Career
Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje relied on Goss′s photograph when researching his novel In the Skin of a Lion about the immigrant and working class experience in early 20th Century Toronto. Ondaatje decided to include Goss as a character in this novel. Following the interest in Goss, following the publication of Ondaatje′s novel, the City of Toronto Archives developed a special lecture and tour, tailored for students, addressing the role of Goss′s photos in Ondaatje"s book
Goss"s duties included providing a visual record of the health and social problems posed by urban poverty.
Scholars have compared Goss"s photographs of urban poverty to those of Jacob A. Riis and Lewis West. Hine. Decades after his death, his work is celebrated, in several books collecting his photographs, and in magazine profiles.