your support if
they don’t show up for you?”
Indeed, for Black people, the
political process is dubious, at
best, yet the impacts are enor-
mous, as Operation Black Vote’s
Chair, Velma Morgan, high-
lighted: “The impact will be, if
elected, their policies may not
include the varied needs in our
communities.”
And that is how nothing
changes from election to elec-
tion for Black voters.
E R I CA I F I L L A N AWA R D-W I N N I N G
A NTI - O P P R E SS I O N J O UR NA L I ST
A ND ECO NO MI ST.
ON0 ON
IN8 | I N S I G H T
WA R I N U K R A I N E
Saving heritage in a war zone
Using high-tech laser gear, UN-backed team scans Ukraine historical sites to preserve them
JON GAMBRELL
KY I V Under the plaintive painted
eyes of the holy, a volunteer team of
two United Nations-backed engi-
neers watched as a whirling laser
took a million measurements a sec-
ond inside Kyiv’s All Saints Church.
The laser swept quickly across the
church, part of the Kyiv-Pechersk
Lavra, while taking a series of in-
credibly high-resolution photo-
graphs.
Those images will be stitched to-
gether with navigational data to
create a perfect three-dimensional
rendering of the holy site, part of a
project to protect and preserve his-
toric places across Ukraine now in
as much in danger as its people
amid Russia’s war on the country.
“It’s a critical moment,” said Chia-
ra Dezzi Bardeschi, who oversees
Ukraine for UNESCO, the U.N.’s
cultural agency. “If it’s not protect-
ed now, we really risk that this heri-
tage is lost forever.”
Since Russia launched the war in
February 2022, at least 259 cultural
and historic sites have been dam-
aged by the fighting, according to
UNESCO. They include religious
sites, museums, monuments and li-
braries. It remains common to see
statues across the country sur-
rounded by sandbags or scaffolding
to protect them from airstrikes or
other attacks.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is pouring
money and the donations of West-
ern nations backing it into its mil-
itary as it tries to claw back more
territory as the summer fighting
months begin. That leaves little
money for preservation of its his-
H O N G KO N G
Protest song wiped from streaming, social media
ZEN SOO
H O N G KO N G A popular Hong
Kong protest song was no longer
available Wednesday on several
major music streaming sites and
social media platforms, after the
government sought an injunction
to ban the tune.
“Glory to Hong Kong” rose to
popularity during the 2019 pro-de-
mocracy protests, and became an
unofficial protest anthem. In 2020,
the government outlawed the pro-
test slogan “Liberate Hong Kong,
revolution of our times” over seces-
sionist and subversive connota-
tions, and the song was widely con-
sidered to be banned in the city as
its lyrics contained parts of the slo-
gan.
toric sites, which already have faced
cycles of destruction in the past
from czarist Russia, the Nazis dur-
ing the Second World War and the
Soviet Union in the decades after.
That’s where the work of Emman-
uel Durand, a French engineer
based in Geneva, and Serhii Reven-
ko, a Ukrainian architect who has
taken 3D models of other sites dur-
ing the war, comes into play. In re-
cent days, the two men, who volun-
teer through UNESCO, worked at
All Saints Church, built between
1696 and 1698 at the Lavra, also
known as the Monastery of the
Caves.
The men used a donated device
called a Zoller & Fröhlich Imager
5010X, which has two rectangular
boxes connected by a high-resolu-
tion, rapidly spinning camera in the
centre. The imager, as well as re-
quired software and supporting
equipment, together cost about
$70,000.
The two placed the imager atop a
tripod, then slipped away from it as
the device measured the heights
underneath the churches’ golden
domes.
The camera then whirled to life,
spinning around to capture the in-
side so closely that even the tex-
tures of the brush strokes will be
recorded.
“If due to the war, the church
would be bombed in the next week
or next month, it would be terrible,
of course, but at least we would
have this digitalization and it would
help a lot in rebuilding the church,”
Durand said.
That danger is real. Revenko earli-
er shot 3D images of the Library of
Hong Kong, once a bastion of free
speech and expression, has come
under tighter scrutiny by Beijing
after the unrest in 2019. Since then,
its political system has undergone a
major overhaul to ensure that only
“patriots” loyal to Beijing can hold
office.
More than 250 people have been
arrested under a sweeping national
security law passed in 2020 that
critics say is aimed at suppressing
dissent.
The song rose to the top of Apple
iTunes’ charts last week after the
Hong Kong government sought an
injunction from the courts to ban
“unlawful acts” related to the song
and any derivatives of it, including
the lyrics and melody.
But the song was no longer avail-
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
Emmanuel Youth in Chernihiv, about 130 kilo-
Durand, left, metres northeast of Kyiv. That li-
and Serhii brary, opened in 1902 in a building
Revenko set up bearing the style of the Gothic re-
a high-tech vival with pointed arches, was tar-
scanner at the geted by a Russian airstrike on
All Saints March 11, 2022.
Church at the The 3D image shows the massive
Kyiv-Pechersk hole torn into the side of the build-
Lavra in Kyiv ing, debris scattered everywhere. It
on June 11. also shows the depth and the power
of the bomb that struck the site.
That can be vital for historians — as
J ON G A M B R E L L well as for prosecutors or investiga-
T H E A SS O C I AT E D tors — who later want to see such
PR E SS scenes long after any repairs.
“This is important to preserve be-
cause what the enemy and the Rus-
sians are trying to destroy is who we
are and what our identity is,” Re-
venko said. “Our identity really is
the heritage and culture that we
can preserve and give to the next
generation.”
The men began their work at the
All Saints Church in part because of
Hong Kong’s able on music streaming platforms
government such as Spotify and Apple Music on
Wednesday. The original version of
sought an
the tune was also not available on
injunction to Facebook and Instagram’s Reels
ban the song function.
after it was It wasn’t clear if “Glory to Hong
mistakenly Kong” was removed by the plat-
forms or if the song was pulled by
played as the its creators.
city’s anthem The creators of the song, DGX
at several Music, said in a post on their Face-
international book page that it was “dealing with
sporting some technical issues related to
streaming platforms” and apolo-
events in the gized for the “temporary” issue.
past year, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and
instead of Apple Music did not immediately
China’s comment.
Versions of the song, including the
anthem one by the original creators, were
its relative safety during the war.
The Lavra’s gates bear the blue
shield emblem of the 1954 Hague
Convention, in theory providing
the protection of international law
to the site.
But the site on a hill overlooking
the Dnieper River is only a few kilo-
metres from Ukraine’s presidency
and other buildings in Kyiv that
could be targets for Moscow. In re-
cent weeks, Kyiv has come under
repeated missile and drone attacks
by Russia, raising the risks of a
strike or damage from falling de-
bris.
Russia’s embassy in Washington
did not respond to a request for
comment about its targeting prac-
tices regarding historical sites.
Durand and Revenko also trav-
elled to the Ukrainian city of Myko-
laiv, far closer to the front lines, to
create images of other cultural
sites.
“As an architect, it’s like rediscov-
ering your country, really, and re-
discovering your culture,” Revenko
said, gesturing toward the artworks
within the All Saints Church.
For Durand, who also volunteered
at the 2020 Beirut port explosion
and the recent earthquake that
struck Turkey, doing the 3D scan-
ning in Ukraine offers him a chance
to use his talents when people are
in need.
“I’m not a doctor. I cannot go to
Kherson or places and heal people.
That’s not my skill,” Durand said.
“I’m not a good cook. I cannot give
food, but I’m an engineer. I have
this 3D skill and other structural
assessment skills that I give.”
THE A SS O CI ATE D P R E SS
still available on video-streaming
site YouTube.
The Hong Kong government
sought an injunction to ban the
song after it was mistakenly played
as the city’s anthem at several in-
ternational sporting events in the
past year, instead of China’s nation-
al anthem “March of the Volun-
teers.”
A Hong Kong court on Monday
adjourned the injunction hearing
to July 21.
During a regular news briefing on
Tuesday, Hong Kong’s leader John
Lee said that the song was “not
compatible with national interest”
and that the city should “proactive-
ly and also preventively” safeguard
national security.
THE A SS O CI ATE D P R E SS
SECTION S SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
AUTO RACING
Max velocity
Verstappen earns pole in the rain
for Canadian Grand Prix S2
B L U E JAYS
Why
offence
has hit
the wall
Lack of pull hitting
adds to slump that
hurts pitching, too
GREGOR
CHISHOLM
OPINION
A R L I N GTO N , T E X A S The Blue
Jays and Rangers have more in
common than one might think de-
spite taking very different paths
through this season.
The Jays have only five fewer hits
than the Rangers and an on-base
percentage that is lower by just
.008. And yet, Texas has the top
producing lineup in the majors,
while the Jays had slid all the way to
11th following a lengthy slump.
Rangers Blue Jays
4 2
Next: Today at Rangers
That trend continued Saturday af-
ternoon as the Jays outhit the
Rangers but had little to show for it
in a 4-2 loss at Globe Life Field. It
was the 10th time in 16 games this
month that the Jays failed to score
more than three runs as the bats
continue to struggle.
“This team is really good,” Jays
outfielder Daulton Varsho said of
the Rangers. “They’ve obviously
put up a lot of runs this year and
we’re only (five) hits behind ... It
shows how close we are to actually
making those runs happen. We
have (five) less hits than them and
they have 100 more runs. We’re
right there. It’s about getting that
hit in the big moment and not try-
ing to do too much.”
Since May 24, the Jays rank 25th
in the majors with 85 runs. Dating
back to May 9, the performance has
been only marginally better with
150 runs, 20th overall. This was
supposed to be one of the best line-
ups in baseball, but the lack of exe-
cution and timely hits have stopped
that from happening for most of the
year.
There have been two noticeable
flaws.
The first has been the club’s well-
documented struggle with runners
in scoring position. The Jays’ .237
average in those situations is the
sixth-worst in the majors, and 3.82
runners stranded in scoring posi-
tion per game was the highest en-
tering Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are bat-
ting .315 with runners in scoring
position and no other team is above
.300. They’re doing more than just
hitting singles in those spots with a
league-leading 29 home runs and
an .898 on-base plus slugging per-
centage. That alone helps explain
the discrepancy in scoring between
these teams despite a similar num-
ber of hits.
“I think throughout our order, we
have a really good approach,” said
Varsho, who provided one of the
SEE CHISHOLM, S5
ON ON0
ESPORTS
Screen test
As video game popularity grows,
so does an Olympic dream S3
U.S. OPEN GOLF, S2
NATIONS LEAGUE SOCCER, S3
POULIN, S4
WILNER, S5
NHL ARGONAUTS
Banner
goes up,
then down
to business
Argos’ focus is on
trying to repeat
as champions
M A R K Z WO L I N S K I
SPORTS REPORTER
Andrew Harris stood before the
Argonauts during a training camp
address last spring and stressed the
importance of staying together on a
path that wound through adversity
to the franchise’s 18th Grey Cup.
