Read about the history of the Jane/Finch neighbourhood. MORE

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THE JANE/FINCH HOOD

'Jane and Finch', as it's unofficially known, is a neighbourhood in the northwest corner of Toronto. It is a densely populated, extremely diverse community on the edge of the city that has been fighting for four decades to overcome isolation, hardship, and stigma.

During Canada's post-WWII immigration wave, Jane and Finch was settled largely by Italian immigrants. The area was still mostly farmland dotted by single-family houses. In the late 1960s, a place was needed to house Toronto's next wave of newcomers, this time from around the world. Jane and Finch, or 'Black Creek' as the neighbourhood is officially known, was planned as a place to house thousands of new low-income and high-need families.

The Ontario Housing Corporation oversaw the construction of a large concentration of private high-rise apartment buildings and public housing along Jane Street, on what became known as 'the corridor.' The availability of social and affordable housing attracted tens of thousands of people. The neighbourhood's population exploded more than 2000% in a decade.

But, as the newcomers flooded in, the social service infrastructure needed to support them did not keep up. Jane and Finch lacked the settlement, employment and language services vital to new immigrants. Schools were overcrowded, community centres didn't appear for years, and public transportation was never better than sporadic. Racial tensions grew as the face of the neighbourhood changed, from mostly European to a mosaic of people from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.

In the early 1970s, frustrated by what they saw as a lack of government support, Jane and Finch residents started to establish grassroots organizations to help meet the community's needs. Community activism and mobilization continue to provide many of the neighbourhood's much-needed services, and in 1998 Jane and Finch won the Ontario Trillium Foundation's Caring Community Award.

Jane and Finch, however, is still a community that requires support, a picture clearly painted by its demographics. Compared to the rest of the city of Toronto, Jane and Finch has:

• a higher rate of immigrants and people new to Canada
• a higher rate of youth and children
• a higher rate of single parents
• a higher rate of low-income families
• a higher proportion of rental households
• a higher rate of unemployment
• a lower percentage of population with university education (despite being located next to York University)
• and a higher percentage of population with less than a high school education

Jane and Finch has gained a reputation for violence, fueled by several headline-grabbing shootings, including a drive-by in August 2005 when four people were shot, one of them a four-year-old boy caught in the crossfire.

In recent years, Jane and Finch has been recognized by the United Way of Greater Toronto as one of nine neighbourhoods 'that have poor and very poor access to services and face significant challenges.' (Read the report: Poverty by Postal Code )

It is one of 13 'at-risk' Toronto communities targeted by the mayor of Toronto's community safety plan which aims to provide solutions to gun related violence, with a particular focus on youth. And it is one of four 'priority communities' identified by the Ontario government for youth employment programs.

Despite its many challenges, however, it is also a community with a tremendous amount of pride, where the majority of people are simply working to raise families and find their way in a new country. It is also a model of multiculturalism, where people from 70 countries who speak 100 languages co-exist, more often that not, in peace.

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