I rise today with a heavy heart. I’d like to commemorate two incredible women from Toronto Centre communities who we’re missing now.

We lost Barbara Helen Castledine in late 2022. Barbara was a mother, a Regent Park resident and a caring advocate for everyone in our communities. She made a mark everywhere she went. She brought shoes to the 215 children’s memorial right here at Queen’s Park. She successfully campaigned to change dangerous intersections in our city. She advocated for fellow Toronto Community Housing residents and helped homeless people across our city. We are joined by her partner Miguel Avila-Velarde today, who is here in the gallery.

Earlier this year, we also lost Sandra Trehub, a pioneer in the psychology of music. As quoted in the New York Times article summarizing her life’s work, “Every bit of research in the psychology of music over the past 40 years can be traced back to Sandra Trehub.” She was a former neighbour of mine. She was loved locally for her work building up St. James Town Community Arts. Forever giving, when she was 80 years old she joined their board and increased their fundraising capacity. She was able to hone all of those grant-writing skills that she earned in academia to build that support. Over the next 10 years, she built St. James Town Community Arts programming and reached thousands of students. She will be forever missed. We will recognize her contributions and those of Barbara forever.