Toronto Life

Established in November 1966, Toronto Life was purchased by Michael de Pencier in 1972 and held until 2002, when it was sold to St. Joseph Media. The publisher also owns the tourism magazine Where Canada (published in several large cities), Fashion, Wish, Wedding Bells, and several smaller magazines. The current editor-in-chief is Malcolm Johnston, who succeeded long-time editor Sarah Fulford (since 2008) in February 2022. Marq de Villiers was editor-in-chief from 1981 to 1992 and then publisher. John Edward Macfarlane was editor-in-chief from 1992 to 2007. He had previously had the position from 1972 to 1974 and was succeeded by Alexander Ross. Thomas Hedley was editor-in-chief from 1977 to 1978 and Don Obe was editor-in-chief from 1978 to 1981. Peter Herrndorf was the publisher of Toronto Life from 1983 to 1992. In 2015, an article titled "Jennifer Pan’s Revenge: The inside story of a golden child, the killers she hired, and the parents she wanted dead" by Karen K. Ho brought the previously relatively obscure Jennifer Pan murder case to international attention. In October 2018, it was announced that Toronto Life will launch a membership program with access to Toronto Life’s events, as well as special offers from local venues. == Controversies ==

Libel suits Successful In November 1987, Toronto Life published a 50,000-word article on the Reichmanns family written by Elaine Dewar. In January 1988, Paul, Albert and Ralph Reichmann sued Dewar and Toronto Life for $102 million, claiming that the article defamed their family. In 1991, after exhausting the cover of Toronto Life's libel insurance policy, an out-of-court settlement was reached between the parties that saw the article retracted and Toronto Life make “a substantial donation to four charities” designated by the Reichmanns. In its apology, Toronto Life said its article "incorporated many allegations and insinuations about the Reichmann family which ... there was no reasonable basis for" and said it now realized that "none of the allegations and insinuations should ever have been raised." Stephen Trumper, the president of Toronto Life Publishing Co., said “we should have been much more rigorous in that process and more precise in our conclusions,” and that “any and all negative insinuations and allegations in the article... are totally false.” Unsuccessful In April 2015, Canadian entrepreneur Michael Elder, the son of Jim Elder, attempted to sue the magazine to prevent publication of a feature about him. Superior Court dismissed the motion for an injunction and awarded the magazine $17,000 in costs. Unlawful employment practices In March 2014, Toronto Life was required to shut down its unpaid internship program implemented in 2009, after the Ontario Ministry of Labour declared that its longstanding practice of not paying interns was in contravention of the Employment Standards Act. The magazine responded, saying "The idea that we can start paying everybody completely misunderstands the nature of the economics of the magazine industry at the moment." Toronto Life's first (unpaid) intern, Derek Finkle, started with the magazine in 1993. During his internship he wrote a cover story for the magazine for free. He weighed in on the controversy saying that he backs the decision of the Ontario Ministry of Labour. Journalism ethics violations In December 2014, Toronto Star published an investigation stating that in 2013, the magazine dismissed a feature about 15 women Jian Ghomeshi was dating after the protest of his PR team. In January 2018, the magazine was accused of hiding a published negative review of steakhouse BlueBlood from its website. ==References==