Malvern
Mary Shadd Public School
135 Hupfield Trail
Opened in 1985, this public school was named after American-Canadian Mary Ann Shadd, a Black educator and abolitionist who helped enslaved persons escape from the United States to Canada via the Underground Railroad. She was also the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America.
Viola Desmond Park
85 Hupfield Trail
Formerly known as Hupfield Park, this 3.2-hectare park near Morningside Avenue and Old Finch Avenue features a ball diamond, multipurpose sports field, basketball court and a children's playground. In 2018, a request was submitted to the City of Toronto to rename Hupfield Park to Viola Desmond Park. In 1946, Viola Irene Desmond, a Black Canadian businesswoman, challenged racial segregation at a film theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia and inspired future generations of Black Canadians to advance the civil rights movement in Canada. She was featured in a Historica Canada 'Heritage Minute' and in December 2016 it was announced that she would be the first Canadian woman depicted on the face of a Canadian banknote. Honouring Viola Desmond in Scarborough provides people of all backgrounds with an opportunity to learn about and celebrate an important historic role model.
Shawn Blu Rose Park
30 Empringham Drive
A 2-hectare park near Morningside Avenue and McLevin Avenue that features a baseball diamond, a picnic area, a children's playground and a splash pad. Formerly known as Empringham Park, this park was renamed in 2006 to honour Shawn 'Blu' Rose, a local youth worker who passed away in 2005. Rose was a leader in his community who demonstrated commitment to young people and worked tirelessly to erase and overcome barriers.
Katrina Canedo Artbox
Sewells Road between Alford Crescent and Brenyon Way
Painted in 2014, Filipino-Canadian artist Katrina Canedo depicts a fun, happy, and cartoonish animal group portrait in this art box to symbolize the very tight-knit and diverse Malvern community.
Malvern Recreation Centre and Toronto Public Library - Malvern Branch
30 Sewells Road
Toronto Public Library - Malvern Branch
Malvern Recreation Centre is a free centre that offers a wide variety of programs and amenities for all ages. The centre has a focus on youth specific programming, including volunteer opportunities and a youth advisory council. The Toronto Skateboard Committee runs an indoor wooden skatepark inside the ice rink of the Malvern Recreation Centre in the summer months. The Malvern Library opened in 1982. The library houses a youth hub and features collections in English, Chinese, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Tagalog, Tamil, Urdu and Punjabi. The library also houses the Rita Cox Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection, one of the most significant Black and Caribbean heritage collections in Canada. It includes over 16,000 print and audiovisual materials about the Black and Caribbean historical and cultural experience. Also on site is one of the Toronto Public Library's 23 specialized Youth Hubs.
Malvern Town Centre
31 Tapscott Road
Built in the late 1980s, this mall also operates as a popular community hub. Malvern Town Centre is a plain brick structure, but the grand glass entranceway and central atrium makes this mall stand out. The entrance extends outward with one central peaked glass column. Three arches in the parking lot are placed adjacent to the entrance. For a fun tropical feel, enjoy the mall's many large palm trees. The businesses are largely independent and locally owned and the mall is host to many community services.
TAIBU Community Health Centre
27 Tapscott Road
TAIBU Community Health Centre is a multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, community-led organization founded in 2008 by the Black Health Alliance. It is the only community health centre in Canada that gives special attention to health issues specific to people of African descent. They offer health services, and a number of social, educational and recreation programs for all ages. The word TAIBU is a Kiswahili (Swahili) word that means, 'be in good health'. The roots of TAIBU's specialized healthcare services can be traced back many decades to the work of Lillie Johnson. Johnson, born in Jamaica in 1922, became Ontario's first Black Director of Public Health in the Leeds-Grenville and Lanark district. In 1981, Johnson founded the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario. She was a strong advocate for universal screening for sickle cell disease. As a result of her work and advocacy, the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario and TAIBU, working in partnership with Scarborough Hospital, established specialized primary care services for adults with sickle cell disease at this site. Johnson has received many honours for her important work, including the Order of Ontario in 2011.
