Proposed rebuild of Alexandra Park, facing north. Image courtesy of Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

Although talk of expanding public transit in Toronto was the highlight of this week’s city council meeting, the much-needed revitalization of Alexandra Park—an aging social-housing neighbourhood located just south of Kensington Market—was also on the table. And unlike OneCity, it got the go-ahead.

The revitalization planning process is already four years in the making: the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), along with Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), began a consultation process in 2008 with the residents of the 263 townhouses and two apartment buildings (including the Atkinson Housing Co-operative) that constitute this subsidized housing community.

A preliminary plan has been developed and re-zoning and Official Plan Amendments have been submitted. The goal is to transition the neighbourhood from one that is predominantly low-income and dominated by social housing, to one that is mixed in terms of both income and use. A four-year planning process may seem like slow going, but it’s fairly typical. Lawrence Heights, another public-housing neighbourhood, has been mired in the planning process for longer, with less achieved.

Council approved the revitalization in principle yesterday and gave the go-ahead for the creation of a plan to assist the community during the area’s transformation. According to Lizette Zuniga, director of development and real estate at TCHC, residents will be working with the housing provider to make sure that the community’s needs, including social service requirements, are met.

Alexandra Park Revitalization Master Plan. Image courtesy of Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

The revitalization aims to raze and replace 333 subsidized townhouses and apartments, refurbish 473 subsidized apartments, and add 1,540 units at market value. Alexandra Park sends more kids to university per capita than any other public-housing community in the country, according to Councillor Vaughan. “If we don’t create market housing in the neighborhood they will be economically evicted from the community,” said Vaughan. “The best and the brightest, the most engaged young people in the neighborhood, need a place to live.”

Retail space will be added at ground level, as well as two new public parks and public streets, which will connect the community to Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West. The hope is that this will integrate the isolated neighborhood into the surrounding area.

Now that city council has given the go-ahead, TCH and development partner Tridel will work with architects and residents to begin designing the new housing. Because the community insisted on no displacement during the revitalization, the process will occur in phases over a period of 12 to 15 years. Vaughan predicted that work will commence within a matter of months. Existing tenants are guaranteed housing in the area during construction. Even those who chose to move off site will have housing upon return.

Alexandra Park was built in 1968. A report from last year described the housing as “decaying” and in a “poor state of repair.” Vaughan insisted that the drive behind the revitalization is to create increased opportunities within the community.

“The neighborhood is building a new future for itself, and anytime a community like Alexandra Park can play a role in redefining its options, its services, its physical space and its social capacity it’s an opportunity and a program that’s amazing to watch and wonderful to support.”

The crowd yesterday at a vigil at Yonge-Dundas Square. Photo by Bronwyn Kienapple/Torontoist.

Huddled under the red umbrellas of Yonge-Dundas Square, a small crowd gathered in the pouring rain last night, as community leaders spoke their minds about gun violence. Named a “Vigil for a United Gun-Free Toronto” and organized by city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale), yesterday’s gathering was in direct response to the Eaton Centre shooting that took place earlier this month, but also spoke to broader concerns about gun violence in Toronto.

The speakers were emotional as they discussed the need for job opportunities, social support, stricter gun laws, and an end to the perception by many Canadians that gun violence is mostly the problem of a remote, “other” population.

Colleen Lavallée, a resident of Alexandra Park, repeatedly choked up as she talked about the children from her community who’ve given up because they don’t have any choices. “The monsters that you read about in the paper, we see them before they become like that,” said Lavallee. “We lost them before they picked up a gun. Everyone watched, and nobody said anything.”

Community activist Kofi Hope spoke to a lack of hope, of a population in Toronto that feels so disconnected that they turn to gangs, guns, and drugs to feel empowered. “We are slowly becoming a city divided,” he said. “A city divided between a wonderful middle-class world of gleaming towers and a vibrant downtown and a city of tower blocks filled with the working poor and visible minorities who feel more and more disconnected from the rest of the city.”

The consequences are real and heartrending–speaker Elaine Lumley lost her only son to gun violence. She advocated for tighter gun control, decried the end of the long-gun registry, and also warned the audience that the shooting at the Eaton Centre should be a wake-up call to Torontonians regarding the gun violence that has long existed in this city.

Hani Afrah, who lives in Regent Park, agreed with Lumley. “It’s really sad that this happened in the Eaton Centre, but it happens all the time in my neighborhood,” she said. She and her brother Ismail (who are students at George Brown and U of T respectively) both agreed that social programs, especially mentoring opportunities and job assistance for youth with a criminal record, are crucial to combating the disenfranchisement that leads to violence.

