Block by Block
Building a more inclusive city through storytelling, one neighbourhood at a time.
Welcome to Block by Block. Since 2018, we have been documenting stories of civic life and placemaking in four Toronto neighbourhoods. All of them have historically served as landing spots for newcomers. And all are now changing rapidly — with rising rents and new developments.
Our city-wide team of young, diverse leaders have worked to document both past and present in these neighbourhoods. We have conducted over 100 in-depth oral history interviews with newcomer, immigrant, racialized and Indigenous community members. Through them, we’ve heard stories of displacement, migration, arrival and survival. We’ve learned about informal community networks, grassroots organizations and places that matter. We’ve reflected on the sights, sounds, smells and relationships that make these neighbourhoods feel like home.
Now, with this exhibition, we turn the conversation over to you. How are these stories like your own? How can they guide future city-building? What do you hope for the future of your neighbourhood?
Events
JUNE 11
A Walking Tour of Parmacourt
JUNE 18
A Walking Tour of the Golden Mile
JUNE 18
Banig Pai Mafrash: Textile making
One line description that links to eventbrite
JUNE 11
Block by Block: A Human Library in Parkdale
JUNE 18
Block by Block at Artscape
JUNE 18
Block by Block City-wide Exhibition
Featured Stories
Parkdale
Migration & Arrival | Employment | Community Organizing | Discrimination & Injustice
Agincourt
Migration & Arrival | Discrimination & Injustice | Community Organizing
Poster Exhibition
In 2020, we installed poster exhibitions at 25 sites across the city, including small businesses, community centres, settlement agencies from November 12-30, 2020.
The posters explored feelings of home, community care, and leadership rooted in the oral histories we collected in each neighbourhood. You can view our posters here.
Use your imagination to colour in these pages!
FIND STORY BY NEIGHBOURHOOD
Toronto’s rapid development is altering the social fabric of its neighbourhoods. From the razing of low-rise malls in Scarborough, to the redevelopment of Regent Park, to rising rental costs in Parkdale, neighbourhoods that have been landing points for migrant communities are in intense flux. This rapid change particularly impacts first-generation newcomers, who rely on local networks, services and economies when putting down roots.
From 2019-2021 Block by Block focused on four Toronto neighbourhoods that are in the midst of redevelopment. They are: Agincourt, Victoria Park, Parkdale and Regent Park. In each neighbourhood we start locally. We hire teams of young people with community connections to learn from the lived experiences of local residents. Each team is supported by at least one neighbourhood-based partner organization. These local collaborations culminated each year with Block Parties—events that share and celebrate community stories and connections. Altogether, we have documented 100 oral histories, created 12 local exhibitions and 12 Block Parties, and co-curated an evolving online exhibition.
Read and hold the stories preserved within each neighbourhood by clicking below.
FIND STORY BY THEME
Meet Our 2020 Storytellers
Click on each photo to learn more
Wendy Chan
Wendy Chan (b. 1968) was born in Hong Kong. She studied English Comparative Literature and Translation at the University of Hong Kong and worked in a variety of professions, such as advertising, translation, and copywriting. Partly due to the political and economic uncertainty in Hong Kong before the 1997 handover between Britain and China, Wendy and her family immigrated to Canada and joined her aunt’s family in Agincourt in 1991. Having attended English-speaking schools in a westernised country, she found the transition from Hong Kong to Canada relatively straightforward and did not experience much culture shock. Unsure of her next steps, Wendy began teaching ESL classes as a volunteer at the Bridlewood Brethren in Christ Church (now known as New Life Christian Church). Inspired by her students and TESL workshop teacher, Wendy decided to change careers as she found teaching more meaningful than advertising. To make her dreams a reality, she pursued a Master’s of Education and an ESL teaching certificate at OISE in 1992. She now teaches at Centennial College, where she interacts with a wide variety of new immigrants and international students and helps them settle in a new country. Although Wendy no longer resides in Agincourt proper, having moved to Scarborough Junction in 1994, her parents and extended family still live in the area, so she frequents the neighbourhood with her spouse. She has fond memories of eating at restaurants in the neighbourhood and Cousins is her favourite Hong Kong-style restaurant.
YAN CHEN
Yan Chen is a Fujianese-Canadian community organiser based in Agincourt. Her family migrated to Toronto in 2005 and lived in a Chinatown basement apartment, where days and nights blended into one due to the lack of natural light. During this time, her father covertly worked at a Chinese grocery store to make ends meet. Yan and her family had an incredibly difficult time adjusting to Canadian society due to language barriers and resulting hostility. Having completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto in 2013, Yan’s family moved to Agincourt and her father immediately connected with the Fujianese community there. Yan’s first job was at a newcomer and immigrant centre in Etobicoke and Agincourt, where she became intimately familiar with the day-to-day struggles of working-class immigrants. This experience inspired her to complete her Master’s in Social Work and advocate for workers’ rights in Scarborough. She ran in the 2019 federal election as part of the New Democrat’s Party for Scarborough-North. While she was defeated by a long-standing Liberal representative, she was empowered by the experience to continue to mobilise her community and demand better living conditions. Presently, Yan engages with youth through Scarborough Youth United and encourages them to think critically and creatively about social justice issues.
BENSON DUONG
Benson Duong (b. 1993) was born in Toronto to immigrant parents from Vietnam. He grew up in the Agincourt community and has lived there throughout his life. He attended the Agincourt Junior Public School and went on to study at the Agincourt Collegiate Institute. Benson has worked closely with the youth and young adults of Agincourt as an associate pastor at Agincourt Baptist Church. He started an initiative in 2016 called ‘Snack Attack’ that provided free snacks to students on their way home from school. Benson thinks of Agincourt as “a vibrant multicultural community that cares for one another”. In 2020, he moved to Langley, B.C. with his wife who started her position as a professor at Trinity Western University. This is his first time leaving Agincourt and it is a bittersweet moment for him.
