July 1, 2026 Newsletter

Dear Neighbour,

This newsletter lands on the first day of July, so let me begin by wishing you and your loved ones, Happy Canada Day! 

Today, let's meet up and celebrate our great nation together. My team and I will be at St. James Park (Jarvis &  King) in Old Town Toronto starting at 11 AM with the amazing St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association.

Canada Day Highlights include:

• Live entertainment until 6 PM
• Kid's Zone: t-shirt painting (shirts are free), face painting, henna and tattoo artists, caricature artist, photo booth & more.

Drop by to enjoy beautiful performances by local artists, feast at the BBQ hosted by our friends at the St James Cathedral  and grab a slice of Canada Day birthday cake at 1 PM. Look out for my big orange tent and pick up your free Canada Day pin!

The Ontario Legislature is also putting on a fabulous Canada Day celebration today. Learn more here.

The past weekend was a whirlwind of Queer and Trans pride with joy, glitter, rainbows, community, and beautiful sunshine across Toronto Centre. 

It was so jam-packed with events that I won’t be able to share all of them here, but I am excited to share a sampling with you. 

For me, on the Tuesday leading up to the Pride Weekend is always about remembering the loved ones we lost to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I was moved to have attended the AIDS Candlelight Vigil alongside friends and community members. To read more of my reflections on the vigil, keep reading below as I have a section devoted to it. 

Thursday was about the opening night of Greenspace, The 519’s flagship Pride fundraising event, welcoming everyone to dance and enjoy amazing drag performances! I was honoured to welcome the crowd and join everyone gathered in wishing The 519 a happy 50th anniversary!

On Friday, Pride was in full swing, with the community fair hosting hundreds of booths, including by the Ontario NDP. At our orange tent, tireless volunteers handed out fun stickers and collected signatures for petitions ranging from Stop Ford's Billy Bishop Takeover, Save Hanlan’s Point to calling for a two-year Rent Freeze and more. You can check out and sign my petitions by visiting my website.

The Trans March capped off my Friday evening. This community march always brings up a bevy of emotions, as I watch our Trans elders mingle with young people who are attending their first march, families, and friends attending to support their Trans loved ones. This year’s march was extra special as I got to march with my wife Farrah and her beautiful home-made and hand-sequined banner reading, “The World Is Better With Trans Kids.” I was also honoured to speak about standing up for trans kids at the rally preceding the march – you can watch that video here.

Pride Saturday means one thing: the Dyke March! What's not to love about this march? We have the iconic Dykes on Bikes starting off the march, the Ontario NDP’s fun “Big Dyke Energy” banner, and a sea of dyke-identified people of so many presentations filling the streets. As the iconic Pride slogan goes, “a day without lesbians is like a day without sunshine!”

Since Sunday is the crescendo of the weekend and of Pride Month as a whole here in Toronto, my day was packed to the rafters. In the morning, surrounded by community, I was honoured to renew my wedding vows with my beautiful wife, Farrah Khan in celebration of 25 years of equal marriage in Canada. It was doubly wonderful as our original wedding officiant, the Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo, was one of the religious leaders who conducted the interfaith ceremony. Big thank you to Pride Toronto and MCC Toronto creating this beautiful and historic commemoration for the many happy couples who also renewed their vows alongside us.

Before heading to the Pride parade, I shared a few words at the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research brunch and took time to reflect at Metropolitan Community Church’s annual Church on Church service. 

Then it was the big Pride march. I had so much fun walking in the Pride parade with Marit Stiles and Ontario NDP colleagues, volunteers, and the leader of Canada’s NDP, Avi Lewis! Thank you to everyone who attended, including the tens of thousands of marchers and hundreds of thousands of spectators! You all come together to make Pride Toronto the biggest festival in Canada and the second-largest Pride in the world. I am already looking forward to next year! 

There's a heat warning today as temperatures soar to 31° and it will feel even hotter with the humidex. As you are out and about enjoying this Canada Day holiday, please remember to stay hydrated and monitor for signs of overheating. As you have likely heard, Toronto is experiencing an intense heat wave expected to continue through the week. Heat can be very dangerous, especially to older adults, young children, those working outside, and anyone without access to air conditioning. Learn more about the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke here and find local cooling centres and pools to help you stay cool. Please look out for each other and particularly check on your older and more vulnerable neighbours to make sure they are healthy. 

Again, Happy Canada Day and stay safe!

