Canada Central
Welcome to the Toronto Sector
Following the formation of Teams of Our Lady in Alberta, English-speaking teams began to form in Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area, starting in the Durham Region. In the fall of 2007, the Durham I team was piloted by a dedicated couple, Joe and Diane Manuel from Buffalo, who made the 2-hour drive every month to pilot 6 young couples in Durham. Joe and Diane then piloted Orangeville I in January 2009.
Once the two teams in both the west and east regions of the Greater Toronto Area were established, teams were formed and piloted by couples in the growing Toronto Sector. In the west end, Joan and Brian Barry piloted Oakville I in 2010 and then Oakville II in 2011. Durham II was piloted by Linda and Ryan Harlock in 2011 and Scarborough I was piloted by Monika and Chris Matelski in 2012. Formerly, the English speaking teams in Ontario were considered part of the Buffalo region until they were then officially placed in the Canada Region in 2010 as the Ontario Sector.
After the couples in Scarborough I committed to form a team, the Toronto Sector was officially established with 6 teams, consisting of 30 couples, 4 priests and 1 deaconate couple. The Toronto Sector’s first Sector Couple was Debbie and James Rodrigues, who worked hard to strengthen the fledgling sector, including establishing the tradition of Sector Family Events which were occasions for Teams families from Durham to London to gather. Their term ended in 2013 and they were followed by Joan and Brian Barry until 2016 and then Monika and Chris Matelski until 2019.
These three founding couples had the task of overseeing an extremely large area with an growing number of teams and the Matelskis were at the helm as the Toronto Sector was necessarily and officially split into four sectors: Durham-Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga-Hamilton & Kitchener-Barrie, thus becoming the Canada Central Area.
The Toronto Sector currently has 10 teams, and includes language groups of English, Portuguese, and Arabic. Included in the 10 teams are Portuguese teams in Halifax and Ottawa.
