Eastern European enclaves in GTA? (neighborhood, living in, restaurants)

[smoothoperator84]

Hello all,

I am moving to GTA this year and just trying to learn more about the cultures and neighborhood in GTA. Are there eastern european enclaves in GTA like Chinese enclaves in Richmond Hill/Markham? If yes, where are these enclaves? Thank you.

[a_jordania]

Things are changing due to gentrification. Bloor Street West and Roncesvalles used to be heavily Ukrainian and Polish. In fact, Bloor West and Roncesvalles still hold annual Ukrainian and Polish festivals on the same weekend. Bloor and Dundas West still has the Lithuanian house, though many of them moved out west for quite some time. Most Eastern Euros moved west to Lakeshore and Mississauga. Richmond Hill has a size-able Russian population.

[memph]

This should be helpful.

Ethnic Community Maps for Toronto

[smoothoperator84]

Originally Posted by memph

This should be helpful.

Ethnic Community Maps for Toronto

Thanks for the link to the map. But are those maps accurate? I noticed alot of Eastern Europeans living in Richmond Hill and Vaughan according to the map. I remember visiting those neighborhood last summer. I saw were Chinese shops and restaurants everywhere.

[a_jordania]

Eastern European is a pretty large umbrella. Which ethnic groups in particular are you curious about? As I mentioned in my original message, the west end is full of EE.

[memph]

Originally Posted by smoothoperator84

Thanks for the link to the map. But are those maps accurate? I noticed alot of Eastern Europeans living in Richmond Hill and Vaughan according to the map. I remember visiting those neighborhood last summer. I saw were Chinese shops and restaurants everywhere.

There is a decent Chinese population living in the Eastern European areas, but the really Chinese areas are a few km away on the eastern side of Yonge. Are you sure you weren't in Markham?

[smoothoperator84]

I think I was in Markham and Richmond Hill. I am looking for more of 1st generation Eastern European community like Polish, Ukraine, Russians..

[smihaila]

Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area would be your better bet.

[memph]

KWC has some 1st gen Eastern Europeans that's true, but not as many as parts of the GTA.

I would say the map in the link I gave is accurate. However, maybe another thing I should point out is that the Eastern Europeans around Bathurst street from Forest Hill to Thornhill/Vaughan are largely Jewish, while the non-Jewish Eastern Europeans live in the west of the city/western suburbs, much of them Polish although you also have Serbs, Croats and Ukrainians. They have a fair bit of churches in the western GTA, and also businesses catering to that community like Starsky's which is a Polish-Canadian supermarket with 2 locations in Mississauga. However there's also other groups mixed in, Canadians (multi-gen), Pakistanis, Arabs, Portuguese, I don't think any of these areas in the western GTA are predominantly Eastern European although they are a noticeable minority for sure.

[King of Kensington]

Jews from the FSU don't really live in the same areas as Poles, Ukrainians and other Slavic groups. Bathurst-Sheppard and York Region (Thornhill/Richmond Hill) have lots of Russian-speaking Jews. High Park, central and southern Etobicoke and the Cooksville area of Mississauga have lots of Poles. Ukrainians, Croats and Serbs have a similar pattern, but I believe more in Etobicoke and less in Mississauga.

Basically it comes down to migration history. Jews moved northward (centered along Bathurst St.) when they moved out of the Spadina/Kensington area, to Forest Hill, North York and Thornhill. Poles and Ukrainians went westward from Bathurst-Queen, to the High Park area, to Etobicoke/Mississauga.