April 2, 2026 – Part reading, part talk, and part discussion with a focus on stories from the Junction and Junction Triangle, this event will highlight essays from co-editor Zahra Ebrahim‘s book Messy Cities: Why We Can’t Plan Everything. Zahra will be sharing the inspiration behind the book, the tensions of “messiness” and giving a richer context of the stories shared about our west end community.

May 7, 2026 – Alison Norman, co-editor of the powerful new book, Behind the Bricks: The Life and Times of the Mohawk Institute. Published in September 2025, this essential volume offers a comprehensive look at Canada’s first and longest-running residential school (1828–1970). Drawing on the expertise of Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices, Norman will discuss the policies and motivations that shaped the Mohawk Institute, a school many considered the model for the entire residential school system.

June 4, 2026 – Medical and public health historian, Christopher Rutty, will take us on a dramatic journey to the remote Arctic community of Chesterfield Inlet, where a devastating polio epidemic hit in the middle of the winter of 1948-49. A physiotherapist was urgently needed to help treat Inuit polio victims and Constance “Connie” Beattie of Toronto was the only real choice to answer the distress call. Join us for “Mercy Mission: Connie Beattie & Arctic Polio, 1949.”