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Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Florence Kasoian worked at Hamilton's flagship Tim Hortons for nearly 45 years
Florence Kasoian was just looking for a job when she came to work at the Tim Hortons store at Ottawa Street North and Dunsmure Road in 1975. She wound up becoming an institution at the business — the first location in the doughnut-and-coffee empire — and spent more than four decades working there, becoming known for her top-notch customer service and hugs. Kasoian — who died June 5 at age 96 — had two ceremonies marking her time at the store, in 2015 and in March 2019 at Tim Hortons Field to also mark her 90th birthday. She started at the store on Sept. 9, 1975. 'I hadn't worked for 20 years and I figured, well, why shouldn't I,' Kasoian told Spectator columnist Paul Wilson in a 1990 Cable 14 video about the opening of the store at 65 Ottawa St. N. on May 17, 1964 by hockey player Tim Hortons and former Hamilton policeman Ron Joyce. 'My son saw an ad in the paper and he said, 'Come on, mom, let's go.'' Florence Kasoian, who died June 5, was a beloved fixture at the Tim Hortons on Ottawa Street. Here, she's celebrating 40 years at the flagship store in 2015. The pandemic ended her time at the store in March 2020, but her son Michael said his mom would have 'stayed right until the end.' He said it wasn't until the last week of her life she began to fail. 'She got pneumonia and respiratory failure, but her mind was still sharp,' said the retired Halton school board principal. 'I thought she was going to live well over 100.' The old store was torn down in 2014 and replaced with a new two-storey store that included a museum. It opened in January 2015. A 1970s uniform worn by Florence (whose real name is Flavia) was hung in the museum. The store is undergoing renovations and is expected to reopen in a couple of weeks without the museum. Tim Hortons said in a statement there will be a main-floor collection of memorabilia that pays tribute to the history and importance of the location. Kasoian got to know the regulars, and told The Spectator in 1996 she knew nine times out of 10 what each customer took in their coffee or what kind of doughnut they liked. Her then-boss, Brenda Healy, said Florence was always chipper, even when she was limping around one time on a broken toe. 'When you're friendly to your customers and you know what they take in their coffee, well, it makes them feel important,' Kasoian told The Spectator. 'It makes them go from here feeling better.' Florence Kasoian spent four decades working at the original location of Tim Hortons on Ottawa Street. Her son said his mom was always 'kind and outgoing. She thought of other people before herself.' He said more than 150 people attended her visitation and funeral, including former co-workers and customers. Kasoian requested Perry Como for her funeral and the family played 'Catch a Falling Star.' Kasoian was on hugging terms with quite a few customers. One example was a customer who had been in a serious car accident in 1994. After three months in hospital, he began taking physiotherapy at a nearby clinic. He'd come in every day in a bad mood. Florence Kasoian in 2019 celebrating her 90th birthday at a Tiger-Cats game. 'His name is Paul and I knew he was feeling blue,' Kasoian said. 'So I asked him, 'Would it be OK if I hugged you?' I knew his back hurt so I just gave him a gentle hug, but he hugged me back hard.' 'Then he kept coming in everyday. Even though we'd have a lineup to the door, he'd wait for me to get his coffee and give him a hug.' Kasoian was born in Hamilton on March 17, 1929. Her father James Marino died shortly after she was born, and her mother Paola raised her, plus a sister and three brothers. After Kasoian graduated from elementary school, her son said she went to work at a cotton mill. She quit work in about 1955 to raise her children and look after a relative. Kasoian is survived by her son Michael, daughter Marguerite (Margo), five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband Richard, who died in 1986 at age 55. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton police conclude Glanbrook Landfill search for Shalini Singh
Hamilton police have concluded the search for the remains of Shalini Singh at the Glanbrook Landfill. Partial human remains were located at the landfill May 21 and DNA testing later confirmed they were the missing woman. Police arrested and charged Jeffery Smith, Singh's common-law boyfriend, June 20 with second-degree murder and indignity to human remains for allegedly killing his girlfriend in their downtown apartment and throwing away her body in the garbage. In a press release Monday, police announced they had completed the months-long search of the identified area in the landfill on June 27 and no further human remains have been located. Aerial footage of the Glanbrook Landfill shows Hamilton police combing through a 'target zone' where investigators believe there is evidence of Shalini Singh's remains. Police concluded the search of the landfill June 27. Police said they have no further information to indicate any other locations to search, but said they will initiate further searches 'should new information become available.' Singh, 40, was 'always smiling,' her mother Anita told The Spectator. She said Singh loved her work and advocacy around mental health, nature and animals, scary movies and Halloween costumes, and making people laugh, including performing standup comedy. Hamilton police Det. Sgt. Daryl Reid confirmed at a news conference that the partial remains found in the Glanbrook Landfill are those of missing woman Shalini Singh. Singh was reported missing on Dec. 10, 2024, by her parents after no one had been able to reach her since around 7:10 p.m. Dec. 4. She was initially reported missing alongside Smith — the couple lived together in a Main Street East apartment. However, Smith was found with family by Dec. 11 and refused to co-operate with police ever since, Det. Sgt. Daryl Reid said at a June 23 press conference. The homicide unit took over the investigation Dec. 12. Police believe Singh was killed on the night of Dec. 4 or early on Dec. 5 and her body was then disposed of through the building's garbage chute, Reid said. Police search the Glanbrook Landfill for Shalini Singh in February. Police concluded the search June 27. A massive search of the Glanbrook Landfill was launched Feb. 24 by police, after GPS garbage tracking