Laura Jones

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Laura Jones followed in the footsteps of her parents who were very active in the peace movement. She attended a Quaker school in the US before moving with her husband, John Phillips, to Toronto in 1967. She had read an article in the “Ladies Home Journal” about Mark Satin and the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme (TADP) prior to immigrating that contained the address of the TADP office. She and John immediately contacted the TADP and volunteered in the TADP office, helping to assemble a new printing of the “Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada”.

She and her husband lived in the original Rochdale College residence (attached to the University of Toronto) and worked for the Company of Young Canadians doing community-organizing. They rented the house at 23 Baldwin Street and opened the Baldwin Gallery of Photography in April 1969. One of the gallery’s activities was a newsletter. Laura used the newsletter to form a “women’s liberation” group that focused on photography. She helped started the Snowflake Child-Parent Center that became the Baldwin Street community’s child-care center. She also worked in community groups in Etobicoke and in the part of downtown Toronto known as Riverdale. The Baldwin Gallery closed after five years in operation but about a year later Laura reopened the gallery on Baldwin Street. Laura continues to work with community organizations and served for a time as a school board trustee.

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