Neilson Park
1555 Neilson Road
This 9.6-hectare park has three ball diamonds, a gazebo and picnic area, splash pad, playground, outdoor volleyball court, and even a skateboard area.
Tom Longboat Junior Public School
37 Crow Trail
This unassuming junior public school opened in 1978 and is named after Tom Longboat, an Onondaga world-class long distance runner. Hailing from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, he gained prominence in the 1900s when he won the 1907 Boston Marathon in a record time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 24 seconds. Tom Longboat battled significant anti-Indigenous rhetoric and discrimination throughout his career; however, he continued to win races and set records into the 1910s.
Scott Westney House and Major Abbas Ali Park
180 McLevin Avenue
This charming stone house was originally built 130 years ago on Sheppard Avenue East, and moved to this location in 1990. Named after its previous owners, the Westney and Scott families, this historic building has been repurposed to meet the needs of the community. Today it houses the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre's program Targeting Women in Skills Training (TWIST), which assists young women in finding employment through job experience and training. In 2010, the park was renamed in honour of local community worker, Major Muhammad Abbas Ali (a major in the Pakistan Army), who fundraised for many national and international charities. He moved to Scarborough in 1989 and founded the nearby Muslim Welfare Centre of Toronto in 1993. During his lifetime, he walked over 10,000 kilometres in charitable marathon walks for UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Children in Need and many more.
Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto
5183 Sheppard Avenue West
This Cultural Centre has become a significant multicultural hub within the community and the city as a whole. Constructed in 1998, the building includes a traditional Chinese garden, an octagonal public courtyard, performance hall, multipurpose space, resource centre, art gallery, art studios and conference rooms. The Chinese Cultural Centre provides a number of services for the community and hosts annual cultural festivals, events and educational programs. The 'Legacy in Motion' Mural, on the northeast corner of the building, depicts a flock of birds in flight and symbolizes the sharing of arts and culture internationally. The large birds represent elements of arts and culture, such as architecture, visual arts, dance, theatre or cuisine. The smaller birds feature textile patterns from around the globe. The mural was painted by lead artist Rob Matejka with Leyland Adams, Joefrey Anthony Cabalu, Mel Coleman, Banafsheh Erfanian, Siddarth Khaire, Raoul Olou, Menelik Powell and Kareen Weir.
Toronto Public Library - Burrows Hall Branch & Burrows Hall Community Centre
1081 Progress Avenue
Opened in 1998, as part of a complex with the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, Burrows Hall serves the local community. The library contains a collection in multiple languages, including a large collection in Chinese. Located at Burrows Hall Community Centre is Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (R.I.S.E), which is a youth-led community initiative, founded by Randell Adjei, that focuses on creating a space and opportunities for young people to express themselves through performance and literary arts. R.I.S.E began in 2012 as a small informal group of 20 youth sharing their poetry and stories with each other at a resource centre in Scarborough Town Centre. As more people participated in the group, they transformed into a youth-led collective of artists and activists.
Explore Malvern
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Explore FREE Public Art Across the City. Toronto's Year of Public Art 2021-2022 is a year-long celebration of Toronto's exceptional public art collection and the creative community behind it.
We hope that you enjoyed exploring this Toronto neighbourhood and found many other points of interest along the way. While StrollTO highlights some of the 'hidden gems' in the neighbourhood, there may be others that could be included in a future edition. Would you like to share a point of interest that you discovered in the neighbourhood? Email us at [email protected].
Neighbourhood Stroll
Malvern originally formed in 1856 as a farming hamlet and today is a lively and diverse suburban community, largely the result of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation taking over the farmlands to build a community of affordable homes in 1972. With a boom in immigration to the area in the 1980s, Malvern is a community that continues to welcome newcomers to Canada. This stroll showcases Malvern's green spaces, community hubs, public art and diverse histories. Fantastic local businesses are located along Finch Avenue East, Sheppard Avenue East, Morningside Avenue, and Tapscott Road.
