The Anatomy of an Urban Legend:
Toronto's Multicultural Reputation
Michael J. Doucet
School of Applied Geography
Ryerson Polytechnic University
©2001
But have you never pass through Yorkville, Yorkville Village? Near Bloor and Avenue Road. Or the Little Trinidad Club. Toronto integrated now, gal. It is a technicolour city, now - Dots [Cumberbatch], fictional Barbados-born, Rosedale housekeeper, c.1963(1)
Toronto is no longer a Protestant city, it's a mediaeval one: the crowds clogging the street are many-hued, the clothing vivid - Iris Chase Griffen, fictional matron, 2000(2)
The only reason Toronto is no longer the dullest city on earth is that it is no longer full of Anglo-Canadians. It is full of Hong Kong Chinese. And not a few Italians - Joel Garreau, Washington journalist, 1990(3)
One TTC subway car is a time capsule freezing the experiences of dozens of countries, religions, languages, and cultures. The passengers are friendly, apathetic, disgruntled - but they cannot avoid each other. They are all equal riders in the fast-moving multicultural express - Olivia Ward, Toronto journalist, 1985(4)
Many people say, if you want to see the real Toronto, travel the subway. Well I do; all the time. I'm so used to the ethnic diversity of this city that it was a shock to be sitting in an audience [for American comedian Red Skelton] composed entirely of white people - Paul Chato, entertainment critic, 1992(5)
The old boy network is still too strong in Canadian business. A visit to the Toronto clubs at lunch stands in about as great a contrast to the multicultural, multiracial subway underneath as can be humanly imagined. This is not healthy - Bob Rae, former Ontario Premier, 1996(6)
What's really interesting on a social level about Toronto is that there are so many different people of different languages and cultures and ethnicities. In fact, it's probably the most successful city of mixed race anywhere in the world. People really do get along. All the time? No, of course not. Do we have problems? Of course we do. But, in fact, generally there is a great deal of tolerance. One of the reasons for that is because we have a very powerful, well-used transit system. And what the transit system does, and it's the great merit of transit in North America, is that it puts people of different colour and language together in the same place and carries them along. And what people learn on that [journey] is not to be afraid of each other - John Sewell, former Toronto Mayor, 1994(7)
Even the crowded, creaky subways in Toronto have their charm. We are so ethnically diverse here. No matter what we might be, chances are good that we're the only ones of that particular kind on that particular car - Diane Dadian, Toronto writer, 1998(8)
Wandering around those inner-city streets [upon my return to Toronto in mid-1992 after a seven-year posting as the Toronto Star's international affairs columnist in London, England], I gradually became aware of a remarkable phenomenon. I began to notice that a strikingly high number of couples walking together were made up of one white person and another who was black or brown or Asian. Less common, but by no means rare, were couples of whom one member was black and the other brown or Asian. In all their colours, there were far more of these pairs and groups than I'd ever noticed in London (almost as polyglot a city as Toronto) or Paris, Berlin, Rome, or, as I would later observe, in New York, Los Angeles, or Washington - Richard Gwyn, journalist, 1995(9)
It is perhaps no accident that [Marshall] McLuhan was a citizen of Toronto, the ideal model of the emerging global village. People from every part of the world have chosen Toronto as their home, and have blended into a new international urban culture. As they enter the Olympic Stadium, every national Olympic team will be welcomed by their countrymen who live here. Everyone has a relative in Toronto. . . . Toronto is a city of the future. Urbane and sophisticated, it is a deliberately multicultural city that rejoices in its diversity. We believe Toronto may well be the most multicultural city on Earth - Toronto Ontario Olympic Council's bid for the 1996 Olympics, 1990(10)
Toronto is . . . a city where almost everyone has come from elsewhere - a market, a caravansary - bringing with them their different ways of dying and marrying, their kitchens and songs. A city of forsaken worlds; language a kind of farewell - Jacob Beer, fictional immigrant to Toronto, 1996(11)
Known for many years as one of the most narrow-minded and uncosmopolitan of the British colonial cities, Toronto has become the most ethnically and culturally diverse city in the world in the last thirty years - Robert J. Kasher in Ethnic Toronto, 1997(12)
During my early days in Toronto, I found myself spinning through cultures as if I were sampling World Music rhythms on a hip-hop record. . . . For a Global Soul like me - for anyone born to several cultures - the challenge in the modern world is to find a city that speaks to as many of our homes as possible. . . . In that respect, Toronto felt entirely on my wavelength. It assembled many of the pasts that I knew, from Asia and America and Europe; yet unlike other such outposts of Empire - Adelaide, for example, or Durban - it offered the prospects of uniting all the fragments in a stained-glass whole - Pico Iyer, journalist and Global Soul, 2000(13)
In Toronto you can have a little bit of everything. The multicultural kind of thing we find in Toronto you don't find anywhere else in the world - Zoreh Shams, Iranian-born Toronto travel agent, 2000(14)
But some people are moving out of Toronto, to Stratford or Kingston or Vancouver, squeezed out by housing prices or just fed up with frenzy and greed. What surprises me is how little regret they feel, the absence of any loyalty to Toronto. Perhaps it is because this city, unlike New York or Montreal, has created no myth of itself to hold them - Cary Fagan, Toronto writer and literary journalist, 1990(15)
Expect the World - official slogan of Toronto's bid for the 2008 Olympic Summer Games, 2000(16)
The World at Home - slogan for Toronto multicultural television station CFMT, 2000(17)
Diversity - Our Strength - official motto of the amalgamated City of Toronto, 1998(18)
The United Nations has declared Toronto to be the most ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse city in the world - Prithi Yelaja, journalism student, 1990(19)
According to the noted American folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, urban legends are "realistic stories concerning recent events (or alleged events)." These stories are "an integral part of white Anglo-American culture" and their storytellers "assume that the true facts of each case lie just one or two informants back down the line with a reliable witness (the so-called FOAF, or Friend Of A Friend, factor), or in a news media report."(20) More folklore than history, urban legends are believed to be true, and are subject to considerable repetition. While often popularly referred to as urban myths, for Brunvand, they belong to a subclass of folk narratives, legends, that - unlike fairy tales - are believed, or at least believable, and that - unlike myths - are set in the recent past and involve normal human beings rather than ancient gods or demigods. . . . As with any folk legends, urban legends gain credibility from specific details of time and place or from references to source authorities. . . . In the world of modern urban legends there is usually no geographical or generational gap between teller and event. The story is true; it really occurred and recently, and always to someone else who is quite close to the narrator, or at least a `friend of a friend.'(21)
Few urban legends, however, have anything to do with urban places per se, though it must be admitted one of the most notorious and enduring such stories concerns alligators living in the sewer system of New York City. The urban modifier seems more related to the nature of the believers than to specific locales. Brunvand suggests that urban legends "are told and believed by some of the most sophisticated `folk' of modern society - young people, urbanites, and the well educated." Moreover, he argues that the means for spreading urban legends often are rooted in some powerful, but frequently gullible, urban institutions: "the mass media themselves participate in the dissemination and apparent validation of urban legends, just as they sometimes do with rumour and gossip, adding to their plausibility."(22) To date, Brunvand has amassed enough material to compile no fewer than five books on the subject of urban legends, attesting to the entrenched nature of the phenomenon in North American society. The phenomenon even has been tackled in Hollywood via director Jamie Blanks' 1998 film, Urban Legend, and John Ottman's 2000 sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut. Judging by the reviews, neither was likely to win an Academy Award.(23)
Urban legends even spread to new media in the 1990s, permitting them to propagate, according to Chicago journalist James Coates, "with a scope and frenzy never before experienced." A scholarly discussion group on the subject, alt.folklore.urban, exists on the Internet, "devoted to the discussion and debunking of urban legends." The first Internet-generated urban legends, including the so-called "Good Times Virus" legend, a story about a computer virus so powerful it can destroy any hard drive in seconds, already have appeared.(24) Older urban legends, like the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe story about a woman who exacts revenge after being charged $250 for a cookie recipe that she thought was to cost $2.50, have found new life on the Internet.(25) Even though the widely-syndicated advice columnist Ann Landers had debunked this legend in 1992, that was not enough to prevent such highly respected newspapers as The Times of London and Canada's National Newspaper, the Globe and Mail, from running the story, unquestioned, late in 1995 after it had been circulated on the Internet.(26) To the delight of the many Canadians who eagerly await any embarrassment that can be associated with Toronto, the Globe's error in printing the story as fact was identified by a writer in the Vancouver Sun within days.(27) Almost as difficult as dandelions to uproot, some urban legends have displayed a persistent, cyclical character; lying dormant for a time, only to sprout up again at a later date. The Neiman Marcus story, for example, is at least a decade old and some feel it may well have originated in the 1930s.(28)
"The World's Most Multicultural City?"
