It's an archaeological study, actually...
What lies beneath the red carpet; On the site of the film fest's new home, archaeologists are digging up Toronto's fevered history
PAUL FRENCH
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
The Globe and Mail
M3
English
As the Toronto International Film Festival prepares to break ground on its new home, Ron Williamson will be dishing the dirt on its past. But he's not chasing festival stories of misbehaving starlets. Instead, he hopes to reveal the secrets that lie buried where Festival Centre is set to rise.
Before construction can begin on the much-delayed building in the entertainment district that will house the festival's operations, Mr. Williamson and his team of archeologists will first comb through the subsoil, looking for evidence of the infamous huts that once housed a colony of typhus patients there.
It's a gruesome episode in Toronto's history: During the mid-1800s potato famine in Ireland, 40,000 Irish immigrants arrived in Toronto, then a city of just 20,000 inhabitants. Many carried the infectious disease and were housed in “fever sheds†erected by the city's board of health at the northwest corner of King and John Streets. The patients were allowed to stay in these wooden buildings for only six days, and 863 of them died there.
“We're hopeful archeological remains will be uncovered,†Mr. Williamson said, adding that the site, now a parking lot, is unusual for downtown because up to 20 per cent of it has never been developed. To get at whatever is left of the fever sheds, up to three trenches 20 metres long and two metres wide will be carefully dug using a backhoe to scrape off the soil five centimetres at a time. A more detailed examination will follow, using shovels, screens, trowels and paintbrushes. The excavation won't unleash a SARS-like resurgence of typhus on the city, Mr. Williamson explained: “Typhus disappears in the soil over time.â€
But what happens to artifacts that are recovered from the dig is a thorny topic in a city with a poor track record for preserving its past. “We're still wrestling with this issue,†said Brian Gallagher, heritage preservation co-ordinator for the city. “If you find something that wasn't anticipated, we don't know how to deal with it, and it comes down to money. Who's going to pay for the conservation?â€
In the case of Festival Centre, city council approved the Festival Centre project in May, 2004, before the city had an interim policy in place to safeguard potential sites of historic interest. Ironically, there's a plaque dedicated to the fever sheds in front of Metro Hall, which clearly identifies their location at the northwest corner of King and John.
The historic potential, however, wasn't a major consideration as the project moved through various committees. “The city wasn't thinking about archeology then,†said Mr. Williamson, chief archeologist and managing partner of Archeological Services, whose firm has been mapping the city as part of a master plan that will dictate future site inspections. As of this year, any rezoning proposed on ground that may hold some archeological significance will automatically be subject to a site review.
The city asked the developers of Festival Centre to conduct an assessment only a few months ago, after Robert Kearns, an amateur historian who is passionate about Toronto's Irish past, lobbied city hall to have the work done. The cost will be borne by the developer. “After the excavation, all traces will be gone,†Mr. Kearns says. “It would be wonderful to tell that story somehow in the new building.â€
The hole for the 42-storey development, as with all high-rise towers, will go deep. “We'll be digging down five floors below grade, and we're obligated to notify authorities if we find something,†said Neil Haggert of Daniels Corporation, the developer (the top 37 storeys of the project will house luxury condominiums).
In the past, such discoveries haven't meant good news for archeologists. Construction this summer near Bathurst Street and Lake Shore Boulevard unearthed Queen's Wharf, a 19th-century dock. Work stopped while an archeologist documented the find, took pictures and advised the Ontario Ministry of Culture, which has ultimate responsibility for handling such artifacts. Some of the timber was transferred to nearby Fort York, and the rest was sold or demolished.
“If you find something on a site for an already approved building, it's unlikely you'll have the opportunity to conserve it,†Mr. Williamson said, noting that excavation can be compromised once a building permit is in place and developers are working to a schedule. With the new master plan, he said, Toronto will be able to inspect an area before construction begins.
That still leaves the question of who will pay for the conservation of important relics and where they will be housed. Toronto doesn't have a museum dedicated to the city's history. “We haven't been diligent about preserving our past,†said Professor Mark McGowan, principal of St. Michael's College, who has studied the fever sheds for years.
Prof. McGowan is compiling a list of the names of people who died there. The list will be carved into a commemorative stone in Ireland Park, which is scheduled to open next spring at the foot of Bathurst Street. He said a documentary crew will record the excavation and new park development. Perhaps the film will be screened at the festival.