Ismail Afrah also pointed out that while Canada provides services like welfare and both primary and secondary education, creating a healthy community in Regent Park and other low-income neighborhoods depends on more than just meeting basic needs.

“Canada allows people to subsist,” said Ismail Afrah. “But, people need to live.”

Over 300 people gathered in Dufferin Grove Park last night to protest in solidarity with the Quebec student uprising. They eventually marched all the way to Yonge and Bloor, and beyond.

Despite a threatening bank of clouds and the occasional spit of rain, parents, babies in strollers, young people, Davenport MPP Jonah Schein, socialists, union workers, and grandparents alike showed up clutching all manner of pots, pans, casserole dishes, and spoons—a style of protest known in Quebec as a manif casserole. Decked out in the requisite red squares, which have become the emblem of the protest, the crowd first milled about uncertainly in the park.

“It should be better organized,” said York University student Kavh Boveeiri. “There are a couple hundred or so [here]. There should be thousands!”

Still, those in attendance knew exactly why they had come. Heather Shand had brought her kids, ages three and five, to last week’s Toronto manif casserole to teach them the importance of solidarity with the Quebec protestors. She added: “I think [the Toronto protests are] resonating in Quebec. I think that they understand that they’re not alone, this is not in solitude, that we’re here in solidarity.”

Peter Hogarth of the International Socialists waxed eloquent on the broader social mandate behind the Quebec student strike, as inspired by the Occupy movement and its focus on economic inequality.

“I’ve been really inspired by the courage and determination of the Quebec students and the social transformation you see going on in Quebec,” he said. “It’s extending beyond a mere student strike. It’s about civil liberties and what kind of society people want.”

Although Hogarth conceded that students in Ontario have been more apathetic about tuition costs, he doesn’t think that necessarily means they’re not mad. “People are under a tremendous amount of pressure, in Ontario and around the country,” he said. “They’ve got a huge debt load. They’re working. Most students I know are working one or two jobs in addition to their course load. Apathy is often suppressed anger.”

The protest meandered uncertainly through west-end side streets before lurching onto Ossington, and then onto Bloor, where the group quickly picked up speed as a small faction of police on bicycles pressed on ahead to ward off oncoming traffic.

Though one contingent tried to divert the march onto St. George Street, the majority surged on, seemingly determined to make it to Yonge and Bloor. The booming of the drums, the clattering of pans, and the cheers from the crowd resonated off nearby buildings as many bystanders urged the march on. By the time the protest reached College and Church, however, only a handful of participants remained.

Last night’s outing was more street party than protest (the previous week’s event attracted an estimated 1500 people), but it appears, at least, that there is still some appetite for social change, even post Occupy. As protester Syed Hussan put it, “Governments have to fall to the will of people. They can fall soon or they can fall harder later.”

Meanwhile, from Leslieville…

Another casserole protest was scheduled for the east side of the city, in Leslieville. It was, to say the least, slightly anti-climactic. At one point, the protesters, who numbered roughly 15 at the height of the demonstration, were outnumbered by police, who mostly stood by the fence at the meeting point in Leslie Grove Park and looked bored.

Still, the Leslieville protesters had promised a march. And march they did, clanging their way along Queen Street East, north on Pape, and then looping back along Dundas Street and down Jones Avenue to the park. While their numbers were small, they were nothing if not enthusiastic.

According to protester Julie Devaney, who says she decided to come to the protest in part because she was inspired during a recent trip to Quebec, the Leslieville casseroles will become a regular occurrence. She expects turnouts to improve.

“I don’t think there was any great organizing effort this week,” she said. “I think this will be the first of increasingly bigger marches. Those of us who did show up today are going to put some effort into actually pulling people out.”

Although the initial turnout was small, Devaney was pleased to get some supportive honks from passing cars and a few folks coming out onto their porches to join in the percussive protest.

“This is a way for people to have fun, make noise, be engaged, and show, in a much broader way, what we stand for,” she said. “Next week, when we’re better organized, people will remember that this happened last Wednesday, and will start to connect that with the giant movement in Quebec and the growing movement across the country.”

The CONTACT Photography Festival runs from May 1 to May 31. We’ll be profiling selected artists and shows throughout the month.

Image courtesy of CONTACT and Jennifer Reedie.

