York U. prof reveals one of darkest and most violent episodes in Toronto's history
TORONTO, August 10, 2004 -- At last weekend's "Taste of the Danforth" festival over one million Torontonians took to the streets to share in the vibrant culture and sample the famous cuisine of the city's Greek community. While this annual event celebrates Toronto's rich cultural and ethnic diversity, relations between Greek immigrants and mainstream Anglo-Canadian society were not always so cordial says Thomas Gallant, a York University history professor and Hellenic Heritage Foundation Chair in Modern Greek History.
“On a swelteringly hot weekend eighty-six years ago, Torontonians took to the streets in search of things Greek, but for a very different reason than they did last weekend,” says Gallant. “Over the course of three days and nights, August 2 to 5, 1918, mobs of up to 5000 people, led by war veterans returned from Europe, marched through the city's main streets waging pitched battles with law enforcement officers and destroying every Greek business they came across.”
Gallant says that before tranquility could be restored to the city, more than 20 Greek businesses, mainly restaurants and cafés along Yonge and Queen Streets, were destroyed and their contents looted. Sixteen law enforcement officers were injured, ten seriously, over 150 rioting veterans and civilians were hurt, many requiring hospitalization, 25 rioters were arrested and over $100,000 (approximately $1.25 million in today's dollars) worth of damage was done to Greek businesses and private property.
(Photo: Thomas Gallant)
“The importance of the riot transcended Toronto. Ottawa, Washington, London and Athens all become embroiled in what newspapers at the time referred to as the ‘Toronto troubles’. The 1918 anti-Greek riot is one of the darkest and most violent episodes in Toronto's history, and yet its story has never been told until now.”
What led to this eruption of violence and public unrest? Why were war veterans at the forefront of the rioters? Why did so much of their hatred and resentment focus on the city's tiny Greek community? These and others are questions that Gallant has been researching.
Using a variety of archival sources, such as newspapers and court records, Gallant reconstructs the narrative of the riot, beginning with the event that began it all – the forcible expulsion of disabled veteran Private Claude Cludernay from the White City Café (433 Yonge Street) by Greek waiters on Thursday evening, August 1-- and ending with the restoration of peace on Monday, August 5, after days of bitter street fighting and with the city under siege after Mayor Tommy Church invoked the Riot Act and called in the militia and military police.
In addition to recounting the history of the Toronto Greek community, Gallant explains why there was so much pent-up frustration among war veterans recently returned from the Western front and why that frustration was directed against the Greeks. He also explores why a considerable sector of Anglo-Canadian society condoned and even applauded the rioters' actions.
Adds Gallant, “While we celebrate the city's diversity, tolerance and multiculturalism, we need to appreciate that ethnic relations in the past were often far from amicable and that cultural acceptance of minorities into mainstream Canadian society came with a price. With the Athens Summer Olympic Games only days away, and as we celebrate all things Greek, we are reminded of how far we have come.”
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For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Ken Turriff, York University Media Relations, 416-736-2100, ext. 22086, kturriff@yorku.ca
YU/106/04
