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Dedicated to family, Mi Familia Annex Audio Tour uncovers the hidden histories of the gentrified Annex neighbourhood in Toronto. My family guides you through a short walk through the Annex, as we engage in music and story telling. It is a story of migration, struggle, and celebration.
photo of Bloor and Bathurst. Taken by Samay Arcentales Cajas
This is an audio tour dedicated to my family, uncovering our hidden histories within the Annex neighbourhood beginning in the 1970’s, a period when the very first Ecuadorian migrants came to live in Toronto. My family will guide you as we engage in music and storytelling with a few stops along the way to highlight particular relevant stories. From my great grandmother working in a laundromat on Bathurst, my grandmother’s first office job in Canada in Honest Eds, to my dad playing on the streets. These are just a few stories of many. It is intended to serve as a historical archive to highlight the stories of migrants that are often hidden by gentrification processes. Historical accounts of the Annex demonstrate and highlight only the existence and accomplishments of white “Canadians”, while ignoring the presence and lives of migrants, as if they did not exist. This is done without forgetting whose land it is we settled. My family has had different ways of creating relationships with indigenous peoples, who also form an important part of this neighbourhood, by engaging together through music and art. This has been a particular aspect of my family, who is also indigenous, though of another land, which is different from other migrant Ecuadorian families. This relationship has developed and carried on for decades, something that a few of the stories in the audio tour tell of.
You can take the tour by clicking HERE
Made possible by CUE