JOY HENDERSON
Joy Henderson (b. 1978) is an Afro-Lakota mother, writer, community advocate, and loud-mouth. Joy was raised by her mother in Regent Park during the 1990s, where they were supported and protected by a fierce community of women and elders. She has fond memories of the linden trees lining the road to her apartment and buying Pixie Sticks at the corner store. She recalls a formative identity crisis navigating her Black and Indigenous heritage amongst a community that, while heavily racialised, did not reflect her mixed ancestry. Joy moved to Agincourt at age twenty with her then-fiancé into a modest home that previously belonged to his grandmother. She recalls great discomfort with the stark isolation and lack of diversity in the suburbs. It was only when she got a car in 2007 that she began to place her roots. Her children’s school became a site of community for her and she formed the group Scarborough Mothers in 2006. This allowed further involvement in the community and she formed the Scarborough Families for Public Education group in 2019 following the provincial cuts to education. Despite challenges to community organising due to the geographical isolation of Scarborough, Joy believes in its potential. As a child and youth worker by profession, her primary motivation is young people’s vision for the future.
Photo credit: Soko Negash
JUDY
Judy was born in Hong Kong to a family of nine that lived in a poor neighbourhood of the city. She secured a summer job with the Hong Kong Bank in the 1960s and was selected for the company’s new computer training program, becoming one of the first women in Hong Kong to be trained in data processing, now called information technology. As someone without formal higher education, this moment was transformative for Judy as it changed her perspective on what was possible for her life. Judy immigrated to Toronto on her own in 1972, following in the footsteps of a close friend who worked with her at the bank. As she started a new job at Sears’ data processing department, she lived in a Summerhill rooming house with nine other girls and her landlady helped Judy feel at home in Toronto. She met her first husband, Brian, in 1972 and they had two children before he tragically passed away from a hit-and-run accident in 1986. This had a lasting impact on Judy’s life and she decided to live out Brian’s lifelong dream of helping others, a dream that continues to inspire her charity work to this day. Her volunteering beginnings with the Hong Fook Mental Health Association and the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care in 1986 expanded her network, and she became involved with more organisations, such as the Scarborough Grace Hospital in 1990 and United Way in 1991. Together with a group of professionals, Judy founded the Fu Hui Education in 2004, an organisation that funds education programs for orphans in remote areas of China, as well as build libraries and fund schools on Indigenous reserves in Canada. Now happily retired, she continues to dedicate most of her time to charity work. Judy continues to reside in her Agincourt home, where she has been for the past forty years.
VIJAY SARAVANAMUTHU
Vijay Saravanamuthu (b. 1985) is a Tamil health promoter who has lived, moved away from, and returned to Malvern. He migrated to Canada from Tamil Nadu, India in 1989 and his family became connected to the broader network of Tamil refugees that settled in Malvern following the violence of the 1983 Black July pogroms. His family moved a lot due to socio-economic challenges; by the time he was in kindergarten, Vijay had been to three different schools and was accustomed to upheaval. He recalls inheriting clothes from neighbours and aunties travelling across roads with yogurt containers filled with food. When he was thirteen, his largely-absent father left permanently and Vijay continued to live with his mother. As he grew older, Vijay began to reckon with his queer identity in a vehemently homophobic environment, which prompted him to find a way out of Malvern. It was at the University of Guelph that he openly embraced his sexuality and was incredibly gratified to find immediate acceptance. However, he quickly realised that he was tokenized by his seemingly friendly peers. Following issues at home, Vijay left university right before completing his degree and returned to Malvern. He began working at the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP), where he could openly express both his cultural and sexual identities. He eventually moved to downtown Toronto to escape the surveillance of being in Malvern, yet was forced to return to support his family. This time, however, Vijay was not afraid of openly expressing himself as a queer Tamil. He joined TAIBU Community Health Centre, an organisation that uniquely services Black, Indigenous, and racialized populations, and has been there for the past ten years. Vijay now considers Malvern to be a source of warmth and, consequently, home.
SIVAMBIKAI
Sivambikai was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in a small village where many of her other relatives lived. She studied to be a teacher and migrated to the Middle East with her husband and two children to seek better economic opportunities and safety. Sivambikai was tasked with the difficult challenge of being both a mother and a teacher to her children, as there was no other school for her children to attend in the Middle East. As her children grew older, she and her husband decided that they wanted their children to obtain a strong education, so they migrated to Canada. Sivambikai’s commitment to education and passion for teaching has led her to obtaining more credentials and education to become an early childhood educator, specifically for young and new immigrants in Scarborough. She has worked in Agincourt as an early childhood educator since 2007.
VIRGINIA TSUI
Virginia Tsui (b. 1938) was born in Shanghai, China, and her family moved to Hong Kong when she was ten due to the changing political situation in China. Having grown up in a family of sailors, she married her sailor husband, Paul, when she was nineteen. Following her sister’s move to Vancouver in the mid-1970s, Virginia decided to send both of her children to Canada to finish their schooling, improve their education, and increase their chances of entering university. With Paul retiring in 1986, the couple sailed over from Hong Kong to Toronto and settled in Agincourt. Recalling these memories, Virginia mentions that she was originally drawn to Canada by its beautiful scenery, spaciousness, and the four different seasons. Living in Agincourt during the 1980s meant that Virginia had to travel to Chinatown in downtown Toronto to get Asian groceries. Together with her friend, Virginia started Hong Kei Fitness and Dance Club to encourage people to exercise together in a community. What began as a word-of-mouth venture is now a large network of over a thousand members across eleven different locations in Toronto. She hopes that Hong Fei will continue to expand to help more people discover a good and healthy life through community fitness and dance.
AMAR WALA
Amar Wala was born in Mumbai, India. He moved to Canada when he was eleven as his mother volunteered to donate a kidney to her brother in Canada. Amar’s family was skeptical of India’s healthcare system’s ability to support his mother post-surgery and decided that permanently moving to Canada was the best option. Amar struggled to find a sense of belonging within his school and the surrounding community as he was confronted with a new understanding of masculinity. It was during his studies in film at York University that he gained access to literature and information that put to words the challenges Amar, and those around him, faced: racism, sexism, colonialism, and oppression. Empowered by his professors’ encouragement, Amar committed to filming and telling stories that focus on justice and equity for underrepresented groups, people, and ideas. He released his first documentary, ‘The Secret Trial 5’, under his new film production company, Scarborough Pictures. He uses the company as a vehicle that supports young, BIPOC filmmakers from Scarborough, and advocates for more equity within the predominantly white film and documentary spaces in Toronto, Ontario, and Canada.