The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution, spread, and demise of a particular urban legend about Toronto; namely, the notion that the United Nations had declared Toronto to be the world's most multicultural city. Beginning in the late 1980s, this sentiment began to be expressed in a variety of media: the city's mainstream press;(29) letters to editors;(30) restaurant reviews;(31) television news reports;(32) university student newspapers and local entertainment weeklies;(33) articles about Toronto published in out-of-town newspapers;(34) speeches by prominent citizens, including one by then-Toronto Mayor Arthur Eggleton, one by former Mayor David Crombie, one by Dr. Joseph Wong, a Toronto family practitioner, community activist, and member of the Provincially-appointed Greater Toronto Area Task Force; and another by Maria Minna, MP for Beaches-Woodbine and then-Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration;(35) American magazine articles and Canadian newswire copy about such reports;(36) official municipal government advertisements;(37) Federal Government documents;(38) and probably elsewhere as well. While these reports were essentially identical in some regards - the United Nations always made the declaration - there has been some variation in terms of what that body allegedly had declared Toronto to be - most multicultural, most ethnically/racially/linguistically diverse, most cosmopolitan - though the overall sentiment embodied in these terms was similar. The adverb recently often was used in the reports to lend a sense of immediacy to the event. In classic urban legend fashion, writers began to cite earlier reports as their source; so the legend became almost self-perpetuating, though it did tend to appear in the media in definite cycles. Nobody ever seemed to question the veracity of the assertion. Sadly, as I shall show presently, there was no truth to the statement whatsoever.
Issues in the Measurement of Demographic Diversity
It is not entirely clear how a decision on the world's most multicultural city could be reached. Would it be based on a simple count of the number of different ethnic, racial, and linguistic groups living in a given place? Are data sources for the demographic structure of different cities both compatible and reliable enough for such conclusions even to be drawn? National censuses, the prime source for most such data, ask different questions about ethnicity and are taken at different times. Assuming such data problems could be resolved, could a place be the world's most multicultural city if it could count among its citizenry one member of each ethnic/racial/linguistic group? Or would the size of the different groups have any bearing on such a decision? As John Barber, the Globe and Mail's urban affairs columnist, observed in 1996:
there is no doubt that Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities, and it is reasonable to wonder whether it might be the ultimate in that respect. But rankings are hard to establish. You look hard for facts and quickly begin wondering what `culture' is.(39)
When American geographers James P. Allen and Eugene Turner attempted to find the most ethnically diverse place in the US, they suggested:
diversity in a population refers to its heterogeneity, and a measure of relative diversity should describe both the richness or variety of subpopulations and the equality or evenness of their sizes.(40)
But who would adjudicate the boundaries between groups to establish the precise base of categories against which a city's diversity could be measured? And what about recency of arrival? To what extent would assimilation mute a city's multicultural structure? How should ethnic media and other institutions and service providers - the so-called degree of institutional completeness - be blended into the equation? The task of resolving these methodological issues would be a formidable one. It is little wonder that no one had ever attempted to do it on a global scale, and that for their US study, Allen and Turner examined no more than 13 different groups, with most of their analysis focussed on just five groups - white, black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian.(41)
Not surprisingly, the arrival of the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS) in Toronto in 1996 fostered academic interest in Toronto's demographic structure. In an earlier report in this series, I explored the statistical evidence concerning Toronto's increasingly complex demographic structure, while Harold Troper has detailed Toronto's immigration history since 1945 and Larry S. Bourne has examined the issues of migration, immigration, and social sustainability.(42) Without question, Toronto is Canada's most cosmopolitan city, and certainly is one of the most diverse urban centres in the world, a place recently described as a "City of Nations." What is in dispute, then, is not the remarkable ethnic/racial/linguistic/religious diversity of Toronto, but whether or not the United Nations, or any of its agencies, ever officially commented on it in the fashion described so often in the media. There is no doubt that the UN and its agencies do make declarations about places from time to time. Most notable here are the more than four hundred designations of World Heritage Sites, both natural and cultural, made since 1978 by the Paris-based United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list includes 13 Canadian locations, mostly spectacular natural features like the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks, and two World Heritage Towns - the old sections of Quebec City and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. None of the Canadian World Heritage Sites is located in Ontario. UNESCO would have been the logical arm of the United Nations to make a declaration about Toronto's multicultural character. In fact, it never did any such thing, though an initiative by Metro Community Services was one of a dozen such municipal organizations to receive an award from the United Nations Habitat II Technical Advisory Committee early in 1996. The so-called Best Practices Award, funded by the Municipality of Dubai and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, was given to Metropolitan Toronto for the way in which it had adapted its service provision to reflect the immigrant patterns of the municipality, making it "among the world's best in delivering social services that are accessible, sensitive, and responsive to a diverse and changing metropolitan community." More than 600 entries were submitted to the Technical Advisory Committee, with a ten-member International Best Practices Jury convening in Toronto to select the twelve winners. A plaque and scroll were presented to each of the winners at the Habitat II City Summit in Istanbul in June of 1996. Even this did not make Toronto the world's most multicultural city, and the award was largely ignored by Toronto journalists.(43)
The first published reference to a UN pronouncement appeared early in 1989 and quoted then-Toronto Mayor Arthur Eggleton: "[Toronto is] noted by the United Nations as being the most racially and culturally diverse city in the world."(44) Within two months, the American press was reporting "the United Nations has proclaimed Toronto the world's most multicultural city."(45) By the end of the year, the sentiment was being routinely included in publicity material issued by Toronto's professional boosters at the Metropolitan Toronto Convention and Visitors Association.(46) By mid-1993, the use of the idea was as much a part of the message of American travel writers in their analyses of Toronto as the mandatory reference to the height of the CN Tower.(47) It had even found its way into the storied type of the New York Times.(48) Unlike their Canadian counterparts, American journalists were confident enough to put a date on the declaration. Jay Clarke of the Miami Herald, Steve Jacobson of Newsday, John Fitzgerald of Ladies Home Journal, and Valerie Vaz of Essence all agreed that the deed had been done in 1989, a clear confusion between fact and press release.(49)
My search for evidence to support this notion began late in 1990 and, to date, I have been unable to find any concrete indication of a UN declaration attesting to the reality of Toronto's demographic diversity. With the advent of digital editions of Toronto newspapers and the provision of access to such on-line entry points to American and international newspapers and periodicals as Lexis®/Nexis®, the search for the published use of particular combinations of words and phrases has never been easier. Of interest here were articles containing the following: (Toronto) [and] (United Nations [or] UN) [and] (most multicultural [or] most cosmopolitan [or] most ethnically diverse [or] most culturally diverse [or] most racially diverse). Including reprints, about three dozen examples of the use of the phrase were discovered in this fashion. In every case, however, the sentiment was included simply as an unquestioned fact about Toronto. Not a single story could be found about the UN actually making a declaration about Toronto's multicultural character. Surely such a proclamation would have been front-page news, especially in the pages of the very parochial Toronto Star and Toronto Sun; but I have no such clipping in my extensive files, nor did one exist in the files of the Urban Affairs Library at Metro Hall; and a search of the entire text of the Toronto Star, via CD-ROM for the period from 1989 to 1994, uncovered no such story either. This search, however, did reveal one glorious, missed opportunity to trumpet and verify the oft-repeated UN declaration story. In late May of 1990, the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, visited Toronto. Addressing a group of school children gathered at Ontario Place to promote literacy, he praised Canada's "more and more multi-racial and multicultural society," its "beautiful diversity," and its "literacy in different languages" without any reported reference to a UN declaration about Toronto's demographic situation.(50)
A search of another CD-ROM data base, Canadian Business and Current Affairs, which captures article titles back as far as 1981 in leading Canadian daily newspapers, including the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, and a host of other Canadian publications, also produced a negative result. However, I did find a suggestion in a 1990 column by the Globe and Mail's Michael Valpy that "it is rumored that somewhere in the bureaucracy of the United Nations, Toronto has been declared the most culturally diverse city in the world." And rumour, after all, is the essence of any urban legend. A search of the Globe and Mail's on-line service, Info Globe, which extends back to 1977, revealed no other reference to the idea prior to the Valpy article.(51)
Similarly, an on-line search of the tabloid Toronto Sun extending back to 1 January 1989, uncovered no articles about a UN declaration and only two stories in which the infamous concept was employed, though Sun columnist Christina Blizzard did once refer to Toronto as "a city that boasts it is the most multicultural place on the face of the earth."(52) One of the Sun stories was about the use of the term in a 1994 Fortune magazine article about the best cities for business in the world that was very similar to a Canadian Press article to be discussed later.(53) The other, however, was revealing about the extent to which the legend had become entrenched in the minds of some Torontonians. In August of 1995, court reporter Gretchen Drummie quoted from the closing arguments employed by prosecuting attorney Paul Normandeau in asking for a stiff sentence in a case involving the use of racial insults and fisticuffs on a downtown street outside the Whiskey Saigon nightclub: "It was a racist attack. The United Nations has said Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, but it only works if people get along."(54) Judge Ken Ross may well have been swayed by this line of reasoning. He sentenced the defendant to one year in jail and ordered him to stay out of Metro Toronto for the following two years.
