Humanity Above All

We proudly carry the name of Joseph E. Atkinson, the editor and later the publisher and owner of the Toronto Star from 1899 to 1948.  Joseph and his wife Elmina Elliott were principled journalists, political activists, civic leaders, and life-long partners in the fight for justice in Toronto. They were also faithful philanthropists who established the Atkinson Foundation in 1942 to do this work when they no longer could.

Joseph knew poverty before he knew wealth. The Atkinson family was uprooted by labour strife from England’s Cumberland Hills in the 1840s. They were settled on the least arable land, stolen from Indigenous people through colonization, along Lake Ontario among the Mississaugas in the town of Newcastle.

Joe’s father John died when he was an infant, leaving his mother Hannah to raise eight children on her own. She died when Joe was 14. These early experiences of poverty, loss, and hardship set his heart and mind on a vision for a more equal and just society—one in which everyone looks out for each other and a good life is not determined by luck or chance.

Joseph’s personal motto was “humanity above all.” He bequeathed more than the money he made from building the Toronto Star into a successful national media company to his foundation. Successive generations of board and staff members inherited his vision and unshakeable belief that deep systemic and structural societal change is possible.

Read more about the Atkinsons and their times in our graphic novella.

Learn more about the Atkinson Endowment.