“iPhoneography“
Wychwood Barns Community Gallery (76 Wychwood Avenue)
May 22–31
Tuesday to Friday 12–5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Everyone’s an amateur photographer these days, what with the advent of the iPhone’s mighty built-in camera and the proliferation of instant hipster-ifying photo apps such as Instagram. Which immediately raises the question: how might a professional photographer handle this technology?

Jennifer Reedie took on the challenge with her new photo exhibition for the CONTACT Photography Festival, “iPhoneography.” Reedie shot a series of photos on her iPhone and then used various apps such as Percolator to apply layers of effects. All photo editing was done on her iPhone, and then printed onto 20×20 or 40×40 canvas in order to bring out the highly textured and vibrant results.

The photos are so retouched as to be abstract. Green Tomatoes looks like a work of pointilism; the fruit, only vaguely recognizable, is rendered in bright greens and blues. Fire Shower looks more like digital art than photography: a shower of sparks pop against a pitch-black outline of trees. Many works look primed for the cover of a paperback beach read: Cat Tails features just that—cat tails in front of a beach scene, layered with a crackle effect that makes the photo look more like a mosaic.

The most successful photos are those that jive well with their medium, such as Praying Buddha, which features a close-up of a Buddha’s face. Its cracked, sun-washed surface is brought out by the canvas’s own rough texture.

Reedie appears to rely more on effect than subject in her iPhone shots. This is unusual as her other photography features striking faces and places. While the iPhone shots look pretty neat, without strong visual anchors they fall a bit flat—as many amateur photographers are learning, iPhone photo apps make everyone an effects expert, but it’s all too easy to fall pray to excess.

The proposed development site. Photo by {a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/lxdesign/5630160488/t}lxdesign{/a}, from the {a href=http://www.flickr.com/groups/torontoist/}Torontoist Flickr Pool{/a}.

The Beach is known for its unique small-town vibe, but a possibly precedent-setting new six-story condo planned for the area has residents fiercely divided over the evolution of their neighbourhood.

The community, the developer, City planning staff, and Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32 Beaches-East-York) have been in heated discussion for the past year over the condo development, which is proposed for 1960-62 Queen Street East, currently a Lick’s. On May 15, the Toronto and East York Community Council voted to allow the rezoning necessary for the project to go ahead, and it’s almost certain that city council will finalize that zoning approval in early June.

Brian Graff, a leading member of Friends of Queen Street, a group which has been actively campaigning for changes to the 1960-62 Queen Street East condo plan, says he isn’t against condo development in the Beach, but that he prefers three- or four-storey buildings that emulate existing development the area.

“Most people…don’t have any problem with the condos that were built under the guidelines in the ’90s, and so that is what people, and myself included, generally want,” said Graff. “Buildings that fit in, that are not modern, that attempt to somehow respond to the context like the old ones did.” Graff added that he believes most Beach residents are opposed to development.

McMahon, who voted in favour of the rezoning at last Tuesday’s community council meeting, insisted that local sentiment is much more nuanced. After all, she said, around 80 per cent of the people buying condos at the controversial development are Beachers looking to downsize. “Every business owner I speak to wants development. You have to progress for the economic viability of this street,” McMahon said. “We have 148 condo [buildings] going up in downtown Toronto, so we need to get ahead ahead of it and have our plan.”

If anything’s certain, it’s that change is hard. Still, major changes to the Beach’s streetscape will likely be limited. Only four sites in the area have been identified as fit for future development, according to a study commissioned by McMahon. Of those, only one appears primed for imminent construction–the site of the former Shell station at Queen and Woodbine (a soil remediation company has purchased the lot).

McMahon is now looking to push forward a study that will engage the community in workshops to design a community wishlist and discuss issues like architectural design and height. Set for completion in November, the study’s findings will have to be balanced against the City’s Official Plan, which supports increased development along avenues, like Queen Street.

While McMahon managed to finagle design concessions from the 1960-62 Queen Street East developer to keep the project more in line with its surroundings (its brick exterior will now extend to the main floor, it will be set back at the third story), Graff still wonders if there aren’t more appropriate places for development in Toronto, such as Eglinton or Lawrence Avenues.

Even so, now that Beach homes often go for a million or more, perhaps it’s time to extend the opportunity to live in the neighbourhood to those who can’t afford such an overwhelming price tag.

Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) and Fair Trade Toronto volunteers. Photo courtesy of FTT.

Councillors went bananas for fair trade yesterday, posing with human-sized fruit and sipping the coffee on offer. (There were also chocolate bars, and in the interest of full disclosure we will report that Torontoist editor Hamutal Dotan ate one.) Fair Trade Toronto (FTT) visited the city council meeting yesterday to launch its campaign to make Toronto a Fair Trade Town.

Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) read a proclamation during the meeting that outlined Fair Trade Toronto’s vision and his support for the organization, a local chapter of Fairtrade Canada. FTT kicked into gear last December to promote ethical sourcing of food and other goods.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) stopped by a table set up with fair-trade products such as shoes and handicrafts to chat about the organization’s objectives and to express her support (apparently, she’s already a fan of fair-trade juice and coffee), as did Councillors Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s). Even Mayor Rob Ford dropped by to discuss FTT’s goal, pose with the human bananas, and sign a proclamation declaring May 8, 2012, to be Fair Trade Day in Toronto.

Thus far, Fair Trade Toronto has been working to build awareness of labour and compensation issues in a town that’s become very focused on all things organic and local. The group has also been working to bring together existing fair-trade retailers and cafes, and recently set up a pavilion at the Green Living Show that included a number of local fair trade–friendly businesses.

The group is now campaigning to have Toronto designated a Fair Trade Town, which requires our fair city to host 260 retail stores and 130 cafes/restaurants selling fair-trade products (we’re currently sitting at more than 100 stores and restaurants). Fifteen cities total in Canada have already achieved Fair Trade Town status, including Vancouver and even little ol’ Barrie.

Now may be the time for Toronto, as political will appears to be aligned with all things foodie. (Later today, council will discuss cutting at least some of the red tape posing trouble for food trucks.) With councillors’ interest piqued, Fair Trade Toronto is now looking to promote its vision at local schools and to partner with other organic and local food organizations. More power to them, and may they continue to photograph Rob Ford in the company of plush bananas.

"Freedom" by Catherine Farquharson.

The Journey of a Girl
Birks Jewellers (55 Bloor Street West)
May 1 to May 31
Part of the CONTACT Photography Festival

It’s not exactly that Catherine Farquharson’s lush portraits of girls and women in South Asia and Africa suffer from exoticism. The photos are incredibly intimate. Stripped of almost all context, the faces of Farquharson’s subjects take on extra resonance. In groups, the women are often in motion, caught in a moment of unadulterated exuberance. Being, pure and simple, shines through, making it hard to interpret them as symbols of otherness.

The big but is that the lack of context also works against the intention of the exhibition. The photos have a quality of timelessness, but in rapidly evolving countries like India the role and lives of women are anything but static. A photo titled “Determination,” of an older Indian woman with a tape measure around her neck, doesn’t begin to hint at the depth of feminine experience in a country where women travel abroad as part of entrepreneurial delegations, participate in SlutWalk, and are told to bleach their vaginas. Without any allusion to the complicated world they live in, the women in Farquarson’s photos don’t seem to be agents of their own change. They’re defined by stasis.

The problem becomes more apparent in a photo of girls running down a dirt road entitled “Freedom.” The girls are likely not politically free, and are certainly not economically free. In this case, simplification in the hopes of forging a connection between viewer and subject does a disservice to the reality of the situation.

It’s a mighty conundrum. And it’s made even more muddled by the fact that proceeds for the exhibition’s opening evening, on May 1, went to PLAN Canada, which is a wonderful organization. This would all have been great, except the event was hosted in the Birks diamond store on Bloor Street. While Birks’ official policy is to eschew conflict diamonds, and they’ve been generous in their prior support of the charity, the sight of women of limited means juxtaposed with glittering cases of diamonds was a bit hard to stomach. Perhaps if the message of these photographs weren’t so sweet and simple, it would have been easier to take.

DIRECTED BY JAY BULGER (USA, Next)

SCREENINGS:

Friday, April 27, 6:15 p.m.
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (506 Bloor Street West)

Saturday, April 28, 1:45 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West)

Saturday, May 5, 1 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 (350 King Street West)

Ginger Baker is a legend, but you’d never know it to see him now. Director Jay Bulger tracked down the former Cream drummer to find him living in a gated compound in South Africa with a sullen internet bride and a host of dogs and polo ponies exported from the U.K. His drum kit sat untouched in the corner; only his legendary temper remained intact.

Like Ginger, the film is an unholy mess. Beware of Mr. Baker jumps from split screens to interviews to animation to archival footage to God knows what else. There’s even a recurring slave-ship motif. (It’s supposed to reference Ginger’s love of African drumming, but it comes off as plain offensive.) If Ginger wasn’t a teeming psychological mess with an astounding aptitude for music and a talent for cutting remarks, it might have served the film well to spread things around. Obviously, there’s no need.

