The Gathering Place has been a staple in the Regent Park and Cabbagetown neighborhoods for over 40 years. It all began in 1976 with a group of people meeting at a weekly worship at St. Barnabas Church, who noticed an increasing number of Native people moving into the downtown core, having issues with housing. The weekly meetings turned into pot lucks and became widely popular. In 1978, they were moved to the All Saints Church to accommodate more people from all across the downtown core. Eventually the venture received funding and other services and programs like word-processing, literacy/numeracy courses were developed, paving the way for the creation of Toronto Council Fire.

By 1997, Toronto Council Fire outgrew the space provided by the All Saints Church and moved into its current location at 439 Dundas Street East. The Gathering Place, recreated by the vision of the weekly potlucks, has remained an integral part of Toronto Council Fire and the Regent Park and Cabbagetown communities since. Today, the Gathering Place offers a safe community space within our Drop-In.

The Drop-In continues to provide access to basic needs and supports using a community development approach and our staff work tirelessly to remove barriers that may prevent people from accessing housing, income and employment opportunities. While, the goal of the Gathering Place is to lower social isolation amongst our community members through access to supports that improve their quality of life, it touches upon several other missions at Council Fire. These include promoting and supporting housing and shelter for Aboriginal people through direct and indirect programming and services, supporting the economy and sustainability of our community and working with people of the four Colours.

The Gathering Place receives funding from Services Canada (SC) and is administered by the Aboriginal Labour Force Development Circle (ALFDC). The Gathering Place welcomes Volunteer Placements, Community Service Order Hours and Post-Secondary Student Placements to serve the Council Fire community.

Partnerships / Donations

• Daily Bread Foodbank
• Second Harvest
• Furniture Bank
• Toronto Public Health
• Native Men’s Residence
• Metropolitan United Church
• SOADI
• Toronto Drop-In Network
• Just Sox
• R.H. McGregor Elementary School
• Salvation Army (River Street site)
• Metropolitan United Church
• The Bargains Group