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"Egypt Migrations is a federally incorporated not-for-profit educational, community outreach, and archival organization. Formerly, Egypt Migrations was the Coptic Canadian History Project (CCHP). CCHP was founded by Michael Akladios in fall 2016. Miray Philips joined in 2017 as the Blog editor and we extended the project’s activities to the United States. In 2020, [they] made the decision to transition from the Coptic Canadian History Project to Egypt Migrations. [...] [Egypt Migrations] aims to preserve, educate, and empower Egypt’s migrants and their descendants by countering this exclusion and utilizing storytelling to reveal meaning without committing the error of defining it. [It] collaborate[s] with geographically dispersed communities in sharing the stories of any who once called Egypt home and all those first, second and third generation living transnationally. The organization retains its emphasis on the Copts while expanding its lens to Egypt and its migrants, more broadly construed." https://egyptmigrations.com/about/

Mira Friedlander was a theatre critic and writer. She was born in Jaffna, Israel in 1944 and graduated from York University with a B.A. in Theatre History and Criticism in 1975. As a regular contributor, features writer or critic, she wrote for numerous publications including The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Financial Post, Seniors, Performing Arts in Canada, Canadian Theatre Review, Scene Changes and American Variety. She championed Canadian theatre drawing attention, notably, to the work 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. Friedlander was the winner of the Canadian Theatre Critics' Association's Nathan Cohen Award twice and served as the Association's president for 1998-1999, in addition to being a member of numerous theatre or arts organizations. She also reported for CBC Radio. Friedlander was filmed for the Barbra Ames' documentary, 'Wars: Dispatches From the Front' during Friedlander's treatment for breast cancer. She died on 10 May 2000 in Toronto, Canada.

Victor Feldbrill, conductor and violinist, was born on 4 April 1924 in Toronto, Ontario. He studied violin privately from 1936 to 1943 with Sigmund Steinberg, music theory with John Weinzweig in 1939 and conducting with Ettore Mazzoleni in 1942 to 1943. He was the conductor of the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1942 to 1943 and first conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1943 at the invitation of Sir Ernest MacMillan. Feldbrill served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War and was stationed in London, England, where he furthered his studies in harmony and composition at the Royal College of Music and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. Upon his return to Canada, he held the positions of concertmaster and assistant conductor (1945-1949) of the Royal Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and Opera Company and studied violin from 1946 to 1949 with Kathleen Parlow and received an artist diploma from the University of Toronto in 1949. During these years he also continued his studies in conducting at Tanglewood in the summer of 1947, and with Pierre Monteux in Maine in the summers of 1949 and 1950. He was a first violin with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1949 to 1956 and with the CBC Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1956, which he also guest-conducted nineteen times. He founded the Canadian Chamber Players in 1952 and conducted them for several seasons in Hart House Sunday concerts and elsewhere. During the 1950s he also conducted for Ontario School Broadcasts and National School Broadcasts and freelanced as a violinist and conductor for many other CBC radio and TV programs. He was the founding conductor of the TSO's "Light Classics" series in 1972 and created the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra in 1974. Feldbrill has traveled widely as both a conductor and violinist. In 1979, he was invited to the Tokyo National University of Art and Music (GEIDAI), the first Canadian to be so honoured, and from 1982 to 1987, was the Principal Conductor of the Geidai Philhamronic. He also taught conducting at Geidai during this period and was made Professor Emeritus in 1987. In 1984, he became the first Canadian invited to conduct the Philippine Philharmonic in Manila. He has also visited China, the former Soviet Union and many other countries as guest conductor during his career. Feldbrill has won many awards for his work. In 1964, he became the first Canadian to receive the American Concert Guild Award for his encouragement of young performers and in 1967 became the first recipient of the Canadian Music Citation by the League of Canadian Composers. He was the recipient of the Roy Thomson Hall Award in 1985 and, in 1986, was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1990, he was appointed Musical Director and Principal Conductor of Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He received an honorary degree from Brock University in 1991. Feldbrill died on 17 June 2020 at the age of 96.

The Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association (CIBPA) of Toronto was founded in 1952 and incorporated on 21 December 1956 under its original name, the Canadian Italian Businessmen's Association (CIBA). The CIBA of Toronto began under the direction of a small group of Italian-Canadian businessmen and professionals, who included Anthony Andreoli, Sam Benedetto, Joseph D. Carrier, John de Toro, Remo de Carli, Eugenio Faludi, Neldo Lorenzetti, William Morrassutti, Vincent Paul, Sam Sorbara and Suilio Venchiarruti, who was the association's first president. Formed in response to the difficulties facing the large numbers of Italian Canadians in Toronto after World War II, the not-for-profit association assisted with the integration of new immigrants into Canadian society and raised funds for different causes. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the CIBPA Toronto supported the formation and/or development of a number of charitable organizations, including the Italian Immigrant Aid Society (IIAS), the Centro Organizzativo Scuole Tecniche Italiane (COSTI), the Federazione di Associazioni e Club Italiani (FACI), the Italian Canadian Benevolent Corporation (ICBC), the Columbus Centre and the Villa Colombo Home for the Aged, as well as other charitable initiatives. In addition to its fundraising and charitable endeavours, as membership in the CIBPA Toronto grew, the association held monthly dinner meetings, business and professional networking events, and other special events with the aim of promoting business and social interaction between its members and with the wider community, which is the primary focus of the modern CIBPA Toronto.

The CIBPA Toronto is governed by a constitution and by-laws, which detail the association's objectives to "initiate and foster programs and activities for the welfare and betterment of the Italian and Canadian Italian communities, to promote and strengthen the image of the Canadian Italian community within Toronto and Canada, and to initiate and foster social and cultural interest and activities among its members and the Canadian Italian community." The CIBPA Toronto is managed by an elected board of directors comprised of an immediate past president, president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and Ladies' Auxiliary representative. The board of directors oversees a number of permanent committees, including executive, legal, membership and nominating committees, and other rotating committees. CIBPA Toronto membership includes categories for full, youth, student, life, honorary and corporate members. In 1983, the CIBPA Toronto joined CIBPA Montreal to form the National Federation of Canadian Italian Business and Professional Associations, which now includes chapters in Hamilton, Niagara, Halifax, Ottawa, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Windsor and Vancouver.

Roy Israel Wolfe (1917-2014) was a professor and researcher. He was born and educated in Canada, receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (1956). Wolfe taught at the University of Washington and the University of Toronto. He worked as a planner and researcher at the Ontario Department of Highways (1952-1965), before joining the Geography Department at York University (1967). At York, he helped establish the York University Transportation Centre. Wolfe has undertaken consulting work in the areas of recreation planning and tourism in Canada, the United States and Great Britain. He is the author of several monographs and research reports including, 'Transportation and Politics' (1963), 'An annotated bibliography of the geography of transportation' (1961), and with J.B. Ellis, 'A study of Canadian statistics on outdoor recreation and tourism' (1968). In addition, he is the author of numerous articles on the subjects of tourism and recreation. Wolfe was awarded the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award in 1981 and the Association of American Geographers created an award to honour Wolfe for his contribution to the fields of recreation and tourism.

Desh Pardesh was a multidisciplinary arts festival dedicated to providing a venue for underrepresented and marginalized voices within the South Asian diasporic community, particularly left wing and queer South Asian artists and academics. It operated from 1988 to 2001. The organization's mandate states: "Desh Pardesh is lesbian and gay positive, feminist, anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti caste/classist. Desh exists to ensure that the voices and expressions of those constituencies in the South Asian community which are systematically silenced are provided with a community forum. In particular: independent artists, cultural producers and activists who are women, lesbians and gays, people with disabilities, working class people and seniors." Founded in the late 1989, the festival was originally conceived as "Salaam Toronto!" and administered by Khush, an association of South Asian gay men in Toronto. This day-long festival was held at 519 Community Centre in May, 1988. The Khush committee later developed into a coalition-based organizing committee to administer the newly named Desh Pardesh, which was held in March 1990, and was co-sponsored by Khush and The Euclid Theatre. Desh Pardesh was incorporated as a non-profit organization on April 7, 1994. In addition to organizing an annual summer conference and arts festival (featuring film screenings, workshops, issue-driven seminars, spoken work and literary readings, music, dance and performance art pieces), Desh Pardesh also hosted periodic arts development workshops, community outreach seminars, mini-festivals, art exhibits, and film retrospectives. It also served as a resource centre and referral service to various South Asian community groups and artists, cultural organizations and activists. In later years, Desh Pardesh worked in close collaboration with SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Collective). The Desh Pardesh festival and its administrative body closed in 2001 due to a financial crisis.