Still, it would take the thunder of the gods to silence this man’s bombastic life. The archival footage of Ginger himself is brilliant–again and again, over the decades, whether playing stadiums with Cream or jamming with bands at small-time polo clubs, the brutal talent of Ginger makes itself known. The footage of his wild days in ’70s Nigeria playing with Fela Kuti is especially awe-inspiring (forget 1960s Britain, now that was a time and place to experience!). If you can roll with this documentary’s imperfections, there’s still a wild ride to be had.

DIRECTED BY THOMAS RIEDELSHEIMER (Mexico, Next)

SCREENINGS:

Saturday, April 28, 4 p.m.
ROM Theatre (100 Bloor Street West)

Sunday, April 29, 9:30 p.m.
Innis Town Hall (2 Sussex Avenue)

Sunday, May 6, 4 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 (350 King Street West)

Garden in the Sea has grand ambitions, one of them being to stand as a testament to the almost paralyzing beauty of Baja California Sur, Mexico. But it also strives to articulate the need for the preservation of marine life, and to speak to how art can embody the mystical and ephemeral in the natural world.

Phew. These dizzying aspirations, untethered to any solid plot line or character, rarely reach fruition. The narrative follows Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias over four years as she plans and oversees the creation of a submerged sculpture. It’s no piece of cake to sink three massive forms into the Sea of Cortez, but, unfortunately, watching concrete being shaped and transported isn’t that interesting. This frenetic activity is interspersed with meditative footage and stills of the Baja area. The footage is stunning—it’s nature porn at its best.

Iglesias’ banter tries to tie the sweeping shots back to her art’s purpose. Gliding elegantly from scene to scene, she speaks enigmatically. (“It’s like…in that immensity and solitude you understand the scale and dimension of humans and of time. It’s humbling.”) She’s fascinating to watch, but, ultimately, we’re offered little beyond her grandiose statements. The film ends on a similar note, pleading with the viewer to personally connect with the fight to protect marine life. A worthy cause, but why exactly do we care? This is a two-star doc sitting on an extra star’s worth of pretty, pretty footage.

DIRECTED BY CARLO GUILLERMO PROTO (Canada, Canadian Spectrum)

SCREENINGS:

Saturday, April 28, 3:45 p.m.
Sunday, April 29, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 5, 6:15 p.m.

TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)

Seen through the lens of Gustavo Proto’s malaise, Toronto is an alienating, unattractive place. Whether driving down a slushy GTA highway trying to find an exit with increasing frustration, or contemplating the uniform greyness of Lake Ontario from his waterfront condo, Proto embodies the experience of living out one’s life in a place that will never feel like home.

Proto moved his family to Toronto from Chile in order to give them a better life. He opened a shipping company and found success, but evidently he never found happiness. When he was just 16 years old, his father killed himself, leaving Proto to identify the body. Now, facing a possible diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, Proto toys with the idea of ending his own life. Carlo Proto, Gustavo’s son and the film’s director, takes on the delicate task of documenting his father’s pain, and his family’s anger, with remarkable aplomb.

Though Toronto doesn’t come off particularly well, the cinematography is breathtaking. Lake Ontario’s grey expanse, contrasting with the city’s lights and curving highways, perfectly illustrates the mental state of a man on the fringe–homesick, without friends, barely able to grapple with the mental illness that’s plagued him for years. “Nothing in life is as certain as death,” Gustavo says, and for him this is a blessing, a reprieve from the anxiety that haunts him. As a director, Carlo does an excellent job of letting his father be both the man brave enough to sacrifice himself in order to spare his family, and a fool unable to live beyond his misery.

In a pivotal scene in Chile, where Gustavo has gone to fulfill his dream of being a huaso (a Chilean cowboy), Carlo, who is in therapy for reasons that are perhaps obvious, confronts his father. It seems impossible that the film can end well. And yet, the beauty of this doc is that while it is brave enough to tackle tough emotional issues with ruthless honesty, it’s equally up to the task of sitting at a respectful distance from Gustavo, letting the complexity of his character, and situation, speak for itself.

Once a shabby, forgotten corner of the city, the area under and around the Eastern Avenue, Richmond, and Adelaide overpasses is now undergoing a major revitalization.

Although Underpass Park hasn’t officially opened, Waterfront Toronto has confirmed that the two eastern-most sections are almost complete and will become available to riled-up kids and harried parents alike later this summer. The park will feature a skateboard park and half courts, a community gathering area, and a play area featuring unique jungle gym equipment. A piece of suspended public art by local artist Paul Raff is also set to be installed within the next month (it will be reflective, to attract what light is available).

