Category Archives: Past Event

October 5th – Vincenzo Pietropaolo

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Please join us on October 5th as Vincenzo Pietropaolo presents his latest book Toronto as Community: Fifty Years of Photographs.

Toronto as Community represents more than fifty years of photography by Vincenzo Pietropaolo, “one of Canada’s pre-eminent documentary photographers” (Canadian Geographic). The photographs are grouped around short essays that explore Pietropaolo’s particular interests and observations, often questions of social justice, which, in turn, inform the photographs themselves

This poetic portrayal of the city of Toronto documents the daily life of ordinary citizens, at work, at play, in celebration, in protest, and in mourning. The book includes images of many parks and natural areas and some of the city’s architecture. All those who participated in Vince’s exceptional photo presentation a year ago on The Stockyards Then and Now will look forward to this showing of photos from his new book.

Date & Time: October 5th, 2023 at 7 pm
Location: St. John’s Anglican Church, corner of Humberside Ave. and Quebec Ave.
This event will be on Zoom as well as in-person.

Vincenzo Pietropaolo has been a dedicated chronicler of Toronto for more than fifty years. His attachment to the city and its people is demonstrated on every page of Toronto as Community. He was a city planner with the City of Toronto for over fifteen years before turning to photography full-time. His focus lies in social documentary photography and photojournalism, and his projects have taken him to many cities around the world. Pietropaolo is an award-winning photographer and has been deemed “one of Canada’s pre-eminent documentary photographers” by Canadian Geographic Magazine. He collaborated with Jane Jacobs by providing photographs for an exhibition based on her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. He and his partner live in Toronto, where they are avid urban farmers in their own backyard.

March 3, 2022, 7 pm by Zoom – Architecture and Heritage Preservation  

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Zoom presentation by Jill Taylor, Restoration Architect

Jill Taylor co-founded Taylor Hazell Architects (THA) with Charles Hazell in 1992. The firm relocated to the Junction in November 2021, after purchasing and renovating the landmark William Speers Building at 2928 Dundas Street West.

Jill’s talk will be about the inspiration for her work, the importance of interdisciplinarity and humanities in architecture, and the firm’s hopes for activism in heritage preservation in the West Toronto Junction. 

Jill has been an architect since 1991, with a specialization in in the heritage field, as a courthouse designer, a designer of educational and cultural institutions, and in facility planning and programming. Prior to private practice she worked for the Ontario Heritage Trust. She is a highly regarded member of the heritage conservation field, and has served as Chair of ICOMOS Canada Committees, Chair of the Conservation Review Board of Ontario, President of the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals, and served on committees related to government policy including on the Ontario Building Code. She has lectured for the National Trust, RAIC, Ontario Association of Architects, at international round tables and at the college and university level on issues of heritage, sustainability and accessibility. 

Prior to architecture, Jill studied Art History and Literature at the University of Toronto; she is a graduate of U of T, where she studied from 1976- 1982. 

Jill believes that the future of our land, water, cities and towns depends on urgent action now to sustain the valued natural and built environment. 

She has worked on heritage projects across Ontario that have integrated pure conservation of interior and exteriors of buildings with the adaptive reuse of spaces for modern use. She has a deep regard for the work of past architects, crafts people and labourers, and sees the imperative of sustaining good materials and techniques as a path to understanding a sustainable world. She is also an advocate of accessibility to heritage places, and facing the challenges that alteration within a heritage environment means for just access for all. Projects of note include, the Osgoode Hall Courthouse and Toronto Courthouse, Dundurn Castle and Conference Centre, the Humber College, Humber Arboretum, Jones Avenue School Reconstruction and York Memorial Collegiate Institute Reconstruction, and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. She was a co-author of the City of Toronto Official Plan, Heritage Section 3.1.5. 

She is proud of an award-winning video available on the THA website called, Rolling with Rollo, a short documentary on barriers to access. www.taylorhazell.com. 

AFFILIATIONS OAA, MAA, FRAIC, CAHP, LEED ® AP

Zoom details:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6135380613?pwd=VWhUZGNMRVpXa21aUjd3b3huVjVZUT09

Meeting ID: 613 538 0613
Passcode: Wtjhs16
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Meeting ID: 613 538 0613
Passcode: 5622697
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/knO4DKkMJ

Past Event – Speaker: Keith Ross Leckie – Thursday, February 3rd 2022 at 7 PM

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Join local West-Bend author Keith Ross Leckie as he recounts the outrageous tale of one of Canada’s most mythologized families – the Donnellys!  The Donnellys were blamed for numerous arsons, murders, and inciting violence in their local community north of London Ontario. Five members of the same family were slain by locals in their home Feb 4th, 1880. This led to one of the most sensational murder trials in Canadian history. No one was ever convicted of the murders despite eyewitness accounts. The community keep the secrets of these murders hush-hush for nearly a hundred years.  But were the Donnellys really as black as historians think? 

Keith Ross Leckie, author of Coppermine (Viking, 2010), has worked in the film and television business as a dramatic scriptwriter for more than thirty years. His credits include multiple movies and miniseries, including Everest!, Shattered City, Milgaard, The Arrow and Lost in the Barrens. He is currently working with Bell Media to develop a dramatic series based on his book Cursed: Blood of the Donnellys. 

Minutes from December 2nd Meeting:

2-december-2021-minutes-hhDownload

Past event: CPR Stories and the Junction History Quiz – Dec. 2nd at 7 PM by Zoom

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Renowned CPR speaker and lifelong Junctionite Raymond Kennedy will share his fireside chat audio recording of “CPR STORIES” at the December 2nd meeting.  Raymond gave this talk at the 30th Anniversary of the Canadian Pacific Historical Association recently.  Raymond has lived and worked in these Toronto streets for over 80 years, being a CPR employee for 40 years including at the West Toronto Depot. He is also the webmaster of Old Time Trains, the largest website of Canadian Railway history and stories – trainweb.org/oldtimetrains.   

Raymond is the celebrated author of “German Spies Caught” in our Leader & Recorder 2017 Issue #1.  This story illustrates the quickness and the linguistic luck of Raymond’s grandfather in the capture of two German spies in the CPR yard east of Scarlett Road.  This story is just one of many in the audio recording, including one previously untold story of how a young brakeman saved a fast passenger train (The Steamboat Toronto-Port McNicoll) from a deadly wreck. Ask your questions live immediately afterward. 

Please join this renowned Canadian Railway expert and then test your knowledge with the Junction History Quiz, including local Indigenous history questions, at our December meeting! 

Zoom Details:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6135380613?pwd=a0NCUXdHUVJSb3Nxd1U5ay96c0hpQT09

Meeting ID: 613 538 0613

Passcode: 416686

One tap mobile

+13462487799,,6135380613#,,,,*416686# US (Houston)

+16465588656,,6135380613#,,,,*416686# US (New York)

Dial by your location

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

        +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Meeting ID: 613 538 0613

Passcode: 416686

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/knO4DKkMJ

Minutes from October 7th Meeting:

wtjhs-general-meeting-minutes-oct-7-2021-v.1Download