Outdoor Tent, June 4 at 1pm ET

Hear about Toronto’s crime history from the experts, Toronto Crime Tours: the only crime tour in Canada hosted by retired Detectives!

Beginning every hour on June 4 & 5 between 1pm ET and 6pm ET, you can drop in to hear Toronto’s history of crime, featuring the following cases:

• Clowns vs Firefighters Riot: 1855
  • This story tells the tale of how a riot in 1855 between Circus Clowns and the Hook and Ladder fire company brought about changes to the Toronto police service that are still in place today, ending the appointment of officers and creating civilian oversight.
• Shoeshine Boy
  • This is a presentation of how the murder of Emanual Jaques, a 12-year-old shoe shine boy in Toronto in 1977 shocked the city into action to finally clean up the seedy, rotten condition of the downtown core.
• Boyd Gang
  • This is the story of Edwin Alonzo Boyd, one of Canada’s well-known bank robbing criminals and his group called the Boyd Gang who robbed Toronto banks in 1949. They made headlines for their brazen Hollywood style bank robberies, but they also murdered a Toronto Police Officer while they were on the loose, having escaped from The Don Jail, not once but twice.

These tour previews are part of the free, outdoor events at MOTIVE. It is located on the west lawn at Harbourfront Centre and is open to the general public.