MISSING PLAQUE PROJECT

2006-11-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

REVENUE REZ

REVENUE REZ:

THE REVENUE CANADA OCCUPATION AND TAX RESISTANCE

“RECLAIMING OUR RIGHTS! THIS BUILDING IS UNDER ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION!” read a 50-foot banner spanned across the marble pillars of the Revenue Canada Taxation Centre, in downtown Toronto (at Victoria St. and Adelaide St. E.). On December 15^th 1994, 27 native protestors began occupying an empty wing on the 5^th floor of the building.

At the same time in the courtyard outside, a tent city in support of the occupation began to grow, despite the winter weather. A large teepee and dozens of tents were erected, a sacred fire was started and portable toilets were set up. The sounds of drums at the tent city were heard echoing off the building. The occupation was provoked by a change in tax guidelines.

First Nations people have never had the same obligation to pay taxes as non-natives. The reason for this ties back to the treaties signed with the British and Canadian governments. These First Nations surrendered portions of their land in order to continue as sovereign nations. This sovereignty guaranteed that Canada would not tax native people or their businesses, but the Canadian government has been notorious for not honoring its treaty obligations.

To an extent, Canadian law backs up the tax exempt status of native people. The Indian Act reads “the interest of an Indian or a band in reserve or surrendered lands” are “exempt from taxation”. On more than one occasion the Supreme Court has sided with natives on this issue, however the Court left room for interpretation. Revenue Canada interpreted the Court’s decision as allowing them to impose taxes on native people who work off reserve regardless of whether they work for businesses based on reserves.

This new regulation was to come into effect on January 1^st 1995. The protestors saw this regulation as a new tax on status Indians. Workers would bring home 30-40% less money. Non-profits would be forced to choose between paying their native workforce a decent wage and cutting programs. The poverty of urban native communities would only deepen.

After 29 days inside the office the protesters left the building on January 13^th. They were greeted by a crowd of over 700, and pledged to continue the fight for Indian rights. While they were not able to stop the tax guideline, they did leave with a deal that would see the matter brought back before the courts for further ruling, with Revenue Canada paying the bill.

Even now, the courts are still ruling on the matter. Revenue Canada continues its attempts to impose taxes, but thousands have resisted paying. These tax resisters have held firm for over a decade regardless of the threats and actions taken against them. The Revenue Rez occupation was the public face of one of the most enduring acts of resistance in Canada’s history.

The wealth of Canada is built on the land of native nations. Their right not to pay taxes is just one part of the debt owed to these nations. It is Canada’s duty to honor these rights.

Sources: Under Occupation, By Joe Chidley, Maclean’s Magazine, jan 16 1995, Celebration greets native tax protesters Occupation ends with parade, rally, By Rudy Platiel, in Globe and Mail, Jan 14, 1995, Indians end 29-day sit-In, By Donna Jean MacKinnon, in Toronto Star Sat Jan 14^th 1995, THE INDIAN ACT, Section 87, and conversations with Peter Luczak from the Coalition Against Revenue Canada Aggression (CARCA)

One source of more information is the Coalition Against Revenue Canada Aggression (CARCA): info@carca.ca www.carca.ca

2006-11-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone

I realize I haven't updated this blog in about three months. I have finished four posters since the last blog entry, and I have lots of other posters underway. I promise to start updating this more in the comming days and weeks.

tim

2006-08-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

HI

The images below are my two latest poster. I also added them to the Poster Archive so if you want to check out images of all the posters, and don't want to bike all around town that is the link to click on. Now that I have a few more posters made, and several more in the works, I am going to start looking for volunteers to go out postering, and help me keep a large presence of posters on the streets. if you are interested drop an email to missingplaque@gmail.com

A final reminder the ARA rally that starts at Chrisite Pits is on Sataurday. I will try and give a speach at the begginging of the rally, and put up all my current posters on the site for all to see.

2006-08-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

THE WONSCOTONACH RIVER: QUESTIONING PLACE NAMES IN TORONTO

Here is the text of another new poster:

THE WONSCOTONACH RIVER

IS ALSO THE DON RIVER

QUESTIONING PLACE NAMES IN TORONTO

The Mississauga Indians named this river the Wonscotonach. In the 1790’s Governor Simcoe renamed it the Don River, after a river in England. As a colonial leader trying to bring about a singularly British culture, in Canada, he tried to eradicate all Seneca, Mississauga, and French place names from the colony, replacing them with British ones. Some names were retained but a vast number were forgotten.

Simcoe planned to build a new town in an area known as Toronto, yet in 1793 he named the town York. Not everyone was happy with this change in name. In 1804 a petition was submitted to reinstate the old name, but it was not till 1834 that an effort to rename the town was successful. By the 1830’s many citizens were fed up with the town’s derogatory labels ‘Little York’ and ‘Muddy York’. A town councilor suggested that the name Toronto be used since “it is the old, original name, of the place and the sound is in every respect much better.” There was support for the idea and the Town of York became the City of Toronto.

