Agincourt: A Subdivision of Scarborough

1) History

Agincourt is a district of Scarborough and is a very distinct neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada. It is recognized by the City of Toronto as Agincourt South-Malvern West and Agincourt North, being centred from Kennedy and Markham Road and included lands from Highway 401 and Finch Avenue. The village of Agincourt was officially founded with the establishment of the Agincourt post office in June of 1858 by John Hill, and was formally known as the "hero town" by its villagers.

(Midland/Kennedy and Sheppard)

2) Local Attractions

A school called the Agincourt Collegiate Institute, a secondary school located between Midland and Sheppard Road was founded in 1915 as well as Agincourt Junior Public School, a primary school located between Brimley and Huntingwood Road. The structural looks remain the same but the school has since gone under a few maintenance and renovation repairs.

(Agincourt Collegiate Institute)

(Agincourt Public School 2012)

(Agincourt Public School 1915)

In the 19th century, two railway stations were constructed in Agincourt. One was part of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway line that heads north from the Scarborough Junction. This line eventually became part of the Canadian National Railways and the operating station today is now called Agincourt Station on the Go transit Stouville commuter line. The second station way built north of Sheppard and Brimley Roads which ruins from downtown Toronto diagonally north-east through the neighbourhood but has since been discontinued in the 1970's.

A third attraction would be Knox United Church, which is a Presbyterian church built the intersection of Midland and Sheppard (north-east corner). The church was originally a wood frame church built in 1848.. The church is surrounded by a large cemetery where many early settlers and a number of prominent Church leaders rest.

(Knox United Church)

3) Local Problems/Issues

According to the Toronto Police Services, Agincourt has seen a string of offences with street robbery and breaking and entering commercial crime at the highest.

Toronto Police Services: Agincourt North

Controversial:

As for Scarborough as a whole, in 2005, a series of gang-related shootings in some Scarborough neighbourhoods led to the portrayal of Scarborough in the media as crime-ridden. Murder rates for Scarborough and Toronto show no particular trends, as between 1997 to 2006, the ratio of murders in Scarborough as compared to the rest of Toronto, ranged from 8% to 33%. Toronto Police Chief, Bill Blaire, stated that "42 division is the safest division in the city". The safest part of Toronto is North Scarborough from Victoria Park Ave to the Pickering border (north of Highway 401). The crimes usually derive from within and between ethical groups, because of the distancing of new arrivers to Canada and the already established residents.

4) Current News Story

Toronto Police have just announced (December 4th, 2012) the arrest and charging of a 16 year old male in connection to the mass shooting on the Danzig Street in Scarborough this summer. The Danzig shooting claimed the lives of 2 people (Shyanne Charles, 14 years and Joshua Yasay, 23 years) and injured 23 others when a gunfight between two rival gangs erupted at a community barbecue. The barbecue was held in the Scarborough community housing area of Morningside and Danzig Road.

Police state that this shooting was a fight between members of rival gangs from two Scarborough neighbourhoods of Kingston Galloway and Malvern, during a West Hill street party/barbecue.

The youth was arrested on Tuesday, and is now being charged with three gun-related offences and one count of threatening death. The fourth person to be charged cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but there is still an ongoing investigation.

(Toronto Police on scene of the Danzig Shooting)

5) Profile of a local person: Raymond Cho

Raymond Cho (born 1926 in South Korea) is a City Councillor in Toronto and represents Ward 42 Scarborough-Rouge River.

Cho holds a Master's degree in Social Work and Doctorate in Education from the University of Toronto. Before being elected, he worked as a social worker for the Catholic Children's Aid Society, The Toronto Board of Education and the Scarborough Board of Education.

In Dec 1991 to Dec 2000, Cho was the Toronto City Councillor for Ward 18 (Scarborough Malvern). In Dec 2003 to June 2005 he was then the Chair of the Scarborough Community Council. From Dec 2000 to present he is now the Toronto City Councillor for ward 42. Raymond Cho now represents about 75, 000 people with a wide variety of diverse and ethnic backgrounds.

Raymond Cho also enjoys getting engaged with communities internationally. In 2010 and 2012 the Councillor led a group of highschool students to the Philippines to assist with rebuilding homes which were struck by a devastating tsunami. In 2011, the Councillor also visited Jamaica with a group of highschool students. They visited an orphanage which became a haven for children infected with HIV/AIDS. They also went to senior homes to spend some time with Jamaica's seniors and had brought them gifts.