Area Information
Scarborough, Ontario - Scarborough is a district within the eastern part of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It comprises the area and neighbourhoods of the former city of Scarborough, a municipality which was amalgamated into the city of Toronto in 1998. Scarborough is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River and the City of Pickering. In 1954 it became part of Metropolitan Toronto as one of five boroughs and later became a city in 1983. Over 200 years, it grew from a collection of small rural villages to become a large city with a diverse cultural community. It was named after the English town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1796 by Elizabeth Simcoe, who was inspired by the Scarborough Bluffs which reminded her of white cliffs near her home.

Scarborough has characteristics of a suburb of Old Toronto, but retains much of its own character and flavour. Certain neighbourhoods in Scarborough are popular destinations for new immigrants to Canada. As a result, Scarborough is one of the most diverse and multicultural areas of the Greater Toronto Area, being home to various religious groups and places of worship. It includes some of Toronto's popular natural landmarks, such as the Scarborough Bluffs and Rouge Park. Scarborough has been declared to be greener than any other part of Toronto.

Scarborough is a former borough of the former Metropolitan Toronto, and as such its economy is an integral component of the economy of Toronto. Compared to the City of Toronto as a whole, industry in Scarborough is similar in all labour force categories, save for manufacturing which is higher in Scarborough, and professional, scientific and technical services which are lower. Notable companies that have their headquarters in Scarborough include Toyota Canada Inc., Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Thomson Carswell, Bell Media, Teva Canada, Cinram, Royal Doulton, SKF, Alfa Laval, President's Choice Financial, Aviva, Yellow Pages Group, and Telus. The pizza chains 241 Pizza and Pizza Nova have their headquarters in Scarborough.

Lee Kum Kee Canada is in Scarborough. Scarborough was also home to a General Motors Canada Van Assembly plant, which closed in 1993.

Several points of attraction exist between the McCowan RT station and the Midland RT station, including the Scarborough Town Centre, Albert Campbell Square, Canadian government buildings, offices, and new condominiums in recent years. The area has become one of Toronto's new central business districts in the outer boroughs.

Most of the Scarborough based news media have been either weekly or monthly publications. The earliest newspaper was the Scarborough News and Advertiser which was published weekly starting in September, 1921. It lasted until the 1930s. Other short lived papers and magazines included The Enterprise (1945-1966), Scarborough Mail (1946-1955) and The News (1952-1995) and 54east magazine (2005-2009). The only remaining English language local newspaper is the Scarborough Mirror which started publication in 1962 and was later acquired by the Toronto Star's community news division, Metroland. A Scarborough edition of the Toronto wide photography publication SNAP Scarborough was launched in 2009. Ming Pao Daily News is a Chinese language newspaper whose headquarters are in Scarborough. They started production in 1993.

The headquarters of CTV Toronto are in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Scarborough, near the intersection of McCowan Road and Highway 401.

In 1970, Trillium Cable started to provide cable TV service to Scarborough. It was later purchased by Shaw Cable in 1995. During the early days of the company they produced several local shows for their own cable channel. These shows were produced by volunteers and showed a wide variation in quality. These shows were satirized by Mike Myers on his hit comedy Wayne's World.

Scarborough residents have developed their own unique sense of humour, as evidenced by Mike Myers, whose Wayne's World character was inspired by growing up in the area. Other Scarborough natives include Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), John Candy (Second City, SCTV), and musical group Barenaked Ladies. Actor Jim Carrey also lived in Scarborough during his teen years. Scarborough has also proved to be the home of prominent hip-hop artists, including Maestro Fresh-Wes, Choclair, Kardinal Offishall, Saukrates, and the group BrassMunk.

According to the list of largest shopping malls in Canada, the Scarborough Town Centre is the 10th largest in the country and the 4th largest in the GTA. It is located next to the Scarborough Civic Centre, Albert Campbell Square, and Consilium Place. This area was developed as a city centre under the old City of Scarborough government. The Scarborough Walk of Fame is also located in the Town Centre, consisting of plaques embedded in the floor to honour notable residents, past and current. The inaugural inductees included National Basketball Association player Jamaal Magloire, Olympic gold medalist Vicky Sunohara, and eight prominent residents who contributed to advances in medicine, arts, and the community.

In 1974, the Toronto Zoo was moved from its original downtown location to its current location in the Rouge River valley. The new location enabled the zoo to increase its overall area from 3 hectares (7.4 acres) to over 300 hectares (740 acres). The zoo was transformed at this time from a 19th century zoo with a few animals cramped behind iron bars into a zoo where space was provided to animals and the setting attempted to duplicate the animals' natural environments.

Grace Hospital signboard in three languages - English, Chinese and TamilThe topography of Scarborough has provided the area with an abundance of golf courses. There is a mix of public and private courses. Dentonia Park is a public course established in 1967 and is situated in the Taylor-Massey Creek ravine beside the Victoria Park subway station. Formerly a private club, the Tam O'Shanter Golf Course was established in 1973 as a public course and is located alongside Highland Creek. Private clubs include the Toronto Hunt Club which was the first golf course in Scarborough, established in 1895 alongside Lake Ontario. and the Scarboro Golf and Country Club was established in 1912. The Cedarbrae Golf & Country Club was established in 1922 and moved to its current Rouge River Valley location at Steeles Ave East in 1954.

On 17 May 2006, the Nike Malvern Sports Complex was opened in the Malvern neighbourhood. Nike Canada donated $500,000 to build the complex, which includes a basketball court, a practice soccer pitch, and a running track. The track was constructed from 50,000 used running shoes. The complex was built on the grounds of the Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School and is open to the public. Olympic hurdler Perdita Felicien was on hand at the opening to encourage youth to participate in sports.

Scarborough is one of the prominent destination areas for Tamils in the GTA who have fled Sri Lanka because of civil war. Efforts to integrate Tamil culture include; establishing cross-cultural and cross-national alliances, the building of many Tamil schools across the GTA.

Scarborough is home to several local arts organizations. Scarborough Music Theatre, Scarborough Players, and Scarborough Theatre Guild work together under the name Theatre Scarborough. The Scarborough Choral Society performs one full scale musical and a Christmas concert each year.  Details