By Krystyna Cap

The Hungarian connection to Canada can be traced back to 1583, when the English explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert embarked on a search for the Northwest Passage that took him and his crew to the shores of Newfoundland. Enlisted as his chronicler was the well-known sixteenth-century Hungarian poet and humanist Stephen Parmenius of Buda, whose impressions of the New World were committed to posterity before he drowned off the coast of Newfoundland in August of that year.

It would be another three centuries before Hungarian migration to Canada began in significant numbers, particularly as temporary economic sojourners, and later permanent immigrants, travelled from across the Austro-Hungarian Empire to populate the far reaches of Canada.

The 2006 census recorded more than 300,000 Canadians claiming Hungarian descent.[1] In Toronto, Hungarians number just over 53,000.[2] Although any vestiges of a distinct Hungarian enclave have largely disappeared from the city's downtown core, Toronto's Hungarian population remains a vibrant, active and rich part of our city's history and culture.

Sadly, Dagmar Baur passed away in April 2010.
To read an article in remembrance, click here.

One evening last summer I sat on the bench in the South Oaks courtyard of the Bain Co-op in Toronto's East End, enjoying the flowers, the serenity of green, the peace of twilight. It was one of those magic moments - just me and the kitties keeping contented company. I heard the comforting domestic sounds of dinner preparations and muted talk between parents and children (techno rumble was blessedly absent). The roar of the city seemed far away from the shelter of our small valley and it felt so safe. I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude - for so many reasons.

By Cathy Faye

Madeleine McDowell's family home sits on a quiet street not far from the banks of the Humber River, just a short walk from Bâby Point. During her childhood, she and her family would go on Sunday walks by the Humber, to the Old Mill Bridge and into the valley. By the age of 6, she had learned that Étienne Brûlé is said to have passed by what is now her front door in 1615, and that the French explorer Robert Cavalier de LaSalle had traversed her neighbourhood on his way to the Mississippi. She knew that the now tree-lined, residential streets around her once served as the site for an Iroquois Village and that her neighbourhood had played a major role in the North American fur trade. Needless to say, Toronto's history, and particularly the colourful history of her own backyard, has always been a part of Madeleine McDowell's life. "I was just brought up with it," she says; "it's sort of like breathing."

By Tracy Chen

Kei Yano recalls her parents' stories about living in internment camps

Kei Yano and her son, Kenji Ferguson

By Amy Brewitt

The Harmony Singers is a three-part women's choir that began in Etobicoke in 1965. Its activities include presenting concerts in Etobicoke and the surrounding area and performing at retirement homes, hospitals and civic functions. Over the years, its numbers have fluctuated, and today it has over 30 members and performs at several events throughout the year.

"The Harmony Singers are longest continuous-running choir in Etobicoke," says Musical Director Harvey Patterson. "The group was created so that women of all ages and musical abilities who were interested in singing would form a group that didn't just sing good music, but would also memorize and stage their songs."

By David Wencer 

For over one hundred years, Heintzman & Co., Ltd. was a Toronto-based company which produced some of the highest-quality pianos ever manufactured in Canada.

Theodor Heintzman (courtesy of the West Toronto Junction Historical Society)

The early years of the company's founder, Theodor August Heintzman, were spent in Germany learning the trade of manufacturing pianos from the man who became his father-in-law. Around 1850, already in his 30s, Heintzman emigrated to New York with his family, seeking an opportunity in North America.

After brief business ventures in Greenwich Village and in Buffalo he came to Toronto in 1860, apparently at the invitation of Frank Thomas, whose owned a piano factory downtown. Heintzman company advertisements credit this as the beginning of Heintzman & Co., although the company would not be officially incorporated until 1866.

By Tracy Chen

As I watch Stan's past performances, I am amazed by the way he genuinely feels music - his fingers and hair fly wildly as he delivers powerful, gritty guitar riffs. As the evening goes by, his eyes light up as he sings along with old recordings and reminiscences about being on the road...

Stan Endersby was born on July 17, 1947 in Lachine, Quebec. His father, Paul Endersby, a former WWI ace was a prominent figure in the Canadian Radio and Television industry. His mother, Jeanne Miquel was a veterinarian (the only female to graduate in 1936 from a class of 500 at the acclaimed La Faculte De Medecine in Paris, France). Along with his four brothers, Endersby enjoyed a successful career as a child actor while in theatre productions such as ‘King of the Hearts' (at the Crest Theatre) and having parts in television shows such as ‘On Camera', ‘Hit Parade', ‘The Jackie Ray Show' and the ‘Wayne and Shuster Show'.

Stan Endersby, second from the left in the stage production "King of Hearts"

By David Wencer

Since 1992, 463 Bathurst has been the home of the Cineforum, a unique Toronto institution dedicated to the collecting and screening of films, particularly those films which have the power to provoke. It is certainly Toronto's most intimate of cinemas; the theatre itself is the modified lounge of a downtown Victorian townhouse, furnished cozily with an eclectic assortment of chairs. The Cineforum's most distinctive feature, of course, is Reg Hartt, the resident curator and a self-confessed eccentric who personally hosts each screening.

By Danielle Astrug

Ask any Torontonian who John Graves Simcoe is, and the majority will know of his role as Lieutenant-Governor who established the city of York. But if you mention Étienne Brûlé, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Jean Baptiste Rousseaux or Jacques Bâby, you may get a puzzled look. The facts that Rousseaux was the first European to settle permanently on these shores, known today as Toronto, is largely forgotten and overshadowed by the glory surrounding Simcoe.

It is little known today that Toronto was once - under the French Regime - primarily French-speaking and inhabited by thriving First Nations people before it became the metropolis as we know it today. Twenty-five years ago, la Société d'histoire de Toronto undertook the task to research and complete the story of Toronto's founders and its French history.

By John Michailidis

Its rare that ordinary citizens have the financial means or the passion to make contributions of land to their community. One such rare individual is Billy McKay 1862-1943, an East York farmer, born of Irish parents, in what is now the community of East York. His contribution of land in the early 1920s set the stage for the pattern of development of the eastern part of the old Township of York, creating a hub of public buildings at Coxwell Avenue and Mortimer Avenue to serve the community. His contribution of land may have played a significant role in the province's decision to establish the Township of East York in 1924.