DNA technology cracks two Toronto 1983 cold cases + Ford’s plan to add this town to the Greenbelt raises questions

Good morning. This is the Tuesday, Nov. 29 edition of First Up, the Star’s daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier each day, in your inbox.

Here’s the latest on an arrest in two cold cases from 1983, the puzzling decision to add a town into the Greenbelt and urgency around flu vaccination.

DON’T MISS:

Joseph George Sutherland has been arrested for the 1983 Toronto killings of Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice

Police admitted they had “no suspect at all” after the 1983 sexual assault and murder of Susan Tice, a 45-year-old mother and social worker. Four months later, the same was true when 22-year-old aspiring designer Erin Gilmour suffered the same grim fate. Now, thanks to DNA technology, police have finally identified a suspect for both cases: 60-year-old Joseph George Sutherland, who lives in a remote community far from where the Toronto murders took place. Wendy Gillis and Jennifer Pagliaro break down how genetic genealogy cracked the cold cases.

Doug Ford’s plan to suddenly add this small town to the Greenbelt puzzles critics and residents

When the provincial government announced the controversial decision to open up 7,400 acres of Greenbelt land for housing development, it also pledged to introduce 9,400 other acres into the Greenbelt in a land swap. Most of that land is part of Erin, a small farming town west of Caledon, where critics and town staff are now questioning: why this land? Due to existing municipal protections for farmland in the area, town staff said its addition to the Greenbelt is “unnecessary.” Noor Javed reports on the questions being raised around what critics say has been a decision with little consultation or scientific rationale.

Flu vaccine uptake is “stubbornly low” as older Canadians miss targets

Across Canada each year, influenza is the cause of approximately 175,000 emergency department visits, 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths. Already one of the country’s leading causes of death, influenza poses a greater threat to the health of Canadians this year as the health system faces a “triple threat” of the flu, COVID and RSV. Still, vaccination rates for older adults for the past two flu seasons have only reached about 70 per cent — 10 percentage points lower than the Public Health Agency of Canada’s goal. Alessia Passafiume reports on the risk Canadians face at this moment in time and what steps advocates say would increase uptake.

WHAT ELSE:

POV:

What would have happened if Rob Ford had “strong mayor” powers?

CLOSE-UP:

THE ARCTIC: The back of this photo — one in a collection that belonged to a man descended from British fisherfolk that lived among the Inuit — reads: “The author’s jolly companions at the floe: Pumook, David Ford, Kooshhoak and Tommy Bluce.” Now, the photo belongs to a Port Hope woman who shares how she came to own a collection of Inuit art and artifacts and why she wants to put it back into Inuit hands.

Thank you for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca

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