Volunteer Eric Morse peruses the August 27, 1977 issue of Seven News for more throwback tales.

Downtown was reinventing itself. The August 27, 1977 issue of Seven News headlines the beginning of construction of mixed housing in the St Lawrence neighbourhood – where the Esplanade now stands.

Gentrification was getting underway in Cabbagetown but it wasn’t yet in full swing, and the old housing stock was feeling the insurance pinch, though $500 for a homeowner’s package looks like a bargain in 2017!

The words may have changed somewhat but the tune remains familiar; the Cross Cultural Communications Centre on Dufferin Street was calling for opposition to Bill C-24, a revision of the Immigration Act. Some of the features that the Centre found objectionable were:

The last point, implying exit controls as it does, pretty clearly went nowhere but it reminds us that there has rarely been a time when society did not feel inchoate threats from some direction. In the ’70s it was Red Brigades, Black September and the IRA among others, including of course those illegal immigrants from just about anywhere.

An expropriation gone wrong provides the background for the Oak Street Co-op.

And the beloved Cabbagetown Boxing Club gets some mixed notices; on Page 7, some very commendable participation figures are noted (more than 200 boys signed up; no mention of how many girls), while on Page 8 we find this somewhat more salacious tale.

 

Meanwhile, Winchester Street icon the Winchester Dance Theatre was launched.

These stories and many more are available at http://www.connexions.org/SevenNews/Docs/7News-Volume08-Number07.pdf). The PDF archive is a remarkable achievement by Connexions, a collective dedicated to preserving social activism, of which 7 News is surely a shining example.