CALL ME TRUE
CALL ME TRUE
A Biography of True Davidson
ELEANOR DARKE
NATURAL HERITAGE/NATURAL HISTORY INC.
Copyright © 1997 Eleanor Darke
All rights reserved. No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher.
Published by Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc.
P.O. Box 95, Station O, Toronto, Ontario M4A 2M8
First Edition
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Darke, Eleanor
Call Me True
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-896219-34-9
1. Davidson, True, 1901–1978. 2. Women Politicians -
Ontario - East York-Biography. 3. Politicians - Ontario -
East York-Biography. 4. East York (Ont.) - Biography.
I. Title.
FC3099.E36Z49 1997 971.3'54104'092 C97-931447-X
F1059.5.E23D37 1997
Cover and book design by Norton Hamill Design
Cover photo Circa 1970. Ashley and Crippen Back cover photo of True Davidson, 1922, Strasbourg, Saskatchewan, where she later recalled that she “taught English, History, Science and Art in all collegiate grades and was principal of a 3-room High School and a 5-room Public School.” She was then 21 years old. Courtesy David Cobden.
Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc. acknowledges the support received for its publishing program from the Canada Council Block Grant Program. We also acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of the Association for the Export of Canadian Books, Ottawa.
PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA BY HIGNELL PRINTING, WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
CONTENTS
3 A Struggling Writer 1930–1931
4 Working for Perkins Bull 1931–1938
5 Tragedy and the Streetsville Years 1938–1947
6 Beginning a New Life in East York 1947–1958
7 The Ghost and Miss Davidson 1958–1962
8 Metro Council and the Fight Against Amalgamation 1962–1966
10 Mayor of East York 1967–1969
11 The Grandmother of East York 1969–1972
12 An Elder of the Tribe 1972–1978
CALL ME TRUE
INTRODUCTION
“Just call me True,” she’d say when being introduced. She didn’t like being called “Miss Davidson”; despised “Ms”; and, much as she gloried in her position as Mayor of East York, was politically astute enough to avoid the over-use of her title. Throughout her political career, she used the name “True” to define her character, policies and beliefs. But what can we “truly” say about True? In 1968, she told a reporter that “life in politics is like living in a goldfish bowl and the refractions mask what you really are. You have to let people think as they like and you go ahead and be as you are. If you have great luck and good friends you are successful. My life is an open book and sometimes I think it’s a cartoon.”1 Her opponents would laugh at the supposed passivity of this statement, arguing that True never missed an opportunity to use the media to present her own image of herself. If she was a goldfish, she was one with a doctorate in the control of refractions. She told the same stories of her life repeatedly, carefully revealing only what she wanted while ensuring that the reporter got enough material not to feel the need to dig for more. She was content to be painted as a cartoon. It was politically effective and ensured some personal privacy. Cartoons, after all, communicate their message simply and clearly and are more quickly understood than a fully detailed drawing.
True was a complex personality; frequently contradictory in her opinions; changing opinions (and her vote) repeatedly on many issues. She could be irascible, demanding, opinionated and caustic, yet she was often kindly and she was always dedicated and deeply devoted to the people of “her” municipality. I hope that the reader of this book will find in it a more fully-fleshed True than the cartoon she projected to the newspapers, although I doubt whether anyone could capture all of her variations.
As she told Star reporter, Brian Swarbrick, in 1971, “There are various aspects of truth. What seems true when reviewing one aspect may not necessarily be true when considering another ...”2
This book and my search for the “true True” would never have happened without help from a long list of people. I never would have begun it without the encouragement and support of John Ridout, Chair of the East York Historical Society and of my publisher, Barry Penhale, of Natural Heritage Books. True would have approved of John and Barry’s efforts; as she told the Barrie Kiwanis Club in 1928, “anyone who did anything to promote Canadian literature was doing a service to his country.”3
The staff at Victoria College and the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library were very helpful. Special thanks are due to the staff of the Archives and Special Collections section of the York University Archives who helped me work through the large collection of True’s papers that were donated to them after her death. True was a pack-rat who didn’t believe in wasting paper, frequently reusing the back of older documents and writings. Their patience and encouragement as I tried to sort out what was written when was very helpful. Since I did the research for this book while holding a full-time job, I am particularly appreciative of their willingness to try and work around my days off.
The written sources gave me the majority of the dates and events of her