The final section by St. Lawrence Street, a green space, will be unveiled in September.

Waterfront Toronto’s Meg Davis admits that the area under the overpasses were considered “derelict” and were not originally part of the organization’s West Don Lands revitalization project. But when a developer submitted a plan for the space, the wheels started turning.

With new affordable housing going in just north of Underpass Park—and 50 per cent of those residents expected to be families with young children—Davis said that the park will serve the new neighborhood well.

“Wouldn’t it be great on a rainy day your kids are driving you crazy…you can go to Underpass Park and play on the playscape and be weather protected and the kids can get activity and get out of your hair, so to speak,” said Davis.

Diane MacLean of the Regent Park Community Health Centre agrees that Underpass Park will be a welcome part of the redevelopment of the wider area, including the West Don Lands and Regent Park.

“[The area is] undergoing a true revitalization, physical, as well as how you create social cohesion–gatherings, how people come together,” said MacLean. “One thing that I think is great about Underpass Park is that for space that is considered unusable for a long time…it’s going to bring a whole opportunity for people to find new ways to come together.”

MacLean hopes that by injecting life into the underpasses, a sense of safety and ownership will be restored. She would also like to see Underpass Park become part of a Discovery Walk that would further connect Regent Park with the wider community.

It appears at least that the project is unaffected by the political circus that the Port Lands inspired last summer and the “accelerated” plan for development there. “The City, the feds, and the province are all cooperating with us nicely on this project, on the West Don Lands and on Underpass Park,” said Davis.

Underpass Park will officially open in July.

City council: still mostly men.

“Does Rob Ford have a woman problem?” asked the Globe and Mail recently. A bold question, but the problem of female representation in politics reaches far beyond the mayor. In Toronto, 15 of the 44 councillors—or 34 per cent—are women, and while that sounds bad, it’s a heck of a lot better than the paltry 24.8 per cent elected to federal parliament.

Thankfully, a mentorship program may help correct the current sausage-fest that is Toronto politics.

The Toronto Regional Champion Campaign was launched in 2008; 26 young women were mentored by female councillors as part of an initiative by Councillor Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale). McConnell is chair of a Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ committee dedicated to upping the female quotient in municipal politics. The idea seems to have legs: the program just received funding from the feds’ Status of Women Canada and is set to hit four other communities including Edmonton and Wainfleet, Ontario.

In Toronto, the program just launched its third Protégée Program, with all 15 female city councillors participating. Each councillor is mentoring two young women for a period of 12 months. The women are typically 18 to 26 years of age, are either currently enrolled in or freshly out of university, and hail from a variety of communities and backgrounds–a nice touch, given that council is overwhelmingly Caucasian.

“When I came onto council there were very few women, period; now we’re looking at trying to get a more representative face of Toronto in general,” said McConnell. “It will only start when we give young women the tools, the experience, and, most importantly, the connections to put their names in.”

It’s McConnell’s hope that her sister councillors’ passion for politics will translate, and that these young women won’t face the same barriers to entry she did.

Councillor Pam McConnell at a council meeting last September.

Not only are female politicians forced to prove themselves as leaders over a longer period of time, says McConnell of those difficulties, but women also suffer in the combative environment that is politics: their consensus-building skills are undervalued, and they have a harder time fundraising. Women, she finds, shy away from the networking game, while young men thrive on it, and when it comes time to raise dough, the women suffer. McConnell hopes that the Protégée participants will not only gain confidence through the program, but will also build up a handy network of empowered contacts.

Mentee Leona Teixeira, a 23-year-old who hails from Avenue and Lawrence, currently works for MaRS helping online start-ups find their feet in Toronto. She was non-committal about a future career in politics but, having interned with GO Transit, is passionate about how proper transit infrastructure can help build communities.

Not surprisingly, she’s been paired with Councillor and TTC Chair Karen Stintz, aka the new “Rebel Mayor.”

As for Rob Ford’s “woman problem,” McConnell insisted that all councillors, male and female, are on board with the mentorship program. “I think we need to remember that every male member of council has a daughter, or a sister, or a granddaughter, and they know that those young women have things to contribute.”

A lovely sentiment, though it’s hard to forget that Ford is struggling to keep the few women he does have as members of his Executive Committee, which works to implement his agenda at City Hall. In this administration, fresh, young female faces on council are more necessary than ever.