By Peter Small

A 19th-century house on Maitland St. that was nominated for heritage designation has been torn down after being damaged by two recent fires.

“We have been working with both a structural engineering company and the City of Toronto to examine the damage and identify ways to secure the site,” said Colleen Krempulec, VP, brand marketing & corporate social responsibility for Hazelview Properties, formerly Timbercreek, which manages the site.

An independent review into the police investigations of eight gay men who went missing from the Village, and were later discovered murdered, found deep systemic failings in the Toronto Police Service and made 151 recommendations to address these weaknesses.

Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, Dean Lisowick, Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman went missing between 2010 and 2017.  Bruce McArthur was arrested in January 2018 and pleaded guilty to eight counts of first degree murder in January 2019. 

The review also investigated the mishandling of missing persons reports for Tess Richey and Alloura Wells,  both found deceased in 2017.  

The independent review, launched in 2018, found that investigators could have identified McArthur as a suspect years before he was arrested, but failed to do so. 

It also found that marginalized populations, including LGBTQ+ people;  Indigenous and racialized communities; the homeless; those who struggle with mental illness and addictions; sex workers; and migrants have been overpoliced and underserviced. 

The Toronto Police Service stated that it would implement all of the recommendations in the report. 

The full report is here.