York Lanes ad connected to Vanier rapist removed

Antonella Cangelosi
Staff Writer
Advertisements for a Toronto environmental group have been promptly taken down due to their associations with convicted Vanier rapist Daniel Katsnelson.
Banners in York Lanes advertising Live Green Toronto, an environmental sustainability group, were taken down by the York University Development Corporation (YUDC) Jan. 10 after members of the York Federation of Students (YFS) made apparent the corporation’s association with Daniel Katsnelson who, along with Justin Conort, raped two undergraduate students in Vanier College in 2007. He was charged with two counts of sexual assault, pleaded guilty in January 2010 and is now serving an eight-year sentence in prison.

The YFS raised the issue with York after they heard concerns from a York student.
“[The administration] seemed very surprised. No one really knew about the ad or the connotations,” said Vanessa Hunt, v-p campus life of the YFS. “They said they would talk to YUDC […] from the reaction that I saw from admin, it didn’t seem they were going to be quick.”
Hunt said adding pressure on York administration seems to have helped; an email exchange shows members of the YFS and members of the administration and YUDC, who manage York Lanes, discussing the offensive nature of the advertisements.
“We became aware of an offensive nature to the origin of the company,” said Bud Purves, president of the YUDC. “Immediately upon finding that out, we took steps to remove the banner. We weren’t aware of it when the city first approached us. It certainly was shocking for us to find out.”
Daniel Katsnelson – who worked under the alias “Daniel Kaye” – co-founded the environ- mental company Go Go Green, later renamed Responsible Business Group (RBG), after being placed under house arrest. His bail conditions permitted him to continue conducting business.
In 2009, Katsnelson’s then employer RBG entered into a five-year contract with the City of Toronto.
Katsnelson’s involvement with the company was made public in 2009 when he was photographed with Toronto’s then-mayor David Miller at a gathering to promote the Live Green membership card, a program that rewards Torontonians who shop at environmentally friendly stores. The photo was uploaded to the former mayor’s Twitpic page.
According to Lawson Oates, director of the Toronto Environment Office, Katsnelson was an employee of RBG, which was contracted to assist the City of Toronto in developing the green loyalty card program.
“When the city became aware of the charges against him and his real name, it proceeded to terminate its contract with RBG,” said Oates in an email addressed to Excalibur. “The City has no further business with RBG, including Mr. Katsnelson.”
Though Katsnelson himself no longer has ties to RBG – the company is now registered to his mother Svetlana Fishbein, accord- ing to CTV – many members of the York community displayed shock at the association of the advertisements.
David Sidhu, a third-year physiology student, feels removing the ads was the best thing to do, especially since the association with Katsnelson hits far too close to home.
“It caused a lot of people trauma, especially for people on residence,” he said. “They should have taken it down anyway, out of respect for the people that actually got attacked.”
Hunt says she has alerted other Toronto universities to be wary of Live Green advertisements on their campuses.
“We did get in contact with [University of Toronto, Ryerson] to let them know the story behind them and to keep an eye out for those banners,” she said.