On Saturday, the legendary run-
ning back stood before his team-
mates again, this time on the eve of
their season opener, and told them
to forget about last year.
“There’s a part of it where you
need to remember that you can’t
dwell on the past,” Harris said as the
Argos went through final prepara-
tions for Sunday
night’s game at TO N I G H T
BMO Field
against the rival Tiger-Cats
Hamilton Ti- at Argonauts
ger-Cats.
“ We went
7 p.m., TSN4
through a lot of adversity last year.
We had a lot of issues last year, and
we rose above it. You have to take
that perseverance, those positive
nuggets, and try to improve them.
There’s always room for improve-
ment. You’re always striving for
perfect football, which is damn
near impossible, but just take in
those mental lessons and push
them forward into a new season.”
Indeed, the Argos, who had a bye
H A N S D E RY K TO RO N TO STA R F I L E P HOTO in the first week of the CFL season,
Despite retiring as the fourth-winningest netminder in NHL history, former Leafs goalie open with a deep roster built on
Curtis Joseph has been passed over 10 times for the Hockey Hall of Fame. veteran leadership and the experi-
Cujo vs. King
ence of having won the Grey Cup
last November.
The team boasts enough depth to
field a talented roster despite the
fact eight players (starting line-
backer Henoc Muamba, receivers
Markeith Ambles and Tommy
Nield, defensive backs Josh Hager-
Lundqvist looks like a shoo-in for Hall of Fame. ty and Maurice Carnell IV, and of-
fensive line starters Dariusz Bla-
The numbers say ex-Leaf Joseph should be, too dek, Shane Richards and Trevon
Tate) are starting the season on the
six-game injury list.
That weighty list might have stag-
K E V I N M CG R A N claimed numbers guy who has cre- gered another team, but the Argos
SPORTS REPORTER ated a database that compares ev- believe they’ve come back even
ery Hockey Hall of Famer. “He’s the stronger this season. They feel the
One goalie notched 454 wins over a only first-ballot guy that deserves fact they won the Cup after a 7-7
943-game career. He never won the that opportunity. start forged greater leadership and
Stanley Cup, but he has Olympic “But Cujo rates extremely well. commitment to team culture and
gold. When he retired, he did so as Lundqvist has a fairly better case, accountability.
the fourth-winningest netminder but you can compare them closely, “The growth we showed from a
in NHL history. and that to me means Cujo has long coaching standpoint, from a player
Another goalie notched 459 wins been overlooked.” Former Rangers standpoint, to a team standpoint …
in an 887-game career. He never Pidutti is a Sudbury-based ac- goalie Henrik we’re a lot stronger this year than
won the Stanley Cup, but he also countant (and goalie) who used his Lundqvist we were last year at the beginning
has Olympic gold. When he retired, spare time during the pandemic of the season,” Harris said.
he did so as the fifth-winningest lockdown to download and analyze Harris’s voice carries the weight of
netminder in NHL history. the careers of all Hall of Famers to a four-time Grey Cup champion
Neither one is in the Hockey Hall determine what data makes them who surpassed 10,000 career rush-
of Fame. worthy of the honour. To him, a ing yards in 2022 to become the
The first is former Maple Leafs handful of players — including Jo- SCAN THIS CODE league’s all-time leader in yards
FOR MORE ON
netminder Curtis Joseph, passed seph and another ex-Leaf, Alex Mo- from scrimmage by a Canadian.
CURTIS JOSEPH’S
over 10 times since he first became gilny — have what it takes but have The players voted on four team
HALL OF FAME
eligible. been overlooked. captains this past week and had
CREDENTIALS
The second is long-time New York The knocks on Joseph are that he Harris in mind, but ultimately went
Ranger Henrik Lundqvist. He was never the best goalie of his era, with quarterback Chad Kelly (of-
wasn’t eligible for nomination until never made it to the Stanley Cup fence captain), Wynton McManis
this year, and is deemed a shoo-in final and was a backup in that 2002 (defensive captain), Boris Bede
when voters convene Wednesday gold-medal game. The best of his (special teams captain) and A.J.
to make their decision. era — Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Ouellette.
“Lundqvist should be a slam Dominik Hašek and Ed Belfour — The choice of Kelly underlines the
dunk,” says Paul Pidutti, a self-pro- SEE JOSEPH, S4 SEE ARGOS, S5
ON0 ON
S2 | S P O R T S
A U TO R AC I N G
Verstappen weathers storm
Rainy day in Montreal can’t stop Formula One leader from taking pole position
DA N I E L R A I N B I R D
M O N T R E A L Max Verstappen
doesn’t have a secret for driving in
the rain, but it’s something he’s pre-
pared himself for since he was
young.
The Formula One leader weath-
ered the storm Saturday and drove
his Red Bull into the pole position
in qualifying for Sunday’s Canadian
Grand Prix.
“I remember back in the go-kart-
ing days my dad was literally stand-
ing on the track telling me where to
drive in the wet,” said Verstappen.
“It’s a lot of feeling as well, knowing
how to drive it, what lines to take.
It’s difficult to fully explain why that
happens, but it’s something you
have been learning since a little
kid.”
The 25-year-old posted a lap of
one minute, 25.858 seconds on a
wet track at Circuit Gilles Ville-
neuve to secure his spot at the front
of the grid. It’s Verstappen’s fifth
pole of the season and the 25th of
his career. The Dutch driver is chas-
ing a fourth straight win and sixth
in eight races overall.
With a win Sunday, Verstappen
would tie the late Brazilian icon
Ayrton Senna for fifth all-time with
41 career wins.
“When I was a little kid, I would
have never imagined being on that
list. So for me it’s definitely an
amazing achievement,” Verstappen
said recently.
Nico Hulkenberg surprised by fin-
ishing second in qualifying to give
Haas what appeared to be its first-
ever start in the front row. Howev-
er, the German driver received a
three-place grid penalty for red-flag
infringement hours after the race.
Despite dropping, fifth place is a
good result for the Haas driver.
“We’ve got to be realistic. Recent-
ly, our race pace hasn’t been the
strongest,” said Hulkenberg.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso
moved up to second. Seven-time
Canadian Grand Prix winner Lewis
Hamilton, who has never qualified
outside the top five in Montreal,
starts third, and Mercedes team-
mate George Russel is fourth. All
three are in position to secure
points with several other top driv-
ing starting further back in the grid.
Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and Ferra-
ri’s Charles Leclerc, ranked second
and seventh in the standings, both
bowed out early in qualifying and
sixth-ranked Carlos Sainz received
U.S. OPEN
Kim’s record-tying day pushes him up leaderboard
EDDIE PELLS
LO S A N G E L E S Tom Kim’s last big
plunge into the major-champion-
ship spotlight was a muddy mess.
This one — crisp and clean for a
while, but stained by a rugged fin-
ish.
The 20-year-old, who became a
meme after his waist-high wade in-
to the mud while looking for his ball
at the PGA Championship last
month, was on record-setting pace
Saturday at the U.S. Open before
things started to unravel.
He tied a tournament record by
shooting 29 over nine holes, and
added another birdie on No. 10 to
get to 7 under par for the day and 6
under for the tournament. Three
bogeys on the back halted his mo-
mentum and turned moving day
into a bit of a bummer.
Even so, Kim shot 4-under 66 and
closed the day at 3-under 207. With
the leaders on the front nine, the
South Korean player was on the
leaderboard, too — tied for 12th, 36
places better than where he started.
“At least I kind of have a chance to
have a good finish tomorrow,” Kim
said.
Co-leaders Rickie Fowler and
Wyndham Clark were at 10 under
after three rounds, one shot better
than Rory McIlroy.
Billed as the toughest test in golf,
the U.S. Open is not normally a good
place for big comebacks. Kim start-
ed the day 11 strokes out of the lead.
But this course has now yielded
four nine-hole scores of 30 along
Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari suffered a broken front wing in a collision in Montreal on Saturday.
THE CANAD IAN P RESS
Max Verstappen posted a lap of
one minute, 25.858 seconds on a
wet track on Saturday.
a three-place penalty for impeding
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.
As a result, Leclerc, Sainz and Pé-
rez will start 10th, 11th and 12th on
Sunday.
“Obviously it’s a massive opportu-
nity for us,” said Alonso, third in the
Tom Kim, who became a meme after wading into the mud at the PGA
Championship last month, has managed to keep his pants clean so far.
with Kim’s 29. Xander Schauffele
and Rickie Fowler shot their 30s as
part of U.S. Open record-setting
rounds of 62 on opening day.
For a while on a breezy, sun-
splashed afternoon in SoCal, Kim
looked as if he might go even lower .
“Didn’t miss a putt, didn’t miss a
shot,” he said when asked to explain
SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR
TIPPING
HIS CAP
TO C A N A DA
Finnish racer
Valtteri Bottas
wanted his
special helmet
design for Sun-
day’s race to
represent what
comes to mind
when he thinks
of Canada:
“Beavers, obvi-
ously, lumber-
jacks, ice hock-
ey, maple syr-
up.” The helmet
is light blue with
some green
forest, lumber-
jacks chopping
wood and, of
course, beavers,
carrying that
wood to make a
dam. Charles
Leclerc’s helmet
is a replica of
one worn by
Canadian F1
icon Gilles
Villeneuve. And
Montreal-born
Lance Stroll’s
red and white
helmet features
QR codes
linking to his
favourite local
spots such as
Lester’s Deli.
BRYN LENNON FO R M U L A 1 V I A GE T T Y I M AGE S
T H E CA N A D I A N
P R ESS
drivers standings, “in terms of utes.
points for the constructors and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri slid
multiple drivers, eventually, if (Pé- off the track amid the tricky condi-
rez) is not scoring too many points.” tions, delaying the final session.
Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll Verstappen, who won last year’s
will have a more difficult time se- Canadian Grand Prix, leads the
curing points for Aston Martin. The Formula One standings with 170
Montreal-born driver qualified points, 53 ahead of Pérez. Red Bull’s
13th, then dropped to 16th after a 287 points top the constructors’
grid penalty of his own for imped- standings, while Mercedes is sec-
ing Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. ond with 152. Valtteri Bottas
“It wasn’t ideal. I’m disappointed After two days of showers, drivers has a beaver on
with the session,” said Stroll. “But it and fans could be in for a dry race his helmet.
was a difficult session, it could have Sunday as the forecast calls for a
gone either way. It’s a bit of a weird mix of sun and cloud. TO DAY
order in the grid today. But it’s al- It’s the 52nd Canadian GP and the
ways possible to overtake here.” 45th anniversary of Gilles Ville- Canadian
The session began without rain, neuve’s win, when Montreal hosted Grand Prix
after showers earlier. But the pre- for the first time in 1978. No Cana- 1:55 p.m.,
cipitation returned and got heavier dian has won the race since. CTV/ABC/
and heavier over the final 30 min- THE CANA DI A N P R E SS TSN4
“But it was a really short thought YA N G
because I still had the hardest part IN LEAD
of the golf course right in front of
me.” Amy Yang
Kim’s round underscored the birdied all five
truth about the course. Through par 5s and shot
two-plus rounds, the front nine had her third
yielded 729 birdies or better; the straight 5-under
back had yielded 407. Through 67 to take the
three rounds, Kim himself has lead after three
made 10 of his birdies on the front rounds of the
and four on the back. Meijer LPGA
