Showing 44 results

People and organizations
Halton-Peel Holstein Club
CA · Corporate body · 18 Sep. 1884 -

Halton-Peel Holstein Club, formerly Peel Holstein Club, operates out of the West-Central Ontario district of the Ontario Holstein Branch, the provinical link of the Holstein Association of Canada. The national entity was formed in 1884, the provinicial entity in 1981.

The groups' activities include the Halton-Peel Holstein Show, held during the Brampton Fall Fair, and social events for members.

Peel farmers were prominent in the breeding of Holsteins. The Holstein Association of Canada (now Holstein Canada) has had four national presidents from Peel: D. E. Smith, 1888-1889, Jack Fraser, 1948, Doug Dunton, 1962, and Howard Laidlaw, 1975. Local branch past-presidents include Town of Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson.

As of 1989, the group had members whose postal delivery was for routes in Georgetown, Norval, Orangeville, and Terra Cotta.

Helen Wilson Public School
CA : RPA · Corporate body · 1959 -

Students moved into the school 14 December 1959, and the school officially opened 5 April 1960

CA: RPA · Person · 1911 - 1988

Mildred Hillson O'Hearn was born in 1911 to James Albert Hill and Kathleen Hill. She was active in Grace Church and played softball. She worked for Gummed Papers as their head bookkeeper for a time. She married William (Bill) O'Hearn in 1942 and had three sons, Bill, Bob, and Bert. She died in 1988.

CA: RPA · Person · 1886 - 1963

Bert Hillson was born James Albert Hillson in Glen Williams in 1886 and attended school in Huttonville before moving to Brampton. His varied jobs included volunteer firefighter, teamster and waggoner, painter and decorator, and governor of the Peel County Jail (1935 to 1943). He was also involved in sports, especially lacrosse. He married Emily Ada Kathleen Chambers in 1910 and had eight children, including two sons (Jim and John) and six daughters (Mildred, Anne, Edith, Eva, Georgina, and June). He died in 1963. He was a member of Grace Church, Brampton, at the time of his death but earlier was a Baptist.

Hokea, Ben (1898 - 1971)
CA: RPA · Person · 1898 - 1971

Ben Hokea is credited as the steel guitarist "who had the most impact on Hawaiian music's acceptance in Canada." Born in Hawaii, after a gig playing on a cruise line, he toured with Charlie Clark's Royal Hawaiians. The group played in Toronto for several years, beginning in 1915, and Hokea remained in the city afterwards. Hokea was a music educator and performer, and appeared both on radio and television.

Hokea's public performances in Toronto date back to at least 1918, when he performed at Massey Hall in a variety show.

His first known commercial recording was released in December 1919 by His Master's Voice Records as part of their January 1920 lineup. Hokea, Luther Hokea and Richard Hokea recorded three trial records for Victor in Camden, New Jersey, 1917. (University of California's Santa Barbara Library Discography of American Historical Recordings) He is known to have released records with Victor, Columbia, and Starr Co. of Canada.

As of 1925, Hokea operated a photography studio at 195 Yonge St, Toronto. This may be how he met Cecil A. Chinn, creator of the records relating to Hokea at the Region of Peel Archives. Chinn toured with Hokea in the 1940s around southern Ontario, including Owen Sound, as part of "Ben Hokea's Orchestra".

CA : RPA · Corporate body · 1911 - 2014

Bolton's Humberdale Rebekah Lodge, No. 163 was granted a constitution on August 11, 1916, and ceased operation in 2014. The Daughters of Rebekah, also known as the Rebekahs, or the International Association of Rebekah Assemblies, is an international service-orientated organization and a branch of the Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF).

IOOF is a fraternal society which provides insurance services to its members and also acts as a social organization. It originated in Great Britain, with the first Canadian Lodge opening in Montreal in 1843. In 1855 the Grand Lodge of Canada West was formed, which eventually became the Grand Lodge of Ontario. In 1868 the Grand Lodge allowed the formation of Rebekah lodges for female members of the order.

