Here is a great opportunity for you to” find out how and why the Stanley Barracks military building has helped define the shape” of today’s Toronto and Canada at this free event.
Public Presentation and Discussion of
Stanley Barracks: Toronto Military Legacy
by Author Aldona Sendzikas
Fort York National Historic Site
250 Fort York Blvd., Toronto
7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26
FREE Admission
Please note that books of “Stanley Barracks: Toronto Military Legacy” will be available for purchase, with all proceeds going to support Fort York National Historic Site.
For more information about Fort York, please click here.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
News Release
April 15, 2011
Stanley Barracks and its military legacy to be discussed at Fork York
The Stanley Barracks military building has helped define the shape of Toronto and Canada today. Find out how and why from author Aldona Sendzikas, who will visit Fort York National Historic Site at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26 for a free public presentation and discussion about this historically important location.
Stanley Barracks was once home to the military school that gave rise to Canada’s modern army and what would eventually become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Located on today’s Exhibition Place grounds, Stanley Barracks housed members of Canada’s army until 1947. Only one of the original buildings survives.
Built in 1840, Stanley Barracks was the name given to what was originally known as “the New Fort,” which was built to replace “the Old Fort” – today’s Fort York. Stanley Barracks served as the main military establishment for the Toronto Garrison.
Sendzikas, associate professor of history at the University of Western Ontario and former museum curator at USS Bowfin Submarine Museum at Pearl Harbor, has long had an interest in the New Fort. She was formerly an assistant curator at Fort York National Historic Site and has published a new book called “Stanley Barracks: Toronto Military Legacy,” which tells the story of this fortification and the individuals who lived in the building.
In her discussion, Sendzikas will also bring to light the often forgotten but important role the British Army Garrison played in the defence of Toronto and in the establishment of Canada’s army.
Admission to the April 26 event is free. Books will be available for purchase, with all proceeds going to support Fort York National Historic Site. Fort York, located at 250 Fort York Blvd., is one of 10 historic museums operated by the City of Toronto.
More information about Fort York is available at http://www.toronto.ca/culture/fort_york.htm.
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