Of his three bogeys over his back- Classic in Bel-
nine 37, none hurt more than the mont, Mich.
four he took on the 81-yard par-3 Canadian
15th. His wedge shot got plugged in Brooke Hen-
the bunker fronting the green. derson was 10
“A really simple wedge shot,” he shots back after
said. “But with the wind kind of a third-round
going down to left, you’ve got to 69.
really hit it at the right time.” T H E A SS O C I AT E D
Instead of dwelling on what might P R ESS
have been, he was taking the day as
apositive. He vaulted up the leader-
board, set himself up for a late tee TO DAY
time Sunday and put him in posi-
tion to contend if he gets off to U.S. Open
another great start. Bonus: His Final Round
white pants stayed white all day. 12 p.m., TSN1/3
ROSS KINNAIRD GETTY IMAGES “If you told me at the start of the
day” that he’d shoot 66, Kim said,
“I’d take that score.” SCAN THIS CODE
Others to shoot 29 over nine FOR MORE ON THE
his torrid start. holes: Neal Lancaster, final round, U.S. OPEN
It was difficult to block all second nine, Shinnecock Hills,
thoughts of a 62, or the leader- 1995; Neal Lancaster, second
board, or winning. round, second nine, Oakland Hills,
“I’m thinking, ‘If I can keep this 1996; Vijay Singh, second round,
going, have a good finish, and if the second nine, Olympia Fields, 2003;
leaders kind of stumble, I might and Louis Oosthuizen, final round,
have a chance to be really close up second nine, Chambers Bay, 2015.
there on Sunday,’ ” he conceded. THE ASSO C I AT E D P R E SS
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
ESPORTS
Playing the long game
Does video gaming have a place in the future of the Olympics?
The IOC is testing the waters with its first Olympic Esports Week
K E R RY G I L L E S P I E
SPORTS REPORTER
The lights are low and the action
loud as fans cheer for Toronto’s
team. The crowd is decked out in
official gear, smacking thunder-
sticks, chanting “let’s go!” when the
home side is down and leaping to
their feet when they turn it around.
The difference from your average
sports event is that this team — the
Toronto Ultra — plays the video
game Call of Duty in a professional
esports league.
The action (with four gamers per
team in front of computer screens)
is a constant rat-a-tat-tat of ma-
chine guns interspersed with gre-
nades and bombs displayed on a
massive screen hanging from the
rafters at the Mattamy Athletic
Centre.
“This is brutal, lambs to the
slaughter,” one play-by-play com-
mentator says during Ultra’s
matchup with the New York Sub-
liners in the league’s last regular-
season tournament. When Toronto
comes from behind to win the
opening game, the announcer
shouts: “What are we witnessing?”
That is a question many sports
observers are asking as the Interna-
tional Olympic Committee and
other major players try to come to
grips with the popularity of esports,
and embrace it.
This week, the IOC will hold its
first Olympic Esports Week in Sin-
gapore. Gamers will compete in
person for the “prestigious title of
Olympic Esports Series winner” in
10 events: archery, baseball, chess,
cycling, dance, motorsports, sailing,
taekwondo, tennis and sport shoot-
ing (a special edition of Fortnite).
The Olympic governing body has
said this event, building on its 2021
virtual series, “marks another step
in supporting the development of
virtual sports within the Olympic
movement.”
Last summer’s Commonwealth
Gamesin Birmingham, England in-
cluded esports as a separately
branded competition. Esports were
also demonstration events at the
2018 Asian Games, but will have full
medal status at this fall’s edition in
Hangzhou, China. Alongside tradi-
tional sports such as swimming and
track will be PUBG (a battle royale
where the last player/team stand-
ing wins), League of Legends, Dota
2, Arena of Valor, Street Fighter V
and FIFA.
Is this a natural progression for
multi-sport events — “moving with
society,” as the IOC has called it —
or a bridge too far after embracing
youth-oriented sports from skate-
boarding to break dancing in pur-
suit of a younger audience and new
sponsorship dollars?
“You could talk to 10 people and
potentially get 10 different an-
swers,” said Michele Donnelly, a
sports management professor at
Brock University who researches
alternative sports and gender
equality in the Olympics.
STEV E RU SSEL L
“It really doesn’t align with faster,
higher, stronger in the ways that we
have imagined to date. Certainly,
the drive for younger fans is a busi-
ness decision. It’s a concern about
potentially a lack of sustainability
in the Olympic brand, in the Olym-
pic Games, if you don’t get young
people invested.”
But she sees significant challenges
in moving esports into the Olympic
mainstream.
The Singapore competition that
runs from June 22 to 25 features
relatively obscure games (most re-
lated to Olympic sports) rather
than more popular titles featuring
last-player-standing battles and
first-person shooters.
“How would those align with
Olympic values?” Donnelly asked,
referring to the IOC’s view that it
promotes peace through sports.
IOC president Thomas Bach
seemed to address that in 2018: “We
cannot have in the Olympic pro-
gram a game which is promoting
violence or discrimination.”
But the Asian Games — which
start Sept. 23 and are recognized by
the IOC, largely following the
Olympic program — will be hand-
ing out medals to the best in what
Bach has labelled “so-called killer
games.”
Olympic inclusion would also re-
quire dealing with athlete quotas,
the world anti-doping system and
commercial ownership rules. And
SP ORTS | S3
STEVE RUSSELL TORON TO STA R
the IOC would have to explain how
esports align with its goal of ad-
vancing gender equality.
At the Call of Duty tournament in
Toronto from May 25 to 28, there
was not a single female player
among 12 teams battling for a total
of $500,000 (U.S.). Who plays and
how women are treated should be
important considerations for the
IOC, Donnelly said.
“In the larger gaming ecosystem,
women have been incredibly poor-
ly treated,” she said.
Cheri Bradish, director of the Fu-
ture of Sport Lab at Toronto Met-
ropolitan University, agrees and
mentions another challenge: mon-
ey-making.
“Globally, the esports movement
TORONTO STAR is at an inflection point right now,”
Bradish said.
“Investors and sports teams saw it
as a new way to create revenue,
diversify their assets, and then it
accelerated during COVID.”
But over the last six months, there
have been growing concerns about
the industry’s financial health.
“We know leading esport compa-
nies who are either going to close
shop or close divisions. They’re not
sure about the market,” she said.
“So I would suggest, much like the
Youth Olympics, this is one of those
extensions of the product that will
likely be rolled out kind of in a case-
analysis way, to see if this is some-
thing that has traction. Because I
don’t think the IOC, or any sport
property, would continue with
TORONTO ULTRA something right now in this econo-
my with their brand unless they did
The crowd was see it as a home run.”
into it at the Matt Smith, a 22-year-old busi-
Toronto Ultra ness and computer science student,
Major III has been playing Call of Duty since
Tournament at he was 10. He drove from Windsor
the Mattamy with friends to be among the thou-
Athletic Centre, sands of fans at the four-day Toron-
as professional to Ultra Major V Tournament,
gamers rather than joining the reported
competed in peak online viewership of 200,000.
Call of Duty. “It’s way more entertaining to be
here with the crowd and see every-
thing live, because we watch it ev-
ery week at home on our comput-
ers,” Smith said. “When you’re here,
when something really big hap-
pens, the place erupts and it’s just
really neat to be in that kind of
environment with everyone who
knows the game.”
Smith is the kind of young fan the
IOC is looking to reach, but says
they’re going about it the wrong
way. He thinks highly competitive
esports such as Counterstrike, Su-
per Smash Bros and Call of Duty
belong in the Olympics, “but I don’t
know about the ones they picked.
There are some weird ones there.
“It makes sense to do sports ones,
I guess, to the people who already
watch the Olympics. But I don’t
think they should be trying to con-
vert the Olympic sports people into
video game people. I think it’s more
getting the video game people into
watching the Olympics.
“There’s already a crowd here who
wants to watch this.”
ON0
S O CC E R
Canada
embraces
underdog
role vs. U.S.
Nations League
final has trophy,
$1M on the line
N E I L DAV I D S O N
Canadian soccer captain Atiba
Hutchinson will end his distin-
guished playing career Sunday. He’s
looking to leave with a trophy.
The 40-year-old midfielder has al-
ready said goodbye to his longtime
Turkish club via social media:
“Thank you Besiktas, forever in my
heart.”
He will close the Canadian chap-
ter at Allegiant Stadium in Las Ve-
gas, where the 47th-ranked men’s
squad will take on the 13th-ranked
United States in the CONCACAF
Nations League final. The winner
will lift a cup and collect $1 million
(U.S.).
“This is going to be my last kick at
it … I’m going to enjoy every mo-
ment of it,” said Hutchinson, a
steadying influence after coming
off the bench in the 76th minute of
Thursday’s 2-0 semifinal win over
No. 58 Panama.
The Americans will be without
midfielder Weston McKennie and
fullback Sergiño Dest, both sus-
pended after being red-carded in a
chippy 3-0 win over Mexico in the
semifinals. Dest, who has 26 caps,
plays club soccer for Barcelona,
while McKennie (44 caps) spent
last season on
loan to Eng- TO DAY
land’s Leeds
United from It- Canada
aly’s Juventus. vs. U.S.
Canadian 2:30 p.m., Fox
coach John
Herdman has downplayed expecta-
tions, repeatedly talking about his
team’s lack of preparation ahead of
the final four. He added that the
American side has a huge edge
when it comes to players attached
to clubs in top-tier leagues around
the world.
“The U.S. have got a massive qual-
itative advantage over every team
in CONCACAF at the moment,” he
said. “And then there’s seven mil-
lion (support) staff they have and all
the resources that they can put into
their program. So they’re the big
dogs in CONCACAF, and rightly so.
“I think ourselves and Mexico are
still hunting the big dog.”
Jason DeVos, now Canada Soc-
cer’s interim general secretary,
played for the last Canadian men’s
team to win a major trophy at the
2000 Gold Cup. That team is now
in the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame.
DeVos expects big things from the
current roster.
“The things that really excites me
about this group of men is, I see so
much potential in all them and so
much upside,” he said. “They
haven’t reached their best yet. The
best is still to come. And I know that
this is part of John’s plan, to get
maximal performance at the opti-
mal time — and peaking in these
key events. Sunday provides an op-
portunity for them to show the
world that they belong at this level.
“It’s going to be a very difficult
game. The U.S. is a top, top team.
Many will argue that they’re the top
team in CONCACAF and have a
depth in their squad that we just
don’t have. But I know that this
group of men is going to go out
there and fight for their country,
and do everything they can to lift a
trophy.”
The U.S. leads the all-time series
16-10-12. But the Canadians have
had success in CONCACAF Na-
tions League play. The Canadian
men won 2-0 when they met in
October 2019 at BMO Field, with
goals from Alphonso Davies and
substitute Lucas Cavallini ending a
34-year, 17-match winless run
against their North American ri-
vals. The U.S. won the return match
4-1 in Orlando the next month to
advance.
The teams have gone 1-1-1 since
then, with Canada winning 2-0 last
time out in World Cup qualifying in
January 2022 in Hamilton.
T H E CA N A DI A N P R E SS
ON0 ON SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR

S4 | S P O R T S
NHL

How Knights fulfilled their quest

Vegas started with an aggressive goal and assembled the players needed to achieve it

PA R T Y
DAVE IN VEGAS
POULIN
OPINION Tens of thou-
sands of Vegas
Golden Knights
fans descended
In putting a bow on the Vegas Gold- on the Vegas
en Knights and their Stanley Cup Strip for Satur-
championship, the question I’m be- day night’s
ing asked most often is: What exact- Stanley Cup
ly did we just watch, and how did victory parade
Vegas do it? and rally to
What we watched was a methodi- celebrate the
cal dismantling of the Florida team’s first NHL
Panthers in Game 5, giving Vegas a championship.
4-1 series win after setting the stan- Vegas police
dard for expansion teams in every compared the
sport with their artful construction. size of the cele-
I had a special interest, after a bration to annu-
unique inside look early in the pro- al New Year’s
cess. One of my former Flyers Eve fireworks
teammates, good friend Murray shows — only
Craven, was owner Bill Foley’s orig- with much
inal hockey consultant and one of higher tempera-
the principal architects of the orga- tures. A 1.6-
nization. After looking closely at kilometre mo-
buying an existing franchise, Fo- torcade fol-
ley’s group swung to owning the lowed Trop-
first major pro sports team in Las icana Avenue to
Vegas. a fan rally in
It was at a dinner with a business front of T-Mo-
partner in Vegas that we first heard bile Arena.
Foley lay out his aggressive plan Hotel guests in
and claim that the team would win highrises with
a Cup in six years — possibly the views of the
first time the owner had uttered strip were vis-
those words in public. We smiled ited by security
respectfully, knowing how hard a guards checking
task winning a Stanley Cup would for weapons, a
be. Foley would get the last laugh. reminder of the
The real question is how the 2017 mass
Knights managed to back up that shooting in the
brash statement so accurately and area that killed
emphatically. DAVI D BECK E R GE TTY I MAGE S 58 people, not
Drilling down for the answer, I will Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo and the Stanley Cup drew a crowd on the Vegas strip Saturday night. long before the
lean on the famous words of one of Knights fran-
my favourite boyhood TV charac- vered to get the players they want- Conversely, only one Knights Pietrangelo in 2020 showed chise was
ters, Detective Joe Friday of “Drag- ed — the same way they would op- draft pick skated for Vegas in the Knights brass were also capable of launched. The
net” — “All we want are the facts, erate moving forward. There were final: towering defender Nicolas selling their vision. In the college parade route
ma’am.” no friends in the business, merely Hague, a second-round selection in free-agent derby, Zach Whitecloud was similar to
Here are the Vegas facts. partners with whom they would year one. Draft capital was often was recruited out of Bemidji State one last Sep-
deal, most often in their favour. Six used to make trades. Before their in 2018. On the waiver wire, Greg tember for the
The brain trust original members of the first NHL first game in 2017 they dealt a sec- Amadio was plucked from Toronto WNBA champi-
They hired well from the begin- expansion team since 2000 skated ond-round pick to Columbus for in 2021. on Las Vegas
ning. George McPhee was put in with the Cup aloft on Tuesday night valuable depth player Keegan Kole- Aces.
the general manager’s chair, and in Vegas. After the commissioner sar. Star centre Jack Eichel came Behind the bench THE ASSOCIATED
the front office was built around presented it to captain Mark Stone over in a massive deal with Buffalo Knights management continued to PRESS
him. McPhee had 25 years of NHL (acquired in a 2019 trade with the in 2021, two years after Stone. This believe in the roster after missing
management experience and com- Ottawa Senators), Reilly Smith was year, top-line skater Ivan Barbash- the playoffs in their fifth year, but
plemented his skills nicely by add- next in line before handing it to ev and veteran goaltender Jona- did make a coaching change. Bruce
ing Kelly McCrimmon, a veteran Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jon- than Quick were added at the Cassidy built from the solid base set
junior hockey executive who had athan Marchessault. William March deadline. by predecessors Gerard Gallant
successfully handled every job Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Brayden While others rested before Christ- and Peter DeBoer. It proved to be
imaginable in Brandon, Man. Two McNabb and William Carrier mas in 2019, McPhee used knowl- the final touch.
key pieces were added immediate- proudly followed. edge of his former employers to
ly: pro scouting director Vaughn quietly airlift Chandler Stevenson Canadian flavour
Karpan (pro scouting director) and Tricks of the trade out of Washington for a fifth- While a Canadian team has not
Scott Luce (director of amateur The Knights have stretched the sal- rounder. Nicolas Roy arrived in a won the Cup since 1993, 16 of the 21
scouting). All four are still there. ary cap to the limit and beyond, all deal with the Carolina Hurricanes Vegas skaters in the final were Ca-
within the rules. Every NHL team ahead of the 2019 draft, Quinton nadians, plus McPhee, Cassidy and
The expansion draft has been dealt with — there are no Howden in a swap with the New McCrimmon.
With that foundation set well favourite trading partners. The York Rangers in July 2021. Adin The maple leaf was well re-
ahead of the expansion draft, they championship roster includes play- Hill was added as goalie depth from presented.
went to work and crafted a roster ers acquired from 14 different NHL San Jose just before this past sea- In hindsight it might seem simple,
that would unexpectedly catapult teams: nine in the east, five in the son for a fourth-round pick. but it was truly a challenge. But it
them to the Stanley Cup final in west. If a deal is out there to be was always possible. Just ask Bill
their first year of existence. They made, Vegas works its way into the The free agents Foley.
cajoled, manipulated and manoeu- conversation. The signing of star defender Alex TWITTER : @DJ P O U L I N 2 0