Despite its native name, Toronto still branded itself a British city. Rivers, streets and neighborhoods were almost exclusively given British names. They were named after places or people in Britain, after the large estates owned and named by early upper class residents of Toronto, and after these upper class residents themselves (some of who were slave holders). Streets were also named after military battles, businessmen and politician, but always adding to the city’s British image.

Today Toronto brands itself as a multicultural city, however you would never know it to look at the street names. Just as in the 1830’s when our city changed its name from York to Toronto, we should now begin renaming our streets, rivers and neighborhoods. We should give them names in Somali, Portuguese, Mohawk, Tamil, Spanish, Hungarian, Farsi, Tibetan, Cree, Cantonese, Arabic, and the over one hundred other languages spoken in Toronto.

The names we have now will not disappear, but we can start joining them with older and newer names. As a start let us remember the Don River is also The Wonscotonach River.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

Toronto Street Names by Leonard Wise and Allan Gould.

Geographical Names of Canada, The real story of how Toronto got its name, by National Geographic.

The Mississauga and the Building of Yonge st., 1794 -1796, by Donald B. Smith, (in the booklet: The Simcoe Legacy by the Ontario Historical Society).

Amazing tales of the St.Lawrence Neighborhood by Bruce Bell

2006-08-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN RIOT

This is the fianl version of my Halloween Riot Poster. it will be up on the streets in and around the beaches very shortly.

HALLOWEEN RIOT

WHY DID MOB OF ‘7000’ STORM POLICE STATION?

On the first Halloween after World War II, in 1945, massive crowds of youth filled a section of Queen St. E. in the beaches, with an enormous street party. One police officer numbered them at approximately 7000. Huge bonfires were started on the road and backyard fences were torn down to feed the blaze. “Flames were sweeping down the [streetcar] tracks” as gasoline was poured in them, wrote the Toronto Telegram. Obstacles were placed to block fire trucks from accessing the site. Police on horse descended “Billying” the crowd. Two youth were arrested.

The revelry had turned to anger. “Hundreds of Halloween demonstrators paraded through east end streets hurling rocks at windows and turning on fire hydrants”. They marched north to the Main St. Police Station, chanting that they were going to free their arrested comrades. When police and firemen resorted to using fire-hoses, the crowd retaliated by showering them with debris. “I never saw so many rocks and pieces of concrete fly through the air at one time” said a police captain.

The fire-hoses were effective in preventing the crowd from reaching the police station, giving enough time for every available policeman to be rushed from across the city. Police began clubbing and making arrests; soon the crowd dispersed. “Spectators complained they were beaten for no reason”, wrote the Toronto Star.

What would cause high school students in 1945 to rise up in this fashion? The cause of most riots can be better understood by their context in history, but despite exhaustive research the answer to this question remains unclear. It was decided to release this poster anyways, along with the following request:

If anyone knows where more information on this event and its context in history can be found, please email us at: missingplaque@gmail.com

Sources:
”7000 Join In East End Riot Cities Rowdiest”, by Toronto Star, Nov 1^st 1945.

“Rocks, Chunks Of Concrete Shower On Police, Firemen Mob 7000 Held At Bay”, by Toronto^st 1945. Telegram, Nov 1

2006-07-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

REMEMBRING THE CHRISTIE PITS RIOT:
AN UP COMING MARCH

I recently recived this emai from the group Anti Racist Action:

*** PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY ***

Call to Action Against Neo-Nazi Leaders in Southern Ontario!
The Spirit of the Christie Pits Riots Lives On!

Back on August 16th, 1933, the west-end of Toronto burst into a frenzy of
resistance. The largest opposition seen to fascism in our city's history
took place, with Jewish and Italian baseball players and then the whole
community coming together to fight back local hate mongers. Adolf Hitler
had assumed power just half a year earlier, and already nazi supporters
were building a base here to attack those they deemed undesirable. But the
residents of Toronto would have nothing of it and in Christie Pits a
full-scale riot erupted against the racism and hate embodied by fascism.
Anti-fascism was alive and kicking. And 73 years later, it's still going
strong!

To commemorate the Christie Pits Riots, on August 19th, 2006, anti-racist
and anti-fascist activists from across Ontario will be rallying in Toronto
to show direct and uncompromising opposition to the activities of
notorious neo-nazi leaders operating in southern Ontario. This will be a
militant stand in solidarity with immigrant and refugee workers against
organized racism, and against the far-right agenda of violence against
people of colour and the queer community.

