The father of Canada’s current Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau relaxed immigration rules in the 1970s and many Jamaicans were on the first thing smoking in search of a better life. This created an economy and legacy among the diaspora where the demand and supply for Jamaican products, services and music in Canada were at an all time high.
National Geographic got a lesson in Jamaican cook shop etiquette recently : “Know what you want. The Jamaican woman behind the counter had no patience for the indecisive,” says second generation Toronto native Heather Greenwood Davis who explores how Jamaicans have helped to shape Canadian society.
“Both Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff are said to have been among the international reggae artists who frequented the area on visits to the city… It was an area that felt like the home they’d left behind”, said Greenwood Davis.
The travel feature takes a look at the neighborhoods in Canada that are populated with Jamaican nationals and their businesses but is now struggling to maintain its heritage and ownership due to new developments. Storefront businesses are being replaced by the Eglinton Crosstown light-rail transit (LRT).
But before Little Jamaica became a construction site, it was a safe space for hundreds of thousands of Caribbean migrants, including Jamaican restaurant owner Horace “Rap” Rose and Randy’s.
“When we come in from Jamaica, it’s just us. It was lonely. (So) when you come to Eglinton, you see people who can talk patois, say ‘Wah gwaan bredren!’” Rose remembers, laughing.
“That what brings the community… and not just Jamaican but West Indian community together — it’s Eglinton.”
Randy’s Takeout restaurant was said to be in negotiations with Drake for a buyout after the pandemic triggered an announced closure. Owner Tyrone Edwards made the announcement of the closing and Canadians dropped comments expressing their deep disappointment online. Drake, always keeping his ears to the streets enquired about the iconic Jamaican establishment.
“I’ll buy Randy’s right now,” said the God’s plan artist via Instagram.
Racism in ‘Little Jamaica’
Heather said, “When my parents talk about the neighborhood, they speak mostly of the positives. When I pry, they tell me about the racism they faced within and outside the area.”
She continued, “In the end, they did move north, where they chased—and caught—the immigrant dream: homes that were successively bigger, perfect for their growing family, and neighborhoods with schools that treated higher education as if it were a guarantee.”
Toronto’s reggae music scene has produced modern rap and dancehall artists like Cardinal official and Snow who are beneficiaries of the cultural development that took place in the city over the years. Davis said back in the day, “There was a joy that you felt just walking the strip. Reggae and Soca music, at decibels I never heard anywhere but my parent’s basement or Caribana, were the norm. Tam-wearing, dreadlocked men perched on windowsills next to oil barrels converted into barbecues.”
Musicians, including Johnny Osbourne, Sly and Robbie, and Steve Harvey, have all found their way to the joint in the wee hours of the morning to partake in some Jamaican Canadian hospitality. (The area is so beloved in the reggae music industry that in 2014 the city recognized the history with a mural proclaiming the laneway just east of Rap’s “Reggae Lane.”)