Yours in community service, 

Kristyn Wong-Tam

MPP, Toronto Centre

• Ford Officially Shuts Down Greenbelt FOI Requests
• Toronto Centre Leadership Award Recipient Spotlight
• AIDS Candlelight Vigil
• Meeting with Pride Toronto’s International Grand Marshal
• East African Experience in Regent Park
• Somali Heritage Week Celebration
• Swahili Heritage Month Press Conference
• Regent Park Community Hoarding Artwork Celebration
• $60M Should be for Students, Not Multinational Investors
• Ford Government Loses Appeal to Work Less
• Ford Lighting Your Tax Dollars On Fire
• Kristyn in the Community
• What’s Making Headlines
• Local Community Events

So it’s official. Doug Ford's new secrecy law has been used for the first time to hide his phone records. 

Global News has been fighting for years to access records related to government calls made on Ford's personal cell phone. Ontario courts ruled those phone records are subject to Freedom of Information laws. Instead of releasing them, Ford changed the law retroactively to hide the details of his Greenbelt scandals forever.

The government letter sent to Global News and the Information and Privacy reads, “In brief, the request is denied because it falls outside the scope of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act.”

Citing Ford’s new law, “In accordance with section 65(18) of the FIPPA, which provides that the FIPPA does not apply to records in the custody of a minister of the Crown or the minister’s office, the Request for entries, if they exist, fall outside the scope of the FIPPA. Cabinet Office will not be seeking to obtain any of the impugned records from the Premier.”

As our Ontario NDP leader, Marit Stiles has repeatedly said, “you don't change the law to clamp down on transparency unless you have something to hide.”

I gave out the Toronto Centre leadership Awards two weeks ago, but I am still not over it! These amazing community organizations deserve to be celebrated and given a chance to share their good work. To that end, I have created new videos highlighting each awardee so that you can learn more about their missions and how you can get involved. Click the links below to watch them and learn more:

Green Thumbs, Growing Kids

Freedom City

Doug Fisher - Cabbagetown Neighbourhood Review

Jamii Esplanade

Friends of Allan Gardens

Mental Health Matters by Alif Ashraf

For the past 42 years, hundreds of community members have gathered on the Tuesday evening before Pride Weekend for the Annual AIDS Candlelight Vigil at Barbara Hall Park. It is a night filled with emotion and solidarity, where we remember and honour loved ones lost to stigma and HIV/AIDS, and celebrate those who continue to live and thrive with HIV. The vigil is a powerful reminder of the immense struggles that our community has endured over the years, and of the many barriers we still must break down for future generations.

This gathering has been a deeply meaningful moment for our community since the unveiling of the permanent Toronto AIDS Memorial designed by architect Patrick Fahn. As the City of Toronto moves forward with much-needed restoration and expansion for the memorial, I look forward to seeing the community-driven Echoes initiative come to fruition. This AIDS memorial is a nationally significant monument, and it stands as a testament to our community’s strength, resilience, and persistence in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Thank you to the AIDS Candlelight Vigil Committee, The 519 and all the community partners who work tirelessly every year to make this event possible.

I was so honoured to meet with Pride Toronto's International Grand Marshal, Mac Darling Cobbinah, a celebrated LGBTQ+ activist, health equity advocate, and political leader from Ghana. Mac Darling is exactly the kind of global advocate we need, advancing health equity initiatives and standing up against anti-LGBTQ+ laws across the world. I am excited to continue the conversations we started and work together to create a world that welcomes and values everyone.

You don’t need to fly out thousands of kilometres for the East African experience; you can get it right here in Regent Park! 

Thank you to Gloria Nankuda and the entire organizing team at Gisha Nankunda Arts Association for creating such a beautiful festival for the fourth year in a row! I had such a wonderful time learning more about the vibrant and colourful traditions, music, and food of East African cultures within our own neighbourhood.

Happy Somali Heritage Week! I was thrilled to join members of the vibrant Somali community at Queen’s Park to mark the occasion and celebrate with delicious food and engaging speakers. 

I am so proud that this week has been officially recognized every June 25-July 1 in Ontario since 2021. This is all thanks to the advocacy of the Somali community and the work of the Ontario NDP caucus, who worked hard to pass the bill into law. Now we can officially celebrate every year!

Swahili is a beautiful East African language widely spoken around the world and across Ontario. You may have even spoken a few words without knowing it, because “rafiki,” “hakuna matata,” and so many other phrases are woven into our everyday speech. 

I was thrilled to gather with leaders from the Swahili-speaking community to celebrate the tabling of my bill, the Swahili Heritage Month Act, at Queen’s Park. 

