MoveIn Status
Praying for a team.

Firsthand
The Punjabi word “Sasrikal” meaning “How are you?” is a common greeting in this patch where many Sikhs from the Punjab (an agricultural province in India) and some Hindus live.

The Landscape
A cluster of six market-rent apartment buildings in the patch are located along the east side of Martin Grove Road just north of Albion Road and north of Highway 401. Among them are 1865, 1875 and 1901 Martin Grove.

Residents appreciate having a nearby bus stop and living within walking distance of a Price Chopper, No Frills and an elementary school. Smithfield Public School houses only Grades 6, 7 and 8, yet it has 870 kids. About 650 of them are South Asians, while others are from the West Indies and Somalia.

The People
A resident of the Smithfield Park patch estimates that approximately 85% of the residents are South Asian. About 40% are Indian and 40% Pakistani while smaller numbers are Tamil, Bangladeshi, and West Indian.

In the wider neighbourhood that the Smithfield Park patch belongs to:¹

• Population density is 8,597 people per square kilometre compared with 866/km² in Toronto
• In 2006, 27% of the population was age 14 or under compared with the Toronto average of 19%
• 76% of residents have a mother tongue other than English or French
• 74% of residents are immigrants − 51% arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2006
• Only 38% of the population lived at the same address five years ago, indicating a fairly transient population
• The 2006 unemployment rate was 10.9% as compared with 6.7% in the rest of Toronto
• 88% of residents are visible minorities − 63% are South Asian, the next largest group is black
• In 2006, 34% of residents were considered to have low, before-tax incomes as compared with 18% in the rest of Toronto

The History
The Smithfield Park patch is located in Rexdale, which was still farmland in the 1950s when developer Rex Heslop began buying land to create the community. Heslop anticipated that the completion of Highway 401 and the need for employees at the nearby Toronto International Airport would create demand for houses in Rexdale. He was right and houses in the subdivision sold out quickly between the mid-1950s and the early 1960s. At the request of what was then called the City of Etobicoke, Heslop also developed the farmland south of the subdivision into what is now one of the city’s largest industrial corridors.²

The Challenge
“They need individuals who are committed to working with them seven days a week,” said Reverend Eugene Rivers who is part of a coalition of churches that helped curb violence among troubled youth in Boston.³ How about it? Would you be willing to live the love of Jesus seven days a week with the people in the Smithfield Park patch? Would you consider moving in?

Sources
¹All statistics in the section taken from Census tract profile for 0249.05 (CT), Toronto (CMA) and Ontario
²With information from Toronto Neighbourhoods
³www.youtube.com