Firsthand
A rapper from the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood was murdered in April 2003 at the age of 26. In a song called “Father, Forgive Me” he wrote, “It’s just my environment, that make I so violent. Soooooo violent. I’m asking for forgiveness.” Apparently his dying words were, “Tell my kids I love them. And I’m sorry.” ¹

The Landscape
The Flemingdon Park Glenway patch is bordered on the east and south by the Don Valley Parkway (DVP), on the east by Gateway Boulevard, and on the north by the park. All of the residential space in this patch is on the complex of buildings surrounding Leeward Glenway and Sunny Glenway, hence the patch’s name. Just north of Grenoble Drive (the road that connects this patch to the rest of Flemingdon) is the local Catholic school - John XXIII.

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 Glenway: ³

• Population in 2006 was 6,819
• The population density is 9,091 people per square kilometre compared with Toronto’s 866/km² average
• 78% of couples are married
• 17% of families are led by one parent - 80% of those are led by women
• The 2005 median income for all private households was $47,291, compared with $64,128 for the rest of Toronto
• 77% of residents’ mother tongues are something other than English or French
• 70% of the population are immigrants
• 55% of residents over age 15 have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree
• The 2006 unemployment rate was 11.5%, as compared with 6.7% in the rest of Toronto
• 76% of residents are visible minorities - South Asians dominate this patch, with Tamils being the largest recognizable group

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 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
Would you be willing to help introduce people living in Glenway to the Prince of Peace? Would you be willing to move in?

Sources
¹ http://www.rapdict.org/Toba_Chung
² Blog post by Dylan Reid, May 7th, 2008: Walking Flemingdon Park
³ All statistics in the section taken from Census tract profile for 0260.01 (CT), Toronto (CMA) and Ontario.
⁴ All statistics in the section taken from the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood profile
⁵ With information from Toronto Neighbourhoods