The Toronto Clarion was an alternative newspaper published in Toronto from 1976 to 1985. The group of people who founded the paper originally constituted themselves as Western Gap Communications Cooperative Ltd. (named after the gap between Toronto Island and the mainland which lay at the foot of Bathurst Street, a few blocks from the Clarion’s office). Later the business name was changed to Toronto Clarion Publishing Ltd.

A tabloid-sized newspaper, The Clarion orginally published every two weeks; from 1980 on it came out once a month. Billing itself as an independent progressive paper, the Clarion announced when it launched that it would “give an insight into news the three major dailies in the city either gloss over, distort or completely ignore”.

Feature articles ranged from social topics such as local feminist activities, rent control, city planning, and food cooperatives, to issues such as unionization, boycotts, and censorship. Entertainment items such as restaurant and music reviews also appeared regularly.

The Clarion was sold for 10 cents initially, and distributed primarily through its street newspaper boxes. It was supported by Clarion Typesetting, subscribers, donors, fundraising events, and advertising. Important decisions were made by a majority vote of the members of the cooperative.

Writers, editors, cartoonists, typesetters and photographers who worked for the Toronto Clarion include:
Gene Allen, Marilyn Burnett, Buzz Burza, Tom Corbett, Ulli Diemer, Gerry Dunn, Diana Fancher, Elaine Farragher, Francis Fuca, Ann Hanson, Carolyn Kendrick, David Kidd, Tom McLaughlin, Alan Meisner, Fred Mooney, Marg Anne Morrison, Norman Rogers, Oscar Rogers, Virginia Smith, Carl Stieren, Rhonda Sussman, Sue Vohanka, Tom Walkom, Paul Weinberg, Ted Whittaker, Ken Wyman.

The Connexions Archive has 104 individual copies of the Clarion, which have all been scanned and can be accessed as PDFs (see below). We would welcome donations of missing issues to complete the collection. Contact us here

Related reading:
The Clarion: Toronto’s new community paper
Toronto Clarion Wikipedia article