Puzzled by the absence of a newspaper-clipping trail, I telephoned Mayor Arthur Eggleton's office early in 1991 and spoke about the matter with his assistant, Peter Donolo. I asked Donolo whether the notion of a UN declaration was true and, if so, when the UN had made it? He knew nothing about it except that the Mayor used to use the statement in his speeches, but no longer did so. I asked if the Mayor had a citation from the UN that might confirm the quotation. Donolo said that he did not, but that it was a good idea. He then suggested that I contact members of the Mayor's Committee on Community and Race Relations to see if they could shed any light on the matter.(55) Janice Dembo of that office, too, could provide no concrete evidence that the UN had made any such declaration.(56)
I then wrote to Ambassador Yves Fortier at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations. In his reply to that letter, Graham Green, First Secretary Political/Public Affairs, noted that
like you, we have seen some media references to the United Nations designating Toronto as the world's most multicultural city. Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts, we have not been able to obtain any concrete information on this from the United Nations or its agencies. It is likely that such a reference would have been made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, but our Mission to UNESCO in Paris has not been able to obtain any further details from the organization.
Green closed his letter by wishing me good luck in my research.(57)
In desperation, I called the office of the then-Metropolitan Toronto Chairman, Alan Tonks, and was directed from there to Mark Nakamura of Metro's Multicultural Relations Office. At last I found the source of something relating to the much used quotation. Nakamura recalled that some documents released by his Office had made reference to Toronto as Canada's most multicultural city and had used some UNESCO data to make the claim that Toronto was one of the world's most multicultural cities -- a far cry from a formal UN declaration. This sequence of events later was confirmed by Dr. Suwanda Sugunasiri, a research associate in Buddhist studies at Trinity College, University of Toronto, and a keen observer of Toronto's multicultural structure who had assisted the efforts of the Multicultural Relations Office from time to time.(58) How the leap was made from such a simple assertion of fact to a full-blown UN declaration, however, remains a mystery, and whatever documents were prepared by the members of the Multicultural and Race Relations Division of the Metropolitan Toronto government were never formally published, though a non-comparative demographic study of Toronto's changing population was commissioned and summarized.(59)
Perhaps the creation of the UN declaration legend was simply the work of an overly-zealous municipal civil servant, for the temptation to embellish is almost always present in such circumstances. In some civic situations it is often downright irresistible. Earlier, I discussed the Best Practices Award that was bestowed by the United Nations Habitat II Technical Advisory Committee on the Metropolitan Toronto Community Services department in 1996 for adapting its operations to serve a diverse population. By mid-May of 1998, this simple act of recognition had been transformed into a much grander episode in Toronto's history. At that time, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, in a speech to the G-8 Summit of the Cities Conference in Birmingham, England, that was entitled "Diversity in Toronto," shamelessly proclaimed to a prestigious international audience: ". . . the United Nations came to Toronto to study us and they used our plan as a role model."(60)
Perhaps Lastman has sewn the seeds for a new urban legend about the United Nations and Toronto. If so, he is merely continuing a well-established tradition of myth-making by Toronto boosters. Among other things, Torontonians recently and shamelessly have proclaimed their city to be "The Big Apple of the North," "Hollywood North,""Broadway North," "The City That Works," "The Megacity," "A New City for a New Century," and the favourite Toronto mantra of its boosters during the late-1980s, "A World-Class City." Still, the contrast between the nineteenth-century image of Toronto as "The Belfast of America" and the concept of the place as "The World's Most Multicultural City" is striking. And this sense of change has been quietly captured in three new Toronto appellations. As the amalgamated City of Toronto was taking shape late in 1997, the editors of the Toronto Star ran a contest to pick a new slogan for the new city. The winning entry was "Toronto - Home to the World." When the local politicians came to the task of deciding on a motto for the new, enlarged City of Toronto, their choice reflected Toronto's post-World War II demographic transformation: "Diversity - Our Strength." And in the summer of 1998, officials at Tourism Toronto launched their new slogan - "Toronto: The World Within a City." Furthermore, the official slogan chosen for the Toronto bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics was "Expect the World," and Toronto's diversity was said to be a key to the city's "Olympic sales pitch." Cary Fagan, the Toronto writer quoted in the epigraphs found at outset of this paper, therefore, is quite wrong. There have been many myths created over the years concerning the image and meaning of Toronto by both local residents and outsiders, many of which have been rooted in the city's demographic structure.(61)
Yet, Toronto does have something of an image problem, especially within Canada. For example, Montreal is still viewed by many as Canada's cosmopolitan city; but Toronto, a city that did not get its first commercial espresso machine until the early 1960s and its first Paris-style sidewalk café until 1971, clearly is now its multicultural heart. The persistence of the cosmopolitan label almost exclusively for Montreal is a bit puzzling, and seems, to me at least, to reflect a decidedly Eurocentric perspective. Because of its age, parts of the Quebec metropolis and especially the area known as Old Montreal or le vieux quartier, present streetscapes that have a definite European look and feel to them. No one, however, would ever call Montreal the world's most multicultural city, though the October 1999 cover story in Toronto Life magazine did inform readers about "Where to Find Montreal in Toronto," perhaps suggesting yet another "ethnic" group resident within the Ontario capital.(62)
After the initial flurry of activity in 1989, 1990, and 1991, only two relatively harmless references to a UN declaration on Toronto appeared in the local media in 1992 and 1993, though, as we have already seen, the idea continued to percolate among US travel writers.(63) But late in 1994, the floodgates opened once more. The catalyst seemed to be a comment made in an article in Fortune magazine. In naming Toronto the seventh best city in the world for business, journalist Bill Saporito noted: "[Toronto's] critics carp the town is pleasant to the point of somnolence" and suggested "the United Nations has called metro Toronto the most multicultural city in the world."(64) The Canadian love of American praise is a well-established fact of life; so it is not surprising that this article was pounced upon by the Canadian media. Before the magazine even hit Canadian newsstands, a story about Fortune's rankings was circulated by Canadian Press and published in several Canadian newspapers, including the Calgary Herald, the Halifax Daily News, the Ottawa Citizen, the Vancouver Sun, the Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star.(65) A separate story also ran in the Toronto Sun.(66) Each paper published the story on 26 October, and each one carried, unquestioned, a direct quote from the Fortune article about the UN declaration. (In the 1995 edition of the Fortune survey, Toronto finished eighth, and no mention was made of its multicultural character at all).(67)
Before November of 1994 was out the Toronto Star's respected urban affairs columnist, David Lewis Stein, had repeated the idea of a UN declaration twice; and before 1994 was over, the statement also surfaced in an article about Toronto that appeared in the Montreal Gazette.(68) Almost a year later, the Globe and Mail's newly-appointed Multiculturalism Reporter, Isabel Vincent, repeated the phrase in an article about ethnic marketing, and was taken to task for it.(69) About the same time, an advertisement appearing over the signature of Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall surfaced in a brand new, Toronto-based urban affairs magazine, The Next City. Entitled "Consider Toronto," and clearly designed to entice business relocation to Ontario's capital, the advertisement gushed about how well Toronto had fared in international surveys, including the one done by Fortune magazine, and concluded the first paragraph of its text with: "And the United Nations has declared Toronto the world's most multicultural city."(70)
Old legends, especially urban ones, apparently die hard. What was good enough for Fortune, was good enough for City Hall. Neither organization had bothered to check the facts. I wrote to Mayor Barbara Hall after the "Consider Toronto" advertisement appeared and outlined my research into the mysterious UN declaration for her.(71) In her reply, she confirmed my earlier conclusions:
as a result of your note, I instructed those concerned to look into the matter and they, too, were unable to track down the origin of the declaration. You were right. City of Toronto staff have now been alerted to the issue, and I have asked City of Toronto staff to 'expunge' the phrase from all future communications.(72)
Hall's pronouncement on the matter was reported in the media in at least four places in mid-November of 1995. The Mayor's chief of media liaison, Rob Moore, told Toronto Sun reporter Don Wanagas: "It's grown into one of those 'facts' that everyone believes. But, as it turns out, there's no basis for the claim. Nobody seems to know where it came from."(73) Yet, the probable path of the legend now, at least, can be sketched out - from somewhere in the race relations area of the municipal bureaucracy to the speeches of municipal politicians and local media reports of those speeches to press releases from the Metropolitan Toronto Convention and Visitors Association to stories by American travel and business writers and back to the Toronto media.
