South Asian Toronto has a commercial center on Gerrard Street East, the Gerrard India Bazaar, which began in 1972 when Gian Naaz rented the abandoned Eastwood Theatre to show Indian films. The bazaar, also called Little India, was never a residential district, according to Heritage Toronto. The wider South Asian population is much larger and lives mostly elsewhere: Statistics Canada counted about 2.6 million South Asians in Canada in the 2021 census, 7.1 percent of the population and the country’s largest visible minority group.
This page covers the bazaar’s history and the migration history behind it. It does not rank communities or give current business information. For the policy changes that opened Canada to South Asian immigration, see postwar immigration to Toronto.
Immigration rules and the first arrivals
Heritage Toronto’s page on the Gerrard India Bazaar states that Canada’s quota system ended in 1961 and that the points-based system of 1967 opened immigration to more South Asians. The Canadian Council for Refugees timeline dates the key regulations to February 1962 and October 1967, so the sources differ by a year on the first change. The Toronto Transforms maps, drawn from Toronto Star census data and annotated by Edward Relph, show South Asian immigration to the Toronto region beginning in the 1971 to 1980 decade, with Chinese and Indian immigration growing especially in northern Metro, Markham, Mississauga, and Brampton. In the 1991 to 1995 decade, Indian and Pakistani newcomers settled mainly in Brampton, Mississauga, and Scarborough.
Ugandan Asians in 1972
A separate path to Toronto came through the 1972 expulsion of Asians from Uganda. Jan Raska of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 writes that on August 4, 1972, Idi Amin ordered Ugandans of Asian heritage to leave within 90 days. Canada granted 6,175 visas to 2,116 families, and by the end of 1973 more than 7,000 refugees had been resettled. Most arrived in Montreal, but some flew to Toronto and went to Ontario House, and Ontario received 1,847 of them, with more than 40 percent in Toronto, according to the article’s provincial breakdown. The sources differ on the total: Pier 21 says over 6,000 were selected in 1972 and 1973, while the total of about 7,000 refers to arrivals by the end of 1973.
The Eastwood Theatre and the Naaz Theatre
Heritage Toronto reports that Gian Naaz immigrated from India in 1968 and first screened Indian films in rented school halls. In 1972 he began renting the abandoned Eastwood Theatre at 1430 Gerrard Street East, and in 1974 he bought it and renamed it the Naaz Theatre. Visitors came from across Canada and the United States, and nearby South Asian shops and restaurants opened to serve them. The page’s heading gives 1985 as the year the theatre closed, while its text says only that it shut in the 1980s, and it names videotape as the main competition. Aqeel Ihsan of York University, writing in Canadian Food Studies in 2023, also calls Naaz the first South Asian entrepreneur on the street and says his success drew others to open restaurants and grocery stores.
A commercial district without a residential base
The bazaar runs along Gerrard Street East from about Greenwood Avenue to Coxwell Avenue, nine blocks in Ihsan’s description. Heritage Toronto notes that Chinese and Indian immigrants had moved into the area in the 1960s, drawn by lower real estate costs after a period of business decline, but that Gerrard Street East never became a residential center for South Asians. Customers drove in from across the region. Sonu Saree Palace opened around 1979 and Chandan Fashion around 1984, in Heritage Toronto’s account. From the 1990s, South Asian stores opened in Scarborough, Mississauga, and Brampton, and this reduced weekend trips to Gerrard Street East. The district is governed by the Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area, and an annual South Asian festival has raised its profile.
Racism and belonging
Ihsan’s 2023 article, “Paki go home,” argues that the early businesses on Gerrard Street pushed back against racism and racial stereotyping, and that the bazaar reflected the violence South Asians faced across Toronto in the 1970s and 1980s. He also argues that the enclave let South Asians affirm a sense of home and belonging in Canada, even though it never became a distinct residential neighborhood. This is a historian’s interpretation, and it is presented as such here.
Timeline
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 or 1962 | Quota system ends (sources differ by a year) | Heritage Toronto; Canadian Council for Refugees |
| 1967 | Points system added to the regulations | Both |
| 1968 | Gian Naaz immigrates from India | Heritage Toronto |
| August 4, 1972 | Idi Amin orders Asians to leave Uganda | Pier 21 |
| 1972 | Naaz rents the Eastwood Theatre on Gerrard Street East | Heritage Toronto; Ihsan |
| 1974 | Naaz buys the theatre and renames it | Heritage Toronto |
| c. 1979 and c. 1984 | Sonu Saree Palace and Chandan Fashion open | Heritage Toronto |
| 1980s | Naaz Theatre closes (heading says 1985) | Heritage Toronto |
| 1990s | South Asian stores open in Scarborough, Mississauga, and Brampton | Heritage Toronto |
Where is Toronto’s Little India?
The Gerrard India Bazaar runs along Gerrard Street East between Greenwood and Coxwell avenues, according to Heritage Toronto and Ihsan.
When did Little India begin?
In 1972, when Gian Naaz began renting the Eastwood Theatre, according to Heritage Toronto and Ihsan.
Do many South Asians live near Gerrard Street?
Heritage Toronto says Gerrard Street East never became a residential center for South Asians. Most live in suburbs such as Scarborough, Mississauga, Markham, and Brampton, according to the Toronto Transforms maps.
How many South Asians live in Canada?
Statistics Canada’s 2021 census counted about 2.6 million, or 7.1 percent of the population.
Related reading
- An overview of Toronto’s history
- Immigration and communities in Toronto’s history
- Leslieville
- Toronto’s population and languages
- Scarborough
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Heritage Toronto: “Gerrard Bazaar / Little India”
- Aqeel Ihsan, “‘Paki go home’: The story of racism in the Gerrard India Bazaar,” Canadian Food Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, March 13, 2023, pp. 28-32, doi 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i1.556
- Jan Raska, “Canada’s Oppressed Minority Policy and the Resettlement of Ugandan Asians, 1972-1973,” Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
- Statistics Canada, The Daily, October 26, 2022: 2021 Census, diversity
- Canadian Council for Refugees: immigration policy timeline; Edward Relph, Toronto Transforms
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). South Asian Toronto: History and the Gerrard India Bazaar. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/south-asian-toronto-history
MLA: “South Asian Toronto: History and the Gerrard India Bazaar.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/south-asian-toronto-history. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “South Asian Toronto: History and the Gerrard India Bazaar.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/south-asian-toronto-history.
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