Gerald Lewis Caplan, public affairs commentator and consultant, was born in 1938 and educated at the University of Toronto (B.A., 1960 ; M.A., 1961) and the University of London, where he received his PhD in African Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1977. In 1965-1966, he lectured at the University College of Rhodesia following which he was an Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute in Studies in Education from 1967 until 1977. From 1970-1977, he was Senior Adviser to and Campaign Manager for the New Democratic Party of Ontario under leader Stephen Lewis. He was Director of the CUSO-Nigeria Program (1977-1979), Canadian Director of CUSO (1979), Director, City of Toronto Health Advocacy Unit (1980-1982), Federal Secretary, New Democratic Party of Canada (1982-1984), National Campaign Manager, NDP General Election (1984), Co-chair, Government of Canada Task Force on Broadcasting Policy (1985-1986), Co-chair, Royal Commission on Learning, Ontario (1993-1995), Director of Research and Strategic Issues, Ontario NDP Party Caucus (1998-1999) and, most recently Visiting Scholar, Economic Commission for Africa and Research Associate, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University (2000). Over the course of his career, Caplan has been a syndicated columnist for the Toronto Star (1984-1993) and television commentator. He is the author of several monographs including The Elites of Barotseland, 1878-1969 : A Political History of Zambia's Western Province (1970), The Dilemma of Canadian Socialism : The C.C.F. in Ontario (1973), Just Causes : Notes of an Unrepentant Socialist (1993), Rwanda : The Preventable Genocide (1994) and principle author of the UNICEF State of the World Report (1996, 1997) in addition to numerous articles, book reviews and reports.

The Music Gallery is a musician-run venue, located in Toronto, for the performance of electronic music, multimedia productions, dance, contemporary jazz and world music. It was established in 1976 by the Canadian Creative Music Collective (CCMC), a composer/improvisor collective initially aligned with the free-jazz movement. The Music Gallery was directed jointly by the CCMC's Peter Anson and Allan Mattes from 1976-1989 and soley by Mattes from 1980-1987. Jim Montgomery assumed direction in 1987, a position he held until 2005 when Jonathan Bruce became its interim director. By 1990, it averaged nearly 65 concerts annually and has hosted up to 150 concerts in a year. Through the 1980's and 1990's The Music Gallery was the home of the CCMC but also served as the home base of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the Glass Orchestra, the Evergreen Club Gamelan Orchestra, Hemispheres, New Music Co-op and Sound Pressure among other groups. It produced 'Ear It Live, a traveling festival of improvised music that toured Ontario and Quebec from 1979-1988 and sponsored an annual electronic music festival from 1979-1991. It has hosted residencies by artists including Derek Bailey, Mischa Megelberg and Barre Phillips. It has also operated it own record label, Music Gallery Editions, and is responsible for the issuing of some 27 lps, many of which are live performances taped at the Gallery itself including recordings of the CCMC, Lubomyr Melnyk, The Artists' Jazz Band, John Oswald, Peggy Sampson, Casey Sokol and The Nihilist Spasm Band. Music Gallery performances have also been featured on CBC Radio and CKLN-FM in Toronto.

