MoveIn Status
See our patches page.

Firsthand
Known to many of its residents as “Darkside” or simply “Chester”, Chester Le has experienced a considerable amount of gun violence in its history.¹ Reps from MoveIn visited the neighbourhood and met a number of locals. One man, living in a detached house, says that he likes the area. A lady working at the community center says that things were really bad a decade ago, but have improved a lot in the last few years. Kids playing in the patch remark that they like living here, and point out the local mosque and the community garden which is full of growing vegetables.

The Landscape
Chester Le is bounded on the west by Victoria Park, on the east by Pharmacy, Finch to the south, and McNicoll to the north. It’s a neighbourhood crammed with low-rise buildings, but it also has an eighteen floor apartment tower in the southeast corner. There are three primary kinds of low-rises in the area - detached single homes, private “market rent” townhouses, and government subsidized townhouses. Of particular interest is the latter, the Toronto Community housing townhomes - differentiated by the large signs at their entrances informing passers-by of the video surveillance present in the area to promote safety. A considerable amount of low-cost building material was used in their construction, and when combined with limited property maintenance, it’s not difficult to distinguish this public housing from the private dwellings in the area.

The Chester Le Community Corner is a hub in the area and has been an effective presence to educate and assist residents both young and old, though such means as it’s “Community Coalition”.²

The Chester Le patch includes:

• 132-152 Chester Le Blvd
• 160-172 Chester Le Blvd
• 180-192 Chester Le Blvd
• 260-272,
• 275 Chester Le Blvd
• 51 Morecambe Gate

The People
A large group that lives within Chester Le is Mandarin speaking, however there are a considerable amount of families who are West Indian, Somali, Caribbean, and Afghan.³

In the census strip (approximately half a square kilometer) that contains the Chester Le patch:⁴

• Population in 2006 was 3,747.
• The population density is 8,084 people per square kilometre compared with Toronto’s 866/km² average.
• 53% of adults are married.
• The most populous age group consisted of those 15 to 19 years of age.
• 28% of families are lone-parent families - 86% of those are led by women.
• The 2005 median gross income for all lone parent households was $29,013 (this includes the middle class areas nearby), compared with a median of $39,824 for the rest of Toronto.
• 64% of residents’ mother tongues are something other than English or French.
• Similarly, 64% of the population are immigrants.
• The 2006 unemployment rate was 11.8%, compared with 6.7% in the rest of Toronto.
• 75% of residents work within the immediate area (within the few blocks of the census strip).
• 84% of the population are visible minorities.

The History
Historically this area was predominantly settled by Italians, Greeks, and Portuguese. The community then became home to many Chinese and South Asian families, and Mandarin continues to be a dominant language within the community. Today many new immigrants from Afghanistan and Somalia live here.

The Challenge
Diverse, densely populated, rich in perspective. Chester Le is filled with people from all walks of life. Will you bring Jesus, the light of life, to Chester Le? Will you move in?

Sources:
¹ http://www.rapdict.org/Chester_Le
² http://www.chesterlecc.ca/
³ This is most easily seen on this video from the Community Corner.
⁴ All statistics in the section taken from the Census tract profile for 0376.11 (CT), Toronto (CMA) and Ontario.