Joseph is 454
en’s players Jennifer Botterill and
Meghan Duggan.
Hall of Fame voters operate in se-
‘a victim of cret. There are 18 members of the
selection committee led by Hall
Regular-
season wins

bad timing’ chair Lanny McDonald, each com-

mitting to three-year terms on a
rotating basis.
by Curtis
Joseph

51
The public had until March 15 to
nominate players, and committee
J O S E P H F R O M S1 members can nominate their own.
They’ll make their cases to each Shutouts

63
were the ones taking home the Ve- other, then vote on Wednesday. It
zina Trophy and are in the hall. takes 13 of 17 votes (McDonald
Joseph’s 63 playoff victories are the doesn’t vote) for induction, and
most without winning a Cup. there can be multiple rounds of vot-
“I don’t think it’s a legitimate rea- ing. There is no limit to the number Playoff wins

son,” said Pidutti. “I think it’s a
function of poor timing. When you
look at those four goalies, that’s a
really tough crowd. If he plays five
years earlier, or five years later, it’s a
different conversation. I think he’s
a victim of bad timing.”
Pidutti’s work has been featured
on TSN and Sportsnet and is acces-
sible through DailyFaceoff.com
and adjustedhockey.
When compiling all of his data,
Pidutti rates Joseph as the eighth-
best goalie of the post-expansion
(1967) era, sandwiched between
Hall of Famers Bernie Parent and
Billy Smith.
“Cujo is the top holdover as some-
one who’s been passed over,” said
Pidutti. “He tends to not have that
Adjusted Hockey analyzed the careers of every Hall of Famer to
determine the data that makes them worthy of the honour.
single line argument. He almost
won a Vezina, but didn’t. He stole
some playoff series, but didn’t win
the Cup. He’s like a groomsman but
never a groom. Those are the kinds
of players who get overlooked in
history, when the truth is he was
playing at a high level that whole
time.”
Some other names who might get
the call to the Hall: Mogilny, de-
fenceman Sergei Gonchar, Cup-
winning goalies Corey Crawford
and Chris Osgood, as well as wom-
.917
of years a player can be considered
and only the winners are an-
nounced — up to four male players,
two female players, two builders Playoff save
and one official. mark in 133
Veteran sportswriter and broad-
caster Scott Morrison joined the se- games
lection committee this year, replac-
ing journalist Michael Farber, who
served the full-term limit of 15
years. Among those who had their
appointments renewed were play-
er-broadcaster Cassie Campbell-
Pascall, Winnipeg Jets owner Mark
Chipman, Seattle Kraken general
manager Ron Francis, Hall of Fam-
er Jari Kurri and retired TSN
broadcaster Bob McKenzie.
The induction ceremony will be
held Nov. 13.
TORONTO STAR SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
BASEBALL
Olerud, Barfield united in hall
They never played together as Blue Jays, but now they’re both enshrined in St. Marys
MIKE
WILNER
OPINION
S T. M A RYS , O N T. One was there
when it all began, the other was part
of the group that finally finished the
job.
One had the power bat and the
rocket arm, the other had the
sweetest swing most of us have ever
seen.
Their paths never crossed as Blue
Jays, but Jesse Barfield and John
Olerud shared a stage in St. Marys
on Saturday afternoon, both in-
ducted into the Canadian Baseball
Hall of Fame.
Barfield was a member of the
Class of 2023, along with former
Jays and Expos pitcher Denis
Boucher of Lachine, Que., Rich
Harden — the right-hander from
Victoria who pitched almost 1,000
big-league innings for the A’s, Cubs
and Twins — and Manitoba coach-
ing legend Joe Wiwchar.
Olerud was actually elected in
2020, along with longtime Expos
voice Jacques Doucet, but neither
of them could make it to induction
weekend last year (there were no
ceremonies in 2020 or 2021). The
only batting champion in Jays his-
tory referenced his lack of speed on
the basepaths in explaining the de-
lay.
“The joke for slow baserunners
like me,” Olerud said as he began his
acceptance speech, “is that you
don’t time them with a stopwatch,
you time them with a calendar. And
so I think it’s fitting for me that I
was (elected) in 2020 and it took
me three calendar years to finally
get here.”
The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is tagged out at home plate by Rangers catcher Jonah Heim.
Three runs often too much to ask
O P I N I O N : C H I S H O L M F R O M S1
lone bright spots on offence with a
solo homer in the fourth inning. “If
we keep grinding those at-bats, the
luck is going to turn our way. It’s too
long of a season for it not to turn,
too many good players in this line-
up for it not to happen. Just keep
riding the wave.”
The second issue the Jays appear
to be facing is that they’re not pull-
ing the ball consistently enough.
They entered Saturday’s game with
a pull rate of 35.7 per cent, which
ranked 29 out of 30 teams and was
down 2.1 percentage points from
2022, the largest drop in the ma-
jors.
Compare those numbers to a cou-
ple of seasons ago when they scored
the third-most runs in the league.
In 2021, the Jays ranked eighth with
a pull percentage of 38.2 per cent.
Even last year, when the lineup un-
derperformed compared to pre-
season expectations, they finished
18th with a pull rate of 37.8 per cent.
The lack of production has forced
the Jays coaching staff to be a bit
more aggressive than usual, and
even that has backfired.
During the first inning of Satur-
day’s game, George Springer
THE CANAD IAN P RESS
John Olerud holds the Jays record
for batting average and played for
both World Series winners.
As for Barfield, he couldn’t wait.
The last member of the Jays’ 1980s
outfield to be enshrined — George
Bell was inducted in 2013, Lloyd
Moseby five years later — was the
team’s first home run champion
(with 40 big flies in 1986) but
thought he might never get the call.
“It’s something I really wanted,”
Barfield told the Star as he pre-
pared to receive his Hall of Fame
jacket from all-time great Ferguson
Jenkins. “I mean, how can you have
two in there but not all three? It
didn’t make sense to me. But I got
in, that’s the main thing.”
A ninth-round draft pick in the
Jays’ inaugural season of 1977, Bar-
field was bird-dogged by franchise
legend Bobby Mattick, who had
gone to a high school game in Joliet,
Ill., to scout pitcher Bill Gullickson.
Mattick came back and told Pat Gil-
lick, then assistant general manag-
er, that Gullickson was good but he
liked this kid Barfield better.
Once he got into pro ball, though,
Barfield had serious issues hitting
reached base via a leadoff single and
tried to advance to second on a hit-
and-run.
That’s when Whit Merrifield hit a
ground ball directly at Rangers in-
fielder Marcus Semien, who was
covering second in anticipation of a
throw. The whole point of a hit-
and-run is to avoid a double-play
while creating holes around the in-
field. Instead, the Jays handed the
Rangers a pair of easy outs.
“Trying to do some things, and I
think you also have to be patient
and understand the numbers will
neutralize at some point,” Jays
manager John Schneider said.
“These guys have all hit over the
course of their careers. We’re confi-
dent it will turn. Until then, you try
to force some things, you try to
make some things happen based on
what you’re seeing, but (we’re) con-
fident it will turn.”
Hitting with runners in scoring
position wasn’t that big of an issue
for the Jays on Saturday because
they didn’t have too many opportu-
nities. They had two hits with run-
ners in scoring position in the first
inning, but then didn’t have a run-
ner advance beyond first base —
except for Varsho’s homer — until
the ninth.
the breaking ball.
“He was a second away from being
possibly a pitcher,” Moseby said on
this week’s episode of the Star’s
“Deep Left Field” podcast. “A guy
by the name of Greg (Boomer)
Wells took Jesse out and threw him
slider after slider, breaking ball af-
ter breaking ball, and this guy
worked hard. You don’t have to
worry about Jesse working hard.
And of course he had that great
arm. That’s why they were talking
about maybe making him a pitcher.
“Man, he came out of that instruc-
tional ball and the rest is history.”
Wells, who was Boomer before the
lefty David Wells, was a minor-
league first baseman who played 32
games for the Jays in 1981. He never
hit a home run in the big leagues,
but he did teach Barfield to hang
back a bit on breaking stuff and that
made all the difference.
Barfield was feared for that in-
credible throwing arm, to the point
where baserunners stopped trying
to go first to third on him, and won
two Gold Gloves — not nearly
enough, according to Moseby:
“There was not a better outfielder.
I’m a centre-fielder. We run a lot
and we catch balls and we look pret-
ty doing it. But if you’re talking
about assists and never being run
on and third-base coaches going
crazy, that would have to be Jesse
Barfield. I’ve got to get some gloves
and paint them gold and send them
to Jesse, because it’s a travesty (that
he only won two).”
Barfield and Moseby were insepa-
rable, to the point where veteran
first baseman John Mayberry, the
first Jay ever to hit 30 home runs in
a season, called Barfield “Bake-
field.” Moseby was nicknamed
Shaker, so Big John called them
“Shake and Bake.”
L M OTERO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The lack of hits once again put a
lot of pressure on the pitching staff,
which has been pushed to the brink
of late. A lack of depth means the
Jays only have four starters, with
the final spot in the rotation as-
signed to the bullpen whenever
necessary.
That’s not a recipe for success, and
yet it should have worked on Satur-
day. Trevor Richards and Bowden
Francis combined to allow three
runs across 5 2⁄3 innings, which fell
one out shy of what otherwise
would be considered a quality start.
But with the way the Jays have
been swinging lately, three runs
were a couple too many to get the
win.
That has been the story for much
of the season as Schneider’s squad
dropped to 5-29 when allowing
four runs or more.
Baseball is a weird sport at times.
A similar number of hits leading to
drastically different results doesn’t
make a whole lot of sense, and yet
that’s the reality the Jays are facing.
The Rangers have the best in the
offence in baseball, while the Jays
seem to be spending most of their
time wondering what might have
been.
TWITTER: @GREGORCHISHOLM
ON0
SP ORTS | S5
Five weeks after Barfield was
traded to the New York Yankees for
Al Leiter in 1989, the Jays drafted
Olerud, who fell to the third round
because he insisted that he
wouldn’t sign, preferring to return
to Washington State for his senior
year.
“The Blue Jays watched me play
all summer (in 1989) and started
talking to me in August,” Olerud Jesse Barfield
recalled of a run during which Jays was the Blue
scout Don Welke saw him play 15 Jays’ first home
games in a row and never strike out. run champion,
“They offered me a great contract with 40 in
that was completely unexpected, 1986.
and then they offered me a chance
to be a September call-up and they
were in the pennant race.”
Olerud signed and joined the Jays
without ever playing in the minor
leagues. He finished fourth in rook-
ie of the year voting in 1990, then
went on to earn World Series rings
in 1992 and 1993 — the year he hit
.400 into August and wound up at
.363, still the highest average in Jays
history. He did it with that gorgeous
swing while never showing any out-
ward signs of stress.
“I got nervous,” Olerud said before
Saturday’s ceremony. “It’s just that
Ididn’t do a good job of showing it. I
always tried to keep the calm de-
meanour and never tried to get too
excited. But believe me, inside, but-
terflies get going.”
The nerves were there for his 10-
minute speech, though as always it SCAN THIS CODE
didn’t let them show. Nor did Bar- FOR MIKE WILNER'S
field in his 25-minute thank you. WEEKLY BASEBALL
As for Gullickson? He wound up PODCAST
getting drafted second overall, 231
spots before Barfield. The righty
pitched 14 years in the majors, sev-
en for the Expos, and won 20 games
with the Detroit Tigers in 1991.
We like that kid Barfield better.
TWITTER : @W I L N E R N E SS
‘You’re only
as good as
your next play,
your next game’
A R G O S F R O M S1
faith that teammates have in him as LIONS
he enters his first season as a No. 1 SHUT OUT
quarterback in the CFL. ELKS
“The players voted on it, so it
shows you how much they bought The B.C. Lions
into him as a leader,” Argos head kicked off their
coach Ryan Dinwiddie said. “But he home season by
has to go out and prove he’s a viable blitzing the
starting quarterback … outside of Edmonton Elks
that, the guys have seen all the work 22-0 at B.C.
he’s put in and his leadership, and Place on Satur-
that shows how much they respect day night. Be-
him.” fore a crowd of
Dinwiddie, a quarterbacks coach about 33,000
when he was with Calgary, put fans, both of-
Kelly’s relative lack of CFL experi- fences strug-
ence into perspective. gled. The Lions
“My message to Chad was … it’s no scored the lone
different than when you’re eight touchdown of
years old, go out and play football,” the game late in
Dinwiddie said. the third quar-
“Don’t let the magnitude of what ter on a Vernon
everyone is saying in the media, as Adams Jr. pass
far as expectations or what they to Dominique
think he’ll do, or is he going to strug- Rhymes. Sean
gle … don’t even worry about that. Whyte kicked
You’re the quarterback of the foot- four field goals.
ball club. Just do what we’re asking The Elks host
you to do. Don’t press. You don’t the Argonauts
have to be a superhero. Just make next Sunday.
the right plays at the right time, and T H E CA N A D I A N
make sure we’re not careless with P R ESS
the football.”
The Argos will unveil their Grey
Cup banner in a pre-game ceremo-
ny Sunday, but after that it’s all busi-
ness toward repeating as champs.
And repeats are rare in the CFL.
Edmonton won five consecutive
titles between 1978-82, but since
then only three teams have been
able to win back-to-back: Toronto
(1996-97); Montreal (2009-10), and
Harris’s Blue Bombers in 2019 and
2021 (the 2020 season was can-
celled).
“You’re only as good as your next
play, your next game,” Harris said.
“You can’t dwell on the past.”
ON0 ON SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023 TORONTO STAR

