Community Work

Connor Ishiguro Turnbull is a dedicated community advocate who helps communities gain an awareness of their unique stories and the value of making those stories heard.

  • Leaside Matters

    A community-based architectural heritage group that advocates for the thoughtful evolution of the former Town of Leaside, a Garden City-inspired town plan designed by Canada’s first landscape architect Frederick Gage Todd.

    Founder and Co-Chair (2014-present)

    Learn More

  • Canada Ireland Foundation

    Canada Ireland Foundation (formerly Ireland Park Foundation) is a Toronto based cultural foundation that celebrates the story of the Irish in Canada through commemorative parks, cultural events and publications.

    Grasett Park commemorates the health care workers who gave their lives during the typhus epidemic of 1847.

    Board Director (2015-2021), Board Secretary (2016-2018) & Grasett Park Committee Member (2014-2021)

    Learn More

  • Other Community Work

    • City of Toronto, North York Community Preservation Panel (2014-2018)

    • City of Toronto, Laird in Focus Planning Study, Community & Heritage Advisory Groups (2016-2018)

    • City of Toronto, Heritage Survey Technical Expert (panel member 2018)

    • Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (Provincial & Executive Council Member 2017-2018)

    • Headlands Center for the Arts (Site Committee 2014-2018)

Press

Canada Ireland Foundation - Grasett Park

  • Grasett Park - Opening & Dedication, July 16, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzh9zQRODvg (with Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and Irish An Taoiseach, Michael Martin)

  • Bradburn Jamie. “Historic First Responders” Spacing Magazine, v.56, Spring 2021, pp. 40-41 (Toronto, ON)

  • Bozikovic, Alex (Globe and Mail, Architecture Critic). “How Toronto is Celebrating its Irish Connection” The Globe and Mail, March 17, 2021 (Toronto, ON)

  • Bozikovic, Alex (Globe and Mail, Architecture Critic). “New Toronto Park Honours A Front-Line Doctor Who Died in the 1847 Typhus Epidemic” The Globe and Mail, July 16, 2021 (Toronto, ON)

  • The Editorial Board. “Remembering Canada’s Frontline Health Workers, and The Pandemics They Fought Against” The Globe and Mail, July 16, 2021 (Toronto, ON)

  • Gray, Jeff (Queen’s Park Reporter) “Downtown Parkette to Honour Toronto’s Irish History” The Globe and Mail, March 17, 2017 (Toronto, ON)

  • Doyle, John (Television Critic). “A Toronto Park Aims to Honour the Doctor Who Gave Irish Migrants Compassion in A Cruel Summer” The Globe and Mail, June 18, 2017 (Toronto, ON)

Leaside Matters

  • LeBlanc, Dave. “When Toronto’s Upscale Leaside Was A Company Town” The Globe and Mail, May 18, 2018 (Toronto, ON)

  • Kettel, Geoff. “Celebrating Leaside Matters: The Two-Fold Secret Knock” Leaside Life, January 1, 2019.

  • Kettel, Geoff. “Leaside Matters Wins Cultural Heritage Award” Leaside Life, November 1, 2019.

Publications and Presentations

Publications

  • Turnbull, Connor Ishiguro with photos by Vik Pahwa. Hidden Amongst Us: Architectural Portraits of Leaside’s Canada Wire and Cable Company Homes. (Toronto ON: Leaside Matters Publisher, 2018)

  • Turnbull, Connor and Kim Auchinachie, Geoff Kettel. “Cultural Heritage Landscape of Leaside” booklet accompanying Cultural Landscape Foundation Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape Conference and What’s Out There Weekend (Toronto, ON: Leaside Matters publisher, 2016)

  • Turnbull, Connor. “Building Continuity: The Necessity for Contrapuntal Architecture” Master of Architecture Thesis, University of California, Berkeley (2001).

Presentations

  • National Trust for Canada conference concurrent session presenter. Talk titled, “Opportunity Knocks, But What’s The Secret Knock?: Thoughtful Evolution and Retaining Place in Leaside, Toronto” 2018, Fredericksburg, New Brunswick.