WALEED ABDULHAMID
Waleed Abdulhamid (b. 1968) was born in Omdurman, Sudan. He immigrated to Toronto in 1992 to escape the dictatorship regime in Sudan. Prior to this, he was a well-established musician and multi-instrumentalist who had the privilege of performing around the world, largely in Europe and the U.S. Having shared his lived experiences and meaningful stories through his music, he has won many prestigious awards, such as the Canadian New Pioneer Award, the African Tama Award, the Reel World Film Festival Award, the Canadian Film Board of Excellence Award, and the DORA Award. He is also a professor and faculty member of the music program at Humber College. Waleed is extremely involved in Parkdale, where he has lived for nearly thirty years since 1991. He is very attached to the neighbourhood and has a deep connection with it, calling it home. He hopes the future of Parkdale is filled with meaningful change and happiness, where everyone can have an improved standard of living, affordable housing, and adequate support.
ANNA
Anna (b. 1978) was born in Zakopane, Poland. Her family arrived in Toronto in 1981 and settled in Parkdale, which has been her home for thirty-eight years and where she continues to live with her husband and young son. Anna remembers moving into her home at Cowan Avenue and attending the local church with her family. As newcomers struggling to learn English and French, the sense of community and support that she and her family received helped them create a home in a new country. These experiences helped Anna appreciate the value of hard work and community. She is currently the Executive Director of the Parkdale Village Business Improvement Area (BIA), where she enjoys helping connect local organisations and businesses to each other. She is also a board member of the Polish Highlanders Association of Canada, where she fosters connections between Polish Highlanders all over the world. Having lived in Parkdale for almost four decades, Anna is proud to say that the neighbourhood has everything one needs in terms of community support. She describes Parkdale as gritty and colourful, and a community that embraces diversity. To her, community means supporting one another, and she believes in giving back to Parkdale.
BORELSON
Borelson was born and raised in Gabon and grew up in a multilingual family. He moved to France after graduating from high school to pursue a higher education in Information Technology (IT). Although he was working as a cybersecurity consultant at a top consulting firm, he always knew that his true passion lay in music. Having always wanted to live in North America, Borelson migrated to Canada to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Before even settling in Toronto, he knew that Parkdale was the neighbourhood where he wanted to establish his roots and call home, and he has been living there for nearly two and a half years. He continues to work in the IT industry while also being a multi-disciplinary artist, and he has been extremely active and involved in the creative industry. 2020 has been a year of many milestones for him – he released his debut album, ‘As Far As Eye Can See’, and a docuseries called ‘This FAR’ that brings to light the success stories of immigrants and first-generation Canadians. As a Black and independent artist, Borelson hopes that he can one day be in a position with more resources to give back to and empower his community.
FLORDELIZ DANDAL
Flordeliz Dandal was born in Manila, Philippines. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work at the University of City of Manila and studied Community Development at the University of the Philippines. She worked as a community organiser and consultant for over twelve years in the Philippines. Through the Federal Skilled Worker program, Flordeliz arrived in Canada in November 1987 with her husband and three young children. She began working as a Coordinator at the Kababayan Multicultural Centre (KMC) in Parkdale shortly after. She has been working in the neighbourhood since then and is currently the Executive Director of KMC. Flordeliz describes Parkdale as similar to her hometown of Manila, where there is a familiar sense of life and vibrant livelihood in the neighbourhood.
MANISHA KRISHNAN
Manisha Krishnan was born in Vancouver to Indo-Fijian parents who migrated from Fiji to Canada about fifty years ago. Manisha moved to Toronto to start her career in journalism in January 2013 and has worked at Vice as a writer. Throughout her career, she has covered topics related to police brutality, violence against women, and drug policies. She has also worked on several documentaries, such as ‘What I Learned Living in a Rainforest Commune’, and has hosted a town hall discussion panel in Toronto in 2017 with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the legalisation of marijuana. Manisha is passionate about being a voice for change and hopes her work adds to these conversations. As a journalist, she does her best to connect the dots for others to help them see current issues through an alternative perspective.
DIANA LE HUYNH
Diana Le Huynh is a Vietnamese Canadian born and raised in Toronto. Growing up, she was raised by her grandparents in Parkdale until her family moved to the Jane and Finch area when she started school. She remembers learning about her family’s migration history and life in Viet Nam over sliced fruit, walking with her grandparents along the Lakeshore, and visiting the Parkdale public library on the weekends. Diana received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, minoring in Humanities, from York University, and completed her postgraduate studies in Human Resources Management at Ryerson University. Since her childhood, Diana has returned to Parkdale as a successful business owner. She has been running her family’s business, CiCi’s Pizza & Wings on Queen Street West, for nearly four years after deciding to take over from her parents. She is also an active board member of the Parkdale Village Business Improvement Area (BIA) and an active member in social groups for women business owners in the food industry.
ISMAIL AFRAH
Ismail Afrah (b. 1986) is a Regent Park advocate, film buff, and someone who loves ideas. He was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. His family of eleven was forced to split up in 1995 during the rise of the Somali Civil War, leading Ismail and some of his younger siblings to seek refuge in Kenya while his parents and older siblings immigrated to Canada. His family finally reunited in 2001 in Regent Park. While navigating the Canadian education system as a newcomer, a teacher at Ismail’s high school introduced him to the subjects of sociology and philosophy. He subsequently gained a passion for them and pursued a philosophy degree at the University of Toronto. Inspired by his siblings’ community work in the neighbourhood, Ismail and his brother developed a youth intervention program in Regent Park as a meaningful way to give back to the community. His later involvement with Access to Recreation, an organisation advocating for Regent Park residents’ access to local facilities, has led him to work with the TD Centre of Learning and Development, the Regent Park Neighborhood Association’s Community Benefits Coalition, and the CRC, in aiding with the neighbourhood’s social development efforts.