S6 | S P ORT S | S CO RE B OA RD

EYE OF THE STORM

S P O R T S B LO G

Murray, deals
and draft buzz
didn’t really help us. Both stories
DOUG
can’t be true simultaneously. Mind
SMITH
you, by the end of next week we
M A I L B AG could be talking about a bunch of
new guys. Thoughts?
Bernie M.
Both things about four players can
There seems to be a lot of chatter be true. As I’ve said often, teams are
about Portland and Pascal Siakam — a bit like living organisms and
Raptors could get a haul including the sometimes the mix just doesn’t
No. 3 pick. My thinking is, you do that work well. Doesn’t mean the play-
to pick Scoot Henderson and not ers or the coach giving direction
another six-foot-nine guy. aren’t good or valuable. They just
Enio don’t work well together.
I think 27 teams are likely to call
Charlotte and Portland about picks I think O.G. is such a talented player
two and three, and that’s just basic who can fit into any team with pretty
due diligence. Is there a Raptors fit much any style. He is someone that
that’s better than any other offer? everyone wants on their team and so
I’d be surprised, but I’ve been sur- hard to come by. Why would the
M IC H AE L G O N Z AL E S G E T T Y I M AG E S prised before. Raptors ever want to trade him
Jordan Horston, left, and Kia Nurse of the Seattle Storm box out Satou Sabally of the (assuming he wants to stay)?
Dallas Wings on Saturday in Arlington. Nurse scored 11 points in a 109-103 Storm win. Never have I wanted the Raptors to Frank
draft a player more than I wanted If they trade O.G. Anunoby they are
them to draft Jamal Murray, based going to spend years and years and
WNBA mostly on a fourth quarter and over- years and years trying to find him
time in the Pan American Games again. Makes zero sense to me.

Travel options for Griner when he was about 18. He just

seemed to demonstrate a kind of
royal jelly. With hindsight, it is clear
With all the conflict in the world, do
we really need Stephen A. Smith’s
that Jamal is right where he should anger routine on an NBA pre-game?
be, as co-star to a giant genius on the He takes all the joy out of everything
T H E A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S use charters except for back-to- most attractive team in the league. he’s involved with. On the other side,
back games. Questions remain The fact that there was no guarantee Mike Breen/Mark Jackson/Jeff Van
N E W YO R K The WNBA is work- about who pays for those flights, of a successful rehabilitation of his Gundy are a joy to listen to.
ing with Brittney Griner and the and whether allowing the Mercury knee just makes the story more Paul M.
Phoenix Mercury on travel options, to do so along with Griner creates compelling. I love listening to Breen, Van Gun-
including charter flights. an unfair advantage. James A. dy and Jackson. It’s entertaining
Griner’s travel was back in the The league said Griner’s security There was something about Mur- and informative. I’m not sure how
spotlight last week when the team has been an ongoing concern since ray right from the get-go. That much analysis Jackson provides,
took a flight to Texas and then Indi- she was jailed in Russia on drug game was pretty memorable. But but the way they work off each oth-
ana, including commercial airports. charges, then freed in a prisoner he did find a perfect fit and you can’t er is great. I refuse to watch Ste-
At a Dallas airport last Saturday, the Phoenix exchange. appreciate the Nuggets too much phen A. Smith. Haven’t seen any-
all-star centre who had been de- Mercury centre Terri Jackson, head of the WNBA for the time they gave him to fully thing he’s done for years. Think my
tained in Russia for nearly 10 Brittney Griner players’ union, said Griner told her recover. life is better off for that. He’s a car-
months was harassed by what the was harassed the confrontation at the airport icature, and the worst of the
WNBA called a “provocateur.” while taking a wasn’t unexpected: “She said: ‘Ter- There are two narratives with the “screamers” who have ruined some
Although the league granted Grin- flight with her ri, I read the mail that comes to my Raptors, according to trade rumours: sports talk shows.
er permission to book her own team last week. locker. It’s fan mail, but it’s also a lot We have four players that all teams S E ND QUE STI O NS O N A NY S P O RT
charter flights before the season, of hate mail.’ ” would love to have, yet somehow the TO A S K DO UG@ THE STA R .CA
teams aren’t normally allowed to T H E ASS O C IAT E D PR E SS fact that we had these four guys F UL L MA I L BAG AT THE STA R .CO M