The Northern Alliance, pro-Zundel lobby, Aryan Nations, and Southern
Ontario Skinheads are just four groups which ARA Toronto has fought
against and defeated in the past two years. The membership of these white
power gangs has crawled back under the rocks from which they emerged.
Through youth coming together and militantly fighting back against hate
mongers, these white supremacists could no longer organize publicly
without the fear of being confronted. As a result, their operations ceased
to exist, and the areas they once tormented became safer for the people
living there.

But the central hub still exists for the far-right. Various groups in
southern Ontario, including the deceptively named Canadian Heritage
Alliance, Canadian Association for Free Expression, and a rekindling of
the Heritage Front and Nationalist Party are all vying for power under the
increasingly divisive conditions created by the Conservative federal
government. All are attempting to organize disenfranchised white youth
into violent storm troopers to carry out intimidation and violence against
the diversity and unity of communities in the GTA.

Join us to send a strong message to local neo-nazi scum that their
activities will not be tolerated in Toronto, as we take a direct stand
against a local neo-fascist leader!

DATE: Saturday, August 19th, 2006
TIME: Rally starts at 12:00 noon; departure for the action at 1:00PM sharp!
PLACE: Southeast corner of Christie Pits, Toronto, ON.

ARA Toronto: Righteously defending the streets from racist scum since 1992.

email: info@aratoronto.org phone: (416) 929-2296 web: aratoronto.org

2006-07-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

GOALS FOR SEPTEMBER

I didn't get to post for a while. so I will breifly update everyone on the posters I am planning to have finished by the end of the summer:

1. The Halloween Riot
2. The Wonscotanach River -a poster on place names in Toronto
3. The Ward
4. Revenue Rez
5. The Yonge St. Riot
6. The Bath House Raids
7. Lost Chinatown (completed)
8. Riel Poster (completed)
9. Taiaigon rewrite
10. Christiepits Riot (completed)
11. Mackenzie Poster (completed)
12. Berzy Poster (completed)

2006-06-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN RIOT

Here is the text of a new poster I am working on:

HALLOWEEN RIOT

MOB OF 7000 STORM POLICE STATION

On the first Halloween after World War II, in 1945, massive crowds of youth –some of them just returned from the war- filled a section of Queen St. E in the beaches, with an enormous street party. Huge bonfires were started over top of the streetcar tracks, and backyard fences were torn down to feed the flames. When Police arrested 13 from the crowd, the revelry turned to anger.

Police reported that as many as 7000 youth marched north to the Main St. Police Station in an attempt to free those arrested. They were only prevented from doing so because fire-hoses were turned upon the crowd, giving time for every available policeman and fireman to be rushed from other areas of the city.

This event raises questions of the climate and demeanor of youth after the war. The story was reported in both local newspapers; however so far these are the only two sources that the Missing Plaque Project has been able to find. If anyone has leads as to where more information on this event can be gathered, please email us at: missingplaque@gmail.com

2006-04-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Three Updates:

ONE: On Wednesday I was putting up the latest Missing Plaque Poster, on William Berczy, all around Berzcy Park. I was approached by a man he who told me I needed to stop. I told him I knew it was legal to put up posters but he insisted this was not true in his neighborhood, claiming it was a poster free area. He refused to tell me his name but he told me he was part of the St. Lawrence Business Improvement Area. He claimed that the BIA had purchased the lamp poles and they were private property. When I told him I didn’t believe him and kept going, he got irate. At first he threatened to call the police on me, which didn’t really faze me since I was confident that I was with in the law. Soon he couldn’t hold back his anger and threatened to punch me in the face if I didn’t stop. At that point I decided I would leave and come back later. He followed me for several blocks, told me no one would believe me that he had threatened to punch me in the face because it was my word against his. The last thing he said to me was that he would see me in court.

I believe this man was just full of hot air. I think he was the sort of power tripping man who isn’t used to being challenged. I made it clear I have no plans to stop putting up these posters, and he didn’t like that at all. Perhaps the whole thing will blow over, and be a big nothing. But if he keeps up his efforts at intimidation, I think I will make a big deal out of it. Shine a spot light at the issue and mobilize around it.

TWO: I have reprinted all the old posters with the new email address, and will be putting them all up in the next week. The one exception is the poster on Taiaigon. It needs a bit of rewriting, and clarification on the historic content.

THREE: I am currently working on three more posters. The first is on place names, it looks at how the Don River was once called the Wonscotonach, but like so many places in Toronto it now has a British name. Toronto calls itself a multicultural city but you would never know it from the place names in the city. The second one is on the Ward a poor and immigrant neighborhood that has been demolished and left to be forgotten. The third is on a riot thatg took place on Halloween in 1945.

-T.G.

2006-04-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

WILLIAM BERCZY

The following is the text of the latest poster, it can be viewed here.