MIGUEL AVILA
Miguel Avila (b. 1965) was born in Peru and immigrated to Canada in 1991. He has lived in Regent Park since 2011, where he still lives along with his dog Fido and his two budgies. Miguel’s activism began in 2010 after he witnessed a police encounter with youth that disturbed him. This led to his involvement in initiatives that tackle poverty, police brutality, discrimination, and crime in the Regent Park neighbourhood. Some of his most notable accomplishments include creating Copwatch, an initiative that explores the ongoing issues of police brutality and surveillance in Regent Park, and his victory at the Toronto Human Rights Tribunal in a case regarding discrimination against Indigenous people. In addition to petitioning for the installation of security cameras in Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) buildings, Miguel has also advocated for the installation of hand sanitizer stations in TCHC buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic. His advice to others considering activism is to not be afraid to speak your mind; he also suggests thoroughly researching before engaging with your chosen cause and, most importantly, to connect with positive people.
TAFRIHA ISLAM
Tafriha Islam (b. 2000) is one of three children born into a Bengali family. They moved from Bangladesh to Toronto in 2005 and settled in north Regent Park. She has been involved with and contributed to the Regent Park community through organisations like the Regent Park Film Festival, Artheart, and Artscape, and programs like Sister2Sister through Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto, since 2015. Along with her parents, Tafriha has also provided Bengali language lessons to over a dozen children out of their building’s basement to encourage Bengali youth to learn more about their culture. Tafriha is currently a mealtime assistant volunteer for Bridgepoint Active Healthcare; she is also studying at the Schulich School of Business at York University and she hopes to work in the intersections of health and business in the future.
ANGEL LEVAC BRANT
Angel Levac Brant is a 23 year-old Cree born in the Pas Reservation in Manitoba. Her time there was short-lived as she was soon adopted by a Mohawk family and moved to the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, where she spent the rest of her growing years. Angel’s childhood was filled with family camping trips and cross-Canada travel. Her elementary and high schools’ curricula included teaching the Mohawk language and culture, which nurtured her Mohawk identity. She moved to Toronto in 2015, living in Etobicoke for the first three years before moving to Regent Park in 2018. While Angel began her postgraduate studies in Child and Youth Care at Humber College, she later decided to study Interior Design instead. Having recently graduated, Angel hopes to use her knowledge from both programs to help children, especially Indigenous children, navigate the foster care and other housing systems. She continues to be actively involved in learning about both sides of her Indigenous identity, as a Cree and Mohawk woman, by learning the Cree language and cultural expressions such as beading.
SAL SABILA
Sal Sabila (b. 1999) was born in Bangladesh and moved to Canada in 2010 at the age of ten. Although this move presented many challenges for her family, living in Regent Park played a huge role in introducing her to other young Muslims and making her feel at home. Her family and community have shaped her passion for equity and community engagement, which pushed her to create opportunities for racialised immigrant youth and others to learn and lead. At the age of sixteen, Sal founded Youth Gravity, a non-profit organisation based in Regent Park that aims to create a platform for youth to become changemakers in their communities. She has also been a National Alumni Ambassador for Pathways to Education Canada, an organisation that aims to promote education in disadvantaged communities. Sal hopes to pursue a career in teaching.
ZORANA SADIQ
Zorana Sadiq (b. 1974) is a soprano soloist, musician, actor, and voice teacher at the Regent Park School of Music. Her parents immigrated from New York to Canada when she was a toddler and she grew up in Thornhill, Ontario. Zorana has had a love for the arts since an early age when she did ballet and took singing lessons. Her ties to Regent Park began when she started teaching at the Regent Park School of Music in 2004, where she has worked for over sixteen years. She describes working there as pivotal to her life story and considers Regent Park a jewel of a neighbourhood. Besides teaching voice lessons, song interpretation, and coaching the school’s vocal quartet, she also has a performance career that is active in Toronto, Boston, and New York. She currently resides in the Beaches area with her husband and eleven year-old son.
CLAIRE
Claire, 37, was born in the lively city of Kampala, Uganda. She is a courageous mother and activist who arrived in Canada in 2018 after fleeing political persecution in her home country. Claire has an extensive educational background in Public Policy and the Social Sciences and has worked in the community as a Youth Mobilizer and Outreach Officer in Uganda. Eager to find initiatives that are meaningful to her in Toronto, she quickly began working as a community worker in the Victoria Village area. She supports local residents, community gardens, youth programs, and the shelter community. Claire is continuing her mission of strengthening communities and building a better and more inclusive future.
JUSTIN
Justin (b. 1988) is an artist, producer, entrepreneur, and youth counselor who resides in Victoria Village. He was born in Toronto, first living in Regent Park, then Scarborough, before finally settling in Victoria Village in 2004, where he continues to live with his three year-old son. Growing up, he was inspired by basketball and shoe culture, as well as his Black, Native American, and Caribbean heritage. These interests led him to produce his own music, start his studio Always Lifted, collect and trade shoes, and help uplift people within his community. These opportunities also came with many challenges that have shaped him into who he is today. His hardships pushed him to work more closely with his community and he wants to pass down some of life’s lessons to his son.
FATIMA LEE GARSI
Fatima Lee Garsi (b. 1986) was born in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, to a Kurdish-Taiwanese family. Having endured many hardships in life, Fatima overcame her challenges through travel, discipline, and training as a martial artist. With over ten years of professional experience, including an accredited level-3 Arnisador Instructor and Certified Personal Trainer, she proudly devotes her time and expertise to training young Muslim women and girls on boxing, Arnis (stick-fighting), and self-growth within the GTA communities. To further address the growing demand of her services, Fatima founded SisterFit in Scarborough, a venture that became the first private gym and fitness studio specifically for Muslim women in North America. She owes much of her success to her team and hopes to give back to her community by encouraging Muslim women in Victoria Park to make fitness and a healthy lifestyle as part of their identity.
SID NAIDU
Siddhartha (Sid) Naidu (b. 1985) is a documentary photographer who was born in Muharraq, Bahrain. His family immigrated to Canada and moved to Scarborough in 1999, where his teenage years were spent on cultivating his passions of connecting with hip-hop and rap music, and dabbling in film photography. After overcoming some personal challenges and being accepted into the Arts and Contemporary Studies program at Ryerson University in 2004, Sid found himself immersed in student leadership and community engagement. His participation as co-curator of the 2014 ‘We Are Lawrence Avenue’ project, where portraits of community members from the Wexford Heights and Lawrence Avenue neighbourhood were photographed, led Sid to focus on a slew of passion projects and develop his own style of photography. Sid also co-founded a project, ‘Scarborough Made’, dedicated to showcasing Scarborough’s talent, diversity, and humanity by sharing the stories of everyday people from all walks of life. Sid currently works as a documentary photographer, capturing stories around the intersections of culture, community building, and social change.
