Walking the Eastern Shore with Christopher Hume

February 28, 2016

I spent last Friday morning walking Scarborough’s beaches with the Toronto Star’s urban affairs and architecture critic Christopher Hume. You can check out the video here:

Read the full article →

Scarborough Waterfront Development Project Submission

February 12, 2016

SCARBOROUGH WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SUBMISSION TO: THE TORONTO AND REGION CONSERVATION AUTHORITY FROM: M. JANE FAIRBURN DATE: FEBRUARY 11, 2016 INTRODUCTION Few outside the Scarborough Bluffs district know that a gaping crevice in the land lies south of the Kingston Road near the foot of Bellamy. Gates Gully has rested silently there since the last […]

Read the full article →

Paving the Beach: Does it Really Make Sense?

February 7, 2016

Hi everyone, In the early part of the twentieth century, the Township of Scarborough was blessed with myriad areas along the shore where people could get into the lake and swim. Between Fallingbrook and Kennedy Roads alone, three supervised areas existed, beginning in 1928 (“Parks in Scarborough Remembered”, Scarborough Historical Notes and Comments). Now all […]

Read the full article →

Decision Time for the Scarborough Shore: What Kind of Waterfront Do We Deserve?

February 3, 2016

Recently, the primary focus of Toronto’s waterfront development has been on the transformation taking place in the downtown harbour and its oft perceived errant cousin to the west, Humber Bay. Few recognize that another transformation of no less magnitude is about to begin on the eastern shore in the Scarborough Bluffs, where the land rises […]

Read the full article →

A Word or Two About the City of Light

November 23, 2015

The timeless resiliency of the French people has been laid bare this week, as they stare down the terror visited upon them in the streets of Paris. But “la Ville Lumière” is no stranger to violence — another dark chapter came during the Nazi Germany occupation of the city during the Second World War. As […]

Read the full article →

Tearing Down the Gardiner: It’s About a Leap of Faith That’s Worth Taking

June 10, 2015

Love it or hate it, it’s decision time on the fate of the eastern portion of Toronto’s concrete leviathan, the Gardiner Expressway. Built in the mid-1950s at the height of North America’s love affair with the car, the often reviled and strangely endearing serpentine creature conceived along the shore of Lake Ontario remains an iconic […]

Read the full article →

On the Verge of Spring

March 9, 2015

Greetings one and all, With the welcome sun now penetrating through layers of hard-packed snow and ice, winter will soon be a distant memory — I thought you might enjoy one more look back at the wonderland that was, “along the shore”.

Read the full article →

Along the Shore Featured in Open Book: Ontario

December 5, 2014

Hi everyone, Just wanted to let you know about Open Book: Ontario. The site promotes all things literary in the province and is a great resource for readers and writers. It has recently launched a new project — Open Book Explorer, in which Along the Shore has been featured. The Explorer is an online, interactive […]

Read the full article →

Along the Shore — The Agenda, June 30, 2014

July 21, 2014

Hi folks, My interview about Along the Shore, and current issues facing the Toronto waterfront kicked off the summer season of The Agenda on June 30, 2014. You can view my 25 minute talk here: https://tvo.org/video/programs/the-agenda-with-steve-paikin/jane-fairburn-our-waterfront-heritage  

Read the full article →

Prince Edward County — Revisited

April 10, 2014

My first memories of Prince Edward County are those of a small child, circa 1970. My Dad was a teacher in the days before a university education was a strict requirement of the craft, so every summer when school ended, he put a brave face on, and in search of that coveted B.A., packed up […]

Read the full article →