True to Mayor Hall's word, the next time the "Consider Toronto" advertisement appeared, it did so without any reference to the United Nations whatsoever. But the staff at City Hall had gone too far. There was no longer any reference to Toronto's multicultural character at all. Surely its uncommon and unquestioned multicultural character stands as one of Toronto's greatest attractions for businesses, migrants, and tourists. The only point in dispute was whether or not the United Nations had ever pronounced upon Toronto's multicultural character. Sadly, in attempting to fix one mistake, the baby had been thrown out with the bath water by the copy writers at City Hall.(74)
Toronto is certainly "one of" or "among" the world's most multicultural cities, to borrow a phrasing that has been used recently in the Report of the Task Force on the GTA.(75) Lamentably, even this modest claim was misinterpreted soon afterwards as "the world's most multicultural area" by veteran Maclean's columnist Allan Fotheringham in a February 1996 attempt to ridicule Toronto's legendary sense of its own self-importance, an error for which he was criticized by the Chair of the Task Force, Anne Golden.(76) No wonder urban legends get started and persist, when journalists ignore small but important modifiers like "among" and "one of."
If the past is any indicator, "the United Nations has declared" phrase should disappear from the vocabulary of the members of the Toronto media, at least for a time. Nonetheless, Metropolitan Toronto's submission to the United Nations Best Practices Award, held in conjunction with the Habitat II Conference, did contain the following statement: "The United Nations recognizes Metro Toronto as the most multicultural city in the world." There no longer seems to be any use of this idea, however, in publications issued by the Metropolitan Toronto Convention and Visitors Association, though a recent brochure does proclaim, in no fewer than six languages - English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Japanese - "Toronto is the world's most ethnically diverse city." This sentiment was repeated as the opening point in Together We Are One: A Summary Paper on Diversity in Toronto, a 1998 report produced by the Access and Equity Centre of the City of Toronto for Mayor Mel Lastman. In neither case was any attempt made to provide so much as a shred of comparative evidence, except for an observation in the latter report that "no other city in the world has a higher proportion who are foreign-born than Toronto" and "in 1990, only 28% of New York's population was foreign-born."(77)
A controversial June 1996 article in National Geographic that was prepared with extensive help from the people at the MTCVA contained a similar sentiment:
. . . back before World War II, . . . the biggest parade in Toronto was the Orange Order's July celebration of Protestant supremacy. . . . Not only have the Orangemen receded, but their children now boast that Toronto is the most ethnically and racially diverse city on earth.
But at least one member of the magazine's team was well aware of the alleged UN declaration about Toronto's multiculturalism. When Los Angeles-based photojournalist Gerd Ludwig was interviewed about an exhibit of his photographs at the Royal Ontario Museum for Now, a Toronto entertainment weekly, he observed:
I was looking for a few issues to focus on, and while researching the story, learned that in 1989 or '91 the UN chose Toronto as the world's most ethnically diverse city. And when I got here, I was totally delighted by how vibrant the city is. The young flair and street life are very unusual for the downtown of a city.
Obviously intrigued by this vibrancy, Ludwig shot some 30,000 frames during three visits to Toronto in 1994 and 1995.(78)
The removal of references to UN certification from civic documents and in the Toronto media did not mean, however, that the legend had been completely eradicated. In preparation for the mid-February 1996 celebrations of National Citizenship Week, Flag Day, and Heritage Day, the Government of Canada, in conjunction with the Department of Canadian Heritage, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Human Resources Development Canada, issued a new activity book for young Canadians. Some 75,000 copies were distributed in February of 1996. As its final activity, Canada, Take It to Heart included a Canadiana Quiz, and the very first question in that quiz, in both official languages, was: What Canadian city has the honour of being the most multicultural in the world, as designated by the United Nations? The answer given in the brochure was, of course, Toronto.(79) The inappropriateness of the question was reported on CBC Radio. Kevin Macleod, a spokesperson for the Heritage Department who had been involved in the preparation of the document, told reporter Trisha Naylor that the question was based on an unspecified "newspaper article," and suggested that it must be true because it had been used by "dozens of journalists and politicians."(80) It is never easy to wrestle an urban legend to its knees; but this kind of faith in the truth of the printed word, makes the task virtually impossible.
A Sign of Insecurity?
In 1995, John Barber, the respected urban affairs columnist for the Globe and Mail, described the "United Nations has declared . . ." idea as a "myth . . . which harmlessly stroked the civic ego."(81) But there is more to it than that. The belief in the legend, and the palpable desire for it to be true, are symptomatic of a long-standing characteristic of Toronto and its citizens; namely, an abiding insecurity about their place within the urban world, an insecurity that fuels a desire to be loved and recognized by others, especially Americans. It was this sentiment that lay behind the unsuccessful push to gain global extravaganzas - World's Fairs and the Olympic Games - for Toronto in the 1980s. These were seen as the tools needed to put Toronto "on the map," and to gain for the city the much-coveted "world-class" status. Yet, as former Toronto Mayor John Sewell cogently observed in 1986, "insecurity [really lay] behind [Toronto's pursuit of a] world-class image." "We dream," he suggested, "of being known as the international city," and observed:
Toronto's leaders have a psychological problem of major proportions. They are desperately insecure about the city's status and image. They long for Toronto to be deemed part of the big leagues.(82)
Belief in the existence of a UN declaration was yet another symptom of Toronto's long-standing psychological illness. Surely Toronto, one of the world's great multicultural cities, has evolved to the point where it does not need the imprimatur of some external agency, such as the UN, to remind its citizens of the splendid cultural opportunities the city's demographic diversity offers to its residents. Toronto is, without question, a world-class cosmopolitan city.
Celebrating Diversity
Torontonians and those who visit the place know that Ontario's capital probably has very few equals in terms of its complex demographic structure. The fact Toronto celebrates its multiculturalism, through almost countless festivals and other cultural events, is both highly symbolic and quite unusual among world cities. Royson James, the Toronto Star's urban affairs columnist, calls diversity "Toronto's best calling card." In fact, the headline chosen by the Toronto Star's editors for the first piece in a 1994 series on Urban Issues declared that multiculturalism was a "unifying force" in Toronto, with author Antoni Shelton observing: "one feature that makes Toronto unique and other cities green with envy is that our multiracial communities live cheek-to-cheek in relative harmony."(83)
It is just that level of peaceful co-existence that led organizers to develop the Sahara Cup cricket matches, an annual series of five one-day matches between India and Pakistan held on a tree-ringed pitch at the Toronto Cricket, Skating, and Curling Club in a tranquil residential section of North York. These matches could not have been contested safely in either country because of past threats of violence, but they have been conducted almost without incident in Toronto since 1996 and were scheduled to continue each fall at least until the year 2001. Each match begins at 9:30 am Toronto time so that it can be shown live in prime time to huge, but separate, audiences in India and Pakistan. While the main concern of the viewers is the quality of the cricket, they have learned about Toronto in the process. As Haroon Siddiqui, cricket fan and editorial page editor emeritus at the Toronto Star observed on the eve of the 1998 match:
A TV audience of more than a billion in Asia, Africa, Australia, England and the Caribbean has heard that cosmopolitan, peaceful Canada is the perfect natural venue for two warring nations unable to host each other's teams on their own turfs, for fear of riots. . . .
