Firsthand
Following a recent homicide in the area, police reported that “residents of the building were ‘lining up’ to assist police with their investigation”. The detective assigned to the case went on to say that she had “never seen anything like that in [her] career”. ¹

The Landscape
The Flemingdon Park DVP patch occurs on the east side of the Don Valley Parkway, and includes all of the buildings that radiate off of Linkwood Lane - which runs parallel to the DVP. This includes the high-rises on the Pavane Linkway and Vicora Linkway in the south, Edgecliff Golfway in the north - in addition to the condos at Windy Golf Way in-between. There are no community or commercial buildings in this patch - it consists entirely of greenspace and residential space, and is separated physically from the rest of the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood by the Don Valley Parkway and the Don Valley ravine. The northern sections of this patch are bounded on the north, east, and west by the Flemingdon Park Golf Club.

The wider Flemingdon Park neighbourhood, located in the former city of North York, has an abundance of parkland including centrally located sports fields. The community is bounded by ravines on three sides—unfortunately this cuts them off from surrounding neighbourhoods. More than half of the households don’t own a car in this densely populated area. Due to poor planning, it is not convenient to walk in this community because it is broken by a hydro zone, ravines, the Don Valley Parkway and erratic street layouts. A frustrating intersection at Don Mills Road and Overlea Boulevard makes it difficult for pedestrians coming from Flemingdon Park to access the community’s high school and middle schools. ²

The People
In the census strip that is most closely aligned to Flemingdon DVP: ³

• The population in 2006 was 6,896.
• The population density is 5,479 people per square kilometre compared with Toronto’s 866/km2 average.
• 71% of couples are married.
• 23% of families are lone-parent families - 93% of those are led by women.
• The 2005 median income for all private households was $48,522 (this includes the middle class area), compared with a median of $64,128 for the rest of Toronto.
• 67% of residents’ mother tongues are something other than English or French.
• 64% of the population are immigrants.
• 54% of residents over age 15 have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree.
• The 2006 unemployment rate was 9.0%, compared with 6.7% in the rest of Toronto.
• 70% of the population are visible minorities - the largest group is South Asian, followed by Black.

In the wider Flemingdon Park neighbourhood: ⁴

• In 2006, 22% of the population was age 14 or under, compared with the Toronto average of 16%.
• The top five languages spoken (in order): Chinese, Urdu, Tamil, Persian (Farsi), and Gujarati.
• Following a housing expansion in the community in 2000, the percentage of the population below the poverty line dropped from 47% (in 1996) to 36% (in 2001).
• In 2006, 37% of economic families in this neighbourhood had low, before-tax incomes.

The History
The Flemingdon Park neighbourhood is built on farmland formerly owned by R.J. Fleming, who was mayor of Toronto in the late 1800s. Flemingdon Park was Canada’s first completely planned “apartment city.” It was modeled after similar projects in Europe and Scandinavia and was created to make room for the wave of immigrants coming to Canada after the second world war. When the project was proposed in 1958, residents of North York and politicians had concerns about the high density of the neighbourhood and wondered how the city would adequately service the area. The project was approved in 1959 and completed in the early 1970s. ⁵

The Challenge
Separated physically from the rest of the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood, those living in “Flemingdon Park DVP” can experience incredible one-ness, union and fullness in Jesus. Would you be willing to learn from the people in this neighbourhood, and to let them share in your life as well? Would you be willing to move in?

Sources:
1 Toronto Star Article from January 16, 2009 - “Neighbour charged in woman’s slaying“.
2 Blog post by Dylan Reid, May 7th, 2008: Walking Flemingdon Park.
2 All statistics in the section taken from Census tract profile for 0260.03 (CT), Toronto (CMA) and Ontario.
3 All statistics in the section taken from Flemingdon Park neighbourhood profile.
4 With information from Toronto Neighbourhoods.