Dr. Sheela Basrur Dead

[whatever]

There's some kind of a new agency or department at MaRS being named for her, I can't remember exactly what but it was something to do with Ontario public health.

 

[theowne]

This is sad news. She was definitely cut from a finer moral cloth than the politicians and businesspeople who seem to rule this city. We have so few exemplary Torontonians in high places and now we have one less.

Exactly what I was thinking. One of the few people you can honestly and truly respect is gone, and I am very sad at this moment.

 

[vicente]

What is this "New Toronto"?

 

[theowne]

I had a feeling someone was going to pounce on that.

 

[vicente]

A Google Search of New Toronto only yields results about the South Etobicoke community. Is that where she called home after growing up in Guelph? What about her is quintessentially "New Toronto"?

We've lost a great Canadian who did her best to help her country in a time of crisis. I think it's in order that we name something after her. If she's from New Toronto, maybe we should name a street there after her, let's pick an existing street named after a British hero or statesman who never stepped foot in Canada.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Nice try baiting vincente. I could only hope you have the same sense of duty, humility and generosity that Sheela Basrur did. She brought people together in the times of crisis. You?

AoD

 

[vicente]

It is only baiting if you are self-conscious and insecure of your own intentions and significations in your own original post.

To clear this up, why don't you define what exactly you mean by "New Torontonian"?

I have nothing but respect for her and her duty, humility, and generosity, as you can see from the second part of my post. If it wasn't for her leadership, hundreds more Torontonians would have died from SARS.

However, my first "baiting" paragraph" of my post is questioning the intention of your previous post in terms of what you mean by "New Torontonian".

Dr. Basrur may have been born in Guelph, but I do NOT consider her a New Torontonian, for, having been born and raised in our great nation and in our own province of Ontario, she cannot be a "New Torontonian". Maybe you only consider those of us who have always lived in the GTA (or even the 416 proper!) as true Old Torontonians. But I consider any pure-bred Canadian who devotes all of their heart to helping the people of Toronto as Old Torontonian, as opposed to those loyal to their home province/country and only here for convenience or a job.

- Vince, an OLD Torontonian, from when he was born at St. Joseph's Health Center on the Queensway, until forever.

 

[adma]

Dr. Basrur may have been born in Guelph, but I do NOT consider her a New Torontonian, for, having been born and raised in our great nation and in our own province of Ontario, she cannot be a "New Torontonian". Maybe you only consider those of us who have always lived in the GTA (or even the 416 proper!) as true Old Torontonians. But I consider any pure-bred Canadian who devotes all of their heart to helping the people of Toronto as Old Torontonian, as opposed to those loyal to their home province/country and only here for convenience or a job.

- Vince, an OLD Torontonian having been born at the St. Joseph's Health Center on The Queensway and raised in the GTA, but living in the USA.

Bathetic twaddle. The rah-rah-stars-and-stripes USA can keep you--especially if you're prone to multicult-bashing bellyaching a la "as opposed to those loyal to their home province/country and only here for convenience or a job". Which is "Old Torontonian" at its worst.

I was born in Mt Sinai on University and raised in the GTA and still live there. However, I have a parent and three grandparents who came here from abroad; and I don't feel incensed by the term "New Torontonian"--or at least "New Canadian", as (as you say) "New Torontonian" smacks too much of Lake Shore + Islington. Relative to what (and the whitebreadness of that which) preceded us, that's what we are.

Basrur represented a "New Toronto" in the 2000's as much as Nathan Phillips (a Jew! a non-Orangeman!) did in the 1950s. Even if each were, in your terminology, "Old Torontonian".

 

[Hydrogen]

Well said!

 

[vicente]

What does Nathan Phillip being Jewish or you having grandparents that came from abroad have to do with anything?

I am discussing people who think that New Torontonians are everyone who aren't ORIGINALLY from Toronto.

 

[Hydrogen]

Well Dr. Basrur was born in Guelph, that would make her a new Torontonian, would it not?

 

[vicente]

Well Dr. Basrur was born in Guelph, that would make her a new Torontonian, would it not?

IMO, NO. As I said in my last post, "I consider any pure-bred Canadian who devotes all of their heart to helping the people of Toronto as Old Torontonian, as opposed to those loyal to their home province/country and only here for convenience or a job." Through her efforts she saved so many of our lives.

So she's an OLD and true Torontonian.

 

[adma]

And notice what *I* said in my last post

Bathetic twaddle. The rah-rah-stars-and-stripes USA can keep you--especially if you're prone to multicult-bashing bellyaching a la "as opposed to those loyal to their home province/country and only here for convenience or a job". Which is "Old Torontonian" at its worst.

 

[theowne]

I thought that "New Toronto" was referring to the switch between mainly British Isles-descended people to a more diverse collection of origin groups making up the city.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I thought that "New Toronto" was referring to the switch between mainly British Isles-descended people to a more diverse collection of origin groups making up the city.

Thank you, theowne.

I am discussing people who think that New Torontonians are everyone who aren't ORIGINALLY from Toronto

We aren't.

AoD