[PHOTO] Two photos of St. Nicholas of Bari Catholic Church

St. Nicholas of Bari Catholic Church, at 1277 St. Clair Avenue West in the heart of Corso Italia, is a bit of an unusual church, built to fit into the streetscape of this traditionally Italian-Canadian neighbourhood. Still, the stained glass windows stand out, even from across the street at twilight.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Mississauga, Oshawa, Hamilton, London, Kingston, Montréal, Québec

• A historic bridge over the Credit River in Mississauga, happily, will not be demolished but instead will be repaired. CBC reports.
• Now that automobile production has stopped at the Oshawa General Motors plant, what will become of that city? CBC reports.
• The auditor-general of Ontario will investigate the claimed costs that led to the cancellation of the Hamilton LRT. Global News reports.
• A new bus route now connects London, Ontario, to Sarnia. Global News reports.
• Kingstonist reports that filming for the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery has just finished up in Kingston, at the pen.
• Joe Buongiorno writes at CBC Montreal at his, specifically Italian Canadian, experiences with the Jean Talon Market in Montréal.
• Le Devoir notes that many radio stations in Québec City are leading opposition to the proposed streetcar system.

[PHOTO] Espresso, Caffè Cinquecento

Yesterday, I got an espresso at the Caffè Cinquecento to remind me of Italy.

[URBAN NOTE] Three blog links about people and buildings and neighbourhoods from the past of Toronto

• Chris Bateman at Spacing Toronto describes the history of Toronto’s first skyscraper, the Beard Building at King and Jarvis.
• Erin Sylvester at Torontoist explores the life of Grace Bagnato, an Italian Canadian who was one of Toronto’s first court interpreters.
• Azzura Lalani commemorates in the Toronto Star the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Rathnelly, in midtown Toronto.

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• blogTO considers some of the spendthrift things a millionaire could do in Toronto.
• James Bow remembers his 9/11 experience.
• Crasstalk features an essay by a New Yorker reflecting on her 9/11.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog reflects on how white power and white powerlessness can co-exist.
• Language Hat shares one book’s evaluation of Neapolitan dialect.
• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes one evaluation of Neapolitan.
• Otto Pohl notes how Kurdish history is less ethnically complex but more politically complex than Ghana’s.
• Towleroad notes the death of trans actress Alexis Arquette.
• Window on Eurasia describes Russia as, I would say, quasi-Bonapartist.

[URBAN NOTE] “Boccaccio restaurant a hidden gem inside Toronto community centre”

Thanks to Robert for sending me a link to this Toronto Star review of the Ristorante Boccaccio, and the art gallery associated with it at the Columbus Centre up at Dufferin and Lawrence. It’s literally on my street. Why not go?

Eating at the community centre usually involves casseroles, dartboards and stacking wooden chairs.

Such is delightedly not the case at the Columbus Centre, where Toronto’s Italian community gathers for fitness and culture.

Here, you will find white tablecloths and truffle oil at Ristorante Boccaccio, a fine-dining restaurant like many others — except with a pool in the building.

The restaurant is open to the public. Tall ceilings save the basement space from feeling squat. A recent facelift of the 30-year-old room brought oversize black-and-white photos of Italy and modern tableware. It looks like a model home, no surprise given how many of the centre’s founders are construction magnates.

“I want to keep it simple and traditional,” says chef de cuisine Nicholas Huey, a 27-year-old who learned to cook in Venice.

[URBAN NOTE] “How Davenport is giving new meaning to gentrification”

NOW Toronto‘s Daqniel Rotsztain describes gentrification in what may as well be my neighbourhood.

Where I live at Dufferin and Davenport, the modest dwellings of Corso Italia meet the larger houses of Regal Heights.

More young people are moving into this neighbourhood north of the Dupont tracks in search of reasonable rent while staying close to the cultural institutions of the west end. Unsurprisingly, some see the influx of new residents as gentrification. But the numbers don’t quite add up in that regard.

According to the 2006 census, the most recent city data, these neighbourhoods had average individual incomes of $29,000 and $31,362, respectively. Compared to the 2006 citywide average income of $29,068, areas like Dufferin and Davenport are decidedly average: not too wealthy, but by no means poverty-stricken.

Young people aren’t moving to this area seeking dirt cheap cost of living. Rather, they’re looking for something more affordable than the prohibitively expensive rents colonizing the more southerly parts of the west end.

Maybe it’s the cafes, venues and art spaces that have begun to emerge, especially along Geary Avenue. As the US-based gentrification watcher Curbed points out, brunch spots, craft beer bars, and “inexplicable” general stores all score high points when determining if a neighbourhood is gentrified.

