Armenian Family Support Services: Practical Help for Families Across the GTA

If you walk into Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church at 920 Progress Avenue in Scarborough on a Wednesday morning, you will find more than a church office. You will find Armenian Family Support Services, and depending on the day, someone filling out a government form, someone rewriting a resume, and someone who landed in Canada three weeks ago trying to work out what happens next.

AFSS has been doing this since 2004. It is a registered Canadian charity, and its work is the unglamorous kind that rarely makes the community newsletter: paperwork, phone calls, referrals, and the patient business of helping a family get its footing in a country it did not grow up in.

What AFSS actually does

The mission, in the organization's own words, is to provide emergency support, settlement and referral services across the Greater Toronto Area. On its about page, AFSS describes itself as an integration service provider serving both the GTA and York Region.

In practice the work splits into four areas: information and referral, employment, newcomer settlement, and youth engagement. They overlap constantly. Someone who walks in for help with a form often leaves with a referral to a housing service and a callback booked about their resume.

Underneath all of it, AFSS names three values it works by: respect, dignity, and cultural sensitivity. That is not decoration. When somebody is asking for help with money, housing, or immigration status, how they are treated in the room determines whether they come back.

Information and referral, the front door

This is where most people start, and it is free.

AFSS acts as a first point of contact and then connects people to the service that actually fits. The referrals it names include emergency and seniors housing, mental health services, family and children counselling, elder care, and social services run by the City of Toronto and York Region. It also helps with applying for government documents and with translation.

The value here is not complicated, but it is real. Ontario's social services are a maze. Knowing that a specific program exists, that you qualify for it, and which office to call is most of the battle, and it is exactly the knowledge a newcomer does not have yet.

If you want to see the wider map yourself, 211 Ontario is the province's directory of community services, and AFSS is listed on it.

Employment services

The second area is work, and it goes further than a resume template.

AFSS offers one on one career counselling, coaching, and mentoring, along with help writing cover letters and resumes, interview practice, job search support, and access to a resource library. It also runs career and employment workshops with guest speakers.

The part worth flagging is that the list includes transferable skills and career laddering. Plenty of newcomers arrive with a degree and a decade of experience that Canadian employers do not immediately recognise. Working out how that experience translates, and what the realistic first rung looks like, is a specific skill. It is also the difference between an engineer driving for a rideshare company for six months and doing it for six years.

Settlement, and the families who came from Syria and Iraq

The third area is settlement, and this is where the organization's history and the Armenian diaspora's history run into each other.

AFSS provides accommodation assistance, document preparation, form completion, translation, educational programs, and newcomer workshops. Among its named services is Syrian and Iraqi refugee settlement information, alongside a program it calls HIMA, which it expands as Help Immediate Members Appeal and glosses with the Armenian word meaning "now".

That focus is not arbitrary. Armenian communities have lived in Aleppo, Damascus and Baghdad for centuries, long before 1915, and the Genocide then swelled them enormously as survivors crossed into Syria and Iraq. Aleppo alone held one of the largest Armenian populations in the Middle East before the Syrian war began in 2011.

When Syria came apart, those families moved again. Most went to Armenia and Lebanon, but some came here. Toronto's Armenian community set up its own sponsorship agreement holder to bring people over, and it sponsored around 350 individuals in its first four years, with a group of roughly 90 Syrian Armenians arriving in December 2015.

That is not a huge number in national terms. It is a very large number if you are one of the organizations expected to help them find an apartment, a school, and a job. An Armenian office in Scarborough offering settlement help in the right language, to people who had already been displaced once before, is a direct answer to a specific need.

Youth engagement, and high school volunteer hours

The fourth area is the one Tomsak's own readers should pay attention to.

AFSS runs volunteer opportunities, including placements that count toward the 40 hours of community involvement Ontario requires for a high school diploma. It also uses volunteers for community outreach.

For a student in Scarborough or North York who needs hours anyway, this is a better option than most. You get the hours, and you spend them on settlement and referral work that teaches you how community services actually function. Tomsak was built by high school students, so we are biased, but the argument holds: the hours you are required to do are worth spending somewhere that changes how you see your own city.

