Music

Toronto councillor fears all-ages shows happen near "pedophile district" Parkdale

by Mark Teo

Remember Toronto’s ill-advised, short-lived EDM ban? On our end, we’re trying to forget—aside from the stuffy moralizing around electronic music, it also demonized all-ages shows: Right-wing city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti led the charge, claiming that free, all-ages shows in Toronto attracted pedophiles. Like, sure, dude.

Mammoliti, of course, was targeting EDM shows slated to happen on Toronto’s Exhibition Place grounds. The decision to ban those shows was overthrown, thankfully, and the ban was lifted last month.

We were all ready to move on, but apparently, Mammoliti wasn’t. Yesterday, he condemned all-ages shows yet again in a press release. And this time, he said that the shows were dangerous because of their proximity to Parkdale, which, to the shock of city council, he called a “pedophile district.”

“All-ages raves should not be held on Exhibition Place grounds,” he wrote. “There are not enough measures in place to ensure the safety of the children who would be allowed into these events where alcohol and illicit drug use is rampant.”

At that point, he was re-iterating his stance on the EDM ban. It gets way, way worse though: “[T]here should be great concern over the fact that the neighbouring Parkdale area is home to one of the highest amount of sex offenders, including Pedophiles, in the City of Toronto,” the press release continues. “With ‘all-ages’ parties being held next to a pedophile district we are simply encouraging the continued abuse of our children.”

Are you thinking what we’re thinking?

This, of course, enraged plenty. Parkdale—which is bordered by the Waterfront to the south, Roncesvalles to the west, Dufferin to the east, and Dundas to the north—is an extremely mixed neighbourhood. Its Queen West strip has notoriously resisted gentrification; its Roncesvalles strip has notoriously embraced hip-young-family forces; its northern strip is one of the best drinking alleys in the city. It’s a wonderful neighbourhood that, by our estimation, is one of the most diverse in the city.

And, it should be noted, it’s a neighbourhood that embraces music of all stripes: Parts & Labour has hosted oodles of all-ages punk shows, Wrongbar is historically home to electronic music and hip hop, and the Cadillac Lounge covers everything from rockabilly to country. The area has developed into one of Toronto’s best for music.

The Star, however, notes that there are fewer than 100 registered sex offenders in the neighbourhood, which houses tens of thousands of people. It’s also a stretch to assume they’re interested in EDM.

Doug Ford—brother of Rob and sometimes-Mammoliti ally—was even appalled. “For someone to accuse a whole district of being pedophiles, I think the guy’s lost his mind, Mammoliti, some days,” he told the Star.

Gord Perks, the left-leaning councillor who represents Parkdale, issued a statement about Mammoliti’s comments this morning.

“You may have heard the awful slur one of my colleagues has made against our wonderful neighbourhood. I want to say how saddened I am that Parkdale has been attacked this way.

“As we all know Parkdale is the kind of community everyone in Toronto admires,” he wrote. “We are economically, socially, and culturally diverse. We accept and welcome and love each other. If the rest of Toronto were more like Parkdale, Toronto would be an even better place to live.”

Meanwhile, the #parkdalelove hashtag took off in the wake of Mammoliti’s comments, which even encouraged mayoral candidate Olivia Chow to step in. “If Cllr Mammoliti was 1% as great as the people of Parkdale,” she tweeted, “he would show a lot more respect.”

Read Mammoliti’s full press release below, via Global News’ Jackson Proskow.