The objects and purposes of the Rebekah lodges, as of 1916, were declared to be as follows:

  • First: To visit and care for the sick; to relieve the distressed; to bury the dead; and in every way to assist their own members, and to assist Subordinate and sister Rebekah Lodges in kindly ministrations to the families of Odd Fellows when in trouble, sickness or want.
  • Second: To aid in the establishment and maintenance of homes for aged and indigent Odd Fellows and their wives and for the widows of deceased Odd Fellows; and homes for the care, education and support of orphans of deceased Odd Fellows and of deceased sisters of the Rebekah Degree.
  • Third: To cultivate and extend the social and fraternal relations of life among Lodges and the families of Odd Fellows.

Although initially designed as a female auxiliary of the IOOF, Rebekah Lodges now allow both female and male members.

John McDermid
CA : RPA · Person · 17 Mar. 1940 -

John Horton McDermid was a member of Parliament for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1979 until his retirement in 1993. He represented the federal riding of Brampton-Georgetown from 1979 to 1988, and, when the riding was separated in two in 1988, he became the first elected member of Parliament for the federal riding of Brampton.

McDermid was born in Hamilton on March 17th, 1940. His parents were Reverend John Andrew McDermid and Nora Horton McDermid. In 1942, the family moved to Brampton, Ontario, after the Reverend McDermid was offered a ministry at St. Paul’s United Church, which he led until his death in 1970. Nora died eleven years later on March 6th, 1981.

John H. McDermid married his first wife, Elayne, a Peel schoolteacher, in the early 1960s, and they divorced near the end of his political career. Prior to his election in 1979, McDermid worked a variety of jobs: he was a radio and television announcer in Welland and Kitchener for six years; he was an assistant executive director of the Ontario Real Estate Association for seven years; he was an executive assistant to Ontario’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism, under Claude Bennett; he was a founder and shareholder of a private airline company, Pem-Air; and, in 1978, when he made his successful bid for the Progressive Conservative nomination for his riding, he was the Manager of Public Relations and Planning at the Ontario Place Corporation.

McDermid first announced his candidacy for the Progressive Conservative nomination for his federal riding in 1971. He lost the party’s nomination to Ellwood Madill, who went on to win the riding, defeating the Liberal candidate, Ross Milne. Madill lost to Milne in the 1974 federal election.

In 1978, McDermid sought the nomination again as the Progressive Conservative candidate to represent his federal riding, which had by then changed into Brampton-Georgetown. He won the nomination, and defeated Milne in the May 1979 federal election, becoming Brampton-Georgetown’s member of Parliament in Prime Minister Joe Clark’s minority government.

McDermid worked on multiple portfolios during his fourteen years in politics. In 1984 he began the first of two Parliamentary Secretary appointments under Minister Pat Carney, first as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, and then followed her as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Trade. As Carney’s Parliamentary Secretary, McDermid worked on, and successfully campaigned for, the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. This success began a series of Cabinet appointments as a Minister of State in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s government: he jointly held the portfolios for International Trade, and for Housing (1988 – 1989); he held the Privatization and Regulatory Affairs portfolio (1989 – 1991); and he held the Finance and Privatization portfolio (1991 – 1993), during which he also briefly was an acting Minister of State for Housing.

On March 28, 1993, McDermid announced his retirement from politics after Brian Mulroney decided to retire. Looking back over his career, he was quoted in the The Hill Times, “[i]f I had to say what the highlights of my career were I’d say working with Brian Mulroney and carrying the free trade legislation through the House. My first election, my appointment to cabinet and dismantling the National Energy Program was definitely a highlight.”

In 1992, McDermid married former pro-golfer Sandra Post, and after his retirement they settled in Caledon, Ontario. Since retiring, he has been involved with the Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment), with the Central West Local Health Integration Network, and has followed his passion for golf.

Kalec-Forster
CA : RPA · Corporate body · ca. 1923 - after 1941

Based on a document at mipolonia.net and the holdings at Region of Peel Archives, the company was named Kalec‐Forster from at least 1923 to 1927, and named Kalec Inc from at least 1931 to 1941. The business operated from 1420 Broadway (1923 to 1924), the "Hofman Building" (1925 to 1927, 1931 to 1932), and 5521 Cass Ave (1935 to 1938, 1940 to 1941).

CA · Person · 1916 - 2003

Robert Douglas Kennedy was born in 1916 at Cooksville, Ontario and was raised on a farm in Dixie as part of a family of ten children. As a child he attended Burnhamthorpe Public School and then Port Credit High School. In 1935 Kennedy went to the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, he majored in animal husbandry and graduated in 1939 with a B.S.A.

