Allan Sparrow (1944 – April 30, 2008) was a Canadian political activist and long standing city councillor in Toronto. He was instrumental in stopping the Spadina Expressway, setting up civilian oversight of the Toronto Police, promoting cycling in Toronto and gay rights. He was also instrumental in the cancellation of a proposed bridge to the Toronto Island Airport.

Political career

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Allan Sparrow moved to Toronto in 1967 with his wife Sue Sparrow. He became an activist, joining the movement to stop the Spadina Expressway, a controversial expressway that would have been built through residential neighborhoods of central Toronto. Sparrow served on the Toronto City Council for three terms, from 1974 until 1980 under the mayoralty of David Crombie. While at Council, he formed the Toronto Cycling Committee. He opposed the old guard of councillors whose support he believed could be bought by developers for block-busting development of inner city neighborhoods. He also formed the Citizens Independent Review of Police Activities, which sought to open up investigations into police misconduct. At the time, there was no civilian oversight of the police force. He gave up his council seat in an attempt to give the seat to an openly gay candidate in the 1980 election. After his term on Council, he became an information-technology (IT) consultant. He also promoted IT investment in Canada for the federal government. Sparrow became a key player in the formation of

Reform Toronto Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

in 1988 (no connection to the national conservative Reform Party), a municipal watchdog group that published a newspaper, "The Badger", which was distributed door-to-door to target neighbourhoods. The group endorsed seven reform-minded candidates in the 1988 municipal election of which five were elected, helping to create the first majority of reform candidates in Toronto history,. Whitney Smith, another key member of the group, said that "Reform Toronto's success was strongly influenced by Allan's strategic thinking and encouragement of his colleagues." In 1997 he retired as a consultant to the Toronto Islands, and in 2001 he returned to politics as the founder of Community Air, a volunteer association opposed to expansion of the Toronto Island Airport. The group was successful in stopping a planned bridge to the airport and Sparrow stepped down as leader of Community Air. Despite the bridge cancellation, expansion of the island airport caused him, his wife and their partner Marc Brien to move in 2007 to

Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German im ...

to move away from the airport. He died on April 30, 2008 from

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

at the London Health Sciences Centre of colorectal cancer in London, Ontario. Federal NDP leader Jack Layton praised Sparrow as "a good friend, mentor and leader" who "inspired a generation of reform-minded progressives with ahead-of-his-time thinking on environment issues".

Legacy

Sparrow is considered a saint by the God's Gardeners, a fictional religious sect that is the focus of

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

's 2009 novel '' The Year of the Flood''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Allan 1944 births 2008 deaths Deaths from colorectal cancer Politicians from Vancouver Toronto city councillors