Smithfield is a neighbourhood and former village in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. Some new residents of Toronto and new immigrants to Canada are attracted to this neighbourhood, mainly because there is a large amount of affordable

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

. It is named after the former village of Smithfield located at the intersection of Albion Road and Martin Grove Road. The neighbourhood is located north of the west branch of the Humber River and west of Kipling Avenue. Smithfield was established as a postal village in 1870 to serve the then-agricultural district. It started becoming urbanized after World War II as part of the development of the

Rexdale Rexdale is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located north-west of the central core, in the district of Etobicoke. Rexdale defines an area of several official neighbourhoods north of Highway 401 and east of Highway 427. Rexdale was ori ...

district. Today, the area is fully urbanized. Originally part of

Etobicoke Township Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River, on the west by Etobicoke Cre ...

, which later became the City of Etobicoke, it has been part of Toronto since 1998. Primarily residential, the west and north of the neighbourhood are small industrial areas. For social purposes, the city identifies the neighbourhood as Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown, named for three streets in the area. Mount Olive is the name given to the area north of Albion Road between Kipling and Martin Grove. Jamestown is the part of the community south of Albion between Kipling and Martin Grove. Silverstone covers the area west of Martin Grove and north of Finch. The northernmost section of the neighbourhood, above the hydro right of way, is known as South Steeles. The western projection of the area running along the south side of Finch is known as Woodbine Downs. Smithfield is represented by

Ward 1 Etobicoke North Ward 1 Etobicoke North is a municipal Electoral district, electoral division in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario that has been represented in the Toronto City Council since the 2018 Toronto municipal election, 2018 municipal election. It was last c ...

along with the federal and provincial ridings of Etobicoke North and the

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

s are M9V and M9W. It is patrolled by the 23 Division of the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police se ...

Character

Smithfield has experienced a large influx of citizens from Eastern Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The large expanses of rowhouse developments dating to the 1930s located on Mount Olive Drive just off Kipling Ave has been home to the first newcomers especially from Somalia and the West Indies. North Albion Collegiate Institute, opened in 1962 and located on Kipling and Mount Olive, has for years held showcases for the Asian and South East Asian Communities, attracting audiences from far and wide. Directly across the street, the St. Andrews School and Father Henry Carr Secondary School reflect the Catholic tradition and culture that many resident Filipinos, and

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

share. The Albion Centre (formerly known as "Shoppers World Albion") Is the main shopping mall in the area. Containing a variety of small boutiques and stores, the Albion Centre also contains such franchises as Pizza Pizza, Canadian Tire, and Shoppers Drug Mart. The Albion Cinemas have been operating since before 1970 and are still in operation. The cinemas, well known for their broadcasts of modern Bollywood/Indian/Asian films, have attracted many to this location. Over the past few decades, multiple attempts have been made to crackdown on gang violence in Rexdale. In May 2006, Toronto Police apprehended 106 members of the "Jamestown Crips" in the largest gang sweep in Toronto's history. In total, there were over 1,000 charges laid in the anti-gang offensive called ''Project XXX''. Sometimes known by the nickname Doomstown because of its reputation as a poor neighbourhood ridden with gang violence, the neighbourhood was the setting of the 2006 Canadian television movie '' Doomstown''. On June 04, 2015, more than 700 police officers participated in the series of raids, part of a multi-year investigation dubbed ''Project Pharaoh,'' which targeted a faction of the Mount Olive Crips known as "The Monstarz", who police alleged were involved in a series of deadly gunplay including 8 homicides & were known rivals to the nearby Jamestown Crips.

Cityscape

Institutions

* Etobicoke General Hospital *Albion Public Library *Albion Community Centre *Albion Centre * Finch Albion Centre

Parks

* Smithfield Park * Highfield Park

Place of worship

* Kipling Baptist Church * Martingrove United Church * Rexdale Singh Sabha Religious Centre * Saint Andrew Roman Catholic Church * Sikh Spiritual Centre Toronto * Thistletown Baptist Church

Education

Two

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school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

s operate

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

and

secondary schools A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in the neighbourhood, the

Toronto District School Board The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...

(TDSB), and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). Two secondary schools are located in the neighbourhood, West Humber Collegiate Institute (operated by TDSB), Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School (operated by TCDSB). Father Henry Carr Secondary School was relocated to Smithfield in 2007, taking the space of the former Marian Academy.Royson, James.
Closing school dagger to heart of Rexdale
" ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''. December 12, 2001. News p. B01. Retrieved on August 27, 2013. Elementary schools in the neighbourhood include: * North Kipling Junior Middle School - A school that goes from kindergarten – grade 8, includes gifted program located on Rowntree Road and Kipling Avenue which opened in 1999. At the top of the school crest visually appeals a purple cougar cup paw to represent their school. * Albion Heights Junior Middle School * St. Dorothy's Catholic School * Beaumonde Junior Middle School - A

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

near the intersection of Albion Road and

Finch Avenue Finch Avenue is an arterial road, arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as List of numbered roads in Peel Region, Regional Road 2 and east in ...

. It was opened in 1959 as a Kindergarten to Grade 8 school. From 1970 until 1984, the school operated from Kindergarten to Grade 5. After 1984, it reverted to an entire elementary program. * Elmbank Junior Middle Academy - A

located at 10 Pittsboro Drive, near the corner of Martin Grove Road and

. It opened in 1967. * Greenholme Junior Middle School - A public

located at 10 Jamestown Crescent, close to the intersection of Albion Road and Kipling Avenue. It overlooks the Humber River. * Highfield Junior School - A public

located at 85 Mount Olive Drive, which opened in 1963. At the top of the school crest burns the lamp of learning that has lit the way for young children for over 170 years. The three bells on the crest represent the three locations for the school since 1845 when the first log schoolhouse was erected at the southeast corner of Rexdale Blvd. and Martin Grove Road in the village of Highfield. The black iron school bell from the second Highfield school, built of brick in 1874 at the southeast corner of Rexdale Blvd and Hwy 27, hangs at the end of the new student forum, part of the extensive addition completed in 1997. In September 2006, Highfield earned the National Quality Institute's Blue Leaf Award for excellence in education. * Humberwood Downs Junior Middle Academy - A public

located at 850 Humberwood Blvd. It was opened in 1996. * Melody Village Junior School - A public

located at 520 Silverstone Drive. It was built in 1970. * Smithfield Middle School - A public

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

located at 175 Mount Olive Drive. It officially opened on October 17, 1966. * John D. Parker Junior School - A public

located at 202 Mount Olive Drive. It was opened in 1974 and was expanded in 1994 and 1996. The school was named in honour of Mr. John D. Parker, one of the original seven trustees elected to the Board of Education for the Township of Etobicoke in May 1969. He served on the Board from that time until the end of 1972. * St Angela Catholic Elementary School Humber North Campus

The North Campus of

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

, a post-secondary institution, is also in the neighbourhood. The

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

satellite campus A satellite campus, branch campus or regional campus is a campus of a university or college that is physically at a distance from the original university or college area. This branch campus may be located in a different city, state, or country, ...

, the University of Guelph-Humber, is on the same campus as Humber College's North Campus.

Transportation

Roads

One of the area's most high-profile roads is John Garland Boulevard. The street was named for Nipissing MP and

Minister of National Revenue The minister responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), as well as the administration of taxation law and collection. The position is ...

John Richard 'Jack' Garland and fought to create housing development like Thistletown. Garland died of a heart attack in 1964 and the street was named in his honour in 1965.

References

External links

City of Toronto - Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown Neighbourhood Profile
{{Authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto Etobicoke