North-west Toronto
Jane and Finch
aka Up Top, Driftwood, The Jungle
Built in the 1960s as a planned high-density suburb, Jane and Finch became home to successive waves of Caribbean, Vietnamese, Latin American and West African families. Decades of underinvestment and heavy media stigma shaped a fiercely protective local identity — and one of the most linguistically inventive corners of Canada.
Artists from here
Local vocabulary
- up topAreas further north in the GTA — North York, Vaughan, Brampton — relative to downtown.+1068
- jane and finchThe neighbourhood at Jane St. and Finch Ave. in North York. Shorthand for a tight-knit, historically stigmatized community.+1399
- endsYour neighbourhood — the specific area you're from and rep.+988
- oppsEnemies or rivals, usually in a street context.+424
- crodieYour closest friend — a warmer, more Toronto-specific evolution of "bro" or "cro". Used as a term of address between men who are genuinely tight.+1378