Sadly, hostilities between the two nations over the disputed territory of Kashmir, forced the cancellation of the matches in both 1999 and 2000.(84)
There is much more to Toronto's multiculturalism than can be found in the cold, hard numbers that constitute census data. The city now has a global look and feel to it. Many things from street signs in foreign languages to the snatches of conversations you hear on the streets to the smell of exotic culinary delights being prepared, bespeak anything but a uni-dimensional city. As the Globe and Mail's John Barber observed: "every few blocks you get a different Toronto." Attesting to this multicultural reality, information brochures published by the City of Toronto, the Toronto Transit Commission, and other organizations usually come in a variety of linguistic versions. A 1989 publication, Your TTC: A User's Guide, for example, appeared in separate English, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Polish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Punjabi versions. Reflecting the city's cosmopolitan nature, a new, telephone-based interpretation and translation service was introduced in the middle of 1992 to allow the Commission to provide information in more than 140 languages. It was seen by Al Leach, then-Chief General Manager of the TTC, as an important step to ensure "members of all cultural and ethno-racial communities . . . feel comfortable with the TTC and believe it fully supports and recognizes their needs." Nor is such a service unusual. Starphone, the Toronto Star's computerized telephone information service, provides multicultural lines in Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Punjabi, while a similar system installed by the TTC in 2000 provides lines in Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, Russian, French, Tamil, and Polish. Recently, several Toronto hospitals have become sensitized to the birthing customs of the city's different ethnic and religious groups, "melding cultural sensitivity with Western medicine for women who want to follow childbirth traditions."(85)
Toronto's cultural diversity has long been recognized and promoted. The city's Urban Alliance on Race Relations dates from the mid-1970s, with its first employment equity policy approved in 1977. An official multiculturalism policy was adopted by the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto in 1978 and multicultural and race relations committees were established by a number of area municipalities around the same time. Furthermore, in 1979, Toronto became the first Canadian municipality to officially designate February as Black History Month. In 1981, the City of Toronto became the first Canadian municipality to survey its workforce to determine the distribution of its employees who were women, visible minorities, aboriginals, and disabled. This survey was extended to the municipality's agencies, boards, and commissions in 1985. The Metro Toronto government established an employment equity policy in 1980, and conducted its first survey of employees in 1985. Both the City and Metro made progress in the equity-hiring area prior to their absorption into the new City of Toronto in 1998.(86)
Multiculturalism has proven to be good for the local economy, attracting local residents and tourists alike to a variety of special celebrations. For more than two decades, multiculturalism has been one of Toronto's best tourist magnets, especially through the CHIN International Picnic at Exhibition Place, Caribana, and the annual week-long, multi-pavilion Metro International Caravan festivals. One study concluded that Caribana pumped an estimated $200 million into Toronto's economy each year by the mid-1990s, with the annual parade attracting spectators in the hundreds of thousands. In some years, the eight- or nine-day Caravan has drawn more visitors than the three-week long Canadian National Exhibition. While most of these festivals quite naturally focussed on single communities/cultures, the 1999 edition of the Chinese community's Toronto Lion Dance Festival, reputedly the largest of its kind in North America, placed a spotlight on Jewish and Black cultures, and several others maintain a multicultural focus (Metro International Caravan, Kensington Market Summer Festival, Global Roots Music Festival, Rhythms of the World Festival, and the Scarborough Culturefest). By 2000, the Toronto social calendar boasted more than four dozen ethnocultural festivals, parades, and related events each year, two-thirds of which had started since 1990, and more than half since the end of 1994 (Table 1). At the same time as these dynamic, new events were drawing large and varied crowds, Toronto's oldest, and historically most divisive, ethnic event, the annual Orange Parade, was said to be "fading quietly" into oblivion, with the 1998 version described by Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno as "our sad little Orange parade."(87)
Table 1
IMPORTANT ANNUAL ETHNOCULTURAL FESTIVALS, PARADES, and EVENTS
HELD IN TORONTO IN THE LATE 1990s
Name of Festival/Parade Year First Staged
Orange Parade 1822
Hadassah-Wizo Bazaar (Jewish community) 1925
Good Friday Passion Parade (Italian community) 1934
CHIN International Picnic (early July - CNE) 1966
Caribana (Caribbean Culture - early August) 1967
Metro International Caravan (Ethnic Pavilions - mid-June) 1969
Ratha Yatra Festival of Chariots (Hindu Community) 1971
Senhora de Pedra [Our Lady of the Rock] Parade (Portuguese community) 1973
Black History Month [February]1 1979
International Hispanic Fiesta2 1982
Semaine Francophone2 1982
Khalsa Parade (Sikh Community - part of Baisakhi Day festivities) 1984
Harriet Tubman Games (Track & Field - Black Community) 1988
St. Patrick's Day Parade (Reincarnation) 1988
AfroFest 1989
International Dragon Boat Race Festival 1989
Kensington Carnival Festival of Lights (Multi-ethnic - December) 1989
Desh Pardesh [Home Away From Home] Festival of South Asian Culture 1991
Earth Spirit Festival (Japanese and Native Cultures) 1991
Jewish Storytelling Festival 1992
Kuumba [Creativity] Festival (part of Black History Month)2 1992
Toronto International Pow Wow (at the SkyDome) 1992
Jewish Film Festival 1993
Krinos Foods Taste of the Danforth (Greektown BIA - food and music) 1994
Ashkenaz: Festival of New Yiddish Culture (biennial)2 1995
416 Graf Expo: A Celebration of Hip Hop Culture 1995
AfriCaribeat Festival2 1996
Celebrating African Identity (CELAFI) Festival 1996
Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival 1997
Caribbean Sunfest at Mel Lastman Square 1997
Chinese New Year Festival (after Vancouver festival - 1995) 1997
Festival of Caribbean Writers 1997
Kensington Market Summer Festival 1997
Northern Encounters (Nordic arts festival) 1997
Toronto Lion Dance Festival (Chinese community) 1997
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 1997
Aboriginal Voices Festival of Music and Film2 1998
Cinefranco (Festival of French Films) 1998
Global Roots Music Festival (St. Lawrence Market) 1998
Hot & Spicy Food Festival2 1998
Ritmo y Color (Latin American Arts Festival)2 1998
Super Latin Fest (Mel Lastman Square) 1998
Toronto Fiesta (Music and arts festival - St. Clair and Dufferin area) 1998
Get Reel: Black Film Festival 1999
Rhythms of the World Festival (Global Culture)2 1999
Taste of Little Italy (College and Grace area - June) 1999
Toronto Italian Film Festival 1999
Diwali Festival Parade (Hindu community) 2000
ReelWorld Film Festival (Featuring films with a focus on ethnicity) 2000
Sabor Saudade (Pan-Portuguese Arts Festival)2 2000
Scarborough Culturefest (Milliken Park Community Centre) 2000
Notes: 1 While first held in the 1960s, in 1979, the City of Toronto became the first Canadian municipality to officially recognize Black History Month in 1979.
