NEIGHBOURHOOD
Regent Park
“I am living my future in Regent Park”
– Namarig Ahmed
Located in Toronto’s downtown core – from Gerrard Street East to the north, Parliament Street to the west, Shuter Street to the South and River Street to the east – Regent Park is the site of Canada’s first and largest public housing development. It is situated on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. Originally a part of Cabbagetown, Regent Park was mostly settled by poor white working-class British immigrants, many of whom were Irish Catholics and Protestants. Following the end of World War 2, the city decided to ‘clear the slums’ and in 1948 Cabbagetown south, now Regent Park, was razed to the ground and rebuilt from scratch. Regent Park became a ‘Garden City’ with abundant pastoral land and walking corridors, however, a lack of open roads and retail spaces disconnected the area from the rest of the city and furthered isolation of its residents.
As Canada’s migration laws expanded to a “points system” in the 1960s, Regent Park became among the few areas that migrants to Toronto could afford to live. Immigrants and newcomers from Asia, the Caribbean, Africa and Central and South America settled in Regent Park. Our oral histories also reveal that a large number of Indigenous families resided in the community during this period.
In 2005, the Regent Park Revitalization Plan was announced as an attempt to address social and economic challenges in the neighbourhood. The Plan would include demolishing and redeveloping the current public housing to include mixed income buildings, in effect doubling the current population, and transforming the landscape of the community over the span of a 20 year redevelopment process. Although there has been a commitment that residents can return after being relocated as part of the development process, in Phase 1 of the process about 56 percent of families did not, and were ultimately displaced to nearby public housing units outside the community.
Regent Park has long been stigmatized as a violent neighbourhood rooted in the perceived disadvantages of living in a lower-income area. At the heart of Regent Park, however, are deep social bonds and complex networks of people across social locations who have been able to shape and realize shared goals to build a community that addresses the challenges they face. LISTEN TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS TALK ABOUT REGENT PARK:
Identity & Belonging | Indigeneity | Discrimination & Injustice
Identity & Belonging | Indigeneity | Discrimination & Injustice
Identity & Belonging | Neighbourhood Change | Community Organizing
Neighbourhood Change | Community Organizing | Discrimination & Injustice
Neighbourhood Change | Migration & Arrival | Discrimination & Injustice
Community Care | Identity & Belonging | Migration & Arrival | Housing | Discrimination & Injustice
Migration & Arrival | Community Organizing | Education | Employment
Discrimination & Injustice | Identity & Belonging Housing | Community Care
Identity & Belonging | Discrimination & Injustice | Community Care | Housing
Community Care | Identity & Belonging | Neighbourhood Change | Discrimination & Injustice
Migration & Arrival | Community Organizing | Identity & Belonging
Identity & Belonging | Indigeneity | Discrimination & Injustice
Indigeneity | Identity & Belonging | Discrimination & Injustice
Migration & Arrival | Neighbourhood Change | Identity & Belonging
Neighbourhood Change | Community Care | Housing | Discrimination & Injustice
Community Organizing | Religion & Spirituality | Identity & Belonging
Indigeneity | Discrimination & Injustice | Identity & Belonging
Community Organizing | Migration & Arrival | Neighbourhood Change
Neighbourhood Change | Migration & Arrival | Housing | Identity & Belonging
Indigeneity | Discrimination & Injustice | Employment | Community Organizing
Indigeneity | Discrimination & Injustice | Identity & Belonging
Migration & Arrival | Neighbourhood Change | Community Care | Community Organizing | Discrimination & Injustice
Meet Our Regent Park Storytellers
Click on a storyteller to read their full biography detailing their migration history.

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.
Charlotte Schwartz
Charlotte Schwartz arrived in Regent Park in her early 20s from Scarborough, at the beginning of her career, and lived there for four years. Since then, she has become a writer, a mother, and a fierce advocate for the Regent Park community. Charlotte also works full time as a law clerk and part time as a fitness instructor. Following the birth of her son who was diagnosed with Galactosemia, a rare genetic metabolic disease, she co-founded Galactosemia Canada in 2015 to fundraise and support families dealing with the condition. Charlotte authored her first book about co-parenting, titled Your Place or Mine, which will be published in September 2022. Charlotte currently serves on the Parent Council at the Nelson Mandela Park Public School and has helped the school navigate the uncertainty of the pandemic. Last year,an article about the lack of government support to combat rising COVID cases in Regent Park.Charlotte is a passionate proponent for community-led activism in Regent Park. “The people living in communities like Regent Park – those people are Toronto to me.”Christopher Nkambwe
Christopher Nkambwe, a passionate trasngender activist, migrated to Canada in June 2019 from Kampala, Uganda after escaping persecution. Upon arrival, Christopher immediately started to build roots in Regent Park and connected with members of the LGBTIQ+ community. She founded an organization called The African Centre for Refugees in Ontario Canada, only four months after having navigated a gruelling immigration process. This organization aims to provide newcomers from the African LGBTIQ+ community with tangible and emotional support in settling and moving through the immigration process. Christopher continues to be recognized on a global scale for her advocacy and was a recipient of the Steinert and Ferreiro Award for promoting the existence and visibility of the LGBTIQ+ community in Toronto.
