On Tuesday, May 10, the city council of Toronto took a step toward what I believe is their ultimate goal: the banning of all raves, the closure of all-ages clubs, and a chokehold on fun for urban youth in general.
On Tuesday, May 10, the city council of Toronto took a step toward what I believe
is their ultimate goal: the banning of all raves, the closure of all-ages clubs,
and a chokehold on fun for urban youth in general.
Before I continue with the opinion side of this article, I'll state the facts. As of May 10, the City of Toronto has prohibited all raves* on or in city owned property for two months. After those two months, on August 1 to be exact, the council will again discuss the issue, and see if they wish for the ban to remain in place. This was a stupid, useless motion to pass. It was stated very clearly during the council meeting that there aren't even any raves planned on city property until late October (the late October event is the annual Halloween party thrown by Syrous called "Freakin", and will be held at one of the Canadian National Exhibition buildings).
The decision wasn't all that detrimental
to Toronto's rave scene. Most parties are held in privately owned clubs and
buildings. In my view, a well designed club makes for a better venue than the
large ugly CNE buildings anyway. There is a downside to holding parties on private
property. As part of their contracts with rave companies, the city insists that
the company provide "paid-duty" police officers. These are off duty police people
who are paid to help keep an event secure. If the parties are at clubs, the
only people there to make sure everything is kosher are the security people
at the club. What usually happens in that situation is the bouncers will work
at the exits, occasionally check the washrooms, but other than that, ignore
the rest of the place. This can lead to more open drug use, when I say open,
I mean open, not more. No police just means a person could do their drugs without
having to hide it, while with police there, people are forced to watch for them.
Security at private venues would never be so relaxed at a normal night club,
on a normal night, but since raves are notorious for their lack of violence
and all crime (excluding drug use) security seems to relax a bit at these functions.
This lackadaisical approach to enforcing the "no drug" policy that companies
and promoters insist they have is only a problem if a) you don't want to see
drug use or b) you don't want people doing drugs in the open because it just
helps to give raves a bad name. I fall into the B category. If you want to do
it, fine, just conceal it. 
The common association between raves and drugs seems to be where the problem lies. Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, the person who commissioned the negative report on raves that caused the mayor to take action, seems to believe that if we stop raves, Toronto's drug problem will vanish. Hey Fantino: drugs were around long before raves, and people do drugs everywhere. Not just at raves. Kids use more drugs and alcohol in their parent's basements then you could ever even hope to find at a rave. In fact, most people that give a shit about the rave scene would never admit to using drugs or promoting drug use at parties because it makes for negative opinions. Fantino also stated that raves are havens for drug dealers, places where they can "ply their trade openly". Fantino kept referring to the recent arrest of 24 individuals at a gathering of 7000+ kids on April 22nd 2000, talking about how there is a huge drug problem. 24 out of 7000? That is 0.003%. Does that seem like a high percentage to you? Rumour has it that half of the people arrested were smoking marijuana, and had no other drugs other than what they were smoking at the time. Not exactly the hardened criminals. One of the councillors, Olivia Chow, who supports the rave scene asked Fantino how many arrests were made for violent acts. Fantino admitted that there were none. The same councillor then asked how many guns and or knives were confiscated since the city started keeping a "rave file" about five years ago. Fantino, again, was forced to admit that there were none. The blame has been misplaced. The war on drugs is a worthy one, but I think we need to attack the real sources of the problem, not the safe and happy havens for dance and music known as raves.
Help support the cause, and send an email or letter to your government representative (available in the blue pages your phone book), and to the mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman:
Mayor Mel Lastman
Toronto City Hall, 2nd floor
100 Queen St. West
Toronto, ON
M5H 2N2
Phone: (416) 395-6464
Fax: (416) 395-6440
E-mail: mayor_lastman@city.toronto.on.ca
and to the Premier of Ontario, Mike Harris:
Premier Mike Harris
Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON
M7A 1A1
E-mail: (through a webform) http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/English/email/
On August 1st there is an event, called Ôi Dance RallyÕ at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto from 5pm to 10pm. Its free, and acts include: Bad Boy Bill, Derrick Carter, Jumping Jack Frost, Ed Rush & Optical, Miss Honey Dijon, Kenny Glasgow, Anabolic Frolic, Dr. Trance, Dynamite MC and MC Flipside. For more information, visit: www.partypeopleproject.com or www.tribe.ca
I end my rant now. IÕm sorry if I got carried away, but when you feel strongly about a subject, itÕs easy to. And no, IÕm not candy! ;)
There will be a photographic journey into TorontoÕs party scene featured in an upcoming issue of Tiny Giant as soon as I get around to bringing a camera to a party.