You can watch our entire press conference right here and hear from Khalid Magram, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Msimulizi Community News; Gloria Gift Nankunda, the Creator of the East African Experience; and Shabani Mbandu, the President of the Swahili Cultural Center and the Tanzania Canadian Association. 

I can't wait to celebrate further with the community all July long!

I was so thrilled to join students from Lord Dufferin and Nelson Mandela Park Public School in celebrating the recently installed community artwork at the 325 Gerrard St East redevelopment by Tridel and Toronto Community Housing. This project is a part of Phase 4A of the Regent Park Revitalization.

The inspiring installation is a co-created piece featuring student photography and artwork by Saretta Khan, a brilliant local artist and Toronto Community Housing tenant.  It is a powerful reflection of community, creativity, and the young people who shape the neighbourhood.

Congratulations to all those involved in bringing this meaningful project to life!

The Ford Government and Education Minister Paul Calandra are doing everything in their power to cut and privatize our public education system. Last week, we were subject to another scheme to privatize and pull resources out of the classroom, when the Minister of Education announced he was spending $60 million to roll out a new digital learning platform owned by Nelson Education, a private multinational company. 

Our classrooms are overcrowded, and the Minister’s answer is to throw tax dollars at private companies instead of listening to parents, teachers, education workers, and students who are crying out for smaller class sizes, more support staff in schools, and a needs-based approach to funding. 

Rolling out a province-wide system just two months before the school year begins, without adequate professional development and important questions unanswered, creates confusion for teachers. This system is also a one-size-fits-all approach to education that fails to take into account local, linguistic, and cultural needs, which risks leaving students behind.

These changes continue Minister Calandra’s trajectory of creeping privatization in Ontario’s education system. That $60 million could have gone toward meaningful investments in student supports developed in collaboration and consultation with teachers.

In case we needed a reminder that Minister Calandra knows nothing about what really goes on in our schools, he has already had to walk back parts of his new student attendance policy, because he forgot to account for students who participate in extracurriculars like sports that occasionally require missed class time. 

As a parent to a school-aged child, I will never stop fighting for a public education system that works for all of our students, with caring adults and enough support for every student. 

We all know that Doug Ford would rather escape to his cottage all summer than face the people of Ontario, but this is getting ridiculous! 

When the Legislature rose for the summer after just 29 sitting days, NDP MPPs were assured that scheduled committees would continue their important work through the summer break (which shockingly lasts 5 months, returning just before Halloween). 

At the first available opportunity, PC MPPs tried every available strategy to cancel the summer meetings of the Standing Committee on Government Agencies that we were promised. I am so proud of my Ontario NDP colleagues, MPP Alexa Gilmour and MPP Wayne Gates, for standing firm and ensuring that the meetings will proceed as scheduled. 

Every single PC MPP should be embarrassed for trying to cut corners. In any other workplace, this behaviour would get you fired. 

The Standing Committee on Government Agencies might sound as dry as sawdust, but it is the committee through which Ford is trying to hand out cushy patronage appointments to his (sometimes unqualified) buddies. The committee must be able to meet to hold the government and the appointees accountable. 

The important work that the committee does will now continue, and New Democrats will keep showing up because that’s the job Ontarians hired us for.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from The Trillium revealed that Doug Ford spent nearly $10 million on his “Protect Ontario” advertising campaign in 2025. These ads have been ubiquitous, played during massive sporting events and at movie theatres, despite their main objective being to promote a positive vision of the governing party. 

This money belongs to us, the taxpayers. It is not Doug Ford’s personal piggy bank. This money could build homes, hire doctors, fix our roads. Instead, Ford wants to light tax dollars on fire to gaslight the people of Ontario.

Things are so bad that the Conservatives had to use animations and special effects to make it look like life in our province is great. Meanwhile, families are crumbling under rising costs and putting groceries back on the shelves. An affordable home is getting more out of reach, schools are overcrowded.

Doug Ford needs to wake up and invest our tax dollars in the things that matter — not on desperate attempts to be liked.

Internal Ford government notes admit it will "not reach 1.5M homes target"

She was pregnant, homeless and addicted. How Moss Park helped save her life — and what's next as Toronto's consumption sites shutter 

Toronto must stop delaying heat protection for tenants, coalition demands

Engineers warned Metrolinx of ‘fall hazard’ months before GO train passenger fell and died

Toronto's Pride celebrations are almost here, but next year's may have to be scaled back

Toronto saw significant increase in speeders after camera removals: city report

Toronto's Pride celebrations are almost here, but next year's may have to be scaled back

Part of Church Street is now car-free. But the summer pilot is way over budget thanks to policing, security

Canada now eligible to take part in Eurovision song contest

Cause of death of couple found in Barrie, Ont., home deemed intimate partner violence, police say

Theatre starts here! 