After graduation Kennedy joined the Canadian Army and fought for four and a half years during World War II, eventually achieving the rank of Captain in the Canada and Northwest Pacific Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps.

Following the war Kennedy worked for twelve years with the Department of Veteran’s Affairs helping to settle veterans and their families. After this he worked for two years with the Farm Credit Corporation, the successor to the Canadian Farm Loan Board, from which he resigned in 1967 in order to seek provincial nomination. He also served on the South Peel Board of Education from 1955 to 1963, including two years as Chairman. He also served on the Toronto Township Hydro Commission from 1963 to 1967, one year as Chairman.

In 1967 Kennedy was first elected to the Ontario Legislature, and was later re-elected in 1971, 1975, 1977 and 1981. During these years he served on numerous Standing and Selection Committees. As a Member of Provincial Parliament, Kennedy introduced a number of important Private Bills, including bills:

  • for the mandatory use of seatbelts.
  • for the protection if personal privacy.
  • to provide residents of mobile home the right to vote for Boards and Commissions.
  • to compensate victims of crime.
  • to provide parking facilities for physically handicapped persons.
  • to establish an Arbour Day.
  • to amend the Expropriation Act.

As well, Kennedy introduced the following major resolutions within Parliament:

  • to ban the non-returnable bottle.
  • to control right of entry to private property.
  • to provide protection for travellers.

Kennedy was appointed Government Whip in 1971; Chief Government Whip in 1972; Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education in 1976; and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Inter- governmental Affairs in 1981.

Kennedy’s other afflictions include being a member of the Agricultural and Appraisal Institutes of Canada; past Executive and member of the Cooksville Royal Canadian Legion; former Executive and coach of the Toronto Township Hockey League; and former member of the Committee of Aging, Social Planning Council of Peel.

In the mid 1970s, Kennedy kept in touch with his constituents through a weekly newspaper column. He also occasionally hosted a short radio talk-show on a local station.
In 1940 Kennedy married Kathleen Helen Krafft of Cayuga, Ont. and the two had four children: Sue, John, Pat and Janet. A notable relative of Kennedy’s was Col. Thomas Laird Kennedy, who represented Peel County at Queen’s Park for all but three years between 1919 and 1959, much of this time as Minister of Agriculture. In 1949 he served as Premier of Ontario for seven months.

Lagerquist, Bob, - 1999
CA : RPA · Person · - 1999

He married Jeanne in 1942.

He is the namesake of Robert H. Lagerquist Senior Public School, Brampton.

Lakeview Golf Course
CA: RPA · Corporate body · 1907 -

Lakeview Golf Course is a municipally-owned golf course in the City of Mississauga. Designed by Herbert Strong in traditional, parkland style, the course was host to the first Ontario Open (1923), the first Ontario Amateur (1923), and two Canadian Opens (1923, 1934).

CA · Person · 1880 - 1972

Robertson Matthews was born in 1880 in Yorkville, son of Reverend Matthew Henry Matthews and his second wife Naomi Dodds. Mechanically inclined as a young man, Matthews trained at the Williams Machinery Plant, where he developed a lifelong interest in engines and mechanical inventions. Matthews travelled extensively in his youth in British Columbia, Australia, and England. After attending Allegeny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania (1902-1903), he continued on to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York to complete his Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering. In 1908, Matthews joined the Faculty of Engineering at Cornell, later becoming a full Professor. In 1913, he married Ethel Dodds. He left Cornell in 1917 to join the U.S. Government at Wilmington, Delaware, until 1921 when he became an advisor on the internal combustion engine at Langley Field, Virginia. In 1924, Matthews joined the Edison Company in Detroit to work on developments in electric heating. Matthews returned to Bolton in 1931 to care for his mother and to convalesce following a serious automobile accident. During the next forty years, Matthews experimented with hydroponics, kept daily diaries, and wrote regularly to local and American newspapers and contributed essays on technical aspects to periodicals. He published a work of short fiction entitled "His Lost Chord: glimpses of man's deepest emotion in restraint" in 1959. After Ethel's death in 1958, Matthews lived alone until 1967 when he moved into Peel Manor Home for the Aged, where he died on March 3, 1972 at the age of 92.

