Sally Ann's brass band booted from Toronto's Union Station
The Salvation Army's brass band has been shut out of Toronto's Union Station, ending a longstanding and lucrative source of funds.
The city, which owns Union Station, said the band was not welcome this year because of noise complaints from commercial tenants.
The city said Sally Ann "carollers [and] bell ringers" are welcome, but not the band. Henceforth, no one is allowed to play instruments in the busy downtown station.
Andrew Burditt, a spokesman with the Salvation Army, said that in a good season the band would raise upwards of $30,000 to put towards its charitable efforts.
The loss of revenue from the charity's Union Station busking "might mean, for example, that there's not quite as much food at the food banks to go around," Burditt told CBC News.
None of the nearby retailers reached by CBC News would comment except to say that, as far as they knew, their stores weren't behind the complaints or the ban.
The Sally Ann says it will send its volunteer band players elsewhere.
