How much living space is enough?

Most of these mansions or estate homes end up having two people rattling around in thousands of square feet of unused, unnecessary living space.
Most of these mansions or estate homes end up having two people rattling around in thousands of square feet of unused, unnecessary living space.

In most parts of Canada, they’re located in the suburbs where the lots are larger. In downtown areas they’re called mansions. In some older communities they’re found on former estates. In fact, out in the country, they’re described as estate homes. A few weeks ago, we were driving past a group of them north of Stouffville and an older passenger in our car gasped.

“Unbelievable aren’t they,” I said.

She nodded and reacted with an unexpected comment: “How on earth would anybody clean something like that?” she said.

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Barris presents BCATP story to Canadian Aviation Historical Society

Ted Barris addresses the Canadian Aviation Historical Society in Toronto on Saturday, April 9, 2011. Barris spoke to CAHS members about the D-Day operation during his last visit in 2004. On this occasion he speaks about perhaps the least known military aviation heroism of the Second World War. When Britain and free-Europe cried out for help to defend themselves against the German Luftwaffe, Canada responded by launching the largest, wartime, military air training scheme in history. It was known as the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan – created 72 years ago this year – and its heroes are the subject of Ted Barris’s bestselling book “Behind the Glory.”

When: Saturday, April 9, 2011.

Where: Royal Canadian Legion, Branch #527 (948 Sheppard Ave. W.) Toronto.

Contact: Bob Winson, rwinson@sympatico.ca

Gift of serving

Police officers file toward the Toronto Convention Centre on Jan. 19 to attend the funeral of Sgt. Ryan Russell. As many as 12,000 law enforcement and emergency response officials from across the continent attended the event. Photo courtesy Octavian Lacatusu.
Police officers file toward the Toronto Convention Centre on Jan. 19 to attend the funeral of Toronto Police Service's Sgt. Ryan Russell. As many as 12,000 law enforcement and emergency response officials from across the continent attended the event. Photo courtesy Octavian Lacatusu.

Like many, I found myself drawn to the real-life drama of two families coping. In the aftermath of Sgt. Ryan Russell’s senseless death in the streets of Toronto, last Wednesday morning, I watched the policing family try to come to terms with the loss of one of its own. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I listened and watched his widow Christine Russell put her mourning into words in front of 12,000 people.

“Ryan always put others before him,” she said at the Toronto Convention Centre funeral Tuesday. “On Jan. 12, it cost him his life.”

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A skate of passage

Grandfather and granddaughter celebrate "skate" of passage.
Grandfather and granddaughter celebrate "skate" of passage.

Our family enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime moment last weekend. It was one of those events that almost always happens in this country. You can bet on it each winter when snow falls, ponds freeze and community recreation centres shift to wintertime activities. This rite of passage began a few weeks ago – at Christmas – when it was agreed our granddaughter would take her first skate this winter.

“I’ve got the bob skates,” my daughter told me last week. “Let’s take in a pleasure skate at the arena.”

“I’ll be there,” I said.

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A verdict falls short

My Corolla sitting in a wrecking yard the afternoon of Dec. 30 last year. Almost a year after being t-boned in a Whitby intersection my case came to an Ontario courtroom.
My Corolla sitting in a wrecking yard the afternoon of Dec. 30, 2009. Almost a year after being t-boned in a Whitby intersection, my case came to an Ontario courtroom on Dec. 17, 2010.

It happened one day last summer. I think I had just finished mowing the lawn, when a police cruiser motored up the driveway. A couple of Durham Regional Police officers stepped out. My wife and I exchanged a surprised glance.

“Are you Ted Barris?” one of the officers asked.

“Yes…” I answered a little nervously.

“I have a summons here for you,” he continued, “in connection with an automobile collision last year.”

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Barris speaks of his journey with veterans

Ted Barris answers a longstanding return invitation as he addresses the Men’s Group of the Newtonbrook United Church during a dinner gathering on Tuesday, November 15, 2011. He will speak to members about the job of getting veterans to speak about their experiences; his talk is based on his bestselling book “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan.”

When: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011.

Where: Newtonbrook United Church, 53 Cummer Ave., Toronto.

Contact: Paul Smith, Church office 416-222-5417, karpa@rogers.com

Best Christmas present ever

Homemade Barris Christmas angel ornament (fashioned by our daughter Quenby in 1980s).
Homemade Barris Christmas angel ornament (fashioned by our daughter Quenby in 1980s).

It happened after I’d graduated from Ryerson in 1971. I’d learned about a position writing press releases and biographies about up-and-coming rock ‘n’ roll musicians. They called it A&R, an artist and repertoire position. My employer would be one of the biggest recording labels in the world – Warner Brothers. And, they told me, I would be working from a brand new office in Yorkville, the heart of Toronto’s pop music world.

I wanted that job so badly I could taste it. I applied in June, got it in September and was told I’d start in December. It would be my biggest, best Christmas present ever. Then, the roof caved in.

“Sorry to have to tell you this,” the Warner Brothers flunky said on the phone that December. “Changed their minds. No A&R office. No job.”

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Pre-Christmas dedication

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King pins wings on the uniform of an early graduate of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during a symbolic ceremony on Parliament Hill. King made sure the plan became an entirely made-in-Canada phenomenon.
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King pins wings on the uniform of an early graduate of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during a symbolic ceremony on Parliament Hill. King made sure the plan became an entirely made-in-Canada phenomenon.

December 17 is an anniversary. It’s not the kind of anniversary Canadians notice much anymore. Indeed, the number of those who acknowledge it, dwindles each year. And yet, it’s the day back in 1939 that some historians suggest marked this country’s true declaration of independence. Then Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King signed an international agreement that day.

“I suppose no more significant agreement has ever been signed by the Government of Canada,” King wrote in his diary that evening. It also happened to be his 65th birthday, so it was doubly auspicious, he thought.

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D-Day focus as Ted Barris addresses 2011 Remembrance event at Shedden

Back for his fifth appearance at the annual Shedden Remembrance Day observance, Ted Barris will pay tribute to a group of veterans whose unique experience changed the complexion of the Second World War. Based on his bestselling 2004 book, “JUNO: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944,” Ted looks at some of the unheralded Canadians who made the greatest military gamble of the Second World War succeed. Operation Overlord depended on the lightning strike capability and efficiency of all three Allied armies – U.S., British and Canadian – on D-Day. Ted Barris’s definitive book on the Canadian story that day will be the focus of this year’s talk.

Ted photographed during one of his tours to Juno Beach.When: 9:30 a.m to 11:30 a.m., Sunday, November 6, 2011.

Where: Keystone Complex, Shedden, Ontario.

Contact: Michele Drewitt, Township of Southwold, 519-769-2010, mdrewitt@twp.southwold.on.ca

Barris returns to 413 Wing annual dinner in Trenton

Back by popular demand, Ted Barris returns to the RCAF 413 (A/C Leonard Birchall) Wing at Trenton, Ont., on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. Following his talk about instructors in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, during the Second World War, Ted has been invited back to look at another of his topical works. In 2009, his book “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan” was published. It quickly became a bestseller. But more important, the book began to generate a lot of buzz about the nature of getting veterans to talk about their experiences and equally fascinating, Ted’s exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its indelible impact on veterans then and now. That’s the subject of his return-visit talk.

When: Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011.

Where: 413 Wing, 230 North Murray St., Trenton, Ont., 613-392-2774

Contact: Art Darnbrough 613-965-5837 or Joanne Peckham 613-392-3878