Indian businesses and services in Toronto, Canada

South Asian Toronto is less a neighbourhood than a region: the community is spread across the city and its suburbs rather than concentrated downtown. Gerrard India Bazaar, on Gerrard Street East between Greenwood and Coxwell Avenues, is a long-established strip within the city, a business improvement area since 1982, with sari shops, jewellers, sweet shops and restaurants, and it hosts the Festival of South Asia each July. On the Danforth east of Victoria Park Avenue, a large Bengali-speaking community supports Bangladeshi grocers and restaurants, and Thorncliffe Park is home to many Pakistani and other South Asian families.

Head west to Brampton and Mississauga in Peel Region and the Punjabi Sikh community becomes the dominant presence, with plazas full of South Asian businesses. The Ontario Khalsa Darbar on Dixie Road in Mississauga is a large gurdwara that describes itself as one of the biggest in North America. In Etobicoke, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir on Claireville Drive is a carved stone landmark that welcomes visitors. Scarborough, in the east, has one of the largest Sri Lankan Tamil communities outside Sri Lanka, and Richmond Hill is home to several major Hindu temples.

The Khalsa Day parade in downtown Toronto each spring draws very large crowds for Vaisakhi, and Diwali is marked at temples across the region, along with Navratri garba nights in community centres and banquet halls. Many Indian students and new immigrants have settled in Brampton in recent years. Most South Asian shopping is car-based, in strip plazas, so expect busy parking lots at weekends.