2 Held at Harbourfront Centre
To at least some extent, the diversity of Toronto's people is reflected by some of its electronic and print media outlets. Multilingual and multicultural broadcasts have been heard over Toronto's airwaves for more than a quarter of a century. Today, radio station CHIN, which first went on the air in June of 1966, broadcasts programs in more than 30 languages each week on its AM and FM outlets. Station-owner Johnny Lombardi proudly refers to CHIN as Toronto's "Tower of Babel," and by 1996 its signals were being carried nationally via satellite. Television station CFMT, which went on the air in 1979 as the world's first full-time multilingual television station, broadcasts programs in some 15 languages and for 18 cultural groups every week, allowing it to live up to its slogan, "The World at Home," at least when not airing reruns of American situation comedy shows. Even today, the station is viewed as "unique in the world." Other Toronto-area electronic media outlets, like CIRV-FM, CHKT (AM 1430), and the aptly-named Brampton radio station CIAO (AM 530), also carry significant quantities of ethnic language and multicultural programming, a variety of programming that is unmatched in other Canadian cities, though some Torontonians have complained about the lack of visible minorities in the broadcast news area. In 2000, the Toronto Raptors became the first National Basketball Association team to have its games broadcast in Chinese.(88)
Some, however,
would argue that even more media access in Toronto needs to be given to
minority groups, especially in ownership roles. Two serious attempts to
establish a black-owned urban/dance station on the FM dial were thwarted in the
1990s, with the station licences being awarded to a broadcaster offering new
country music in 1990 for 92.5 FM and to the CBC for its Radio One service on
99.1 FM in 1997. While both decisions were controversial, the latter drew some
half-dozen editorials in support of an urban/dance station and similar
sentiments from many newspaper columnists. Happily, diversity on Toronto's
radio dial was increased in 2000 when a licence to operate an urban/dance
station on 93.5 FM was granted to Milestone Communications. At the same time
Aboriginal Voices was given a licence to broadcast to Toronto's growing aboriginal
community on 106.5 FM. These initiatives were greeted with joy in most parts of
Toronto and the new stations are expected to be on the air by 2001.(89)
At the end of 1998, Toronto's ethnic press numbered 157 publications, serving about forty different groups. Most of these appear weekly or monthly, but Toronto boasts daily papers in Chinese, Italian, Korean, Polish, and Spanish (Appendix 1). Moreover, Chinese editions of two popular magazines - Maclean's and Toronto Life - were launched in 1995, and in 2000 ChineseWorld Magazine, aimed at upscale members of the community began publication in suburban Markham. In all, the Greater Toronto Area accounted for 49.8 per cent of the 315 ethnic listings provided by the respected Bowdens Information Services. (This figure rises to 53.2 per cent if native peoples' publications, none of which is published in Toronto, are excluded from the total). Montreal and Vancouver, in contrast, account for just 13.0 per cent (41) and 10.2 per cent (32), respectively, of all such listings, barely half of the Toronto total. Nearly three-quarters of the offices of ethnic press organizations in the GTA were found within the City of Toronto, or the 416 area code.(90)
In addition to the GTA's rich ethnic press, there was evidence of increased interest in multicultural news and issues in the mainstream press. By late 1995, the Globe and Mail had named its first multiculturalism reporter, Isabel Vincent, and the Toronto Star had appointed Elaine Carey as its first demographics reporter. In 1998, the latter paper entered into a formal financial and news exchange relationship with Sing Tao, Canada's largest Chinese-language daily, and also named Maureen Murray as its inaugural diversity reporter. Early in 1999, the Star launched a special, year-long "millennium project" entitled "Beyond 2000: Home to the World" that was intended to provide a "study of the ethnic and cultural mix that is Great Toronto" through a regular series of feature articles. Overall, the focus for the series was to be on three questions:
Is Toronto working for everyone - or getting frayed at the edges?
What challenges must the Greater Toronto Area confront as we head into the year 2000?
How can we best equitably build on the strengths of successive waves of newcomers who bring many talents to the country?
In all, 68 articles were published as part of the "Beyond 2000" initiative, with almost 65 per cent of them taking up at least one full page. The Star was honoured in 2000 by the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement for the "Beyond 2000" series, which, according to CERIS, demonstrated "commitment to insightful, balanced, and sensitive coverage of immigration and diversity." More recently, the newspaper also was awarded the Canadian Association of Black Journalists' first Media Award for Excellence in Diversity for best demonstrating "the spirit and reality of Canada's cultural diversity in their journalism and for their integrity and innovation." Haroon Siddiqui, the paper's editorial page editor emeritus, was given the Order of Ontario in 2000 for his efforts to challenge readers to "rethink outmoded stereotypes of immigrants and minorities." Late in 2000, the Globe launched "New Life," a series of articles in which immigrants were asked to describe "the challenges and joys of making a new start in the Toronto region."(91)
While such changes and developments are welcome in the mainstream media, Toronto newsrooms do not yet reflect the city's diversity. Writing in 1998, journalism professor John Miller, a former employee of the Toronto Star, observed:
things have changed, but you don't have to look far to realize that our newspapers really haven't kept pace with the dramatic changes in society. In Toronto, Canada's most multicultural city where one in every three residents is a person of colour, the four competing daily newspapers employ only two staff columnists who are non-white: Royson James of the Star and Jan Wong of the Globe and Mail. There is no black sports columnist, no Asian business columnist, and no one on staff writing about lifestyles from a diverse perspective. The blind spots are glaring, even disturbing, and one wonders why, when circulation is declining, newspapers are not reaching out more aggressively to the fastest growing segments of their population. Why is race covered so negatively and stereotypically, and racism - the polite, silent Canadian variety - covered hardly at all? Why do the images seen in the pages of our newspapers fail to match the images of the people we see in the streets around us?
As a result, coverage of topics of interest to Toronto's multicultural communities often still leaves much to be desired. Scott Johnson, a 12-year old newspaper reader from the edge city of Markham, captured this sentiment very well in a 1998 letter to the editor of Canada's largest daily newspaper, the Toronto Star:
I have noticed that every Saturday for the past several months, you have included posters of Shania Twain, the Backstreet Boys, and the Spice Girls. I noticed that you have not put any Black performers in The Star for posters. . . . Black people like me would appreciate it if you had some rappers and R & B singers. I know that you can't put them all in the paper, but you could include some.(92)
Any place that aspires to the title of the world's most multicultural city must be a locale characterized by harmony and a willingness to share power in all of its myriad forms. By most measures, Ontario's capital city has at least some room for improvement on both counts. Toronto has not been without some moments of racial discomfort. Early in May of 1992, hundreds of young people, black and white, left an anti-racism rally and rioted in the downtown area, smashing more than 100 shop windows along Yonge Street and looting stores as they surged northward. The following day, editors at the Toronto Sun succinctly captured the essence of the events on their front page: "UGLY: Toronto Loses Its Innocence." And the Maclean's cover for 18 May 1992 featured a picture of a young, black man over which was superimposed "Young, Black, and Angry: A Toronto Riot Spotlights a Season of Urban Tension." In a report on the riots to Premier of Ontario Bob Rae, former Ontario NDP leader and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Stephen Lewis concluded both that Toronto had a problem of "anti-Black racism" and "racism is pervasive," though not everyone totally agreed with his theoretical framework, methodologies, or findings. While not denying that a problem existed, for this was but the latest in a series of reports on racism in Toronto, a scathing editorial in the Globe and Mail called the rigour of the Lewis report into some question. This criticism was not without some justification, for Lewis had been given only one month to investigate the situation and report to the Premier. Nevertheless, the city that had long, and perhaps too smugly, prided itself on its rich and harmonious racial mix suddenly looked very vulnerable to some of the worst pitfalls of life as lived in large US cities. No one should have been surprised by this turn of events. Months before the riots, a report for the Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority by a Toronto research organization called the Reference Group suggested that Blacks made up 50 to 70 per cent of the population in the 10 high-rise developments studied and concluded that they were living in "near-ghettos." It is worth remembering as well Toronto had been warned in the mid-1970s not to be smug about racism. The seeds of the problem already were visible according to Charles Hightower, a Black Chicagoan who was editor of the United Methodist weekly newspaper Newscope. With a Black population then approaching 150,000, Hightower suggested that Metro Toronto was "poised at the crossroads on the road to racial harmony or holocaust." For most Torontonians, the 1992 Yonge Street riot was nothing like a holocaust, but it was a troubling incident nonetheless.(93)
While some business leaders speculated that "one violent night" would not hurt Toronto's tourism industry, others felt the scars of the riot would be difficult to heal, and the city's troubles did make headlines around the world, getting at least some media coverage in New York, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, and South Africa. It was also the subject of an award-winning play, Riot, by the young Toronto playwright Andrew Moodie, which was the hit of the 1995-96 season at the Factory Theatre. According to Toronto Star theatre critic Vit Wagner, Riot offered audience members:
a frank, conversationally profane and frequently hilarious, slice-of-life take on community and racism in contemporary Toronto. It is set in May, 1992, against a backdrop of racial tension and rioting sparked by the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers charged with the brutal beating of Rodney King.
