Remembering Tony

Night of Dread, Dufferin Grove Park
October 2011

If you walked down Roncesvalles Avenue in the  last five years, you will likely recognize Tony who occupied a spot near the corner of Grenadier.  As I walked by his lawn chair I would hear “Gday dear, spare any change?” Tony was a friendly presence on the street.  He often watched my bike or helped me get my daughter in her bike seat when my hands were full.  I remember Tony told me proudly about how a young student got a scholarship based on a project she wrote using his blog, Homeless Man Speaks   He said that made the whole thing worth it.

Tony died in the fall of 2011, sitting  in his chair on the street, after a long time with cancer and a hard life.

There was a big community response to his death because Tony was a part of the neighbourhood.  When the news of his death became known, people came to his spot, left flowers, wrote notes, there was a gathering at the local coffee shop where people shared memories someone offered thanks that Tony created a bridge between two worlds that often live in parallel tracks.

The Night of Dread, in Dufferin Grove Park is a fantastic annual expression of community fear and loss.  The event is coordinated by Clay and Paper Theatre, but totally owned by the community.  I have worked on a few shrines over years, home-made memorials that are set up in a little garden in the park for the occasion.  I wanted Tony to be remembered there.

Roncesvalles feels a little less safe without Tony’s watchful presence.  The response that emerged from his death  – the flowers, gathering, this shrine, funds for a memorial bench – these are acts of mourners, and they are boundary-crossing acts. They serve as a witness that Tony’s life made a difference.  I remember him and I miss him and sometimes on that corner I can still hear him.