Toronto Life – December 2018

photographs: tagaq by

thomas van der zaag;

thomson by

getty images;

doctoroff by

erin leydon;

others courtesy of subjects

74 toronto life December 2018

most years, Tagaq sells out concert

halls. This year, she packed libraries and

bookstores. In September, the Polaris-

winning throat singer published her debut

novel, Split Tooth, a semi-autobiographical

coming-of-age story set in 1970s Nunavut.

Every bit as entrancing and carnal as

Tagaq’s music, it earned a spot on the

Giller long list before it hit shelves and

spawned a cross-country promo tour.

She has long been the North’s emissary

to Toronto, shaping how the city thinks

about Canada’s Indigenous people by

shattering musical conventions, waging

Twitter wars about colonialism and

unapologetically sporting seal skin. This

past fall, however, when CBS aired a

60 Minutes special about her career, her

homegrown fame morphed into interna-

tional stardom. up next: Throat, a National

Film Board documentary about Tagaq,

will premiere in winter 2020.

press shy, socially awkward and

unfathomably loaded, the 3rd Baron Thom-

son of Fleet proved again in 2018 that bil-

lionaires needn’t be loud to be effective.

Through the family’s Woodbridge Com-

pany and his personal enterprise, Osming-

ton, Canada’s richest man controls financial

information (Thomson Reuters), media

(the Globe and Mail), sports (the Winnipeg

Jets), real estate (proposed megamall sites

in Brampton and Barrie) and art (the

world’s largest collection of works by John

Constable). Thomson is also dropping

roughly $125 million on a 10-storey technol-

ogy centre in the Entertainment District

that will employ 1,500. up next: When the

long-running facelift of Union Station

wraps up, it will become as much a tourist

destination as a waypoint, with open, airy

and modern architecture and swishy shops

and restaurants.

19

Tanya Tagaq

Musician

20

David Thomson

chairMan,

The Woodbridge coMpany

On the Waterfront

wavemakers

The people shaping

the future of the

lakeshore

Dan Doctoroff

CEO, Sidewalk Labs

The former deputy mayor of N.Y.C.

under Bloomberg, Doctoroff is a power-

ful, persuasive speaker with a compel-

ling pitch. He started Sidewalk Labs, an

Alphabet company, with the vision of

building a community from the internet

up. Now he’s got his chance.

Helen Burstyn

Chair, Waterfront Toronto

Burstyn has long-standing connection

in business, academia, the arts, phi-

lanthropy and government. In short,

she’s the ideal person to chair one

of the most important boards in the

city. Doctoroff’s grand plans will

need her support.

Bianca Wylie

Co-founder, Tech Reset Canada

Wylie has emerged as the leading

critic of Sidewalk’s plans. An open-

data advocate with experience in tech

(Thomson Reuters) and a zeal for civic

engagement, she’s pressured Sidewalk

to increase transparency and explain

exactly how public data will be used.

Meg Davis

Chief development officer,

Waterfront Toronto

Waterfront’s CDO—and the daughter

of former premier Bill Davis—has

been with the organization for 11 years.

A one-time director with KPMG, she

makes things go, but generally eschews

the spotlight.

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