- Mary Shadd Public School
135 Hupfield Trail
Opened in 1985, this public school was named after American-Canadian Mary Ann Shadd, a Black educator and abolitionist who helped enslaved persons escape from the United States to Canada via the Underground Railroad. She was also the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America.
- Viola Desmond Park
85 Hupfield Trail
Formerly known as Hupfield Park, this 3.2-hectare park near Morningside Avenue and Old Finch Avenue features a ball diamond, multipurpose sports field, basketball court and a children's playground. In 2018, a request was submitted to the City of Toronto to rename Hupfield Park to Viola Desmond Park. In 1946, Viola Irene Desmond, a Black Canadian businesswoman, challenged racial segregation at a film theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia and inspired future generations of Black Canadians to advance the civil rights movement in Canada. She was featured in a Historica Canada 'Heritage Minute' and in December 2016 it was announced that she would be the first Canadian woman depicted on the face of a Canadian banknote. Honouring Viola Desmond in Scarborough provides people of all backgrounds with an opportunity to learn about and celebrate an important historic role model.
- Shawn Blu Rose Park
30 Empringham Drive
A 2-hectare park near Morningside Avenue and McLevin Avenue that features a baseball diamond, a picnic area, a children's playground and a splash pad. Formerly known as Empringham Park, this park was renamed in 2006 to honour Shawn 'Blu' Rose, a local youth worker who passed away in 2005. Rose was a leader in his community who demonstrated commitment to young people and worked tirelessly to erase and overcome barriers.
- Katrina Canedo Artbox
Sewells Road between Alford Crescent and Brenyon Way
Painted in 2014, Filipino-Canadian artist Katrina Canedo depicts a fun, happy, and cartoonish animal group portrait in this art box to symbolize the very tight-knit and diverse Malvern community.
- Malvern Recreation Centre and Toronto Public Library - Malvern Branch
30 Sewells Road
Toronto Public Library - Malvern Branch
Malvern Recreation Centre is a free centre that offers a wide variety of programs and amenities for all ages. The centre has a focus on youth specific programming, including volunteer opportunities and a youth advisory council. The Toronto Skateboard Committee runs an indoor wooden skatepark inside the ice rink of the Malvern Recreation Centre in the summer months. The Malvern Library opened in 1982. The library houses a youth hub and features collections in English, Chinese, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Tagalog, Tamil, Urdu and Punjabi. The library also houses the Rita Cox Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection, one of the most significant Black and Caribbean heritage collections in Canada. It includes over 16,000 print and audiovisual materials about the Black and Caribbean historical and cultural experience. Also on site is one of the Toronto Public Library's 23 specialized Youth Hubs.
- Malvern Town Centre
31 Tapscott Road
Built in the late 1980s, this mall also operates as a popular community hub. Malvern Town Centre is a plain brick structure, but the grand glass entranceway and central atrium makes this mall stand out. The entrance extends outward with one central peaked glass column. Three arches in the parking lot are placed adjacent to the entrance. For a fun tropical feel, enjoy the mall's many large palm trees. The businesses are largely independent and locally owned and the mall is host to many community services.
- TAIBU Community Health Centre
27 Tapscott Road
TAIBU Community Health Centre is a multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, community-led organization founded in 2008 by the Black Health Alliance. It is the only community health centre in Canada that gives special attention to health issues specific to people of African descent. They offer health services, and a number of social, educational and recreation programs for all ages. The word TAIBU is a Kiswahili (Swahili) word that means, 'be in good health'. The roots of TAIBU's specialized healthcare services can be traced back many decades to the work of Lillie Johnson. Johnson, born in Jamaica in 1922, became Ontario's first Black Director of Public Health in the Leeds-Grenville and Lanark district. In 1981, Johnson founded the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario. She was a strong advocate for universal screening for sickle cell disease. As a result of her work and advocacy, the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario and TAIBU, working in partnership with Scarborough Hospital, established specialized primary care services for adults with sickle cell disease at this site. Johnson has received many honours for her important work, including the Order of Ontario in 2011.