CA: RPA · Person · 1905 - 1964

William (Bill) O'Hearn was born in 1905. He worked at Hewitson Shoe Company from childhood, rising to become a foreman. He served on the Brampton town council and played lacrosse for the Brampton Excelsiors. He was also attended Grace Church and was an active singer in choirs and as a soloist and also played in the Brampton Citizens' Band. He died in 1964.

Ontario Council of Sikhs
Corporate body · 1987-[ca.1997]

The Ontario Council of Sikhs was founded in March 1987 and was incorporated in April 1990. It was a community based organization committed to community development. The main objectives of the organization were:

• To promote, preserve, and maintain Sikh religion, culture, identity, and heritage
• To facilitate the integration of Sikhs in Canadian society
• To educate mainstream Canadians about the value system of first generation Canadians
• To provide and facilitate access to direct social and community services
• To promote, encourage, and undertake activities and projects that are consistent with and will further the objectives of the Council

The main interests of the Council included: the recognition of Sikh articles of faith (the 5-Ks); race relations; media relations; public education; policing; human rights; employment equity; immigration and refugee issues; and social and community services.

In pursuit of the above aims the Council: coordinated and/or attended a variety of conferences, workshops, and seminars; produced a variety of publications; submitted comments and material to various committees and agencies; conducted research; and participated in advocacy campaigns.

The Council was composed of a Provincial Assembly, an Executive Committee, and a Standing or Special Committee. The Provincial Assembly could consist of up to 31 members. The Executive Committee contained a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and four Directors.

The Council was administered out of 238 Davenport Road, Suite 10, in the City of Toronto and was active until at least 1997. The Ontario Council of Sikhs may have become the Ontario Sikh Gurdwara Council.

CA : RPA · Corporate body · Nov. 1934 - [1968]

Queen Elizabeth Home and School Association was an organization to represent parent interests at the Queen Elizabeth Public School, and help teachers organize class events.

The first monthly meeting of the Middle Road Home and School Association was held in November 1934. (1) The school was renamed in honour of the then-Queen Consort, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, better known as "The Queen Mother", in 1943, and the Home and School Association followed suit. (2) During the Second World War, the organization provided preschool services, to allow area mothers the time to take on war work. (3) Very active throughout the decades, they were the largest such organization in Peel County as of 1958, with a membership of 445. (4) During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the group ran an association library at the school, distinct from the school's own facility. (5)

A library at the site of the Queen Elizabeth Public School was started during the Second World War by the Queen Elizabeth Home and School Association, no later than 1944. It was completely separate from its venue and namesake, the school, receiving funding from both adult membership and government grants. In May 1948, it was spun-off as a separate organization, the Queen Elizabeth Library Association. It was volunteer-run, under direction of a librarian, Mrs. Wallberg. (6) Queen Elizabeth had the tenth highest circulation among the 219 Association Libraries in Ontario as of the 1952 annual general meeting. (7) As of 1952, the library would serve students on Wednesdays and Fridays through the day, and adult members on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. At some point in 1952 or 1953, the school established its own library for students.

Their January 1953 annual general meeting, intended to discuss the future of the library association, attracted only the members of its board. By March, the Toronto Township Recreation Commission was contesting the existing system of granting individual libraries and the Peel County Library Co-operative; previous correspondence suggests that the QELA wasn't able to get council to fund more than $30 per year. With only 10 members regularly borrowing books, the QEL didn't reopen in that autumn. (Records don't explain the sudden drop in users, although the school library may be key.)

Deciding that the members would be "adequately served by the Port Credit Public Library and the Cooksville Library", coupled with the school itself establishing their own library, they requested information from the Ontario Department of Education in October, requesting information on dissolution. Juvenile books were to be distributed to schools in south Peel, adult books to the Port Credit and Cooksville libraries, and remaining funds meant to purchase additional kids' books for the schools.

The Toronto Township bookmobile program was not started until 1958, and did not stop at Mineola until 1959. As of 2017, the closest branch to this area remains Port Credit.

The last known reference to the Queen Elizabeth Home and School Association was in January 1968. (8)

The Ontario Federation of Home and School Associations is the umbrella organization for this sort of entity. It was Canada's first provincial body for H&S As, incorporating in 1919. The first such group in Ontario was founded in 1896. Home and School Associations were similar to Parent Teacher Associations.

The school was also known as Toronto Township School Section No. 23.