Look beyond the storefronts, houses, and former community halls of Leslieville, and you’ll uncover a hidden landscape of faith.
Journey through Leslieville and discover how places of worship are tucked into repurposed buildings, revealing how these small, everyday spaces have become community anchors providing spiritual and religious connection. Hidden in former theatres, storefronts, halls, and industrial buildings are stories of migration, adaptation, and faith that reveal a different side of Toronto’s history.
Along the way, we’ll visit sites including Fatih Mosque, a former Orange Order hall; Hoa Nghiem Temple, a repurposed warehouse built by Toronto’s Vietnamese Buddhist community; the Turkish Canadian Islamic Trust, housed in a former cinema and lesbian bar; and Shromani Sikh Sangat, Toronto’s first gurdwara, established in a former grain store. Together, we’ll explore how communities from Turkey, Vietnam, Pakistan, Greece, and India found ways to create spiritual homes in the city.
This emerging historian tour will be led by Ridwan Bashir, a Master’s student studying History at Western University. Her research focuses on migration and ethnic relations, examining how immigrant communities repurpose urban spaces to build community life in Canada.
