#toronto

#toronto

Police in the Greater Toronto Area are proactively ramping up patrols around Jewish places of worship and community gathering spaces as Passover begins Wednesday evening.

Alessandro Aureli, a patron at the cafe, said it was painful to watch Italy lose the game. 'I wish I never woke up this morning. It was such a disappointment,' he said. 'I was so excited thinking about watching Italy playing here in Canada, and seeing it all disappearing in front of my eyes like that ... I'm going to go home and cry for the rest of the day.'

Firefighters are trying to contain a fire on the roof of a building in downtown Toronto after a possible explosion, with thick black smoke billowing from the site.

Coun. Michael Thompson stated that the motion is a way to prevent the city from becoming a divisive place, aiming to reduce tensions stemming from global issues affecting local communities.

Sharon Bollenbach, executive director for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Toronto Secretariat, emphasizes the city's commitment to ensuring a positive experience for visitors, residents, and businesses during the event.

Adrian Walker, a 28-year-old man, was on Canada's most wanted list for a shooting that occurred in May 2024, resulting in one death and serious injuries.

Salesperson David Matthews expressed that it hasn't quite sunk in yet that Sunday marks their last day of operations, stating, 'I've been mostly postponing me being sad until after I'm gone.'

Dan McTeague, a fuel analyst, stated that gas stations in the Greater Toronto Area experienced a net increase of eight cents a litre this weekend alone, which is quite devastating given the current inflationary pressures affecting various sectors.

Councillor Michael Thompson stated, 'By choosing to fly certain flags, it looks like the city is taking a position in conflicts that we don't know anything about.' He emphasized that council should prioritize local issues like homelessness and transportation instead of engaging in geopolitical matters.

A compact garden suite in Toronto's Sunnybrook Park area, Copper House is designed to allow an aging homeowner to remain in place while creating a second dwelling where her adult children can return independently.

Isaac Tumuramye has called the Willowdale Welcome Centre home since he came to Toronto from Uganda two years ago. But the shelter, which serves refugees experiencing homelessness in Toronto, is closing at the end of May. Tumuramye says he's scared about what the future holds and others staying at the shelter feel the same. "We're not ready yet, we're still trying to make life happen," he said.

A 90-year-old man missing for more than a week in Toronto has been found dead, police say. The man, identified only as Joseph, had been last seen on Jan. 29 at about 11:50 p.m. in the area of Coxwell Avenue and Gerrard Street E., Toronto police said in a news release. He was found dead on Wednesday. There's no word on where the man was found or how he died.

Toronto police officers issued more than $2 million in parking tickets to drivers who parked their vehicles along designated snow removal routes in the last two weeks of January, data shows. Police parking enforcement officers handed 21,508 tickets to drivers who parked on snow routes in the city from Jan. 15 to Jan. 30, with each ticket carrying a fine of $100, according to the Toronto Police Service.

For many of its staff, the job is a "side hustle," its owner says. Staff have polished the footwear of thousands of clients, including prime ministers, former premiers, former mayors, and men and women who work in executive suites of banks and law firms, according to the company's president, CEO and owner, Jenny Young. Young said she loves how "old timey" the business is and she doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon.

With a warrant out for his arrest, Lutts hosted monthly trivia nights at a Toronto bar and provided relationship advice to clients as a self-styled psychic. His arrest in February 2025 by Toronto police's fugitive squad came after a Crime Stoppers-type service in Florida received an anonymous tip about his whereabouts in November 2023. The tip appears to have come from a U.S.-based internet sleuth who claims to have used facial recognition technology and social media clues to track Lutts to Toronto.

The inspector general, a relatively new arm's-length position tasked by the province with overseeing policing, was asked to investigate Thursday after eight current and retired Toronto officers were charged in an organized crime and corruption investigation. The case immediately raised questions about whether systemic issues contributed to organized crime's alleged infiltration of the ranks, said Kent Roach, a University of Toronto law professor and contributor to several high-profile police inquiries. Those questions, he said, are best answered by a civilian-led investigation.