2019 Storytellers
Bersabel Eyob
Bersabel Eyob was born in Eritrea in 2000 and immigrated to Canada in 2015. En route from Eritrea, she stopped in Ethiopia before arriving in Parkdale, where she has lived since then. Bersabel recently graduated from Parkdale Collegiate Institute and is currently attending Ryerson University for Business Management. When asked about her goals for the future, Bersabel states that she is interested in entrepreneurship. Outside of her studies, Bersabel is active within the Parkdale community, most notably at West Neighborhood House, where she is involved with a number of programs such as the Silk Screening, Business and Running Clubs. Bersabel’s favourite thing about Parkdale is how multicultural it is.
Garab Dorjee Serdok
Garab Dorjee Serdok has the owned of Tibet Kitchen, a restaurant in Parkdale, since 2012. He is ethnically Tibetan but was born, raised and lived in Nepal before moving to Canada in 2008. Garab settled in Parkdale but now owns a house in a more affordable neighbourhood. He has many loyal customers that petitioned against a steep rent increase imposed on Tibet Kitchen. Garab lives with his wife, 2 kids and his mother. Garab is very involved with the community. He helped start up the first Momo Madness (now Momo Crawl), a fundraising event in collaboration with Students for a Free Tibet Canada.
Heather Evelyn
Heather Evelyn is a library technician at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U) and has lived in Parkdale for over 20 years. Heather’s family left Jamaica when she was 2 years old, and her family lived in the Bronx before immigrating to Canada in 1965. Her family settled in Victoria Park, then moved to Eglington and Mount Pleasant before finally moving to Agincourt, Scarborough. When Heather was a student at OCAD, she lived in Parkdale for a few years before moving out of the neighborhood. In the 90s, Heather moved into her current home, a 3 bedroom apartment in North Parkdale.
Kathi Silke
Kathi Silke is a third generation Japanese Canadian born in Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario. She worked as a guidance counsellor at Parkdale Collegiate Institute for 18 years before retiring in 2013. At PCI, she was the Guidance Department Head and lead several extracurriculars such as Key Club, mentorship programs, and advocacy for the Roma student community in Parkdale. Despite retiring, Kathi holds Parkdale close to her heart and remains involved with the neighborhood. Currently, her passion project is the Kiwanis Key Club of Casa Loma and her involvement with the West Neighbourhood House where she supports the silk screening and the art program.
Nerupa Somasale
Nerupa Somasale is a 23 year old multi-disciplinary artist and student at Ryerson University. Raised in Parkdale but recently displaced from her childhood home, she currently lives in Kensington Market. Nerupa’s mother and father immigrated to Canada in the 1980s, from the Philippines and India respectively. One day after they moved into an apartment on West Lodge Avenue in Parkdale, Nerupa was born. Having graduated from Parkdale Collegiate Institute, Nerupa is currently completing her studies at Ryerson in history and curatorial studies. Mainly a theatre and performance art based artist, she’s recently been driven to explore film as a tool, to create a documentary that focuses on how gentrification has impacted the community of Parkdale.
Rita Cox
Born in Trinidad in the West Indies, Rita Cox arrived in Canada when she was 22 to work as a children’s librarian with the Toronto Public Library. Storytelling and libraries have been an integral part of her life since childhood. Before moving to Toronto, she worked at the New York Public Library. Rita was the head of the Parkdale Public Library for 24 years, where she brought diverse communities together, establishing literacy and reading programs. Rita’s legacy can be seen in local organizations she founded, including the Parkdale Intercultural Association (PIA) and Parkdale Project Read. The City of Toronto named a park at Dufferin and King in her honour.
Tenzin Wangmo
Tenzin Wangmo (Tenwang) was born in Dharamsala, India to Tibetan refugees. In 2001, she immigrated with her family to Canada as a 3-year old. They settled in Parkdale before moving to Etobicoke in 2005. Tenwang fondly remembers the space that Parkdale provides for Tibetan Canadians to express and practice their culture. She is passionate about giving back to the community and organizes social events in Parkdale such as outdoor trips for elders to help combat the isolation. Her online clothing store, nineteen59, has grown into a worldwide platform for the Tibetan diaspora to collaborate on designing a new collection as well as providing professional development for youth.
Bernard Farrol
Bernard Farrol was born on August 13, 1932, in the municipality of Janiuay, Iloilo, Philippines. He is an 87-year-old Filipino business owner who has lived in Parkdale for a few decades. Before moving to Parkdale, he worked as a nurse at Toronto Western Hospital. Bernard saw that the Filipino community was underserved and opened a store. Eventually, he quit his job and moved his store to Parkdale. He currently lives with his wife in a small space where his store is located. They sell Filipino goods in their store and also do special orders for some Filipino cuisine.
Nash Paul de Souza
Born in Bombay, India, Nash Paul de Souza immigrated to Canada to be with his wife when he was 36 years old. Raised in a Catholic household, his parents were heavily influenced by North American culture and grew up speaking English. Nash studied in Goa, and worked as a graphic designer, web designer, and creative director. Nash met his future wife while working in Bombay. It took almost 2 years for the visa process but soon after, Nash was able to immigrate to Canada and quickly settled into Parkdale. He currently runs Making Room and is also a yoga teacher on the side.
Zsuzsanna Ujvari
Zsuzsanna Ujvari was born in Miskolc, Hungary and immigrated to Canada in 2012 as a refugee. She lived in shelters until she was paired with a Hungarian family to settle with. She started her life in Canada from scratch, first working as a cleaning lady, quickly realizing it was not what she wanted to do. She then worked at a flower shop and the experience has taught her how to converse in English. She refers to it as “a free ESL school.” Zsuzsanna is a settlement worker for Hungarians at West Neighbourhood House and works at a shelter. Most of her family remains in Hungary, while her son lives in England.
