The Spot is a youth space located in Yorkgate Mall in the Jane and Finch area in Toronto. Its parent organization, The Jane/Finch Centre, is a multi-service agency that has “been strategically building the health and well-being of Jane and Finch” since 1976.
Along with drop-in programs, The Spot offers a variety of programming including tutoring, sports and recreation programs, employment support, youth leadership opportunities and mental health programs.
Over 12 weeks during the winter of 2024, youth from The Spot joined researchers from the University of Toronto and The Canadian Language Museum to talk about what language means to young people in their community and to celebrate the linguistic diversity of Jane-Finch. Topics discussed included sociolinguistics, dialect diversity, linguistic stereotypes, language and identity, language demographics in Toronto, linguistic landscapes, and slang in the city.
The youth participants reflect the linguistic diversity of Jane and Finch. In the group, there were speakers of more than half a dozen different languages, including Yoruba, Twi, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Jamaican Patois.
The Jane and Finch Community
Jane and Finch is a neighbourhood in the northwest of the City of Toronto bordered by Highway 400 to the west, Black Creek to the east, Steeles Ave. West to the north, and Sheppard Ave. West to the south. At the heart of the neighbourhood is the intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue, where The Spot is located.
In the 1960s, the area experienced massive population growth with the construction of several high-rise public housing apartment complexes, which provided an affordable landing site for Toronto’s growing immigrant population in the 1970s. Today, the neighbourhood still has the highest-density of public housing in the country, and continues to be a common destination of first arrival for many new Canadians.
Due to its disconnection from services and other parts of the city, the neighbourhood is often painted in a negative light in the media. However, for decades community-led grassroots organizations have been working tirelessly to improve the material conditions of the area and its residents, including The Spot.
Snapping Community and Identity
Youth at The Spot were tasked with taking photos that represent language, community, and identity in Toronto, especially in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. Their photos and accompanying captions are displayed here.