  • Co-narrator of “Grasett Park: A Journey Without End” 2017 (Producer Andrea Regan) https://vimeo.com/211483967

  • Neighbourhood representative regarding Laird in Focus Planning Study, City of Toronto Planning Review Panel, 2017. https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/outreach-engagement/toronto-planning-review-panel/

  • Presentation to the City of Toronto, Laird in Focus planning group, talk titled “Leaside: A Town within a City” 2017.

  • Panel Moderator and Producer, LEA Talk “Leaside Architecture: The Path to Modernity” May 3, 2016, Leaside Matters and the Toronto Society of Architects.

  • Interviewee for 2015 show “Leaside”, (produced by Rogers TV Structures Program)

  • Presenter to Canadian Federation of University Women, talk titled “Leaside Matters: A Thoughtful Evolution” (January 2021)

Awards

Canada Ireland Foundation - Grasett Park

  • 2018 Winner, Heritage Toronto Community Heritage Award for Dr. George Robert Grasett Park.

Leaside Matters

  • 2018 Nominee, Heritage Toronto Community Heritage Award for Leaside Matters

  • 2018 Winner, Architectural Conservancy of Ontario Margaret and Nicholas Hill Cultural Heritage Landscape Award for Leaside Matters

  • 2016 Heritage Toronto, Honourable Mention, Short Publication Award for “Cultural Heritage Landscape of Leaside”

Workshops, Exhibits & Walks

Workshops

  • City of Toronto Community Planning, Laird in Focus Planning Study, Local Advisory Committee, 2016-2018.

  • City of Toronto, Laird in Focus Planning Study, Heritage Focus Group, 2017-2018

  • City of Toronto, Laird in Focus Planning Study, Design Charrette focus group, 2017

  • Co-Organizer as representative of Toronto’s North York Community Preservation Panel, “Toronto Cultural Landscapes Forum: From Plan to Action” November 5, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOEMD7aEb6k5w5fLvgyNf8Q/featured

Exhibits

  • “Hidden Amongst Us: Architectural Portraits of Leaside’s Canada Wire and Cable Company Homes”, ArteMbassy Gallery, May 10-13, 2018

  • “Hidden Amongst Us: Architectural Portraits of Leaside’s Canada Wire and Cable Company Homes”, Creeds, June 4-11, 2018

  • LEA exhibit, “Leaside: The Life of a Garden City”, Toronto Public Library, Leaside Matters organizer, 2016. Part of the LEA Talk/Exhibit/Walk

Walks

  • driftscape app, Leaside Heritage walk, narrated by Connor Turnbull, Leaside Matters - ongoing

  • Jane’s Walk, “Laird and the Canada Wire and Cable Company origins of Leaside”, Leaside Matters, May 6, 2018.

  • Janes’ Walk, “Cultural Heritage Landscape of Leaside”, Leaside Matters, May 5, 2017.

  • LEA Walk/Jane’s Walk, “Leaside: A Garden City Revealed”, Leaside Matters organizer, 2016. Part of the LEA Talk/Exhibit/Walk.

  • Cultural Landscape Foundation Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape Conference and What’s Out There Weekend, “Leaside Cultural Heritage Landscape “ May 24, 2015

  • Exhibits

    Hidden Amongst Us, ArteMbassy Gallery

  • Walking Tours

    Jane’s Walk, with Geoff Kettel

  • Promoting Local Awareness

    Shirts and bags designed by Kim Auchinachie, Co-Chair Leaside Matters

  • Networking

    Kathleen Wynne, former Premier of Ontario, and Geoff Kettel, Leaside Residents Associations President

  • Interviews

    Rogers TV, former “Structures” program

  • Presentations

    LEA TALK, Leaside Matters & Toronto Society of Architects

  • Publications

  • Awards

  • Workshops

  • Press

    Spacing Magazine