{"id":14541,"date":"2021-02-23T22:46:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T22:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=14541"},"modified":"2021-04-12T16:52:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T16:52:51","slug":"remembering-rob-five-years-after-the-former-mayor-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=14541","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Rob Ford"},"content":{"rendered":"A<\/span>lmost three years after the provincial election, a Doug Ford for Premier sign is still visible from the sidewalk on Windsor Road.<\/p>\n

The sign is in Sydney\u2019s snowed covered garden leaning against the side of his house in North Etobicoke. The man was scrapping the last of snow and ice from his driveway when he stopped to talk about the Ford family.<\/p>\n

Sydney\u2019s support for the family\u2019s politics dates back decades. He voted for Doug Ford Sr., the premier\u2019s father, and Progressive Conservative MPP for Etobicoke Humber from 1995 to 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cDougie is doing a good job and Rob was pretty good too,\u201d Sydney said about the current Premier of Ontario and the former Mayor of Toronto.<\/p>\n

Rob died in March 2016 following an aggressive battle with cancer. He served over a decade as a Toronto City Councillor and one term as mayor<\/p>\n

In over 15 years in office, Rob was not without memorable moments.<\/p>\n

\"A

Windsor Road in the Kingsview Village neighbourhood in Toronto (Photo: Ettinger ).<\/p><\/div>\n

Most notably, admitting he suffered from alcoholism<\/a> along with making international headlines when reports and a subsequent video surfaced of him using crack-cocaine<\/a>. In addition to the video, Rob was photographed with three men police have associated with the drug trade<\/a> at 15 Windsor Rd. down the street from Sydney\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s perfect, we all have an addiction to this or that in life,\u201d Sydney said. \u201cI think something should be named after him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Ford<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rob coached football at the now closed Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School. Toronto City Councillor for North Etobicoke Michael Ford said football and youth were one of the \u201cmain drivers\u201d in his uncle Rob\u2019s life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Football

The uprights still stand on the football field at the now closed Don Bosco school (Photo: Ettinger).\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Although the days of Rob coaching youth on the field at Don Bosco are gone, community members like Denise still walk around the track. As she walked off of the field Denise said Rob was a \u201cpeople person\u201d and \u201cstood by his word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody\u2019s perfect\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe a yearly memorial or just something to remember him would be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmen to that sister,\u201d said Angela, a stranger who joined the conversation. \u201cPeople believe he did awful things, but it was never like that.\u201d She said Rob was better for her community than his older brother the premier.<\/p>\n

Ford Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doug Sr. was the first Ford family member elected in Etobicoke and in 2010 a park was named in honour of his commitment to the community. \u201cOur dad raised us to give back to the community,\u201d said Doug, his second oldest son, at the unveiling of Douglas B. Ford Park<\/p>\n

\"Empty

Douglas B. Ford Park is located on Royal York Road in Toronto (Photo: Ettinger ).<\/p><\/div>\n

There have been similar proposals to recognize Rob\u2019s commitment to Etobicoke and the greater community including naming a street <\/a>and even a football stadium<\/a> after him. Both of those proposals are now defunct, and for the short term there will be no streets, parks, and facilities named or renamed in Toronto.<\/p>\n

The moratorium on naming<\/a> was passed by council on Sept. 30. It is a part of the city\u2019s response to a petition brought before council that asked for Dundas Street to be renamed.<\/p>\n

The petition<\/a> was started by Andrew Lochhead who said Henry Dundas, the streets namesake, actively participated in obstructing the abolition of slavery.<\/p>\n

\"A

Andrew Lochhead started the petition to rename Dundas Street in Toronto (Photo: Holly Timpener).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a series of alternative facts put forth largely by the Dundas family,\u201d Lochhead said adding it represents the families \u201cpower, privilege and wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the Dundas petition, the city is developing a commemorative framework for naming, renaming and other forms of public memory. The framework is expected to be put before the Executive Committee for review in the first quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n

Lochhead said it is the responsibility of Torontonians to take an active role in deciding what kinds of people we want to remember. In response to naming something in honour of the former mayor, he said that is \u201cBest answered by communities who have been directly impacted by the legacy of Rob Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n

March 22 will mark five years since Rob died, yet how North Etobicoke and Toronto will remember him is uncertain. There are many memorable instances of Rob\u2019s public life, from knocking over another member of council<\/a> after he was stripped of his full mayoral powers to falling over himself<\/a> during a 2012 Grey Cup demo.<\/p>\n

He is also remembered for being colourful, as was his language at times.<\/p>\n

Rob swore multiple times after walking headfirst into a camera<\/a> lens, he refused to apologize after making comments<\/a> about the work ethic of Asian people along with denying claims he asked a special assistant to perform oral sex with crude remarks on live television<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was also the shirtless jogger,<\/a> Joe Killoran, who had a heated confrontation with Rob on July 1, 2014 in East York.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a corrupt lying racist homophobe,\u201d Killoran said in a field of Ford Nation signs. \u201cHe has questions to answer to the people of Toronto and he simply won\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael says that his uncle being racist and homophobic is \u201cthe furthest thing from the truth\u201d and \u201cvery select people may have said that.\u201d As for finding a place for Rob in public memory forever, a previous proposal to name a street near Kipling station after Rob was halted at the family\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t in Etobicoke North. Etobicoke North has been his home,\u201d said Michael.\u00a0 Any commemoration of Rob will include a discussion amongst the family specifically his wife and kids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 22 will be five years since the former Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford died after living with an aggressive form of cancer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":14677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[174,47,89],"tags":[663,222,664,220,204],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}