Shar-dey Phipps Walker
Shar-Dey was originally born in Regent Park, but moved from the neighbourhood at 2 years old, later returning with her family at the age of 8. Shar-Dey describes her upbringing in Regent as one of the main things that shaped her in both positive and negative ways. The intersections of Shar-Dey’s identity don’t fit into any one box. She has both Indigenous and Jamaican ancestry and came out as 2-spirited in her early teens. Shar-Dey credits Council Fire for creating a gathering place to share and learn about her history and culture, while offering opportunities for community growth. At 31 years old, Shar-Dey is able to recognize the many ways that trauma has affected her and her community, and is working to heal from that to stop the cycle of intergenerational trauma. Shar-Dey has conflicting feelings about Regent Park. When she was young, she felt a strong sense of community, pride, and belonging in the neighbourhood. Now, after losing many family members and friends to violence, she feels a deep resentment toward the area. Despite conflicting feelings of love and resentment for the neighbourhood, Shar-Dey confesses she would not have wanted to grow up anywhere else.
Deany Peters
Haroldene Peters, affectionately known as “Deany”, first came to Regent Park in 1981 at the age of 20. After being evicted by an abusive landlord in Parkdale, Deany moved into an RGI unit at 15 Belshaw Place with her three children. As a single mother she was quickly connected to the tight-knit network of sole support moms in Regent Park, and soon identified that “there is something beneficial about a community where everyone is low-income” — because everyone looks out for one another. In 1984, she participated in the Community Worker Training Project, an initiative funded by the Regent Park Residents Association to create opportunities for residents to work in their community. In 1992, Deany was hired as the first full-time Community Development Worker at the Regent Park Community Health Centre, and has worked there for the past 27 years. Deany’s life history is one of deep community activism, with many stories of how local residents came together to build their community from the ground up, including the creation of Regent Park’s first Community Centre. Deany has also served as former Board President of Regent Park Focus and Dixon Hall. In 2013, she was nominated by her peers as the recipient of the James Woods Community Development Award.
Mandeq
Born and raised in Regent Park, Mandeq has had a front-row seat to the rapid changes taking place in the neighbourhood. Mandeq’s parents arrived in Canada several years before her birth, and settled in the Southside (south of Dundas Street) of Regent Park in 1997. Mandeq fondly remembers Southside as “a bubble” that had everything she needed: its own school, recreation centre, community events and free programs. Today, Mandeq is a passionate and engaged youth who has been deeply shaped by all her neighbourhood has to offer, especially programs like Pathways to Education— a program that introduced her to filmmaking, a craft she has honed for the last seven years. She is also a writer and creator of a web series called ‘The Regent Park Project’; made by and for Regent Park youth, it highlights the challenges and opportunities of growing up in this unique neighbourhood.
Kevin Myran
Kevin was born in Hamilton, Ontario on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississauga, and is part of the Bird clan of the Dakotas. He grew up around Pow Wows and travelled every weekend as a dancer. He has seven children and one grandchild. Kevin works at the Toronto Fire Council Native Cultural Center as a Coordinator for the Little Embers program, where students learn about Anishinabe culture through art and storytelling, and feels closely connected to the Regent Park neighbourhood, which he credits for ‘saving his life’. Although he is currently living in the Beaches neighbourhood, Kevin’s family and kids all see Regent Park as a home and spend considerable time here. Kevin hopes to move back to his reserve in Alderville when he retires. Kevin is also the leader of the All Nations Juniors Drum Group.
Laurie Okimawinew
Growing up in the 1970s, Laurie Okimawinew went back and forth between her home in Englehart, Ontario and Regent Park in Toronto, where she visited family. She is a band member of Attawapiskat First Nations and experienced years of intergenerational trauma as the granddaughter of residential school survivors. It was only when she moved to Toronto and started attending the healing circles at the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre that she began healing her wounds. It was also here that Laurie started connecting with her Indigenous roots by learning traditional teachings, making her own regalia, and learning about the deep cultural significance of Pow Wows. Today, Laurie is the Cultural Resource Coordinator at Council Fire, the very same organisation that helped her. Although she does not live in Regent Park, she identifies as a proud member of the Regent Park community and helps to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members. Laurie has 4 children.
Sureya Ibrahim
Sureya Ibrahim was born in the city of Harar, Ethiopia. Sponsored by her brother and his family, she came to Canada at age 17 and moved to Regent Park shortly afterward. She has been an active member of the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association for many years, and is one of the founders of the Regent Park Catering Collective. Catering more than 300 events, this venture has created income-generating opportunities for 65 Regent Park residents. In 2014, Sureya was recognized as the recipient of a number of awards including, the Woman Who Inspire from the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and a Distinguished Service Award from Muslim Association of Canada, to name a few. In 2015, Sureya was also selected to hold the Pan Am Relay torch during the opening ceremony march through Regent Park. Sureya is currently the Supervisor of Community Connections at the Centre for Community Learning & Development.
Elsaida Douglas
Fondly known as “Momsy” and “Sadie”, Elsaida is a powerhouse figure in Regent Park whose life has been marked by both tragedy and accomplishments that were foretold in her dreams. After migrating to Toronto from Jamaica in 1972, Elsaida arrived in Regent Park in 1977. She worked various odd jobs and studied in the Personal Support Worker program at George Brown College. Elsaida has been a strong advocate for Regent Park with a focus on tackling violence in the community after her son, Cleamart, was murdered in 2001. Gardening was the only thing that gave her solace, so she founded The Dreamers’ Peace Garden dedicated to victims of violence and accidents in the community. Originally located at 605 Whiteside Place on the Southside of Regent Park, the garden was moved during the redevelopment and is now at the Christian Resource Centre at 40 Oak Street. To this day, Elsaida can be seen watching over the neighbourhood on the steps of the Big Park in the public art piece Faces of Regent Park.
Vanessa Ling-Yu
Vanessa Ling-Yu was born and mostly raised in the small town of New Glasgow, on the north shore of Nova Scotia, with her younger brother and parents. Originally from Guang Dong, she sees her parents as a typical family immigrating from China at that period. In her youth, Vanessa spent most weekends cutting vegetables, peeling shrimp, clearing tables, and doing dishes at her family’s Chinese restaurant. It was here where Vanessa found her passion for food and catering, leading her to found caterToronto, a network of racialized, immigrant women and youth caterers and entrepreneurs seeking better social and economic outcomes through food employment. Vanessa has lived in Regent Park since 2013, but first came to the community to work on an anti-gun violence project with youth in 2012. She describes the community as “beautiful and welcoming… people just care and look out for each other here”. Although Vanessa misses Nova Scotia, she continues to strengthen her sense of chosen family in Regent Park. Vanessa describes home as “a place where you can decide to put down roots and paint your walls”. She plans on painting the walls in her condo soon.
