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magazine / jf01
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January/February 2001 issue |
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Toronto: The world in one city
Toronto is arguably the
most multicultural city in the world. Every year, more than 70,000
new immigrants and refugees call the city home. In 1999 alone,
they came from well over 100 countries.
 New
Yorkers like to brag about their welcoming Statue of Liberty.
But, as of this year, foreign-born residents are expected to
make up more than 50 percent of Toronto’s population, compared
with a mere 28 percent in New York. And, while our map shows
the emergence or growth of neighbourhoods where immigrants predominate,
Toronto’s newcomers have established homes clear across the city.
The steady arrival of so many immigrants
has put pressure on the city’s already tight rental market, and
has increased the demand for language training and other social
services. And the city isn’t immune to racial tensions and conflict.
But immigrants and refugees have brought a new vitatlity to Toronto
— new ideas, new economic connections, sumptuous new foods and
cultural richness. In 2001, Toronto is the world in one city
- Toronto has one-twelfth of Canada’s population but one-quarter
of the country’s immigrants.
- Immigration accounts for more than 92 percent of the city’s
total population growth.
- One in five Torontonians arrived in Canada after 1981; one
in ten arrived after 1991.
- Toronto’s citizens come from 169 countries and speak more
than 100 languages (the top three foreign languages are Chinese,
Italian and Portuguese).
- Toronto’s cultural and religious diversity is unmatched:
Mass is now said in 35 languages; 200,000 Muslims observe Ramadan;
80,000 Sikhs march in the annual Khalsa Day celebrations; and
the city is home to half of the country’s Jews.
- There are more visible minorities in Toronto than there are
residents in any of the Atlantic provinces, Saskatchewan or Manitoba.
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