This Heritage Minute shows that immigrants from many parts of the world opened shops in Toronto’s Kensington Market.

This Heritage Minute shows that immigrants from many parts of the world opened shops in Toronto’s Kensington Market.
Photo Credit: courtesy Historica Canada

Heritage Minute features immigrant market

Immigrant enterprise is celebrated in a short video produced as part of a series of historical vignettes about Canada. This latest Heritage Minute is about Kensington Market in Toronto and is the first animated vignette. Others are taped re-enactments.

This Heritage Minute depicts one of several shops opened by Jewish immigrants in Kensington Market.
This Heritage Minute depicts one of several shops opened by Jewish immigrants in Kensington Market. © courtesy Historica Canada

Kensington Market was built as a residential neighbourhood. In the 20th an influx of Jewish immigrants came from Europe and several set up shops on the ground floors of the Victorian houses. Among them was Chaskel Goldlist who opened a kosher poultry shop and whose grandson wrote the script for this video.

‘Immigrants continue to shape Canada’

Over the years, immigrants from other part of the world arrived and set up their own shops. “Each wave of newcomers has shaped Kensington Market in the same way that immigrants continue to shape Canada,” said Anthony Wilson-Smith, President and CEO of Historica Canada, which produces the vignettes. “This Minute pays tribute to those contributions in one of our most distinctive formats to date.”

So far, there are more than 85 short films, each one in both official languages, English and French. They may depict a significant person, event or story in Canadian history. In its own words, “Historica Canada offers programs that you can use to explore, learn and reflect on our history and what it means to be Canadian.”

WATCH

courtesy Historica Canada

Categories: Immigration & Refugees, Society
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