Little Mosque In The Suburbs

Urban ethnic enclaves are nothing new. But Peace Village, just north of Toronto, is: it's Canada's first all-Muslim subdivision, where houses feature separate rooms for men and women, and the streets are filled with pedestrians.

2 minute read

October 10, 2007, 12:00 PM PDT

By Michael Dudley


"Welcome to Peace Village, Canada's first Islamic subdivision, where all 260 homes belong to members the Ahmadiyya sect, who flooded to Canada in the 1980s after persecution in Pakistan. It looks ordinary, with basketball nets and minivans in the driveways, until you notice the street signs: Mahmood Crescent, Ahmadiyya Avenue and Noor-Ud-Din Court.

'There is nothing like this in North America,' boasts Naseer Ahmad, a real estate agent from Pakistan who dreamed up this community of Islamic dream homes (including oak stairs and central air conditioning) on the edge of Toronto. 'You have a mosque, and people are walking to enjoy their faith.'

The houses, with some modifications, such as increased ventilation (for spicy food) and separate living rooms for women and men, are so successful that, six years after Peace Village opened, Mr. Ahmad plans to double the mosque's size and is now selling 55 townhomes, 1,700 square feet each, for around $350,000 with a garage and a yard, as "Peace Village Phase II."

Peace Village has had one dramatic impact on this area --bringing pedestrian traffic to a place known as a driver's domain. People walk to mosque, and to school. When the final bell rang at Teston Road Public School, a stream, mainly of women, arrived on foot, pushing strollers, and walked their children across the new city park, recently namedAhmadiyya Park, toward the mosque, and home. Some youngsters as young as nine walked with friends, no parents in sight.

The appeal of faith-based suburbs is simple: People feel more comfortable among their own kind. Maqbool Bajwa immigrated to Toronto from Pakistan in 1987 with his four brothers, his mother and father. Immigration Canada let in his father under the business investor category. The family's first home was in Toronto's troubled Jane-Finch area. In 1997, Maqbool Bajwa bought a house in Brampton in Toronto's western suburbs. A year later he sold it and bought in Peace Village. Family bought adjoining houses.

'The mosque was nearby, the street names were all from our community,' he says, sitting in an office at MB Computer Depot, a new store his brothers started in an Ahmadiyyaowned plaza near Peace Village. 'I love it. When I see Ahmadiyya Avenue, it makes me proud, no question about it. Plus we've got the Vaughan Mills [a new mall], we've got the Wonderland and hopefully the subway coming. I can wear my shalwar camise and walk from home to the mosque without someone looking at me funny for what I'm wearing. It just gives me the absolute comfort of being home.'"

Tuesday, October 9, 2007 in The National Post

View form second story inside Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota with escalators and model cars parked on downstairs floor.

The Mall Is Dead — Long Live the Mall

The American shopping mall may be closer to its original vision than ever.

March 21, 2024 - Governing

View of Austin, Texas skyline with river in foreground during morning golden hour.

The Paradox of American Housing

How the tension between housing as an asset and as an essential good keeps the supply inadequate and costs high.

March 26, 2024 - The Atlantic

Houston, Texas skyline.

Report: Las Vegas, Houston Top List of Least Affordable Cities

The report assesses the availability of affordable rental units for low-income households.

March 22, 2024 - Urban Edge

Close-up of hand holding charging cable moving toward charging port on electric car.

Undoing Biden's EV Rule

The partisan divide over how government should reduce greenhouse gas emissions was on full display after the Biden administration finalized its emissions standards rule for light and medium duty vehicles on March 20.

35 minutes ago - Office of U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan

Aerial view of high-rise buildings on waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts

Boston Moves Zoning Reform Forward

The ‘Squares + Streets’ plan creates form-based zoning templates for neighborhoods that promote mixed use and denser housing near transit.

1 hour ago - The National Law Review

Aerial view of Anchorage, Alaska downtown with mountains in background at golden hour.

Anchorage Leaders Debate Zoning Reform Plan

Last year, the city produced the fewest new housing units in a decade.

March 28 - Anchorage Daily News

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.