led them to a particular area. The 42-year-old Smith was arrested in a Burlington parking lot and Reid said police traced Smith's movement over the week following the alleged homicide. There had been no prior police involvement in the couple's relationship. They were together between five and seven years, first starting as friends. Jeff Smith and Shalini Singh at her university graduation in June 2024. The 42-year-old is accused of killing Singh and disposing of her body in their apartment building's garbage. According to court documents, in 2012, Smith attacked his mom and a neighbour who tried to intervene. He was later found not criminally responsible due to mental illness and spent years living in St. Joseph's West 5th Campus. He was granted an absolute discharge in 2022, in part thanks to Singh. As an experienced crisis worker, she understood mental health systems and knew how to intervene if he relapsed, she told the Ontario Review Board, which oversees NCR cases. A July 2022 psychological report for the hearing found Smith's risk of future violence was 'moderately high.' If he stopped medication and abused substances, psychosis would likely return and he might 'act out violently … with his likely victims being those closest to him.' Reid said it is for the courts to decide if mental health or substance use played a role in the homicide and declined to say whether police believe a weapon was used. Anyone with information they believe could assist police with the investigation is asked to contact Det. Adam Baglieri at 905-546-3859 . To provide information anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit anonymous tips online at . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Spectator
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Why is the BBC so obsessed with Munroe Bergdorf?
Can the BBC do anything right? Just days before it messed up spectacularly by failing to cut away from Bob Vylan's offensive performance at Glastonbury, it released a podcast in which activist Munroe Bergdorf told listeners 'how transitioning allowed her to discover love'. The BBC, the former broadcaster that's now a HR department with some channels attached, is increasingly ladling up such tatty 'content'. But this podcast episode – part of the 'How To Be In Love' series – marks a new, desperate low. 'We are constantly told that trans people are an abomination,' says Bergdorf. Really? Hosted by the amiable and intelligent Rylan Clark, whose wit and charm are, frankly, being frittered away on such rubbish, Bergdorf – who was born a man but has now 'transitioned' – appears to claim to be a lesbian, on the basis of having fallen in love with another man who also claims to be a woman. Yes, you read that right. 'I never thought I would fall in love with another woman,' Bergdorf tells Rylan, who listens with an admirably straight face that is a picture to behold. Why are we paying for this? Bergdorf goes on. And on. And on. 'We are constantly told that trans people are an abomination, that we shouldn't even be friends with trans people, that you shouldn't employ trans people,' Bergdorf says, speaking from an alternative universe where that is actually happening. Who exactly is 'constantly telling' us this? Who is saying we shouldn't be friends with trans people? And which companies have said they won't give them a job? There aren't any, because if there were, they'd soon find themselves in court. As Debbie Hayton has pointed out in The Spectator repeatedly, trans people are not being routinely persecuted in Britain. The Equality Act protects these individuals from discrimination based on their gender. Yet claims about trans people being persecuted have become louder in the wake of the Supreme Court's verdict earlier this year, when judges said that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. That decision finally restored some much-needed common sense to the gender debate. I've been stewed like a prune in this discussion for nigh on a decade, and all I've seen is women demanding their basic, sex-based rights and safeguards from men – and being given the cold shoulder. Finally, those brave women have been backed up by the judges. But, despite what some might like to suggest, it didn't lead to a pogrom of trans people. Yet the fact that the BBC was willing to broadcast Bergdorf's rant – coming hot on the heels of the the Corporation allowing a woman to appear on its gay dating show I Kissed A Boy – shows that it has some catching up to do. No special dispensations have been removed from trans people in Britain. But the BBC loves a victim, and at the sight of a picturesque character like Bergdorf, the bigwigs down at Broadcasting House's tails start wagging like the clappers. Bergdorf looks like a gay man's idea of a glamorous lady that straight men would desire. But we shouldn't forget that Bergdorf – a former Labour advisor, of course – once claimed that 'the white race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth'; called a Twitter follower a 'hairy barren lesbian; and spoke of wanting to 'gay bash' a television star. What's all that about? And why does the BBC think anyone cares what Bergdorf thinks after saying those things? Bergdorf's book, Transitional, was marketed as a 'landmark manifesto from the pioneering activist and model'. I've had the misfortune of having read it, and let me tell you this: there's nothing 'landmark' about this book. Although it is admirably frank, I'll give Bergdorf that – it was more disturbing than I expected. What emerges is a picture of Bergdorf that also comes across in the interview with Clark: nobody loves Bergdorf more than Bergdorf, and nobody hates Bergdorf more than Bergdorf. Certainly, nobody else is anywhere near as interested in Bergdorf as Bergdorf. And this is who the BBC is turning to for advice on relationships? Do yourself a favour and read the horoscopes: you'll find more wisdom there. The BBC has not afforded anything like the same welcome to the detractors of the LGBTQ+ movement as it has done to the likes of Bergdorf. Why aren't Helen Joyce, Kathleen Stock or the authors of The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht being invited regularly on Woman's Hour? I'd happily pay my licence fee if they did. Instead, they think giving a platform to Bergdorf is a better investment of our cash. This gender gibberish is, fingers crossed, coming to an end, but the BBC – another thing hopefully nearing its demise – is still rolling along with it. Let them go down together.
