1981 Bathhouse Raids — Richmond Street Site

250 Richmond Street West was the address of the Richmond Street Health Emporium, one of four Toronto bathhouses raided by police on 5 February 1981 in what became known as Operation Soap. Around 300 men were charged as "found-ins" or "keepers" of a common bawdy-house, the largest mass arrest in Canada at the time. The next night, about 3,000 people marched from Yonge and Wellesley to 52 Division police station, and later protests that year fed into what became Toronto Pride. Most charges were eventually dropped or dismissed. In 2016 Toronto's police chief formally apologised for the raids. Nothing at the site marks the history today.