When Poverty Mattered by Paul Weinberg

Author:Paul Weinberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
Published: 2019-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

An Unsolved Crime, a Journalist’s Secrets and the Suspected Burglars

The three-storey house on Huron Street that Praxis and other organizations were renting from the University of Toronto was buzzing with activity, recalls Lynn Kaye, who went by her married name, Lynn Lang, in the late sixties/early seventies. The folks fighting to stop the Spadina expressway were ensconced in two large rooms on the ground floor at the front of the house. At the back, also on the ground floor, were another room and stairs leading to the basement. Upstairs on the second floor was the Praxis operation, where Howard Buchbinder worked in the front office while another room was dedicated to the planning of the upcoming January 1971 Poor People’s Conference. There were also stairs leading to the third floor, where Gerry Hunnius hovered over his assignments. The Just Society Movement members usually gathered to plan and talk in the back room on the ground floor, where the kitchen was also located. There was typically rotation in the space used internally by Praxis to accommodate the needs of specific projects (Kaye 2018). Buchbinder, for instance, allowed his office to be used by others. There was fluidity in how the interior of 373 Huron became the hub of activist activity in the city.

The Break-In

All of this would come to an abrupt end on the December 18, 1970, when wet snow was already covering the ground. The rcmp Security Service, in a December 22 internal memo a few days later, reported from a number of sources that at approximately 9:30 pm a fire was set by unknown individuals in the basement, just below the kitchen. The possibility that the cause was “an incendiary device” was raised by the Toronto Fire Chief, who requested an investigation by the Fire Marshall’s office. Apparently, registration file cards pertaining to the Poor People’s Conference were missing. “Other reports of damage to Praxis files range from a total loss to limited damage.” Also noted in the December 22 memo was that Bell, in disconnecting the telephone inside the damaged house, had uncovered a wire tap. “Responsibility for the suspected arson has been directed against someone who is reacting to Praxis because of the recent Toronto Telegram articles by Peter Worthington.” Furthermore, University of Toronto campus security personnel were guarding the premises, and “Praxis has filed a theft report with the Metro [Toronto] city police of $40 and 300 card files,” the memo added (rcmp Security Service 1970d).

Before the break-in, the entire day at Praxis on December 18 was taken up with a huge mailing to delegates from participating organizations for the planned Toronto conference, scheduled for January 7–19, 1971. By the end of the day, files were spread on a table on the second floor alongside the windows overlooking the street, says Lang. Normally, the conference registration material would have been inside a Samsonite briefcase, which she carried around with her all the time. This day would be the exception, with unfortunate results.

“I was in the middle of my task when I had to go home to pick something up.

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