A young officer and his mother

Welcomed two new directors: Scott Woodland and Davida Aronovitch.

• Said farewell to four long-serving Directors: Nancy Baines, Chris Henry, Elizabeth Quance and Ted Smolak (see next page).
• Thanked Kaitlin Wainwright, acting manager of Fort York, who left in September and welcomed a new Museum Administrator, Shiralee Hudson Hill, in November, and a new Museum Coordinator, Tamara Williams.
• Published two large issues of The Fife and Drum (instead of the regular four smaller issues) that included articles by, among others, Margaret Macmillan, Donald Graves, Richard Gerrard and Tanya Grodzinski.

• Scott Woodland succeeded Sid Calzavara as Chair of the Fort York Guard Committee and, despite pandemic constraints, oversaw another successful operation of the Fort York Guard with financial assistance from The Friends, the City and the federal government.
• Submitted a report by our Precinct Advisory Committee to Waterfront Toronto commenting on the design for a proposed pedestrian bridge over Fort York Boulevard and its impact on Fort York National Historic Site, strongly recommending a Heritage Impact Assessment be done.
• Together with the Wellington Place Neighbourhood Association, alerted City staff to the deterioration of Victoria Memorial Square, especially the disturbance caused by dogs to the ground and potentially to the archaeological site and cemetery.
• Began an oral history project aiming to reach former Fort York staff and contractors involved in restoring and managing the fort, the earliest of whom remember Fort York as it was in the 1950s.
• Began a project to help Toronto History Museums digitize archaeological reports relating to Fort York, partnering with the Internet Archive at Robarts Library of the University of Toronto.
• Extended the subscription terms of Friends of Fort York during the closure of the fort and embarked on a fresh renewal cycle as the Visitor Centre and the fort’s historic interiors reopened to the public in October.
• Attended public information sessions hosted by CreateTO (City of Toronto) for the rehabilitation and repurposing of the Wellington Destructor, which is being led by TAS as head lessee of the historic building.
• Participated, together with THM and Bentway Conservancy staff, in a meeting hosted by Metrolinx advising us of a proposed electrical substation for the Ontario Line to be built on Fort York National Historic Site land west of Strachan Avenue, and requested a Heritage Impact Assessment for this property.
• Maintained a watching brief on the Exhibition Place master planning process, together with the West Side Community Council, who are equally concerned about the future of this public realm which was the battlefield of 1813.
• Welcomed to a session of our Board the Bentway Conservancy’s executive directors, David Carey and Ilana Altman, to showcase new programming and capital works in development.

• Advanced the plans, in discussion with Heritage Toronto staff, for installation of a new heritage plaque to commemorate the Immigration Sheds, a project initiated by Fort York Friend Ian Wheal and director (the late) Stephen Otto in 2015.
• Helped the National Trust for Canada in their creation of the National Trust Shared Stewardship Toolkit by providing information about The Friends and our interaction with the City of Toronto with respect to the Fort York site.

• Transcribed the video-recorded meeting held at Fort York in 2019 that brought together founding directors with current directors to review and record the history of The Friends.
• Coordinated with the City on mutual website interests and began modernizing our own website www.fortyork.ca.
• Assembled volunteers to remove thriving ragweed from the area of the Liquid Landscape in front of the Visitor Centre, preparing the ground for restoration in the spring.
• Held six Board meetings, one Annual General Meeting, and numerous committee meetings all on Zoom.