A network that reaches past the Armenian community

One detail from the AFSS about page is easy to skim past and says a lot.

Its listed partners include ACCES Employment, the YMCA of Greater Toronto, the UNHCR, the Toronto Public Library, the Arab Community Centre of Toronto, the Armenian Relief Society, The Career Foundation, and the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation.

An Armenian charity in Scarborough working alongside the UN refugee agency and an Arab community organization is not the picture most people have of a diaspora institution. It is a more accurate one. Settlement work does not sort neatly by ethnicity, and the organizations that are good at it tend to know each other.

How to reach AFSS

Here are the details worth writing down.

• Address: Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, 920 Progress Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario, M1G 3T5

• Phone: 416-431-5549

• Email: contactus@afsstoronto.ca

• Website: afsstoronto.ca

• Hours: Monday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

• Languages: English, Armenian and Farsi

• Eligibility and fees: Its public service listing records no eligibility restrictions and no fees, with an area served covering the GTA plus Halton, Peel, Durham and York.

Check the hours before you go. The office is not open every weekday, and the Sunday window exists because that is when the community is already at the church.

Donations can be made through the organization's CanadaHelps listing, which also confirms its charitable registration.

The quiet infrastructure

Tomsak spends most of its time on the visible parts of Armenian life in Canada: festivals, concerts, commemorations, the mass baking workshop that filled the same church hall in July, and the crowds that come with them. Those are the parts people photograph.

Underneath them sits a layer that almost nobody photographs. Someone answering a phone at 920 Progress Avenue. Someone explaining a form. Someone finding out which housing program a family actually qualifies for. The parish itself goes back to 1928, the Scarborough building was consecrated in 1987, and AFSS has been part of what happens inside it since 2004.

A community is not only its celebrations. It is also whether there is a number to call on a bad week.

If your organization does this kind of work and you want more people to know about it, you can submit your event or programme free in a couple of minutes. To see what is happening near you, browse our events page, our Armenian Events in Ontario 2026 guide, or the complete national guide. And if you would rather just be told what is coming up, subscribe to the newsletter.

One community. Many stories. Endless connections.

Frequently asked questions about Armenian Family Support Services

What is Armenian Family Support Services?

AFSS is a non-profit community organization and registered Canadian charity in Scarborough, Ontario. Its mission is to provide emergency support, settlement and referral services across the Greater Toronto Area. It has been operating since 2004.

Where is AFSS located?

At Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, 920 Progress Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario, M1G 3T5.

What are the AFSS office hours?

Monday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The office is closed Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

What services does AFSS provide?

Four main areas: information and referral, employment services, newcomer settlement services, and youth engagement. Between them these cover housing and mental health referrals, government document help, translation, career counselling, resume and interview preparation, refugee settlement information, and volunteer placements.

Do you have to be Armenian to use AFSS?

No. Its public service listing records no eligibility restrictions, and it serves clients in English, Armenian and Farsi. It also partners with organizations including the UNHCR and the Arab Community Centre of Toronto.

Is AFSS free?

Yes. Its information and referral service is described as free on its own site, and its public service listing records no fees.

What languages does AFSS serve clients in?

English, Armenian and Farsi.

When was AFSS founded?

In 2004.

Is AFSS a registered charity?

Yes. It is registered as Armenian Family Support Services Inc., and accepts donations through CanadaHelps.

Does AFSS help with refugee settlement?

Yes. Its settlement services include Syrian and Iraqi refugee settlement information, along with accommodation assistance, document preparation, translation, and newcomer workshops.

Can students volunteer at AFSS for high school community hours?

Yes. AFSS lists volunteer opportunities including placements that count toward Ontario's high school community involvement requirement.

What area does AFSS serve?

The Greater Toronto Area. Its about page also names York Region, and its public service listing gives an area served covering the GTA plus Halton, Peel, Durham and York.

How do I contact AFSS?

By phone at 416-431-5549, by email at contactus@afsstoronto.ca, or in person at 920 Progress Avenue, Scarborough, during opening hours.

How can I find other Armenian organizations in Canada?

Tomsak lists Armenian community organizations and events across the country. Start with our partners page or the regional guides for Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.