However, the kind of culture that young people are establishing in this area, the kind of culture pointed at by Curbed and described as “new” and “radical,” looks remarkably like the lifestyles that have already been forged by the Italian and Portuguese populations over the last 50 years: lively street culture, gardening, people watching from porches, DIY wine and beer making, hanging out in cafes. These are all activities that could be equally called “hipster” and “Italian.”

[LINK] “A long history of prejudice”

Another writer in the Montreal Gazette, Mario Micone, reflects on the history of the Italian Canadian community of Québec. As he notes in his introduction, Italian Canadians have been set apart from the established communities of Québec by any number of factors–the ongoing mafia inquiries into corruption in Montréal aren’t helping.

With Italian-sounding names recently having been featured in newspaper articles describing less than exemplary conduct, I asked an old Italian man if he felt integrated into Quebec society. He answered: “I have my integrity — that should be enough.” Though a handful of Quebecers of Italian origin have been publicly implicated in activities outlawed by the established rules, the overwhelming majority are perfectly commendable citizens who work in all sectors of society. Yet it is not always flattering to be identified as Italian. So much so that an Italian who has improved his lot or, even worse, managed to become wealthy (especially in the construction business), is often suspected of maintaining ties with the Mafia. This sad combination, which has lasted too long, reflects the misunderstandings, conflicts and inevitable prejudices that have marked the long journey of Italians in Quebec.

The first Italians arrived in Montreal at the end of the 19th century. There were some 5,000 by 1905, most working in the mines, logging camps and on the railroad. Many were men who had no intention of settling here. They had hoped to go back as soon as they had saved enough money to buy a plot of land, or provide their daughters with a dowry. A good number of them were illiterate. Poorly paid and badly housed, they lived in “dangerous insalubrious conditions and promiscuity,” according to the newspapers of the times. Looked down on and without resources, they (including my grandfather) became easy prey for powerful employment agents: a mafia that demanded a tax for jobs and whose role was to deliver docile, cheap labour to employers. A form of near-slavery.

More than 10 million Italians immigrated during that period (1890 to 1914) to the two Americas. Many of these immigrants came from southern regions of the country where, several years before, landowners had organized a militia whose goal was to repress peasant revolts and spread terror through the countryside. That’s how the Mafia came to be. Among the indigent peasant class, these Mafiosi inspired both fear and admiration to the point that the expression “fare la mafia,” today, means “strutting.” This Mafia culture and the lack of civic spirit (or amoral familism that puts family interests over social responsibility), common in regions where the state is as corrupt as it is reviled, have long since crossed the Atlantic.

Italian immigration practically stopped during the fascist regime (1922-1943). Nevertheless, Montreal’s small Italian community was subjected to its propaganda even within the churches, and except for a small minority, they adhered to the fascist ideology — less out of political conviction, and more to enjoy the psychological benefits of belonging to a nation whose Duce was adulated not only by the Vatican (after the Concordat), but also by the heads of foreign governments, including Mackenzie King. The party quickly ended when fascist Italy declared war on France. Hundreds of Italians, residents of Montreal, would be arrested and imprisoned in Petawawa.

When Italian immigration picked up again after the Second World War, 90 per cent of Italians who settled in Quebec between 1947 and 1970 were sponsored by a family member. Entire villages emptied out, creating such demographic imbalances and economic difficulties that emigration became a self-generating process. Sponsorship explains why nearly a third of all Quebecers of Italian background came from Molise. Others came from various regions, but many were from Calabria and Sicily where the ‘Ndrangheta and the Mafia flourished, and spread from there across the world. Most of them chose to settle in Montreal alongside tens of thousands of rural Quebecers. This was a time of intense urbanization and a building boom (the Metropolitan Expressway, the métro system, new suburbs, schools, roads, etc.) whose apotheosis would come with Expo 67. Among the Italians who found work as labourers or skilled tradesmen, some became contractors, often ending up quite prosperous. They derived their wealth from within: at their disposal they had thousands of former peasants ready to accept the hardest working conditions. (My father, like so many others, had to work an hour or two every day without salary for the right to return to the site the next day.) It is, however, untrue to think, despite the great attention given in the media to a few individuals, that the construction industry is their exclusive domain. The 2001 census showed that there were only 6,595 Italians (including 860 women) in this sector, corresponding to some 5 per cent of the total.

[LINK] “Police officer testifies that Mob just as ubiquitous in Ontario as in Quebec”

I’m not really surprised by the news coming from Québec–here, sampled from the National Post but see also the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail and the CBC–arguing that, contrary to Canadian stereotypes, Italian organized crime families are as strong in Ontario as they are in Québec. La belle province has a reputation for particularly high levels of corruption and organized crime that strike me as being as much English Canadian stereotypes as anything else.

