Saving Little Malta

Shawn Micallef, the editor of Spacing magazine and a founder of the [murmur] project, recalls his childhood growing up in Windsor and describes the background to Maltese culture in and around Toronto, Canada. He writes that the Maltese have moved away from Little Malta but their culture remains. From Eye Weekly - At home on Dundas:

This is Malta Park in Toronto's Malta Village, occupying just a few blocks along Dundas. This area was the vibrant heart of the Maltese diaspora in Canada. Though not many businesses or residents here these days are Maltese, the Dundas strip remains an important part of this small and dispersed community... The mythic Toronto of my childhood imagination consisted of three things: the CN Tower, Mr. Dressup's house and Little Malta. We would take yearly trips to see Maltese friends in Milton, and make Sunday pilgrimages down to Dundas to eat at the Malta Bake Shop.

If you count people like me (half-bred and second-generation), the Maltese population in the GTA is about 20,000-25,000. Today, most of Toronto's Maltese live out in places like Milton. University of Toronto Professor John Portelli, who is researching Maltese-Canadians, has found there are concentrations of Maltese in west Etobicoke, Mississauga and further out in Brampton - but nothing like the visible concentration on Dundas Street..

I like to take people to the Malta Bake Shop, a block away from the church. Not just to get them to try to try the pastizzi and to "Taste of Malta's Delights" [sic] as the sign inside says, but to show them my secret corner of Toronto, one that has a picture of my great-uncle Johnny Catania on the wall. He was a Maltese comedian who entertained the troops in Malta while the Italian Air Force and the Luftwaffe did their best to bomb the island into the sea during WWII. In 1964, he gave up his Maltese television show to immigrate to Windsor with my dad's family..

The problem is people like me aren't moving back. I like that Little Malta is there, and it's comforting, but my allegiances to other parts of the city are just as strong. Sal D'Angelo of Junction Realty hasn't sold any houses to Maltese folks returning to the neighbourhood, but the culture is a big part of the area for him. "Malta Village should stay in the Junction," he says. "Maltese people should stay here." I hope a few of them stay around, too; losing Little Malta would be like losing the CN Tower.

Alex Ciappara responds to Shawn's article; Spacing Wire
Pastizzi in Little Malta - Wired Temples