‘I’m going to do whatever it takes to stay in my home,’ says man fighting Toronto islands act
TORONTO — A man on the verge of losing his longtime family home on one of Toronto’s islands says he plans to try and get provincial legislation changed to allow family members to leave such properties to people other than spouses or children.
Don Sampson said his brother Bruce left him the island home his family has occupied for decades after he died of cancer in May 2017.
But under an unusual set of rules established by the province, Sampson said he’s unable to assume ownership of the house located on Toronto’s Algonquin Island. Those rules, laid out in a provincial statute that’s been in place for the past 25 years, state that specific houses on the island can only be transferred to a spouse or child.