Plus, when it comes down to it, as far as the demographics of Italian Canadians go the demographics for ethnic mafias are better in Ontario than in Québec: there are nearly three times as many Italian-Canadians in Ontario as in Québec (about 870 thousand versus 300 thousand) forming almost twice the proportion of the provincial population (7.2% versus 4.0%).

A veteran Ontario detective has testified in a public inquiry that the Italian Mafia’s reach in that province extends to all kinds of legitimate businesses that mask criminal proceeds.

Mike Amato, a detective with the York Regional police, testified Thursday before the Quebec inquiry looking into allegations of corruption in the province’s construction industry.

Called to provide a portrait of the reach and scope of the Italian Mafia in Ontario, Amato described a group that, over the years, has managed to root itself deeply into everyday society.

[. . .]

Amato said Mafia-controlled legitimate businesses in his region include everything from garden centres to financial institutions to banquet halls.

“They need these businesses to launder criminal proceeds,” Amato said. “It also allows them to explain their wealth … you can mask it in a business where you can hide your illegitimate wealth.”

[. . .]

Ontario boasts many of the hallmark Mob industries — smuggling, drug trafficking and bookmaking. Then there are more modern ones such as stock manipulation.

“As we evolve as a society, so too does organized crime,” Amato said.

“They are just sometimes a little bit quicker, better and faster at it than we are.”

What’s noticeable about Ontario, Amato says, is a lack of the same level of visible violence as has been seen in recent years in Quebec and witnesses who are willing to testify about it.

“If there is numerous murders, a lot of violence, if there are a lot of bombings, it attracts attention from politicians, from the community, from police,” Amato said.

“You cannot build a successful criminal enterprise if you’re continually being investigated by the police.”

Any tensions in that province have been mostly resolved quietly or away from the reach of law enforcement.

And in Ontario, that has meant it’s difficult to justify digging deeper, Amato says. Whereas a few dozen police officers may have investigated the Mob in the past, now there might be a handful.

[. . .]

A former RCMP chief superintendent, Ben Soave, told both media organizations that organized crime has infiltrated Ontario’s economy at least as much as it has in Quebec.

[LINK] “Police officer testifies that Mob just as ubiquitous in Ontario as in Quebec”

I’m not really surprised by the news coming from Québec–here, sampled from the National Post but see also the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail and the CBC–arguing that, contrary to Canadian stereotypes, Italian organized crime families are as strong in Ontario as they are in Québec. La belle province has a reputation for particularly high levels of corruption and organized crime that strike me as being as much English Canadian stereotypes as anything else.

Plus, when it comes down to it, as far as the demographics of Italian Canadians go the demographics for ethnic mafias are better in Ontario than in Québec: there are nearly three times as many Italian-Canadians in Ontario as in Québec (about 870 thousand versus 300 thousand) forming almost twice the proportion of the provincial population (7.2% versus 4.0%).

A veteran Ontario detective has testified in a public inquiry that the Italian Mafia’s reach in that province extends to all kinds of legitimate businesses that mask criminal proceeds.

Mike Amato, a detective with the York Regional police, testified Thursday before the Quebec inquiry looking into allegations of corruption in the province’s construction industry.

Called to provide a portrait of the reach and scope of the Italian Mafia in Ontario, Amato described a group that, over the years, has managed to root itself deeply into everyday society.

[. . .]

Amato said Mafia-controlled legitimate businesses in his region include everything from garden centres to financial institutions to banquet halls.

“They need these businesses to launder criminal proceeds,” Amato said. “It also allows them to explain their wealth … you can mask it in a business where you can hide your illegitimate wealth.”

[. . .]

Ontario boasts many of the hallmark Mob industries — smuggling, drug trafficking and bookmaking. Then there are more modern ones such as stock manipulation.

“As we evolve as a society, so too does organized crime,” Amato said.

“They are just sometimes a little bit quicker, better and faster at it than we are.”

What’s noticeable about Ontario, Amato says, is a lack of the same level of visible violence as has been seen in recent years in Quebec and witnesses who are willing to testify about it.

“If there is numerous murders, a lot of violence, if there are a lot of bombings, it attracts attention from politicians, from the community, from police,” Amato said.

“You cannot build a successful criminal enterprise if you’re continually being investigated by the police.”

Any tensions in that province have been mostly resolved quietly or away from the reach of law enforcement.

And in Ontario, that has meant it’s difficult to justify digging deeper, Amato says. Whereas a few dozen police officers may have investigated the Mob in the past, now there might be a handful.

[. . .]

A former RCMP chief superintendent, Ben Soave, told both media organizations that organized crime has infiltrated Ontario’s economy at least as much as it has in Quebec.