Toronto placemaker combats erasure of Little Jamaica through mapping | 24CA News

Years of Eglinton LRT building and financial hardship might have practically erased it, however there’s a plan underfoot to reassert Little Jamaica‘s place on Toronto’s map — by mapping its historical past.

In the spring of 2021, town introduced plans to show Little Jamaica into an official cultural district and employed Jay Pitter Placemaking to steer the method.

“The city asked us to answer the question, ‘why are we designating Little Jamaica as a cultural district,’” mentioned Jay Pitter, a placemaker and adjunct professor of city planning. “And so to answer that question, we really needed to map the Black cultural heritage within this area.”

Generally, Pitter says, cultural districts ought to have a heritage that spans not less than half a century.

“And so my team worked very closely with community members to see if Little Jamaica passed that test,” mentioned Pitter.

It did. And then some.

2:26Toronto constructing plan to formally acknowledge Little Jamaica as cultural district

Working with group historian Kathy Grant, going by means of previous group newspapers, doing on-the-ground interviews with longtime residents, archival mapping and analysis, they discovered the district dated again nearly twice the required interval.

“We (not) only have a half-century presence in Little Jamaica,” mentioned Pitter. “Black people’s presence in Little Jamaica is almost a century long.”

Little Jamaica was house to nearly 100 years of Black presence in retail, advocacy, group care and youth programming, Pitter says.

“So we were able to map all of these aspects of our history,” mentioned Pitter.

Though it was a convincing success, it wasn’t simple, Pitter says. Because, in contrast to different histories, Black histories aren’t usually documented — not less than not in typical, official methods.

“Our histories tend to be erased or negated because the histories that are represented on the map tend to focus on the colonizer, the victor of war and the property owner,” mentioned Pitter.

For Pitter, mapping Black Caribbean historical past in Toronto was deeply essential with a purpose to empower the group.

“A highlight of this project was watching Black community members approach the Black cultural heritage map and become extraordinarily excited, sometimes profoundly sentimental and choked up, seeing all those pinpoints on the map,” mentioned Pitter.

“It validated that they mattered. It validated that they were here and that they are here and that they will be here as the community evolves,” mentioned Pitter.

As for what occurs subsequent, Pitter says the mapping can be used to tell the design and insurance policies of the cultural district of Little Jamaica, together with the designs of streets, provision of parks and group areas.

“We are now approaching the final phase of authoring this plan and we’re so excited to represent Black cultural heritage along with all of the rich cultural heritage that has come to define this neighbourhood,” mentioned Pitter.

3:42Film paperwork adjustments to Little Jamaica

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.