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(updated June 2009)

District 60 was born on July 1st, 1958.  It had its beginnings back in May 1952.  That month, two new Canadian clubs – St. Catharine's Club and a few weeks later, Hamilton #1 Club – chartered and were placed in District 28.  These two clubs would become the oldest clubs when District 60 was formed.  Less than two months after their charter, the two Canadian Clubs found themselves in a new District, District 34 which had split off of District 28.

Over the next four years more clubs formed in and around the golden horseshoe until finally in 1956 a group of Canadian Toastmasters from the then District 34, an upper New York State district, decided to try for an all-Canadian district.  Their efforts paid off in 1957 when two groups of Canadian Clubs were spun off from District 34 and granted Provisional District status with the numbers 60-P and 61-P.  A year later, Toastmasters International granted full-fledged District status to the two Provisional Districts. District 60 had been born. 

Previously, in 1954, District 34 had spun off District 46.  Subsequently, in 1961, it spun off District 65.  District 34 finally disbanded in 1973, dividing its then 34 clubs between District 53 (15 clubs), District 61 (4 clubs) and District 65 (15 clubs).  The clubs from District 34, which became the original District 60-P were:

St. Catherines (1102-86) now Garden City St. Thomas (2049-60) dissolved

Hamilton #1 (1114-86)   Willowdale (2088-60) dissolved

Toronto #1 (1289-60)   Oakville (2245-86)

Port Credit (1474-86)   Podium (2303-60)

Broadview (1569-60) dissolved  Brampton (2347-86)

Ambitious City (1586-86)   Oshawa (2398-60)

Gavel & Glass (1693-60)   Kitchener-Waterloo (2432-86)

Beaver (1744-60) now Toronto Downtown Scarborough (2580-60) dissolved

Growth in the early years was modest.  In July 1963 the District grew in size when clubs in Sudbury, North Bay, Elliot Lake and New Liskeard were transferred from District 35 (based in Wisconsin) to District 60.  The growth in District clubs rapidly accelerated as we entered the 21st century, doubling the number of clubs in six years. At its largest, District 60 had 347 active clubs and served Toastmasters in Metropolitan Toronto, Eastern Ontario to west of Kingston, Southwestern Ontario to west of London, Central & Northern Ontario to Elliot Lake, Sudbury, Timmins and the Niagara Peninsula.  On Feb. 18, 2007, the Board of Directors approved a recommendation to reform (split) the district into two smaller districts effective July 1, 2008, fifty years after the birth of the current district.  As of July 1, 2008, District 60 and the new District 86 operated as two separate districts.

District 60 now serves over 3500 Toastmasters in the cities, counties and regional municipalities in the province of Ontario of Toronto, Durham, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough, Northumberland, Hastings, Lennox and Addington, and Prince Edward.

District 60 has had the pleasure of hosting four different International Conventions, each time in Toronto, in 1967, 1977, 1993 and 2005.  Only two other districts/cities in Canada have hosted the International Convention.  They are District 42 in Calgary in 1971 and 2008, and District 21 in Vancouver in 1978.

We have produced thirteen International Directors, although one of them was nominated from District 40 due to relocation.  She was a District 60 Toastmaster, serving as a District Governor in District 60 before moving to District 40.

District 60 has become one of the strongest Districts in Toastmasters International.  We have achieved Distinguished District status or better 26 times, including President's Distinguished for four straight years, placing in the top 3 in the world from 2002-03 to 2005-06.

Three members from District 60 have become Accredited Speakers, Kai Rambow, DTM, earned this designation in 1998 and became the 45th person to receive this award. Denise Marek, ATM-G, CL, earned this designation in 2001 and became the 49th person to receive the award.  Ross MacKay, DTM, earned this designation in 2007 and became the 58th person to receive the award.  The Accredited Speakers program is designed to recognize those Toastmasters who have attained a professional level of excellence in public speaking (less than one-fourth of those who have applied for the program have qualified).

Our members have competed at the World Championship of Public Speaking at least ten times, bringing home the gold twice as follows:

1960 Glen Carrol (World Champion - first Canadian to win)

1963 Jack Punter

1978 Denis Rowledge

1979 Doug McCarthy

1983 Arabella Bengson

1984 John Roberts

1985 Bill Chadwick

1986 Arabella Bengson (World Champion)

1987 Doug McCarthy

1988 Bill Chadwick

1990 Richard Maraj

1995 Ross MacKay (third place)

2004 Rob Nickel

Some of our members who have received Presidential Citations include Dr. Thomas Francis, Frank Hurst in 1977, Doug Barclay in 1981, Peter Crabtree in 1988, George Keenan in 1988, Vince DaCosta in 1992, Henry (Hank) O'Shea in 1993, Ralph Williamson in 1996, Kai Rambow in 1998, Harold Usher in 2000, Brian Robinson in 2005 and Kathleen Wong in 2007.

We have been honoured with presidential visits on several occasions, including Eric Stuhlmueller in 1979, John Latin in 1984-85, A. Edward Bick in 1990-91, Ian Edwards in 1995-96, and Ted Corcoran in 2003-2004.

An exciting accomplishment of District 60 was to have the District Newsletter, "Spirit of 60", selected as a Top 5 District Newsletter in the world. The Award was won by editor Yvonne Morgan, ACB, in 2006-2007 and by editor Rosemary Brykopac in 2004-2005.  Previously editor Jo Ann Woodhall, CTM, won a Top 10 District Newsletter Award in 1993-1994. 

District Conferences have grown from 30-40 people in the late fifties and early sixties to over 700 people in 2006.  District Executive meetings in those early years consisted of four to six people gathered together in someone's home to set goals, prepare budgets and make plans.  Before the reformation, District 60 had Executive meetings with more than 80 members including Area Governors and Division Governors, and other support staff. These meetings will have more than 50 members following the reformation (split.)

A history of District 60 would not be complete without mentioning George Keenan.  George was a very dedicated Toastmaster who served the organization and the District for many years, particularly as Parliamentarian and Credentials Chairman, and as a District Governor in 1984-85.  He was one of the most recognized Toastmasters in District 60.  In 1995, to commemorate his 80th birthday and his 35th year in Toastmasters, his wife Judy, in coordination with the District, established an award in his name.  It is to be given yearly to an active Toastmaster who continues to serve and promote Toastmasters within the District and externally.  The first recipient of this award was George Keenan himself in 1995, followed by Harold Usher in 1996, Vince DaCosta in 1997, Bob Porter in 1998, Doug Barclay in 1999, Ralph Williamson in 2000, Pauline Duncan-Thrasher in 2001, Raghbir Dhillon in 2002, Heather Loveridge in 2003, Kai Rambow in 2004, Michiel Bagchus in 2005, Eric Matto in 2006, Judy Suke in 2007, Bill Bienia in 2008 and David Chilvers in 2009.

Originally compiled by Harold Usher with contributions from:  Laurie Erwin, George Keenan & Doug Barclay.  Additional updates by Heather Loveridge, Joan Binetti, John Rich, Kathleen Wong, John MacDonald, Bill Bienia, Brian Robinson, Michiel Bagchus, David T. Shaw  and Randie Jacobs