User:MARIUS FREDERICK/sandbox/ Marius Frederick

Marius Frederick

Marius Frederick, born January 1962

in St. Georges, Grenada, Caribbean, and moved to Canada at the age of 10 with his mother, where he grew up in midtown Toronto. He is the founder of a walking tour company (Toronto Underground City Tours) mainly involved with inbound tourism promoting the underground city, as featured on CBC News. He is currently, a GO Transit Bus driver.

E ducation Seneca College Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- 1990 to 1993 -- Business Administration.

Career Frederick began his career as a bus drive at the Mississauga Delta Meadowvale Resort and Conference Centre (then called the Delta Meadowvale Inn) in 1986, and worked for Vaughan Transit (now YRT/VIVA) for three (3) years, before moving on to GO Transit. He was also Assistant Manager of the beautiful Art Deco Eglinton Theatre in Toronto in the 1990s, after previously working at the University Theatre, also in Toronto. In 1994 Marius Frederick campaigned for Mayor of the City of Markham against Don Cousens & Frank Scarpitti.

His first introduction to politics and politicians was in 1981 when he met Pierre Elliott Trudeau at the Canadian premiere of Quest for Fire at the University Theatre.

Later, at the Delta Meadowvale Inn in 1987, he met Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, at which time he was impressed by her down-to-earth charm, as well as her handling of the Mississauga train derailment crisis. Frederick’s political views are largely centrist. He is pro-life regarding abortion, believing that everyone is responsible for his or her own actions. He is a stong adherent to Trudeau’s position that there is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. In 1996, Frederick expressed opposition to gender discrimination in the Ontario legal system to an Ontario governement Standing Committee on the Administration of Justice: http://www.ontla.on.ca/hansard/committee_debates/36_parl/session1/justice/j046.htm.

He supports gay rights, racial, ethnic, and gender equality, universal health care, regional development programs, and tax breaks for families.

Frederick does not support Canadian troops being deployed in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, or other Middle East conflicts, believing that Canadians should take care of their own citizens and domestic issues at home, before going abroad.

Advocating a self-defence military force, Frederick joined the Canada's Reserve Army 25 Service Battalion as a Private, and later accompanied his Unit to Camp Fort Drum in the United States, where he was disheartened when the US Army refered to his Unit as “the walking museum”.

Community Involvement On January 7, 2000, a passenger on the Vaughan Transit bus operated by Frederick was conducing himself in a disorderly manner and using profane and obscene language. Frederick found this person to be posing a danger to the bus and the rest of the people in his care. In a calm manner, and with wise discretion, he avoided a more serious incident when he pulled his bus over to the side of the road, and asked the offending passenger to leave. Upon exiting the vehcle, the individual physically assaulted Frederick   Thanks to Frederick’s actions, York Regional Police were able to apprehend this person shortlly thereafter, and later advised that the passenger was a fugitive who had escaped lawful custody from Police in Toronto.

As a GO Transit Bus driver, Frederick received an Award of Recognition in 2004 for assisting a person in distress. He came upon a young man lying in a rural roadside ditch early one winter morning, and immediately stopped his bus, called for help, and administered first aid. The Halton Regional Police later confirmed that Frederick’s quick actions saved the young man's life (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2004/08/c2416.html ). In 1992 Frederick became a member of the Seneca College Women's Safety String Committee, to address his concerns with respect to personal safety for the student population, especially women, visible minorities, and students with disabilities. As a result of his work along with the other Mmembers of the Committee, significant changes to policies and programs at the College were implemented. In July of 1991, Fredrick was a volunteer in the search for a missing child in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. Frederick went above and beyond the call of duty by arranging for refreshments, washrooms facilities, and other necessities for the rest of volunteers and Police. He followed this up with a series of recommendations regarding civilian searches and, as a direct result, a new Missing Person’s Procedure for Police Officers was implemented, which continues to be in use today by Toronto Police and other services.

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