Some new residents of Toronto and new immigrants to Canada are attracted to this neighbourhood, mainly because there is a large amount of affordable public housing.

For social purposes, the city identifies the neighbourhood as Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown, named for three streets in the area.

Smithfield has experienced a large influx of citizens from Eastern Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

The large expanses of rowhouse developments dating to the 1930s located on Mount Olive Drive just off Kipling Ave has been home to the first newcomers especially from Somalia and the West Indies.

On June 04, 2015, more than 700 police officers participated in the series of raids, part of a multi-year investigation dubbed Project Pharaoh, which targeted a faction of the Mount Olive Crips known as "The Monstarz", who police alleged were involved in a series of deadly gunplay including 8 homicides & were known rivals to the nearby Jamestown Crips.

Father Henry Carr Secondary School was relocated to Smithfield in 2007, taking the space of the former Marian Academy.

The street was named for Nipissing MP and Minister of National Revenue John Richard 'Jack' Garland and fought to create housing development like Thistletown.