How Rathnelly in Toronto tried to become the world’s smallest republic

When you think of the world’s smallest country, the Vatican should come to mind. But in a little corner of Toronto, residents in the Rathnelly neighbourhood thought about trying to beat it out.

A campaign launched in the 1960s called for the area, which is roughly bounded by Avenue Road, the rail tracks north of Dupont Street, Poplar Plains Road and Poplar Plains Crescent, to become a republic. It was driven in part by jest, but it also had serious purposes behind it.

CityNews spoke with Pym Buitenhuis, the co-president of the Rathnelly Area Residents Association and the neighbourhood’s unofficial archivist, to learn more about the area’s history of activism and community spirit.

The neighbourhood dates back to the late-1800s. Sir William McMaster, a senator and a founder of CIBC, built his home here. He named the area Rathnelly after where he was from in Ireland.

“There was a lot of development up into the [1920s] and it, by all accounts, was very community-minded even back then,” Buitenhuis said, adding an archway was even built to welcome home soldiers returning from the First World War.

Fast-forward to the 1960s when City of Toronto officials became big on expressway development. During the decade, there was a push to build an east-west Crosstown Expressway (roughly along where Dupont Street is) and the Spadina Expressway to the west is what initially brought residents together.

“Basically we would have been an off-ramp for essentially the Gardiner Expressway in midtown and so nobody wanted to live by a raised expressway,” Buitenhuis said.

“Every single person in the neighbourhood came together and protested with the likes of Jane Jacobs and Marshall McLuhan and thousands of people, citizens action, went to really try and kill this expressway activity.

“It was huge. I was a little kid then. We all had pins. We marched off to the downtown.”

At around the same time, a small park beside the High Level Pumping Station kept exclusively for City of Toronto workers became a tipping point.

“You got 250 houses here who don’t have access to green space. We broke through the gates and took over the park,” Buitenhuis said.

“[We] sent a very funny letter to Pierre Trudeau, the then-prime minister, saying we’re going to declare war against Canada if they don’t let us have access to this park.”

She said the neighbours actually received a response from the prime minister’s office.

“‘Please don’t launch a war against Canada, because we will surely lose because your hearts are pure.’ It’s a fantastic letter. I can’t imagine a politician wanting to say something like that,” Buitenhuis said while laughing.

Buitenhaus said a push to secede from Canada was born, calling the campaign, “A very funky, funny, hysterical campaign to drum up attention to what the impact of these major decisions the City was making.”

They even went so far as naming a queen, drafting a constitution, writing an anthem called Rathnelly the Brave, and developing a coat of arms.

Toronto–St. Paul’s Coun. Josh Matlow described the extent of the campaign for independence.

“There were passports handed out to the neighbours. There was an air force put together by kids on bikes. There have been across Avenue Road tugs-of-war with the adjacent neighbourhood,” he said.

“There is a real culture of creativity, playfulness and rebellion that really brings the community together.”

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Rathnelly is obviously still part of Canada, but it all sparked something special for decades to come. Buitenhaus and Matlow both talked about Rathnelly Avenue is briefly shut down every couple of years and filled with dining tables for a big meal followed by dancing.

“We had all these festivals, all these celebrations. It was a very, very lovely place to grow up and people really, really took care of each other and that is carried on to this day,” Buitenhuis said..

The history of these residents also remains preserved in the neighbourhood. Using development money given to the city, Matlow went to Toronto city council to get street signs recognizing the republic and its residents.

“They’re proud Canadians, but they’re very proud to be citizens of the Republic of Rathnelly because that defines their sense of character, their sense of identity, and their sense of being a tight-knit community, and that’s really, really comes down to,” he explained.

Aileen Robertson, who was known as the first Queen of Rathnelly, has a laneway named after her. The street signs installed after Matlow’s motion even have six martini glasses as a nod to Robertson.

“She was a great, great, great human being and stood up for the republic long, long after she needed to she was incredible and she would come out at every community event,” Buitenhuis said.

All the laneways here are named after people, events and actions of the republic.

“Robin Fraser wrote the constitution. Michael Snow was a fantastic artist,” Buitenhuis said.

“Stop Spadina Lane memorializes the efforts to stop the Spadina Expressway and then Rebellion Lane … is really just trying to kind of embed this idea that to get what you need, you have to fight.”

The deep connection to activism continues to this day. Buitenhuis is one of many focused on an idea to bring Avenue Road back in time.

“It was once full of trees, it was two lanes, and there were just trees and lawns and it was one of the most beautiful streets in the ’50s. They tore it all down and made a six-lane highway, basically it is a de facto Spadina expressway,” she said, adding they’re working with a local architect to advocate for a better solution.

“It’s awful. The sidewalks are very narrow. The salt sprays up from the street. It’s dangerous even crossing the road cyclists regularly get hit. Pedestrians get hit. It’s so unpleasant to have a road like that in a city like this.”

They are also fighting back against large-scale developments in the area, something that tracing back to the roots of the Rathnelly Ratepayers Association which was formed amid an attempt to expropriate half a block for a supermarket and a parking lot.

“We’re not against the idea of development just make it at the right scale … if you start loading it up with people who have no connection to the area, it’s going to be much harder to sustain a sense of community,” Buitenhuis said.

“We do want to point out that people have a right to voice and that fight continues to fight to make Avenue Road better, to fight to make sustainable development around here. So we’re not overshadowed by huge development is a fight we’ll continue until we’re no longer walking on this planet.

Buitenhaus, whose zeal for the neighbourhood is almost infectious, said the community still is a great place to live and has been throughout the decades.

“I kind of want to be taken out of here in a box. I don’t want to leave. It’s a great, great place to live,” she said.

Matlow, who said the neighbourhood continues to have a playful and creative identity, hopes things will continue on for years to come.

“Long live the republic and long live Canada,” he said.

“We don’t have border restrictions. We welcome everyone in Toronto and in Canada to visit us, to play in our parks, to join us in our celebrations. But we also expect that the Government of Canada will continue supporting our efforts to provide a great quality of life for our citizens.”

With files from Meredith Bond