Abbott-Ferguson Productions Ltd. was established in the late 1970s by Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson, two of the principals of the Royal Canadian Air Farce comedy troupe. Together they acquired a 55% stake in Air Farce Productions Inc. which had been incorporated in 1978 to formally establish the ownership and management of the creative work of the group. During the 1990s Abbott-Ferguson Productions subsequently bought out the shares from other troupe members and co-owners Dave Broadfoot, Luba Goy, and John Morgan, becoming the sole owner of Royal Canadian Air Farce and its creative properties. After the death of Roger Abbott in 2011, Don Ferguson became the sole owner of Abbott-Ferguson Productions, and by extension, of Air Farce. Abbott-Ferguson Productions Ltd. remains active as of 2020. Until 2008, the primary focus of Abbott-Ferguson Productions was on the development, production, and delivery of Royal Canadian Air Farce radio and television programmes, as well as national concert tours; live stage productions; books; and home audio and video releases. The roots of Royal Canadian Air Farce exist in the improvisational theatre revue The Jest Society. Established in Montreal in 1970, The Jest Society took its name from then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's goal of making Canada a "just society." The original cast included co-founders John Morgan and Martin Bronstein, as well as Patrick Conlon, Gay Claitman, and Roger Abbott. Don Ferguson joined the group when it moved to Toronto in the fall of 1970. Patrick Conlon and Gay Claitman chose not to move and remained in Montreal. Luba Goy joined in January 1971. Favourable reviews caught the attention of CBC Radio, which engaged the group to perform on its weekly variety show The Entertainers. The group renamed itself Royal Canadian Air Farce in 1973 with the performing ensemble comprised of Roger Abbott, Luba Goy, John Morgan, Dave Broadfoot, and Martin Bronstein; Don Ferguson was one of the show writers. In 1974, Bronstein stepped away from performing to concentrate on writing and other interests, and Ferguson became a writer-performer. In 1977, Gord Holtan and Rick Olsen joined the group as apprentice writers. The Royal Canadian Air Farce radio shows were broadcast on CBC Radio from 1973-1997. This longevity marks their success in attracting and keeping a strong national audience with their satirical sketches skewering the cultural and political events of the day. Taped in front of a live audience, the shows were first recorded at the Curtain Club in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and then subsequently at the CBC's Cabbagetown Studios on Parliament Street in downtown Toronto. From 1984-1992, the troupe began touring across the country to record their weekly broadcasts, tailoring sketches to the local audience. Attempts at television during this time were unsuccessful as the medium was unable to accommodate the troupe's need for its topical content to be broadcast as soon as possible after recording. A one hour television special was broadcast on CBC in 1980, leading to a ten week series that was aborted by a CBC strike, and two subsequent specials on the network. In 1984, a live Toronto stage show was recorded and subsequently broadcast on Global television. A critical development occurred in 1991-92 when CBC consolidated its Toronto operations in downtown Toronto. The new Canadian Broadcasting Centre housed an extensive collection of costumes, a large wardrobe department, hair and make-up departments, and contained full carpentry and paint shops. The quick turnaround from script to broadcast enabled by this development led to 1992: Year of the Farce, which was televised as a satirical New Year's Eve special to such great ratings success that the troupe was able to begin its long run as CBC Television's highest rated weekly television series. The series ran from October 1993 until the end of December 2008. The radio and television programs ran concurrently until May 1997 when the radio show was discontinued in order to focus completely on television. Making the transition to the television series as performers were Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, and John Morgan. Dave Broadfoot retired from the cast in 1989 to pursue a solo career but, as a respected colleague and mentor, he made regular special guest appearances on the television series for many years including the final regular broadcast in 2008; Broadfoot passed away in 2016. Morgan retired from Air Farce in 2001, and the regular troupe was joined by many guest stars, some of whom subsequently became regulars. New cast members included Jessica Holmes, Alan Park, Craig Lauzon, and Penelope Corrin. The fifteenth season of the series was aired live under a new name, Air Farce Live, in 2007-2008. The final half-season ran from October until December 2008, and returned to the previous production schedule, which saw the show recorded in front of a live audience on Thursday evenings for broadcast on Friday. From 2009 until 2019 Air Farce reunited to perform its very highly rated New Year's Eve special broadcasts with a mix of performers. John Morgan passed away in 2004, and Roger Abbott remained with the troupe until his death in 2011. Long-time show writers Gord Holtam and Rick Olsen retired at the end of the 2008 season. Over the years Air Farce and its cast were recognized with many awards including the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Broadcasting) in 1998; a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000; a Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year in 1979; and the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement in Canadian television in 2000 as well as twice winning the viewer-voted People's Choice Award for favourite television program. The cast were the first Canadians inducted into the International Humour Hall of Fame in 1992, and were inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame in 2001. In addition, cast members have been the recipients of multiple ACTRA awards. Other television projects produced by Abbott-Ferguson Productions include: three solo television specials performed by Air Farce mentor Dave Broadfoot; SketchCom, a series developed to showcase promising new comedians and comedy troupes; and XPM, a two-episode sitcom about a former Prime Minister starring Don Ferguson, Dave Broadfoot, Kathy Greenwood, and Jessica Holmes. In addition, Abbott-Ferguson Productions has been involved in developing and producing various comedy-related projects such as CBC Radio's comedy archive show, Comedy Classics, and other programs.