WILLIAM BERCZY

TORONTO'S FORGOTTEN FOUNDER

The history of Toronto has been cast to portray Governor Simcoe as the great founder who stepped off the boat and had the town unfurl around him, perhaps with the help of some of the soldiers under his command. Some historians have shown the role William Berczy and working class people played in establishing Toronto. In the mid 1970's a park was named after Berczy. Yet the public understanding of Toronto's history still inflates Simcoes role, and forgets William Berczy and the 60 families who came with him from Germany. Their role in building Toronto was not only down played, but as historian John Andre puts it "undeservedly reduced to a heap of historical manure".

Berczy and the settlers who came with him intended to establish themselves in the U.S. but after running into trouble with the authorities, decided move themselves and their cattle across the border into Canada where Governor Simcoe offered Berczy 64,000 acres of land, in what is today known as Markham. In return they would do work to establish the new town, which at the time existed only on paper, but would become Toronto.

In 1794 Berczy and his men erected the first building in the town of York. They went on to build many other buildings, create roads including Yonge St. and established farms to help feed the new settlement. As an architect, and engineer, Berczy designed many of the first houses as well as mills, the first church, and the Don Bridge.

Berczy was a student of co-operative enterprise, wanting to put the philosophies of the enlightenment into practice. He planned to support the settlers he brought to Markham, and bring many thousand more settlers from Germany. As the land was cultivated its value would increase and by selling of tracts he would be able bring returns to his financial backer in Europe. But his vision was not to be.

After Simcoe returned to Europe his replacement, Peter Russell, and the rest of the Oligarchy in Upper Canada turned the tide on William Berczy. Russell waited till Berczy had finished working on his own house and then in 1797 got the Executive Council of Upper Canada to take back the 64,000 acres granted to Berczy. To the officials in London it was claimed they had not done satisfactory work in return for the land. They portrayed Berczy as a liar a "knave and a fool", his settlers as a few dozen "rubbish". The truth of the matter was the oligarchy saw the value of the fertile Markham land and wanted it to be in their own hands(this oligarchy would later be dubbed the family compact).

Berczy went to London in order to fight for the land. In 1801 an appointed committee recommended that the land should be given back, yet the Executive Council of Upper Canada did not put the recommendation into practice. Broke, Berczy moved to Montréal where he worked as a painter. Today he is mostly remembered for his paintings. Many of his settlers stayed. Today they are mostly not remembered.

This Poster does not do justice to Berczy's fascinating life, he was a spy, a cross-dresser, a draft dodger, a smuggler, an illuminati and much more.
SOURCES: Infant Toronto by John Andre. William Berczy co-founder of Toronto by John Andre. New city park honors co-founder of Toronto, Toronto Star, Sept. 20th 1975, by Donald Jones

2006-04-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

A NEW BREATH OF ENERGY INTO THE MPP

I am launching this blog at the same time as I am recommencing work on the Missing Plaque Project with renewed effort, and a refined vision of the project.

I started the project over 3 years ago on bitterly cold December night. I walked to Christie Pits with a steaming bucket of wheat paste, and a few copies of a poster I had just finished cutting and pasting together earlier that day. It was a poster that told the history of Christie Pits riot. My gloves got covered in wheat paste and soon froze hard. By the time I treaded home I was in pain from the cold, but proud of what I had accomplished.

My vision was to put up posters of Toronto’s little known and obscured histories, all across town. I was a bit over ambitious. I predicted I would have dozens of posters finished with in a year, and have developed notoriety for the project. I thought I would be stimulating others to copy and build off the project in no time. It was slower going than I had expected. In the last three years, I have only made four posters to compliment the first.

Last year I took a hiatus from the project. I need time to rethink the project. I was always proud of what I had done but I there were several areas I was concerned about. The largest concern was that some historical inaccuracies had been pointed out to me. I always worked hard on the research but I often put history in without double checking it, or I would be too hasty in jumping to conclusions. At the end of the day these inaccuracies were not many and not large, but they cast a cloud for me over the project. (I will spend more time explaining them in another blog).

Over the winter I have rethought the project and now am prepared to breathe new energy into it. This is a bit of my refined vision and plans for the project:

1. I am going to attempt to put out one new poster a month. I will be starting with a poster on William Berczy which should be ready in a week and a half.

2. All new posters will include their sources.

3. I will over time be going back over the first five posters and updating them and putting in their sources

4. I will put more emphasis on getting accurate posters up on the street, and less emphasis on making them beautifully designed, with weeks of editing and re-editing the text. In time I would love to refine the posters I put up.

5. I have a new email address: missingplaque@gmail.com

6. Beside each of the Regular posters I will put up a small bite sized poster that expains the project and invites them to this blog.

7. I plan to do a better job of brining collaborators into the project. I hope to tap more people to help with the research, writing, editing, design and pasting up of posters. I also plan to hold a monthly meeting/discussion for anyone who is interested.

8. I stated this blog.

2006-04-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

POSTER ARCHIVE

I Have started an archive of the Missing Plaque posters
Note: it may take a while to load.