Taijah Abotossaway
Taijah Abotossaway is not currently a resident of Regent Park but feels the neighbourhood has deeply shaped her life. Born in 1994, she spent her early years living in Jane and Finch and at Sherbourne and Shuter, until finally moving in with her aunt in the Northside of Regent Park, where she attended Duke of York Middle School. She is of mixed Indigenous, Canadian, and Barbadian ancestry, and is the great-granddaughter of residential school survivors. In her early years,Taijah was embarrased to identify as Indigenous due to discrimination and negative stereotypes she heard about Indigenous peoples. She notes that Pow Wows were her only connection to her Indigenous culture and language, and recounts many stories of getting dressed in beautiful traditional dancing regalia. Today, Taijah helps to organize one of Toronto’s largest Pow Wows in Regent Park, supporting local youth and residents to connect to Indigenous, culture, history and tradition through dance.
Dwayne Sybbliss
The oldest of four siblings, Dwayne is a self-taught photographer who moved to Regent Park in the 1980s with his mother, an immigrant from Jamaica. He remembers his childhood in the neighbourhood as one filled with community members who served as role models. Shooting hoops at Dixon Hall also connected him to other kids and provided an outlet for him to stay out of trouble. Dwayne’s reflections on how the redevelopment has affected Regent Park and its community, specifically Black bodies and Black spaces, were documented in ‘Last Ride Through Regent’, which served as both his first feature short film and part of his Masters’ thesis at York University. Although he has moved out of the neighbourhood, Dwayne remains an active community member. He mentors neighbourhood youth and serves as a board member for the Regent Park Film Festival.
Liz
Born in 1997, Liz is a young Filipina who moved to Canada in 2016. While Liz and her three siblings were growing up, their mother worked abroad in different countries. The family finally reunited when they moved to Regent Park. As an immigrant, Liz has built community by accessing programs and services at SEAS, the Support Enhanced Access Service Centre, a support centre that has been serving Regent Park’s Southeast Asian community for more than 30 years. Inspired by the challenges she has faced as a newcomer, Liz is passionate about helping other Filipino newcomers, with a specific desire to support their mental health and well-being while they adjust to a new country. She hopes to go to school for social work to break the stigma around mental health and to promote a culture of self care within her community.
Bala
Bala was born in 1976 in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He came to Toronto with his parents in 1987, due to the dangers of the civil war in Sri Lanka. After arriving in Toronto, Bala and his family moved around different neighbourhoods until they settled in Victoria Village. Bala has been a resident of Victoria Village for many years now and is a highly dedicated worker at the Victoria Park Hub where he supports the reception desk, and engages and supports clients who come into the Victoria Park Hub. He is passionate about community engagement and hopes to continue to work to make his community a better place.
Cathy Li
Cathy Li grew up in the Xinjiang Province of China. She first visited Canada in 2016 to complete an ESL program. After studying, Cathy went back to China. Soon after that, she found out that she was expecting a child. Cathy and her husband decided to migrate to Toronto in 2017, to give their child a better life. She has lived in the Victoria Village neighbourhood for two years, and has become highly involved in the community. She is a recent graduate of the Community Development program at Centennial College, and hopes to do more work supporting her community in the future.
Esam Jlilati
Esam Jlilati has been passionate about visual arts since childhood and has always aimed to be a painter. However, his father believed that art was reserved only for the rich, not for those who need to make a living. Therefore, he chose engineering as the focus of his formal education and architectural design as his career. When he began studying in Germany, he managed to keep painting parallel to his other career. After his immigration to Canada in 2004, Esam settled in the Victoria Park area. He continues to work in architectural design and continues to create art.
Harriet Sheppard
Harriet Sheppard was born in rural Barbados. Upon leaving her island nation she planned to migrate to the United States. However, life took another turn and Harriet settled in Toronto in 1981, eventually becoming a mother of two sons. She has lived in the Teesdale community, a neighborhood located just northeast of Victoria Park and Danforth, for twenty years. Harriet has been a community volunteer and advocate since the late 1990s. Most notably, she has contributed to beautification initiatives in her neighborhood and the establishment of a community garden. Harriet was also part of local activism to bring full-day kindergarten to the children of Crescent Town Public School.
John Yohan
John Yohan was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. His awareness of the political, economic, and social climate of his home country sparked a passion for social and community activism, which motivated him to migrate to Canada alone in 2016 to pursue a degree in community development and social work. Upon arriving in Canada, he was connected with the Arab Community Center of Toronto, where he now works as a project coordinator and youth counsellor. As a result of his personal hardships and upbringing John’s goal is to foster a sense of belonging and community engagement, and to provide more resources for newcomers in Toronto.
Shane
Shane was born in the province of Hunan in Southern China. She applied for a visa to come to Canada in 2011, after her sister shared how great her own life was here. Having then put it out of her mind, three years later she received her visa in the mail and decided that it was time to make a change in her life. She migrated to Toronto in 2014 to live with her sister. Shane faced many challenges when she first arrived in Canada, including language barriers and difficulties finding employment, despite her credentials. Nonetheless, she has overcome these hardships and recently graduated from the Social Service Worker program at Centennial College. Shane hopes to become a social worker in the future and support newcomers who may be going through similar challenges to those that she faced.
Syed Tanveer Ahmed
Syed Tanveer Ahmed was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in December, 1979. His pursuit of medicine took him to many different parts of the world, from England, where he pursued a specialist degree (MA), to Oman, where he worked in the Ministry of Health in Nizwa Hospital, to his last stop, Canada, where he settled in the winter of 2015. Tanveer remembers 2015 fondly, as a year filled with hope. He had hope for the future for his family, including his wife and two children, hope for his career in the medical field, and excitement about exploring Toronto. Tanveer is currently pursuing his nursing degree at Ryerson University. He hopes to work on a collaborative action plan with the government in regards to long-term care, in order to promote and facilitate facets of the health care system.