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SOCCER TENNIS CFL

AMERICAN LEAGUE TEXAS 4, TORONTO 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE MLS ATP-WTA EAST DIVISION
Toronto AB R H BI BB SO Avg GP W L T PF PA Pt
EAST DIVISION EAST DIVISION EASTERN CONFERENCE LIBEMA OPEN
Springer rf 4 0 2 0 0 0 .255 Montreal 1 1 0 0 19 12 2
W L Pct GB W L Pct GB GP W L T GF GA Pt At Den Bosch, Netherlands
Merrifield 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .306 Toronto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tampa Bay 51 23 .689 — Bichette ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .316 Atlanta 45 26 .634 — Cincinnati 17 12 1 4 27 16 40 MEN’S SINGLES — SEMIFINALS Hamilton 1 0 1 0 31 42 0
Baltimore 43 27 .614 6 Guerrero Jr. dh 3 0 2 1 1 0 .284 Miami 40 31 .563 5 Nashville 18 10 3 5 28 13 35 Ottawa 2 0 2 0 27 45 0
Tallon Griekspoor (6), Netherlands, def.
New York 39 31 .557 10 Varsho lf 3 1 2 1 0 0 .231 Philadelphia 37 34 .521 8 New England 18 9 3 6 31 22 33
Toronto 39 33 .542 11 New York 33 37 .471 111/2 Emil Ruusuvuori, Finland, 6-4, 7-5. WEST DIVISION
Kirk ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .253 Philadelphia 17 9 5 3 28 17 30
Boston 35 35 .500 14 Washington 27 42 .391 17 Columbus 18 8 6 4 36 26 28 Jordan Thompson, Australia, def. Rinky GP W L T PF PA Pt
Chapman 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .264
Atlanta 18 7 4 7 35 29 28 Hijikata, Australia, 7-6 (5), 6-3. British Columbia 2 2 0 0 47 15 4
CENTRAL DIVISION Jansen c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .210 CENTRAL DIVISION
Orlando 17 7 5 5 23 20 26 Winnipeg 2 2 0 0 87 58 4
Biggio 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .185 WOMEN’S SINGLES — SEMIFINALS
W L Pct GB W L Pct GB D.C. 19 6 8 5 26 26 23 Calgary 2 1 1 0 41 40 2
Espinal ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .207 Veronika Kudermetova (1), Russia, def.
Minnesota 36 35 .507 — Milwaukee 36 34 .514 — Montreal 17 7 9 1 19 27 22 Saskatchewan 2 1 1 0 44 58 2
Kiermaier cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .282
Cleveland 32 37 .464 3 Cincinnati 36 35 .507 1
/2 Charlotte 18 6 8 4 25 33 22
Viktoria Hruncakova, Slovakia, 6-3, 6-2. Edmonton 2 0 2 0 13 39 0
Totals 34 2 9 2 1 4
Chicago 31 41 .431 51/2 Pittsburgh 34 35 .493 11/2 N.Y. Red Bulls 17 4 6 7 11 16 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova (4), Rus., def. Ali- Note: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie.
Texas AB R H BI BB SO Avg
Detroit 29 40 .420 6 Chicago 33 37 .471 3 Toronto 18 3 5 10 17 21 19 aksandra Sasnovich (7), Belar., 6-1, 7-6(1) Saturday’s result
Semien 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .279
Kansas City 19 51 .271 16 /2 St. Louis 28 43 .394 8 /2
ATP
1 1

Seager ss 4 1 2 1 0 0 .348 N.Y. City FC 18 4 7 7 18 23 19 British Columbia 22 Edmonton 0

WEST DIVISION Lowe 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .276 WEST DIVISION Chicago 17 3 6 8 22 27 17 Friday’s result
Miami 17 5 12 0 16 24 15 BOSS OPEN Winnipeg 45 Saskatchewan 27
W L Pct GB A.Garcia rf 3 1 2 0 1 1 .260 W L Pct GB At Stuttgart, Germany Sunday’s game
Texas 43 27 .614 — Jung 3b 3 1 1 2 1 0 .280 Arizona 42 28 .600 — WESTERN CONFERENCE
Houston 39 32 .549 41/2 Heim c 4 1 1 1 0 1 .279 Los Angeles 39 31 .557 3 SINGLES — SEMIFINALS Hamilton at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Grossman dh 3 0 0 0 1 0 .228 GP W L T GF GA Pt
Los Angeles 40 33 .548 41/2 San Francisco 37 32 .536 41/2 Frances Tiafoe (3), U.S., def. Marton Fuc-
Seattle 34 35 .493 81/2 Duran lf
Jankowski lf
3
0
0 1 0 1 1
0 0 0 0 0
.294
.293
San Diego 34 36 .486 8
Los Angeles FC 15 8 2 5 25 15 29
St. Louis 17 9 6 2 34 20 29 sovics, Hungary, 6-3, 7-6 (11). GOLF
Oakland 19 54 .260 251/2 Colorado 29 44 .397 141/2 Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, def. Hu-
Saturday’s results Taveras cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .294 Saturday’s results
Seattle
San Jose
18 8 6 4 24 17 28
17 7 5 5 21 20 26 bert Hurkacz (4), Poland, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. U.S. OPEN
Texas 4 Toronto 2 Totals 31 4 8 4 4 6 San Diego 2 Tampa Bay 0 At Los Angeles
Minnesota 2 Detroit 0 Toronto 100 100 000 —2 9 1 St. Louis 5 N.Y. Mets 3
Dallas
Salt Lake
18 7 6 5 21 19 26
18 6 7 5 20 28 23
WTA (Par 70)
Texas 030 000 10x —4 8 0 VALENCIA INTERNATIONAL
Cincinnati 10 Houston 3 Chicago Cubs 3 Baltimore 2 Vancouver 17 5 5 7 27 21 22
E—Bichette (7). LOB—Toronto 6, Texas 7. 2ND ROUND
Chicago White Sox 4 Seattle 3 (11 inn.) Miami 5 Washington 2 Houston 16 6 7 3 19 21 21 At Valencia, Spain
2B—Bichette (15). HR—Varsho (12), off Rickie Fowler, U.S. 62-68—130
Philadelphia 3 Oakland 2 (12 inn.) Atlanta 10 Colorado 2 Portland 17 5 7 5 20 24 20 SINGLES — SEMIFINALS
Dunning; Jung (14), off Richards; Heim Minnesota 17 5 7 5 15 22 20
Wyndham Clark, U.S. 64-67—131
Kansas City 10 L.A. Angels 9 Milwaukee 5 Pittsburgh 0
(8), off Richards; Seager (10), off Y.Gar- Mayar Sherif (1), Egypt, def. Nadia Podo- Xander Schauffele, U.S. 62-70—132
N.Y. Yankees at Boston, ppd. San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers Kansas City 19 5 9 5 21 27 20
cia. RBIs—Guerrero Jr. (42), Varsho (27), roska (8), Argentina, 6-1, 6-3. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland 65-67—132
Friday’s results Cleveland at Arizona Austin 17 5 8 4 18 27 19
Jung 2 (42), Heim (48), Seager (37). CS— Marina Bassols Ribera, Spain, def. Tam- Harris English, U.S. 67-66—133
Toronto 2 Texas 1 Friday’s results L.A. Galaxy 16 3 9 3 14 27 13
Duran (3). RISP—Toronto 2 for 4; Texas 0 ara Korpatsch, Germany, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Dustin Johnson, U.S. 64-70—134
L.A. Angels 3 Kansas City 0 San Francisco 7 L.A. Dodgers 5 (11 inn.) Colorado 18 2 9 7 14 27 13
Min Woo Lee, Australia 69-65—134
for 5. Runners moved up—Jansen, Gross- Note: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie. ROTHESAY OPEN
Boston 15 N.Y. Yankees 5 Arizona 5 Cleveland 1 Scottie Scheffler, U.S. 67-68—135
man. GIDP—Merrifield, Jung. Saturday’s results At Nottingham, England
Cincinnati 2 Houston 1 Miami 6 Washington 5 Sam Bennett, U.S. 67-68—135
Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Columbus 1 New York City FC 1
Philadelphia 6 Oakland 1 Richards 3 3 3 3 1 2 65 3.82
Chicago Cubs 10 Baltimore 3 SINGLES — SEMIFINALS Cameron Smith, Australia 69-67—136
Seattle 3 Chicago White Sox 2 Atlanta 8 Colorado 1 Salt Lake 2 D.C. 1 Tony Finau, U.S. 68-69—137
Francis 22/3 1 0 0 3 2 56 3.68 New England 3 Orlando 1 Katie Boulter, Britain, def. Heather Wat-
Detroit 7 Minnesota 1 Milwaukee 5 Pittsburgh 4 Brian Harman, U.S. 65-73—138
Y.Garcia 2
/3 4 1 1 0 1 22 5.83 son, Britain, 6-4, 7-5.
Sunday’s games Tampa Bay 6 San Diego 2 Los Angeles FC 2 Kansas City 1 Charley Hoffman, U.S. 71-67—138
Cimber 12/3 0 0 0 0 1 22 6.20 Jodie Anna Burrage, Britain, def. Alize
Cincinnati at Houston, 2:10 p.m. N.Y. Mets 6 St. Louis 1 Nashville 3 St. Louis 1 Denny McCarthy, U.S. 71-67—138
Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Cornet, France, 7-5, 7-5.
Detroit at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m. Dunning 6 6 2 2 1 3 89 2.78 Sunday’s games Portland at San Jose Ryutaro Nagano, Japan 71-67—138

