About the background:
The word collage used as a background for our new website is composed of words residents used to describe our Co-op in ONE word!
The larger the word the more often that word was used to describe Windward Co-op.

Photos courtesy of:
Ann Kennedy and Jean Eng

Twenty years ago the first residents moved into Windward Cooperative Homes situated at 34 Little Norway Crescent.

Planning for this co-op began soon after 1981 when The Harbroufront Corporation proposed that a co-op to be built on the west side of Bathurst Quay Park (now Little Norway Park). Lantana, a nonprofit housing resource group that had experience with church sponsored housing and facilities for people with disabilities, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, The Bathurst Co-ops Neighbourhood Committee of local citizens, an architect and a contractor came forward. Shirley Forde, who still lives at Windward, served on the planning committee addressing such considerations as soil contamination, schools, recreation, transportation, parking, and lighting.

Windward is the first fully-accessible co-op in Toronto. The facilities accommodate people with or without disabilities. people of all ages, incomes and ethnic backgrounds who live as a self-governing community.

Before the residence was completed, members including Shirley Forde and Derek and Patty Smith went about town interviewing applicants. Cornelia Persich was one of the interviewees. She remembers the repeated delays, packing and than unpacking until she moved on January 1, '87. Derek and Patty Smith and their sons age 8 and 12 delivered their furniture on December l, 1986 but had to live in temporary quarters until January. "It was like moving into a resort," Patty said. "Our balcony looked out to the lake." Most of the early residents mention the noise and confusion caused by so many construction workers. Lena DiCarlo's bathroom flooded and she lived out of boxes for three months. Elina Carvillo, a widow, and her two daughters moved into Windward on a snowy New Year's Day, 1987. She had come to Canada from Chile as a political refugee in 1975. "We could go to Italy, Sweden, Israel or Canada. I told my husband, I chose Canada. Amnesty International arranged everything." Later, after her husband died, one of the architects suggested Windward. "There was no water or electricity. No panic," she said smiling. "I had to go to Arcadia (Co-op) for water. I am happy here. I have everything, like people, good transportation."

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