Establishing Toronto's Cultural Districts Program

Cultural Districts are widely recognized as areas of shared history and identity that offer a sense of belonging. They not only serve the local area but also draw people from across the city and beyond. The Cultural Districts Program will include two core components: - Recognition of Cultural Districts: Formal recognition of Cultural Districts by City Council is an important first step toward safeguarding their cultural heritage. This report recommends that Little Jamaica, Church-Wellesley Village, West Chinatown, Little Iran and Banglatown be recognized as the City's initial Cultural Districts, in response to direction from Council. Recognition of other communities as Cultural Districts may be considered in future years through an application-based process. - Responding to Commercial Displacement: Despite their significance, Cultural Districts can face ongoing threats of displacement, impacting the businesses, community organizations, buildings and landmarks that anchor their neighbourhood identity and vitality. These issues are particularly acute in Little Jamaica, Church-Wellesley Village, and West Chinatown. The proposed Cultural Districts Program offers an opportunity to respond to these challenges by introducing targeted policy and program tools to stabilize culturally significant businesses against commercial displacement. Culturally significant businesses provide culturally relevant goods and/or services that are meaningful to Black, Indigenous and equity-deserving communities as having special cultural significance to their history, identity, and ability to thrive. This report proposes a phased framework for Toronto's Cultural Districts Program, combining immediate actions that can be delivered within existing resources in 2026 with a suite of additional targeted supports that could be implemented through the 2027 Budget Process and future years, subject to Council approval. The initial phase focuses on formally recognizing Cultural Districts and launching local capacity-building initiatives to support community-led placemaking, inclusive economic development, and land stewardship. Building on this foundation, the report also outlines scalable targeted supports to respond to commercial displacement in qualifying Cultural Districts contingent on the availability of additional funding, including grants to non-profit organizations and financial incentives to directly support culturally significant businesses, enabled by Community Improvement Plans (CIPs). This report also outlines the steps required to initiate CIPs in qualifying Cultural Districts. A CIP is a tool under the Planning Act that enables municipalities to provide financial incentives to for-profit businesses to support community improvement. In this context, CIPs could be used to introduce new incentives for culturally significant businesses in Cultural Districts to help mitigate commercial displacement. Additional research and consultation are required before initiating CIPs in eligible Cultural Districts. Moreover, funding will be needed to implement any such incentives. Subject to consideration through the 2027 budget process, staff will conduct an analysis of local economic activity in Little Jamaica, West Chinatown, Church-Wellesley, Little Iran, and Banglatown to assess the applicability of CIPs in each district. This analysis will be followed by consultations with community stakeholders to define the scope of targeted supports that could be delivered through CIPs to address commercial displacement. Draft CIPs must also be circulated to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for review and comment. Based on the results of the economic analysis and consultations, staff will report to the Planning and Housing Committee by the end of Q2 2027 with recommendations on implementing CIPs, where appropriate, to support these targeted initiatives.

2. City Council recognize the area shown in Attachment 1 as the Little Jamaica Cultural District. 3. City Council recognize the area shown in Attachment 2 as the West Chinatown Cultural District. 4. City Council recognize the area shown in Attachment 3 as the Church-Wellesley Village Cultural District. 5. City Council recognize the area shown in Attachment 4 as the Little Iran Cultural District. 6. City Council recognize the area shown in Attachment 5 as the Banglatown Cultural District.