News that seven Toronto police officers have been swept up in a corruption probe involving a conspiracy to kill a corrections official has sparked questions about public trust in police with Mayor Olivia Chow saying Chief Myron Demkiw will have to "earn" back the trust of residents. Chow did not hold back when asked about the investigation at an unrelated event Thursday afternoon, saying police officers found guilty of committing any crimes deserve to be thrown in jail.

He says he paid out of pocket to convert his van to be accessible, which included adding a ramp. Alemu says he made the investment because he wanted to help people with disabilities, and he thought providing accessible and regular taxi service would help business. But Alemu's vehicle is about to age past the city's standards and he says he can't afford to continue his service. He spent about $50,000 on the accessible vehicle in 2015, but it would cost about $130,000 now, he says.

"I'm so sad, I'm so angry,"

Police are looking for an inmate who escaped from a Toronto jail by allegedly impersonating another inmate who was to be released. Steven Alexander Guzman Marroquin, 32, of Toronto, allegedly escaped from the Toronto South Detention Centre in the area of Horner and Kipling Avenues on Monday just before noon, police said in a news release Tuesday. According to police, Marroquin impersonated another inmate who was due to be released from custody.

Almost all 3,600 listed heritage properties in Toronto including several national historic sites, and the Gibraltar Point lighthouse are about to lose their protection against demolition and redevelopment, because of a section in the province's More Homes Built Faster Act, heritage experts say. The act, passed in 2022 to ease the housing crunch, gives municipalities until Jan. 1, 2027 to upgrade all properties on their heritage lists to full heritage designation, which protects the structures against arbitrary demolition.

The winter is tough, the weather goes up and it goes down and the temperature fluctuates and it causes havoc in the roads, Chow said at a news conference.

A mother has been charged after a baby was allegedly abandoned at a Toronto church last month. Police say officers were called to the Yonge Street and Broadway Avenue area around 10:40 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21. A person who answered the phone at St. Monica's Catholic Church said the baby was found there but referred further questions to police.

Until the early years of the 1900s, the city's ability to make certain decisions was curtailed by the province, like choosing where businesses went and what kinds of commercial uses could happen on which plots of land. As a result, those living in the muddy, burgeoning city of 19th century Toronto experienced a mix of business and residential buildings that present-day Torontonians haven't seen for decades.

The City of Toronto has been put under a snow squall watch by Environment Canada for Tuesday evening, while other areas of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) continue to battle winter weather. The squalls are not expected to bring significant snowfall to the city, but visibility may be heavily reduced at times by bursts of heavy or blowing snow, according to an alert issued by Environment Canada late Tuesday afternoon.

Toronto police say the person who died after a vehicle crashed into a business in Toronto on Wednesday was a 67-year-old man. Officers responded around 2:28 p.m. near Dufferin Street and Finch Avenue W. to a call for a personal injury collision, police said in a release Thursday. The driver, a 93-year-old male, lost control of his vehicle for unknown reasons and drove into a storefront striking five people who were in the store at the time, the release said.

Toronto is under a special weather alert for significant snow on Boxing Day, Environment Canada said Thursday.

Starting in the early 1990s, Sonny Flanagan began opening up Christmas tree lots in Toronto, and soon after, he earmarked a portion of every sale to Out of the Cold, a charity that helps feed and shelter the homeless during the winter months. Daughter Bobbi Johnston-Flanagan, who along with sister Corey now operates part of the tree business, told CBC Toronto this week that helping those who are less fortunate has always been part of the Flanagan family tradition.

One person has been shot by police after allegedly stabbing two people in Toronto's northwest on Monday, police say. The stabbing happened in the area of Jane Street and Shoreham Drive, north of Finch Avenue W. Police responded to reports of a person with a knife at about 3:30 p.m. When police arrived, they found two victims with stab wounds. One was taken to hospital. Police said an officer fired at a male armed with an edged weapon.

The victim was brought to the hospital in life-threatening condition and his condition is still serious but is no longer life-threatening, according to Insp. Jonathan Rose. The preliminary information we have is that this was a targeted event, Rose told reporters at a news conference later Monday morning. Rose said there is no threat to public safety at this time. However, Rose said he understands locals will be concerned about the violence.