Around the beginning of summer, a journey began without a clear destination. All I knew was that Toronto, behind its busy streets, tall buildings, and familiar routes, held countless stories. Some were hidden in archives, some waited quietly inside museums, and others lived in the memories of people who had made this city their home.
For more than three months, QAF Narrative explored Toronto’s neighbourhoods, museums, and diverse communities. With the thoughtful feedback I received along the way, I gradually learned how to bring history and storytelling together—so history would become more than a collection of names and dates, while storytelling would remain rooted in the city's realities.
The approach was simple: search archives, visit museums, and speak with experts, curators, historians, artists, and people who carry pieces of Toronto’s memory with them. We then wove these conversations and discoveries into stories, hoping to make the past feel alive again.
I am not a historian—simply a curious person with an endless desire to uncover stories. Through that curiosity, QAF has tried to find, preserve, and reconstruct some of Toronto’s forgotten narratives—the stories of people and places we may pass every day without knowing what happened there, who lived there before us, what they dreamed of, or what traces they left behind.
Along the way, one story led to William Lyon Mackenzie, Toronto’s first mayor and prominent rebel.
William Lyon Mackenzie, artist unknown (Object No. 1960.1555.19A). Courtesy of Mackenzie House.
But it also turned the spotlight toward his wife, Isabel, exploring how the story of a woman who had long remained at the margins of history could finally move closer to its centre.
Isabel Baxter Mackenzie, artist unknown (Object No. 1960.1556.19A). Courtesy of Mackenzie House.
A visit to the City of Toronto Archives revealed stories hidden behind the city we see today.
QAF wrote about roots and belonging, and about immigrants who arrived carrying their memories, languages, struggles, and hopes—and who helped shape Toronto’s identity.
The journey also returned to Spadina Museum, where I wrote the story of a boy who came back to the house after nearly a century.
Decades later, Jim returned to Spadina, now a museum, carrying photographs from his childhood. Photo courtesy of Spadina Museum.
I also visited neighbourhoods such as Cabbagetown and Corktown. In one, I discovered the story of a shadow and a school; in the other, a kind-hearted clown who founded a festival.
Even Shakespeare refused to leave me alone in Toronto—neither his tragedies nor his comedies.
More recently, QAF has begun interviewing artists and telling the stories behind their lives and work. In these pieces, art and the artist’s journey become the narrative's source. The question at the heart of each story is where a work of art begins: in a memory, a wound, a dream, an encounter, or an experience that refuses to disappear. Colour, canvas, wood, performance, and words can all reveal something larger about a human life.
I am deeply grateful that the number of QAF Narrative readers has grown to nearly 2,000 in a short time. To me, this is far more than a number. Behind it are people who took the time to read, respond, share ideas, and offer encouragement. Every message has reminded me that people still want to know their city more deeply and listen to stories that might otherwise be forgotten.
After a very short pause, QAF Narrative is back. We've updated the website, made several changes, and republished almost all previous issues as newly edited versions. You can now find them here:
This issue is also an opportunity to thank everyone in the QAF community for your thoughtful and generous support. Beginning next week, we will return in much the same format as before. On Mondays and Fridays, we will once again explore the stories hidden in Toronto’s streets, museums, archives, neighbourhoods, and communities.
If you know a story, place, artist, or person whose voice belongs in QAF Narrative, please write to me. Your suggestion may become the beginning of our next journey.
