1 Founding of Jami Mosque

As a result of increased demand for labour in the post-Second World War Canadian economy and gradual relaxing of long-standing racial barriers to immigration, large numbers of South Asian immigrants began to arrive in the Greater Toronto Area throughout the 1960s. Until then, Muslim services in Toronto were performed in private homes or rented facilities, in the absence of a permanent place of worship. In 1969, a group of Muslims in Toronto purchased the vacant High Park Presbyterian Church and renamed it Jami Mosque. Although the masjid (mosque) initially faced financial problems, the Islamic Services of Canada charitable trust was soon established by the University of Toronto’s Muslim Students’ Association to own and manage the property. Several mosques throughout the Greater Toronto Area originated at Jami, which is known within the local Muslim community as Umm Al-Masjid (the mother of all the mosques) in Toronto.

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