A H L PL AYO F FS
Sborz 2 1 0 0 0 0 19 2.93 Justin Suh, U.S. 69-69—138
L.A. Angels at Kansas City, 2:10 p.m. Baltimore at Chicago Cubs, 1:05 p.m.
Toronto at Texas, 2:35 p.m. W.Smith 1 2 0 0 0 1 12 3.00 Colorado at Atlanta, 1:35 p.m. CANADIAN PREMIER LEAGUE Gary Woodland, U.S. 70-68—138
Dylan Wu, U.S. 68-70—138
Philadelphia at Oakland, 4:07 p.m. T — 2:37. A — 39,383 (40,000). Miami at Washington, 1:35 p.m. GP W L T GF GA Pt
CALDER CUP FINAL Bryson DeChambeau, U.S. 67-72—139
Chicago White Sox at Seattle, 4:10 p.m. FRIDAY St. Louis at N.Y. Mets, 1:40 p.m. Victoria
York 10
9 5 1 3 19 9 18
5 4 1 12 12 16 (Best-of-7 series) Sam Burns, U.S. 69-70—139
N.Y. Yankees at Boston, 7:10 p.m. (DH) TORONTO 2, TEXAS 1 Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 2:10 p.m. Eric Cole, U.S. 69-70—139
Monday’s games Cleveland at Arizona, 4:10 p.m. Hamilton 11 4 3 4 11 11 16 COACHELLA (P2) VS. HERSHEY (A2)
Toronto AB R H BI BB SO Avg Austin Eckroat, U.S. 71-68—139
Calgary 10 2 2 6 14 13 12
Toronto at Miami, 6:40 pm Springer rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .252 San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers, 4:10 p.m. (Hershey leads 3-2) Ryan Gerard, U.S. 69-70—139
Winnipeg 10 2 2 6 10 9 12
Kansas City at Detroit, 6:40 pm Merrifield lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .307 Tampa Bay at San Diego, 4:10 p.m. Saturday’s result Nick Hardy, U.S. 70-69—139
Halifax 10 2 2 6 11 12 12
Boston at Minnesota, 7:40 pm Kiermaier cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .287 Monday’s games Hershey 1 Coachella Valley 0 (OT) Viktor Hovland, Norway 69-70—139
Ottawa 10 3 5 2 12 12 11
N.Y. Mets at Houston, 8:10 pm Bichette ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .317 St. Louis at Washington, 4:05 pm Monday’s game Si Woo Kim, South Korea 67-72—139
Vancouver 10 1 5 4 8 19 7
Texas at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 pm Guerrero Jr. 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .279 Toronto at Miami, 6:40 pm Hershey at Coachella Valley, 10 p.m. Romain Langasque, France 71-68—139
Kirk c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .254
Note: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie. Keith Mitchell, U.S. 68-71—139
Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, 7:05 pm
T E L E VI S I O N
Saturday’s results
TRANSACTIONS Chapman 3b
Jansen dh
2
3
1 0 0 1 2
1 1 2 0 1
.265
.216
Colorado at Cincinnati, 7:10 pm
Arizona at Milwaukee, 8:10 pm
Halifax 3 Calgary 1
Andrew Putnam, U.S.
Also
68-71—139

Ottawa 1 Vancouver 0
MLB
Varsho cf-lf
Espinal 2b
3
1
0 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 1 0
.226
.209
San Diego at San Francisco, 9:45 pm Friday’s result
SUNDAY Mack Hughes, Canada
Adam Svensson, Canada
67-73—140
71-70—141
AMERICAN LEAGUE Biggio ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .190 Winnipeg 2 Hamilton 0 AUTO SPORTS Adam Hadwin, Canada 70-72—142
TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Assigned RHP
Zach Pop to Dunedin (FSL) on a rehab as-
Totals
Texas
30
AB
2 3 2 2 7
R H BI BB SO Avg BASEBALL Sunday’s game
York at Victoria, 4 p.m.
F1: Canada Grand Prix, 1:55 p.m. CFTO
(CTV), WKBW7 (ABC), TSN4
Missed the Cut
Corey Conners, Canada 70-74—144
Semien 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .283 BASEBALL Nick Taylor, Canada 72-72—144
signment.
Seager ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .344 INTERCOUNTY LEAGUE
BASKETBALL MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers, Taylor Pendrith, Canada 72-73—145
Lowe 1b 2 0 1 0 2 0 .277 GP W L Pct GB Roger Sloan, Canada 72-73—145
BETTING A.Garcia rf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .255 Welland 12 10 2 .833 —
2:30 p.m. SNO, SN590
LPGA
Jung 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .279 Toronto 14 9 5 .643 2 CEBL Tampa Bay Rays at San Diego Padres, 4
p.m. SN1
MLB Heim c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .279 Barrie
Kitchener
12
13
7
7
5
6
.583
.538
3
31/2 EASTERN CONFERENCE New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox, 7
MEIJER CLASSIC
Garver dh 4 0 0 0 0 3 .264 At Belmont, Mich.
AMERICAN LEAGUE Jankowski lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .293 Hamilton 13 7 6 .538 31/2 GP W L Pct GB p.m. TSN2
(Par 72)
FAVOURITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE Taveras cf 3 1 1 1 0 0 .299 London 11 4 7 .364 51/2 Ottawa 7 4 3 .571 — BASKETBALL
MINNESOTA -255 Detroit +210 Totals 32 1 6 1 3 8 Guelph 12 4 8 .333 6 Brampton 7 4 3 .571 — 3RD ROUND
WNBA: Phoenix at NY, noon. WIVB4 (CBS)
Toronto -148 TEXAS +126 Toronto 000 020 000 —2 3 0 Brantford 13 2 11 .154 81/2 Niagara 8 4 4 .500 1/2 Amy Yang 67-67-67—201
SEATTLE -132 Chi. White Sox +112 Texas 001 000 000 —1 6 1 Montreal 8 3 5 .375 11/2
FOOTBALL
Saturday’s results Ashleigh Buhai 68-68-66—202
LA Angels -156 KANSAS CITY +132 Scarborough 6 2 4 .333 11/2 CFL: Hamilton Tiger- Cats at Toronto Ar-
E—Seager (5). LOB—Tor 3, Tex 7. 2B—Bi- Barrie 12 Brantford 11 (10 inn.) Ayaka Furue 66-67-69—202
BOSTON -120 NY Yankees +102 gonauts, 7 p.m. TSN4, TSN1050 Xiyu Lin 68-68-66—202
chette (14), Heim (16), Semien (21), Hamilton at Guelph WESTERN CONFERENCE
NATIONAL LEAGUE USFL: Philadelphia Stars at Michigan Pan- Hyo Joo Kim 69-65-69—203
Seager (15). HR—Jansen (9), off Perez; Friday’s results
FAVOURITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE GP W L Pct GB thers, 7 p.m. WUTV29 (FOX) Leona Maguire 69-65-69—203
Taveras (7), off Gausman. RBIs—Jansen 2 Toronto 7 London 5 Winnipeg 7 5 2 .714 —
Miami -164 WASHINGTON +138 (30), Taveras (29). SB—Jankowski (8). Barrie 5 Hamilton 3 GOLF Ariya Jutanugarn 73-64-66—203
Pittsburgh -118 MILWAUKEE +100 Calgary 8 5 3 .625 1/2 Manon De Roey 70-65-69—204
RISP—Tor 0 for 2; Tex 0 for 9. Runners Kitchener at Brantford PGA: U.S. Open, Final Rd., noon. TSN1, 1
NY METS -142 St. Louis +120 Edmonton 6 3 3 .500 11/2 Lindsey Weaver-Wright 66-69-69—204
moved up—Guerrero, Lowe. GIDP—Kirk. Sunday’s games p.m. WGRZ (NBC), CKVR (CTV2)
ATLANTA -310 Colorado +250 Vancouver 7 3 4 .429 2 Jennifer Kupcho 66-69-69—204
Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Guelph at Welland, 1:05 p.m. Saskatchewan 6 2 4 .333 21/2 LPGA: Meijer Classic, Final Rd., 2 p.m.
LA DODGERS OFF San Francisco OFF Gausm (W 6-3) 6 4 1 1 2 4 94 3.01 WIVB4 (CBS) Carlota Ciganda 68-66-71—205
Brantford at Toronto, 2 p.m. Saturday Emily Pedersen 67-68-70—205
INTERLEAGUE Swansn (H 17) 1 1 0 0 0 1 14 2.67 SOCCER
Barrie at London, 2:05 p.m. Niagara 93 Ottawa 82 Aditi Ashok 68-67-72—207
FAVOURITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE Mayza (H 7) 2/3 1 0 0 1 0 10 1.48
Kitchener at Hamilton, 2:05 p.m. Montreal at Edmonton NWSL: NJ/NY Gotham at Racing Louis- Hye Jin Choi 70-67-70—207
CHICAGO CUBS -132 Baltimore +112 Roman (S 20)11/3 0 0 0 0 3 18 2.76
Tuesday’s game Saskatchewan at Vancouver ville, 4 p.m. WIVB4 (CBS) Ally Ewing 67-70-70—207
Philadelphia -138 OAKLAND +118 Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Barrie at Guelph, 7:30 p.m. Friday UEFA Nations League Final: TBA, 2:30 Eun-Hee Ji 68-72-67—207
HOUSTON -142 Cincinnati +120 Perez (L 6-3) 6 3 2 2 2 3 95 4.54
Tampa Bay OFF SAN DIEGO OFF Barlow 1 0 0 0 0 3 14 3.38 Thursday’s games Montreal 83 Calgary 75 p.m. WUTV29 (FOX) Minami Katsu 70-72-65—207
Cleveland -136 ARIZONA +116 Anderson 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 2.53 Hamilton at Welland, 7:25 p.m. Sunday SOFTBALL Also
Leclerc 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 3.63 London at Kitchener, 7:30 p.m. Winnipeg at Calgary, 4 p.m. AUX: Team Blue v. Team Orange, 1 pm TSN2 Brooke Henderson 69-73-69—211
Home Teams in CAPITALS. T — 2:28. A — 34,308 (40,000). Toronto at Barrie, 7:35 p.m. Brampton at Scarborough, 7 p.m. Team Gold v. Team Orange, 3:30 pm TSN2 Maddie Szeryk 68-73-74—215
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