Wagner later described Riot as "an incendiary drama about race relations and divisions in the city's Black community." The Yonge Street riot certainly was an unsettling event for many citizens. As Paul Tuz, then-President of Toronto's Better Business Bureau, wistfully observed, the city's "biggest draw [for tourists] is it's the one city in North America that was safe to travel through . . . at night." How, then, had the riot been allowed to happen? Perhaps an editorial cartoon by Alan King in the Ottawa Citizen, best captured Toronto's rising angst (Figure 1). Like the cartoonist, some wondered whether the Yonge Street riot was a manifestation of the pursuit of the long-cherished goal of world-class status. Nor could this sorry episode be viewed as an isolated indicator of urban change. As one headline speculated some seven months before the riots, "World-class city or world-class problems?"(94)
While the Yonge Street Riot was the most dramatic example of racial/ethnic tension in Toronto during the 1990s, it was not the only such incident. At least six or seven other situations stood out and captured at least some media attention, though a more thorough analysis probably would reveal several others. Early in the decade, two cultural events - the "Into the Heart of Africa" exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, which opened in 1989 and was picketed for many weeks in 1990 by a group called the Coalition for the Truth about Africa, and the 1993 revival of the musical Show Boat as the inaugural production at North York's Performing Arts Centre - promoted outrage in the city's Black community. Jeff Henry, a professor in the theatre department at York University, characterized the protest over the musical as a "watershed in the history of African Canadians." When officials at the United Way refused to cancel plans to use a performance of Show Boat as a fund-raising event, nineteen members of the organization's Black and Caribbean Fundraising Committee resigned. As Henry observed late in 1994, the protest against Show Boat:
brought members of [Toronto's] very diverse [African Canadian] group together as few issues have been able to do. . . . The power symbolized by the protest and the empowerment it afforded the African Canadian community leads us to a new phase in the continuing struggle against racism. . . . The denunciation of this production . . . sends out an important signal to other mainstream institutions that the voices of African Canadians and other people of color no longer can be ignored.(95)
Members of the Black community also were incensed, if not surprised, by two encounters prominent Black Torontonians had with people in positions of authority during the mid-1990s. In October of 1993 Dwight Drummond, the chief assignment editor at CITY-TV, and a friend were stopped by police early one morning and subjected to a "high-risk take down" in relation to a reported shooting. They were released after a search of their car produced no evidence, but the incident was widely reported because of Drummond's standing in the journalistic community. According to Margaret Cannon:
It wasn't the first or even the hundredth time this had happened in Toronto. Blacks, Natives, and Orientals report that they are regularly stopped by the police and have to prove that they are law-abiding citizens just to continue walking along the street or driving to work. All that set Drummond apart was that he could rally some media outrage.
So common were such incidents, that it appeared as if a new crime category had been created - "DWB: Driving While Black," and many young Black males in the Toronto area came to view police harassment as a "rite of passage."(96)
The 1993 trial of Black activist Dudley Laws, a founder of the Black Action Defence Committee, on charges of smuggling immigrants into Canada and the US was later ruled to have been invalid for a number of reasons. One of these was a decision by the trial judge, Mr. Justice Arthur Whealey, to exclude from the courtroom supporters of the accused who were wearing religious headcoverings. The headwear in question was a kufi, a traditional cap worn as a Muslim sign of piety and respect. Whealey's decision served to strengthen suspicions about a lack of fair treatment for minorities by the criminal justice system. Many Blacks already suspected the Toronto Police laid the charges against Laws because of his outspoken criticism against police shootings. Late in 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada decided not to hear the case involving the expulsion of those wearing kufis at the 1993 trial of Dudley Laws, thus bringing the matter to a close.(97)
In the summer of 1993, problems emerged at the Scarborough Town Centre shopping mall between security staff and Filipino teenagers. Some of the teens were banned from the mall, and charges of racism were filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Protest marches were held and it took several months before the problems were resolved. Meanwhile, in the western suburb of Etobicoke, reports surfaced in 1994 and 1995 of both the mis-treatment of Somalis in a condominium complex of six high-rise buildings on Dixon Road and racial tensions between young Somalis and Black and East Indian students at Kipling Collegiate Institute. Happily, the problems at that school at least, seem to have been resolved, though violence did erupt between Sri Lankan and Punjabi students at another Etobicoke school - North Albion Collegiate - in 1997.(98)
Finally, in the middle of 1995, Carole Bell, the Deputy-Mayor of Markham made a series of comments about demographic changes in her municipality that enraged members of the Chinese community. In essence, Bell opined that multiculturalism was a strength and a weakness in a community. Her remarks suggested parts of Markham had become too Chinese, and these changes were forcing long-time residents to move away. She also objected to the amount of Chinese retail activity, in the form of so-called Asian theme malls, that had emerged or were about to be developed in the community. Bell steadfastly refused to apologize for her remarks, even though they were condemned by a dozen GTA Mayors and a variety of organizations and agencies, including the National Congress of Chinese Canadians and B'nai B'rith Canada. Furthermore, the members of Markham's race relations committee voted to resign over Bell's comments. Nevertheless, members of Markham Council, led by Mayor Don Cousens, and some citizens rallied to her support, while Bell claimed she was merely voicing the concerns of her constituents. The entire episode was keenly followed by the local and national media, and by the global Chinese press. It was not defused until late September when Markham Council appointed an advisory committee to examine issues of concern to the Chinese community. This was hardly Markham's finest hour. As one early editorial in the Toronto Star suggested:
By elevating anti-Chinese comments to official status and drawing all the wrong conclusions from it, Markham's Deputy Mayor Carole Bell has done a great disservice. . . . If Markham is getting too many ugly malls, the issue is one of aesthetics and zoning, not ethnicity. Making it into one sows the seeds of dissension and violates the fundamental tenets of the democratic civil society with which we are blessed.(99)
For the most part, however, Toronto's diverse groups live in peaceful co-existence, and feel happy about the diversity of the population, though one highly-criticized study for the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration surprisingly did find the acceptance of non-white immigration to be the lowest for Toronto of all the "regions" examined. These findings, which were based on the responses from a sample of just 179 Toronto residents, produced a variety of anti-Toronto headlines across the country, with some declaring Toronto to be "Canada's Racism Capital." This stood in marked contrast to the headlines produced as a result of an earlier and equally criticized survey conducted by the Institute for Social Research at York University for the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System and based on a sample of 1,257 people - "Whites in Metro Not Racist: Study." The truth, clearly, lies somewhere between the extremes presented in these headlines.(100)
Other surveys, however, have produced more balanced findings. In 1985, an extensive survey for the Toronto Star involving interviews with about 200 randomly-selected members of each of seven groups - Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, East Indian/Pakistani, Jewish, Black, and Anglo Saxon - found respondents to be reasonably satisfied with most aspects of their life in Toronto. All groups were happy with their access to health care and with the quality of TTC service and recreational facilities, and every group was dissatisfied with the availability of rental accommodation in Metro Toronto. Several groups, however, expressed concerns about life in Toronto. When asked if their ethnic group has less opportunity than other Canadians, 61 per cent of East Indian/Pakistani, 57 per cent of Chinese, and 48 per cent of West Indian/Black respondents replied in the affirmative. Prejudice/discrimination was seen as the most pressing problem for 38 per cent of East Indian/Pakistani, 42 per cent of West Indian/Black, and 44 per cent of Jewish respondents. Author Olivia Ward concluded: "our multiculturalism isn't perfect but it works."(101)
A similar survey conducted for the same newspaper in 1999 examined the attitudes of 150 members of each of eight major ethnic groups - Italian, Portuguese, Caribbean and African Blacks, Chinese, Hispanic, South Asian, Filipino, and West Asian/Arab, along with a random sample of 402 Torontonians from all backgrounds. At least one-fifth of the members of each group expressed feelings that there was prejudice against their community and at least one-tenth from each group had faced discrimination in finding a job. On the other hand, at least 89 per cent of the members of each group were either somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with life in Toronto, and at least 87 per cent in each case felt their children had good opportunities in Toronto. Nevertheless, discrimination has been the experience of too many Toronto citizens. According to the 1999 survey, respondents personally experienced discrimination of some form at the following rates: Chinese - 37 per cent, Filipino - 40 per cent, Hispanic - 37 per cent, and Black - 60 per cent, compared with a 29 per cent rate for the random sample of Torontonians. Only about 40 per cent of Black respondents felt their community had been fairly treated by police and the courts, by far the lowest score on this measure. The next lowest rating was for the Hispanic group, where 59 per cent claimed to have been fairly treated by police and 65 per cent so treated by the courts. Almost half of the South Asian, Filipino, and Hispanic respondents, and 64 per cent of Chinese and 68 per cent of Black participants felt there was prejudice against their community in Toronto. Just 49 per cent of South Asians and 32 per cent of Blacks felt their communities had been fairly treated by the media. Racism was expressed as a concern by 71 per cent of Black respondents, a figure described by the Star's polling company, Goldfarb and Associates, as "alarming." On the matter of power sharing, respondents were asked to consider the following question: have the members of your group been given equal access in being named to boards and commissions. The results were not particularly encouraging. While 77 per cent of Italians, 63 per cent of Portuguese, and 50 per cent of Chinese participants responded in the affirmative, the figures were lower for other groups - 43 per cent for South Asians and 37 per cent for Hispanics.(102)
A 1998 survey of 827 randomly-selected Torontonians conducted by York University's Institute for Social Research found "no statistically significant differences in the unhappiness of Whites and non-Whites, the young and the old, and males and females." The study, however, did uncover that the level of happiness increased with English proficiency, underscoring the problems encountered by many upon arrival in Toronto. "World-class" Toronto, apparently, failed "to make everybody smile," especially many well-educated immigrants who experienced difficulty entering the professions in their new home city. Overall, the results of these surveys seemed to indicate "the `City That Works' could be even better."(103)
When the results of its first-ever Toronto Survey were published in Toronto Life early in 1996, the importance of Toronto's demographic mix emerged in at least two places. Respondents were asked to indicate reasons why Toronto would be a better place to live in 10 years, and the second most popular response, after an economic upswing and job creation, was "racial tolerance improving." And "the city's ethnic and cultural diversity" was the sixth most popular response when people were asked to name the one thing about Toronto they liked the most. As John Barber, the Globe and Mail's urban affairs columnist, recently observed:
. . . Torontonians are proud of the diversity of their city. From Kensington to Thornhill, there are few ethnically exclusive neighborhoods anywhere in the city. Our diversity unites us, and it persists despite powerful homogenizing forces.
