History of Eglinton West's Little Jamaica

Anyika Mark, Romain Baker

My name is Anyika Mark and I have been volunteering, and now working with Full-Time, with Black Urbanism TO (BUTO) since 2019. BUTO was incorporated in 2018 with a mission to increase the participation on Black people in community development processes in neighbourhoods we call home. Eglinton West's Little Jamaica is our home, and the Eglinton LRT was destroying the cultural fabric and displacing people at a rapid rate. Little Jamaica has been an Afro-Caribbean cultural district dating back to the 1960's, with a dense Black business corridor on the main-street, with cultural murals and legacy properties. Our community has pushed back hard against the gentrification and the neighbourhood is thriving, returning back to the vibrancy of the 60's.

The work I have been doing since 2024 has been incubating the Little Jamaica Community Land Trust (LJCLT). Community Land Trusts, or CLTS, are nonprofit/non-government organizations that take properties off the speculative market and into community control. The Little Jamaica Community Land Trust (LJCLT) will serve as an anchor institution for Black businesses, residents and the cultural heritage of Toronto’s Eglinton West’s Little Jamaica. The creation of a Little Jamaica Community Land Trust (LJCLT) will be a critical first step for mitigating further displacement.

I have been leading Walking Tours in Little Jamaica as early as 2019, with institutions like Toronto Foundation, York University, University of Toronto, the Jamaican Consulate and more. I have extensive knowledge on individual legacy businesses, historical murals and other facts (developments in the area, cultural festivals)

Walk Start:

Eglinton West Subway Station

BME Church 1828 Eglinton West Ave

Walk End: