
Who We Are
Parish Profile, Location and Neighbourhood
Parish Profile
Parish Profile 2022 - download here or view below
Our Draft Code of Conduct
Drafted Summer 2022 and now being refined - download here.
Our Neighbourhood
Location
Holy Trinity, Thornhill, is located at 140 Brooke Street in the historic village of Thornhill, just north of the City of Toronto.
Thornhill is divided municipally being part of both Markham (east of Yonge Street) and Vaughan (west of Yonge Street).
The church is located on the west side of Yonge Street, south of Centre Street, officially in the area bounded by Dufferin Street on the west, Highway 7 on the north, Highway 404 on the east. The southern boundary is irregular, following Steeles Avenue and just north of Steeles to Dufferin.
Neighbourhood
Holy Trinity Church is located in a residential neighbourhood, adjacent to a park and the historical MacDonald House, once the home of Group of Seven artist J.E.H. MacDonald and later of his son Thoreau, a talented artist in his own right - book designer, illustrator and calligrapher.
It was here that MacDonald senior painted his famous The Tangled Garden, now in the National Gallery in Ottawa. Thoreau's parents moved to Thornhill in 1912, where they first resided at 18 Centre St. Two years later the family moved to 121 Centre St. After his father's death in 1932, Thoreau stayed on until 1974 when the house was donated to the City of Vaughan. A nature lover Thoreau lived here for 60 years, preserving on paper the way of life of a now vanished community. He designed the wheatsheaf logo for The Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill. Much of his work is in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg.
All major retail outlets are available within a 15-20 minute drive of the church. A number of public recreation and community centres are also within a 15-minute drive of Holy Trinity, Thornhill.
Cultural options include theatres such as the Markham Theatre for the Performing Arts, Markham Little Theatre, The City Playhouse, Richmond Hill Centre for the Arts and the Curtain Club of Richmond Hill. There are two libraries in Thornhill itself as well as several others in neighbouring communities.
We are centrally located between two hospitals: York Central in Richmond Hill and North York General in North York. Several tourist attractions are available within a half hour drive including Black Creek Pioneer Village, Canada’s Wonderland, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Frederick Horsman Varley Art Gallery of Markham and the Kortright Centre for Conservation.
There are many transit options in Thornhill. A direct bus line to the Finch subway station is a two minute walk from the Rectory or Church, providing easy access to downtown Toronto. Options available include York Region Transit including VIVA, GO Transit and the TTC. It is just a short drive to Highway 404/Don Valley Parkway (Route of Heroes) with direct access to Downtown Toronto and to Highway 407.
Community Demographics
The parish draws from both the Markham and Vaughan communities. Both these communities are ethnically diverse and are aging, with younger families moving further out of the city. A significant proportion of the community has no religious affiliation (9% Vaughan, 16% Markham).
The largest religious groups are Jewish (49% Vaughan, 22% Markham) followed by Roman Catholic (20% in both communities). There are approximately 4,200 Anglicans in the area.