Veronica Coxall
Veronica Coxall was born in Grenada in 1956. In her youth, she worked hard to support her mother and her siblings and often had to miss school to do so. When Veronica was a teenager, some of her family friends sent her a plane ticket to come to Canada. She made the decision to immigrate in order to start a new life and continue to support her family back home. Veronica dedicated most of her work to her community while in Canada. She worked as a community representative for her building, she supports the children at her church, and still continues to uplift the youth in her community.
Wolde Yohannes
Wolde Yohannes was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the 1960s. He migrated to Rome in 1984, due to political instability in Ethiopia. After just a year in Italy, Wolde was sponsored to migrate to Montreal, Canada, where he settled before eventually meeting his spouse. He completed two degrees at Concordia University by the early 1990s, before moving to Toronto and settling near Greektown to start a family. He is the father of two children. After living in Toronto for several years, Wolde returned to Ethiopia in the early 2000’s where he worked in the humanitarian sector. Wolde moved back to Toronto in 2012, and has lived in Victoria Park/ Parkwoods neighbourhood ever since.
Andrew Cheung
Andrew Cheung was born in February 1986 at Toronto General Hospital. He is the son of Hong Kong migrants, who first settled in the Dundas and Spadina Chinatown area of Toronto in the early 1980s. Andrew spent the majority of his childhood in the Scarborough-Agincourt area, and was immersed in gang culture as a teenager in high school. His experience of leaving the gang scene has allowed him to develop a passion for working with youth. Andrew is currently a Youth Pastor in Agincourt where he mentors and coaches high school youth. He keeps up with the latest trends in fashion, hip hop, and sneakers.
Aubrey
Aubrey was born in the early 1990s to Jamaican parents, who immigrated to Toronto in the 1970s. His diverse experiences in Agincourt, including competing as a high-level gymnast and attending French immersion school, shaped his outlook on life. Now, he is committed to equipping himself and future generations with what he refers to as “tools for prosperity.” This involves reclaiming black history and questioning problematic social norms, ultimately working towards a society that is accountable, healthy, and inclusive. Currently, Aubrey works as a musician; writing, producing, and performing with a number of local artists.
Claudia Aguilar
Claudia Aguilar was born in Michoacan, Mexico in 1975. She is the second oldest sibling of two sisters and four brothers. With support from her father, Claudia was able to study Business Administration and went on to work in Human Resources for numerous hotels in Mexico. When children started going missing in their neighbourhood, Claudia decided to leave Mexico in 2018. Looking to improve her English, she was recommended by a neighbour to join the Dorset Park Community Hub’s Women’s English Circle. Claudia hopes to one day give back to the city she now calls home.
Jen D. Fabico
Jen D. Fabico was born in Manila, Philippines, where her parents, Felicidad and Romeo, met while working in the textile industry. Leaving behind their family-owned pet shop, Jen moved to Toronto with her parents in 1989 and lived in several homes on the border of Agincourt and Markham, in the Kennedy and Steeles area. Jen has a BFA in Visual Arts at York University and a degree in education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Currently, she is Community Development Manager for Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA) and the Founder and Executive Director of Next Generation Arts.
Ken Sy
Ken Sy was born in Hong Kong. After turning down the opportunity to pursue a dentistry degree in the Philippines, he came to Canada in 1968 and attended school in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. He then completed a business degree at Queen’s University. In 1980 Ken moved to Agincourt, where he lived until 1999. After quitting his job in stock transfers, he operated multiple businesses, including an international scrap metal export company. A natural businessman and go-getter, Ken recently came out of retirement to open a fish importing company in Scarborough.
Michelle Colthrust
Michelle Colthrust was born in Scarborough in 1982 to Trinidadian immigrant parents. When Michelle was in middle school, her family moved to Alton Towers, near McCowan Rd and Steeles Ave, which she still calls home today. It was here that she navigated becoming a young mother and losing her partner to gun violence. Michelle enrolled in Seneca’s Social Service Worker program and, through a placement with bereavement and palliative care program, she was able to support her clients with their grief, as well as process her own. Michelle currently runs her own workshop series called “Made BeYOUtiful”.
Sonny Robert Buchan
Sonny Robert Buchan was born in 1997 at Centenary Hospital in Scarborough to Marita Motus Buchan and Robert Buchan. As a child, Sonny had traditionally feminine interests in toys and movies, which were met with curious support from their parents. While growing up in Agincourt taught Sonny to be respectful and accepting of other cultures from a young age, their ability to express their gender expression was not met with the same acceptance. Sonny is currently pursuing an English degree at the University of Toronto Scarborough and intends to move from Agincourt within the next year.
Suganthine Sivakumar
Suganthine Sivakumar was born in October 1974 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. She came to Canada in the early 2000s, and her first Canadian home was located in Dorset Park, Scarborough. Suganthine’s first-hand experience of the challenges of newcomer settlement inspired her to work with friends to create the Women’s English Circle at the ACSA Dorset Community Hub. The Women’s English Circle is a meeting place where newcomer women can build friendships, and gain confidence in speaking in English. Suganthine now works as the Reach Out Project For Engagement Facilitator at the Hub, continuing her passion for creating educational programs for migrant women.
Teresa Hall
Teresa Hall was born in the English Midlands to Babs and Adam Garson. Shortly after her birth, her family left England by ship, and arrived at Halifax’s Pier 21 in the 1950s. Her family first lived in a small flat in Toronto’s first Chinatown, near Spadina and Dundas. The family moved to Agincourt to build a custom home, where they then lived from 1954-1958, before moving to Curran Hall. In her early thirties, Teresa moved back to Toronto and worked as an Executive Receptionist for the consulting firm, KPMG. She is a published poet and an active member of the Scarborough Poetry Club, which meets regularly at Agincourt Library.
Wendy and Wenzie Ng
Wendy and Wenzie Ng are identical twins born in 1977 in Hong Kong. Under the Family Reunification Act, their family migrated to Canada in 1980. They first settled in the East Chinatown area. Two years later, they moved to Agincourt. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, they experienced first hand the rapidly growing cultural and ethnic diversity of neighbours, classmates, businesses, and activities in Agincourt. Wendy currently works as an education and programming leader in the informal education and cultural sector. Wenzie works as a pharmacist in a large teaching hospital that specializes in oncology.
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