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.

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 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.

By Doug Hum

Tuey Ping Lee-Hum- she was a star Cantonese opera performer. (Photos by the Hum family)She came to Canada from Asia (China) in 1936 with a Cantonese opera troupe to rally support for China against Imperial Japan which was threatening to conquer and subjugate China.

Prior to and during World War II, she performed on stage in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in Canada. At the end of the War. the entire opera troupe was invited to perform in the United States where they performed in New York City, Boston and Detroit. Tuey Ping Lee Hum on stage. She played mainly male roles.

Frank O'ConnorIn his late 20s he met and married a young widow, Mary Ellen Hayes from Belleville. They moved to Toronto in 1912 and the next year opened the Laura Secord Candy Store on Yonge Street, north of Elm. They used only the best ingredients and they hand-chose their workers - many of whom became long-time employees. Benefiting from the good business acumen of his wife, Frank opened Laura Secord shops across Canada; within a decade they branched into the USA where, their enterprise was known as Fanny Farmer Candy Stores. Eventually the O'Connor fortune was in the multi-millions. Mr. O'Connor recognized that his success was in great measure due to his good and faithful workforce, and in 1923 he was the first candy manufacturer in the world to introduce a profit-sharing plan. Frank and Mary Ellen had a daughter, Mary; and Frank adopted Mary Ellen's young son William.