The Toronto Fringe Festival is Ontario's largest performing arts festival with 123 shows on 27 stages all around the city. Founded in 1989, the 38th festival features comedy, dramas, dance, drag, new musicals, and more. And don’t miss the free events at the Festival Hub, and family-friendly programming at KidsFest. 

All Fringe shows are selected by lottery or first-come-first-served processes, and all ticket revenue goes straight to the artists. Come Fringe with us! 

Festival Hub & Patio: Soulpepper Theatre, 50 Tank House Lane, Distillery Historic District  

Link to the 2026 Program Guide for information on everything our festival has to offer 

Link to the Box Office - Tickets and passes on sale now!  

Listings of Free Community Events at the Fringe Hub  

The survey is open to autistic self-advocates, parents, caregivers, and family members across Ontario who are accessing—or attempting to access—services and supports, including:

• Ontario Autism Program (OAP) services
  • Diagnosis and assessment services
  • Special education supports
  • Respite services
  • Adult services and supports like housing, employment, and community living services

While governments can provide statistics on waitlists and service utilization, only the people directly impacted by these systems can tell us what those numbers mean in practice. This survey is designed to capture the lived experiences behind the data and document the realities facing autistic people and their families across Ontario.

In addition to quantitative questions, the survey includes opportunities for respondents to share their experiences, concerns, and recommendations in their own words. The results will be compiled into a public report and shared with the autism community, community partners, elected officials, and the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

From June 11th to July 19th, immerse yourself in the global culture of one of Toronto’s most historic neighbourhoods. Discover a curated series of interactive workshops, global food tours, live music, and outdoor markets. Whether you're a local or a traveler, your adventure begins right here in Cabbagetown.

Check out the calendar of events and plan your adventure here!

The wait is over. 

Back in Regent Park, all summer long, is the hugely popular Cultural Bazaar. There will be a diverse range of vendors offering exclusive, handmade products, delicious food, and unique cultural clothing. Taking place in the Big Park next to the Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre, every Friday starting June 26 to August 28, from 3 to 8 PM.

The Moss Park Summer Festival this year is going to take place at the green space at Ontario St. and Queen St. E on August 8 from 11 AM – 5 PM. 

Organization setup is scheduled to begin at 10 am. Click here for more details.

Join Grassy Narrows youth and community members to show that you are with them on their path to achieve mercury justice and freedom! 

Grassy Narrows people are powerful leaders in the movement for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice. They have shown that together we can fight for justice against all odds and make real gains. But so much is still needed to right the wrong of mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows.

RSVP to say that you will show up in solidarity and walk with them in their fight for justice on Wednesday September 23, 2026 in downtown Toronto.

Dixon Hall’s employment services are ready to help you with your job search! Reach out to them to connect with employers who are looking to hire immediately. 

Click here to learn more.

Peacebuilders Canada is looking for people to join their team of facilitators! Click here to learn more and sign up for a training.

Across Ontario, retirement home residents are making important contributions to their communities every day. The Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority’s (RHRA) Resident Champion Award celebrates individuals whose kindness, leadership, and actions positively impact the lives of fellow residents.

Nominees must:

• Be current residents at a licensed retirement home in Ontario
• Go above and beyond to support and uplift their retirement home community
• Be nominated individually (group nominations are not accepted)

Nominations will be accepted through July 24, with the recipient announced at the RHRA Annual General Meeting and Recognition Event in September.

If you know someone deserving of this recognition, please submit a nomination and help celebrate the positive impact retirement home residents have across our province.

Submit a nomination here.

Join Clean Indoor Air Toronto for A Breath of Clean Air, a workshop to learn how to improve indoor air quality and make our indoor environments more resilient to the impacts of air pollution and climate change.

Date: Saturday, July 11

Time: 2:30-4 PM

Location: Swansea Town Hall, 95 Lavinia Avenue, Toronto

The workshop begins with a presentation by chemist and science communicator Louise Hidinger, PhD. We will take a closer look at sources of air pollution inside a building, and how the growing burden of outdoor air pollution due to climate change and human activity makes its way into our indoor spaces, and ultimately into our bodies. Next, we will discuss the current landscape for ventilation and air quality standards.

After the presentation, participants will be invited to get hands-on experience by engaging with four interactive exhibits: different types of IAQ monitors, air filtration equipment for cleaning the air, DIY air purifiers (Corsi-Rosenthal boxes), and examples of mask designs.

Click here for more information and to RSVP.