This land known today as Toronto is the traditional territory of nations that include Mississauga of the Credit, the Ojibwe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat. This territory is under numerous Treaties that include Dish With one Spoon, a mutual agreement between nations to share and protect land and resources. Scarborough, the now eastern suburb of Tkaronto, is under the pre-confederation Williams Treaties. See native-land.ca for mapping of indigenous lands.

Lee challenges the popular imaginary that the suburbs are uninspiring and lacklustre: home only to Anglo-Saxon middle-class nuclear families in developer row housing surrounded by white picket fence. In reality, Toronto’s periphery is a dynamic site of transition: between preservation and change, built and natural environments, and varying generations of immigrants. Urban peripheries like Scarborough are a coalescence of typologies informed by both rural and urban cultures and values, interwoven by racialized migrant communities.