1986 - A group of Mauritians arrived in Toronto, full of enthusiasm and motivation, wanting to make Toronto a 'Home Away From Home' kind of place. Toronto or Canada was not a strange place to most of them as a few have spent their university years here. It did not take them too long to find a job and to settle down in their own daily routines. But they were not content with this kind of lifestyle. They needed to keep in touch with each other and keep the 'Home Away From Home' feeling alive.
Therefore, they started to get together on week-ends, at first just to meet, have dinner and catch up on things. Since they also liked to play sports (basketball and volley-ball), they wanted to find a place where they could play on Friday evenings after work. They thought it would be a great way to break the daily routine, meet up with old friends and make new ones and at the same time keep fit, all in the spirit of fun. Since it was not possible to have such a place on a permanent basis, they thought that renting a gym in one of the schools in Scarborough would be just as good. It so happened that most of them lived in the East end of Toronto at that time and so Scarborough became the natural centre for all their activities.
Inquiries were made to the Scarborough Board of Education and the Scarborough Parks and Recreation department and applications for a gym were sent out in Spring of 1987. In order to apply for a permit, they needed a name for the group and so the informal name of 'Association of Mauritians of Scarborough' was chosen. The main purpose of the group was to get together for sports and social activities. In addition to that, the group provided some support to the new immigrants in terms of networking and that 'Home Away From Home' kind of feeling.
AMS was very successful in its first year and outgrew the expectations of those who started it. The participants were friends of those who were already involved. Soon, it became too big to be run solely by a group of volunteers without any directions and structure. It became apparent that the group should re-evaluate its objectives and organizational structure.
As a result, an Executive Committee for AMS was formed in September 1988 to coordinate the activities and manage the affairs of the club.
On November 27, 1988, the new Executive Committee of AMS, formally chose a new name for AMS. After several meetings and going over a dozen suggestions for a new name, it was finally decided and approved that the new name of AMS will be 'Club M'
By March 9, 1990, a new set of constitutions and by-laws along with a set of objectives was drafted and Club M was officially incorporated in the Province of Ontario under the name ‘Regroupement Mauricien de Toronto, Ontario Incorporé'.
The main objectives of Club M, which it is more commonly known as, are:
- To promote and maintain the interest of Mauritian community in the Canadian society.
- To carry out social, recreational and other activities which are beneficial to the community as a whole.
Since then, Club M has been organizing various sports, social and cultural activities thorough out the year, mainly between October and May, for the benefit of its members and the Mauritian community at large.
First Events
23 December 1988 - Christmas Party - Gold Room, North York Memorial Hall, North York, Ontario
11 March 1989 - Independence Day Celebration - Ember's Restaurant, Warden Ave (South Eglinton Ave), Scarborough, Ontario
Annual Inter-City Tournament
May 1990 - Sunday before Victoria Day, Club M organised a friendly sports tournament and invited a group from Montreal which was later going to be know as the “Cercle Sportif M”. The idea of the tournament came out of a casual conversation between Club M and the “Cercle Sportif M’ on the need to bring together the Mauritian community of Toronto and Montreal.
Each group actually participated in 3 different sports tournaments, that is, badminton, basketball and volleyball. The winner of each tournament was awarded one point and the group having the most number of points was declared the Overall Champion.
Since that first year, the “Inter-City Sports Tournament’ was held every year alternating between Toronto and Montreal. The last tournament was held in May 2013.