Christopher remembers hosting the organization’s first general meetings at the Regent Park Community Centre and feeling incredibly welcomed and encouraged by the existing community in Regent Park. “Regent Park welcomes everyone, despite sexual orientation”.
“I developed that urge of really becoming an advocate, or an activist”

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.
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.
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.
Gail Lynch
Gail Lynch moved to Canada from Barbados 30 years ago and is a resident of Regent Park. Her strong Caribbean roots and her mother’s upbringing make her who she is today. She brings with her a plethora of talent and determination. Having pursued higher education, Gail worked in the information technology and telecommunications industry leading to her career in training and development. Her passion for crafting cocktails has led to the creation of her own local business, Zero Cocktail Bar, a bar and cocktail service that is completely alcohol free, flavourful, focusing on the look, smell and taste. She also continues to be involved with volunteer initiatives and social groups in Regent Park, including the Social Development Plan (SDP) committee, which strives to ensure residents are informed, benefit from and involved in decisions pertaining to the neighbourhood’s revitalization. Gail embodies the values passed on to her from her mother, “to be self-reliant, resilient and to value people.” She remains closely connected to members of Regent Park by building relationships and is always seeking to make a positive impact.
Hamshaa Sivaruban
Hamshaa Sivaruban is a first generation Tamil Canadian who has spent most of her life in Regent Park. Her parents escaped the civil war in Sri Lanka, and arrived in Canada hoping to provide a life of better opportunities for Hamshaa and her brother. Hamshaa graduated with degrees in Child and Youth Care from George Brown College and Ryerson University. Inspired by a former elementary school teacher, Ms. Ang, her goals are to become an educator and to make positive change in her community. In recent times, Hamshaa has worked with the Regent Park’s Social Development Plan (SDP).She takes pride in her deep cultural heritage and seeks to preserve these traditions. Hamshaa exudes kindness and Regent Park holds a special in her heart. As she says, “it’s the people that make Regent Park what it is today.”
Ibrahim Afrah
Ibrahim Afrah is of Somali descent and escaped the civil war alongside his family in 1996 at age 15. His family lived in Kenya for a few years before immigrating to Canada in 2001 and settling in Regent Park. Ibrahim has been a Regent Park resident since then and is a fearless advocate for the community through his work with the Regent Park’s Social Development Plan (SDP) committee. Ibrahim also founded a grassroots organization, Vision of Tomorrow, which supports initiatives that empower members of Regent Park. Ibrahim is always striving to inspire social change and bring people together. He believes that the community “requires all of us to really engage… we need power, and power is assistance.”
Ines Garcia
Ines Garcia immigrated to Canada from Ecuador at a young age and has lived in Regent Park for over 30 years. She is a mother, a grandmother and a valiant advocate for her community. Ines currently works at Lord Dufferin Public School, co-chairs a local organization called Mothers of Peace, is a tenant representative and contributes to the Social Development Plan Committee. Having grown up in a large family, Ines was always surrounded by good food and music. Her love for cooking and the memories of her mother’s empanadas have led her to start her own catering business; Garcia Eats, which gives residents of Regent Park and beyond a taste of her spectacular skills. Ines can be found in all corners of Regent Park, be it catching up with friends or spreading joy at events with her treats. ‘Giving up’ is not in her vocabulary and she is always looking for ways to teach others how to stand up for themselves. As she says, “your voice is valid, like mine and anybody else’s. Don’t ever let no one put your voice down.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Namarig Ahmed
Namarig Ahmed lived in the UAE, Sudan and Egypt before moving to Canada in 1992. Raised in Regent Park since second grade, Namarig has become a fierce advocate for the community. She has founded and developed multiple community care projects to support her neighbours. As a student, Namarig started a grassroots organization called BABU (Big Akhi, Big Ukhti), a mentorship program for youth and children in Regent Park. Many of those children have since gone on to form their own community-centered groups. Namarig graduated from nursing at Ryerson University and worked with patients in mental health and addictions, palliative care, sexual assault and domestic care. After she completed her graduate degree in nursing, Namarig co-founded Wanassah, a non-profit organization that provides accessible mental health services to Black youth and their families in Regent Park. Through Wanassah Namarig is forging pathways to equitable, holistic and accessible mental health care options. She radiates the kind of compassion that is uniquely found in those who grow up in Regent Park. “This is my future. I am living my future in Regent Park. It’s given me so much as a person, in terms of my values and who I am today.”
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.
Shar-Dey Phipps Walker
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. Dey describes her upbringing in Regent as one of the main things that shaped her in both positive and negative ways. The intersections of 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. 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, 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. 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, Dey confesses she would not have wanted to grow up anywhere else.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Walied Khogali Ali
Walied Khogali Ali spent his early life in Sudan and Kenya before immigrating to Canada with his family in 2002. They moved to Regent Park in 2005 and have resided there ever since. Walied is the eldest of 6 siblings and spent much of his youth as an active member of student movements at the University of Toronto. Walied is currently a mutual aid coordinator with the Neighbourhood Pods project, working to support newcomers in Regent Park and beyond. Walied is also an integral member of the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association and the Community Benefits Coalition, both of which strive to create social change in Regent Park. He is dauntlessly devoted to advocating for the community and minority groups, “to ensure that the voices of Regent Park and other marginalized communities are better reflected in the political process and that we, as a community, become a priority.”