Spectator
2 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Poll: half of voters unaware of ‘Boriswave'
What likelihood of a Boris Johnson comeback? Well, according to the man himself, there is, apparently, 'more chance of a baked bean winning Royal Ascot' than an improbable second premiership. Yet amid Kemi Badenoch's constant woes, there are those who still harbour hopes of Johnson 2.0. Of course, one massive stumbling block could be the so-called 'Boriswave' – the huge numbers of mass migration unleashed on the country between 2019 and 2024, with legal arrivals peaking at 906,000 in June 2023. But now Mr S has some good news for our onetime premier. It seems that the public are rather less aware of this term than many online right-wingers. A poll by Merlin Strategy of 1,500 voters between 27 to 29 June for The Spectator finds that only 27 per cent of voters are either 'very aware' or 'quite aware' of this term. Therefore nearly three in four (73 per cent) say that they are 'not very aware' (24 per cent) or 'not at all aware' (49 per cent) of this phrase. But when this term is explained to voters, some 65 per cent say that 'I think that term is fair' – including 50 per cent of 2024 Conservative voters. Just 35 per cent of all voters think that term 'is unfair.' Luckily for Johnson, 62 per cent of all respondents believe that 'other factors are to blame for the increase in migration' rather than Boris himself. Still, some 32 per cent blame him personally for the spike in mass migration, including 40 per cent of non-voters. Yet there is a widespread acceptance that legal migration has increased since 2019, with 42 per cent arguing it has 'increased by a lot' and 26 per cent saying it 'increased a lot.' By contrast a mere six per cent believe it has 'decreased a little' and only two per cent that it has 'decreased a lot.' Let's see if the ball comes loose out of the back of the scrum eh?
Spectator
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Woolworths cancels The Spectator
The Spectator has thousands of readers in South Africa, many of whom get their weekly magazine from Woolworths, the country's upmarket retailer. Not any longer. Woolworths has taken the bizarre decision to stop selling The Spectator. The apparent trigger? Gareth Roberts's 'End of the rainbow' cover story. Does Woolworths really think its shoppers can't cope with encountering such an image on their weekly grocery shop? The issue featuring that article hit newsstands at the end of May, on the eve of Pride month – just as Woolworths launched its own storewide rainbow campaign. It seems that Roberts's piece, in which he argues that Pride's fall can't come soon enough, prompted a review of Woolworths's decision to stock The Spectator. The retailer appears to have decided that stocking the magazine is incompatible with its Pride campaign – and it has removed The Spectator from its shelves. Roberts, who is gay, wrote that: '2025 is the year the genderist movement finally started to break apart. It has been a mad, wild ride. I'm sure there's more to come, but after many false alarms it feels like a corner has finally been turned. The collapsing of Pride under the weight of its own internal contradictions is a sure sign that the jig is up.' The piece was accompanied by an illustration featuring the 'intersex-inclusive Pride flag' – a kaleidoscope of rectangles, triangles and even a circle in thirteen different shades – being painted over. Does Woolworths really think its shoppers can't cope with encountering such an image on their weekly grocery shop? If so, it's quite an assumption about the moral values of its customers. The Spectator asked Woolworths about its recent decision to delist the magazine. It didn't respond. Whatever the reason for the store's decision, it's a shame that some South African readers weren't offered the chance to pick the issue up and learn how iterations of Pride are collapsing under the weight of their contradictions. For readers in South Africa, The Spectator is still available in Exclusive Books stores nationwide or you can subscribe from as little as R49