- Neilson Park
1555 Neilson Road
This 9.6-hectare park has three ball diamonds, a gazebo and picnic area, splash pad, playground, outdoor volleyball court, and even a skateboard area.
- Tom Longboat Junior Public School
37 Crow Trail
This unassuming junior public school opened in 1978 and is named after Tom Longboat, an Onondaga world-class long distance runner. Hailing from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, he gained prominence in the 1900s when he won the 1907 Boston Marathon in a record time of 2 hours 24 minutes and 24 seconds. Tom Longboat battled significant anti-Indigenous rhetoric and discrimination throughout his career; however, he continued to win races and set records into the 1910s.
- Scott Westney House and Major Abbas Ali Park
180 McLevin Avenue
This charming stone house was originally built 130 years ago on Sheppard Avenue East, and moved to this location in 1990. Named after its previous owners, the Westney and Scott families, this historic building has been repurposed to meet the needs of the community. Today it houses the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre's program Targeting Women in Skills Training (TWIST), which assists young women in finding employment through job experience and training. In 2010, the park was renamed in honour of local community worker, Major Muhammad Abbas Ali (a major in the Pakistan Army), who fundraised for many national and international charities. He moved to Scarborough in 1989 and founded the nearby Muslim Welfare Centre of Toronto in 1993. During his lifetime, he walked over 10,000 kilometres in charitable marathon walks for UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Children in Need and many more.
- Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto
5183 Sheppard Avenue West
This Cultural Centre has become a significant multicultural hub within the community and the city as a whole. Constructed in 1998, the building includes a traditional Chinese garden, an octagonal public courtyard, performance hall, multipurpose space, resource centre, art gallery, art studios and conference rooms. The Chinese Cultural Centre provides a number of services for the community and hosts annual cultural festivals, events and educational programs. The 'Legacy in Motion' Mural, on the northeast corner of the building, depicts a flock of birds in flight and symbolizes the sharing of arts and culture internationally. The large birds represent elements of arts and culture, such as architecture, visual arts, dance, theatre or cuisine. The smaller birds feature textile patterns from around the globe. The mural was painted by lead artist Rob Matejka with Leyland Adams, Joefrey Anthony Cabalu, Mel Coleman, Banafsheh Erfanian, Siddarth Khaire, Raoul Olou, Menelik Powell and Kareen Weir.
- Toronto Public Library - Burrows Hall Branch & Burrows Hall Community Centre
1081 Progress Avenue
Opened in 1998, as part of a complex with the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, Burrows Hall serves the local community. The library contains a collection in multiple languages, including a large collection in Chinese. Located at Burrows Hall Community Centre is Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere (R.I.S.E), which is a youth-led community initiative, founded by Randell Adjei, that focuses on creating a space and opportunities for young people to express themselves through performance and literary arts. R.I.S.E began in 2012 as a small informal group of 20 youth sharing their poetry and stories with each other at a resource centre in Scarborough Town Centre. As more people participated in the group, they transformed into a youth-led collective of artists and activists.
Accessibility information: All points of interest are visible from the sidewalk. Most of this stroll takes place on streets and paved paths. However, there may be some unpaved paths and uneven surfaces along Viola Desmond Park, Shawn Blu Rose Park, and Neilson Park. There may also be additional barriers, including but not limited to stairs, steep inclines, and narrow passageways, along or at other destinations.
The StrollTO itineraries may follow routes that do not receive winter maintenance. Please review winter safety tips and for more information contact 311.
Soundtracks of the City
From global superstars to local favourites and ones to watch, the Soundtracks of the City playlists all feature artists who have called Toronto home. Whether it’s a lyric about the neighborhood, an artist representing a cultural community, or a tie-in to the StrollTO itinerary itself, all the music reflects connections to an individual ward or the City as a whole.
Music was chosen based on an artist’s Spotify presence and each song’s broad appeal, as well as its associations with the cultures, languages and ethnicities that reflect Toronto’s neighborhoods and diverse music scene. Soundtracks of the City combines 425 songs that feature more than 500 different local artists or acts, showcasing songs in 23 different languages.