The same theme was sounded in a recent study of trends in Toronto conducted for the United Way of Greater Toronto:
the people of Toronto appreciate the enormous contribution that new immigrants bring to the cultural vitality of the City, and their importance to Toronto's future economic prosperity. Toronto's diversity is recognized as one of the City's greatest assets.(104)
A Better Place for the Changes
Diversity, then, is a key and cherished characteristic of contemporary Toronto for most citizens. It is not at all surprising that one of the first international speeches given by Mel Lastman, first mayor of the unified City of Toronto, took the title "Toronto: Diversity Is Our Strength," a sentiment that later would be captured in the official motto for the new City of Toronto: "Diversity - Our Strength."(105) As the late Northrop Frye, the renowned Toronto-based literary critic and, according to Maclean's magazine, the second most important Canadian of all time (after only former Governor-General Georges Vanier), suggested in the penultimate paragraph of the final formal address he delivered at the University of Toronto in the Fall of 1990:
Canada has now become cosmopolitan to a degree that would have been incomprehensible 50 years ago. If Toronto is a world-class city, it is not because it bids for the Olympics or builds follies like the SkyDome, but because of the tolerated variety of the people in its streets.(106)
Some have even credited Toronto's demographic transformation with the city's coming of age, and the changes to the way of life experienced in the place were palpable and large-scale during the post World War II period. Writing in a 1970 issue of Travel & Camera, a magazine published by the giant American Express corporation, Toronto-based travel writer Gerry Hall observed,
Toronto is a city that once took itself so seriously that no one else could. . . . It was the kind of place no one called Fun City, not even as a joke. Citizens sneaked their liquor home under their coats and World War II had been over for two years before Toronto got its first cocktail lounge. In those days, Sunday sports and movies were banned and so was just about everything else. Fortunately, there is hardly a vestige of this Toronto left today. Almost over night it has entered the big league of tourist cities.
Hall suggested Toronto's metamorphosis had a simple explanation:
What happened? The greatest postwar immigration boom to hit any city on this continent. More than a million newcomers arrived, 600,000 of them from Europe alone, and they finally got it across to Tory Toronto that having fun was not necessarily associated with sin.(107)
The rich mixture of people from such a wide variety of backgrounds that Northrop Frye, Gerry Hall, Olivia Ward, John Sewell, Paul Chato, Richard Gwyn, and Diane Dadian equate with the streets and subways of Toronto has transformed the city forever and should provide interesting possibilities for future developments in the cultural realm - cuisine, music, literature, plays, movies, and television programs, all of which could be used to create a unique and positive image for Toronto. And the mixture is getting richer with each passing year. By early 2001, "world cuisine" was said to be brightening the "Greektown" area of the Danforth. Some even talked about the possibility that the mixing of regional musical styles could result in a "pan-African sound that's uniquely Torontonian," while others spoke in terms of an emerging "pan-cultural approach" as the basis for a new "Toronto sound" and of Toronto as "a Mecca for world music" and the "home to global grooves." As DJ Serious, a noted Toronto turntablist, observed early in 2001:
I really believe Toronto has the opportunity to make the best hip-hop in the world: there's such a richness of cultures we could harness. We could dominate internationally because of that. For a kid living in Toronto, there's really no ghettoes here, so there's nothing holding you down. The only thing holding you back is yourself.
Others have observed that the international success enjoyed by Toronto's multicultural writers, such as Austin Clarke, Neil Bissoondath, Michael Ondaatje, M.G. Vassanji, and Rohinton Mistry, has made it difficult for immigrant writers who are white to get attention. Writing in 1970, Gerry Hall could not have ever imagined what the face of Toronto would be like a mere quarter of a century later.(108)
It really is time to bury the "United Nations has declared . . ." urban legend once and for all. Multiculturalism has enriched the life of Toronto on many levels, as anyone who has lived in the city for more than a few months must realize. Toronto's diversity has improved the quality of life in the city; some even have suggested it saved the inner city from the ravages of developers. As social historian Robert Harney argued in 1981:
There are now in downtown Toronto, along with vestiges of pre-war ethnic settlements, four new major ethnic neighbourhoods, the Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, and Greek, and they will inform the character of the city for the future. These and earlier middle European groups, especially the Hungarian, have provided the ethnic population density, the community and neighbourhood sense, and the commitment to home ownership which has saved postwar Toronto as a residential city. . . . Toronto remains a city of neighbourhoods because it is a city of ethnic communities. One of the greatest contributions of ethnicity to Toronto is in its maintaining the human scale of the cityscape. The reformers and middle class who have returned to colonize the inner city, who live next to neighbours who paint their houses pastel while they sandblast theirs to natural colour, would do well to remember that it is their neighbours who saved the city from miles of barren concrete and iron.(109)
This emergence of healthy ethnic neighbourhoods is one direct outcome of what Harney termed "practical multiculturalism." But, as the opening quotation by Richard Gwyn implies, the city may be moving beyond multiculturalism, where individual cultures are promoted and celebrated, to transculturalism, where cultural boundaries become blurred in the face of the inter-mixture of people from different backgrounds. In 1991, Canadians were asked to participate in the regular Census. As always, one of the questions asked them to indicate the ethnic or cultural group(s) to which their ancestors belonged. In Metropolitan Toronto, some 21.8 per cent indicated association with more than one group. The figure for the old City of Toronto was 26.0 per cent. By the time of the 1996 census, these figures had risen to 27.1 per cent and 33.4 per cent, respectively. If asked, my own children, at the minimum, would trace their ethnicity to England, France, Romania, and the Ukraine, and they are not alone in their diverse backgrounds. So common has this intermixture become that local scholars have begun to take an interest in it, with a major study of the children of inter-racial couples launched in 1996 by a Ryerson Polytechnic University research team. The 1997 wedding between a Scotsman and the daughter of an East Indian was described in one press report as a "truly Canadian wedding" and greeted with the rather clever headline "East Meets MacWest."(110)
And Toronto's rich ethnic mix has become well known, even in medical and sporting circles. Early in 1996, former major league baseball star Rod Carew began a desperate search for a suitable bone-marrow donor for his 18-year-old daughter Michelle, who was battling leukemia. The search was made especially difficult because of Michelle's ethnic background - a Panamanian and West Indian father and a Ukrainian-Jewish mother. Given its ethnic diversity, Rod Carew felt "it makes a lot of sense to look at Toronto," and he included the city in his search.(111)
Ethnicity, however, is an inherited trait. Others have actively sought to immerse themselves in different cultures. When students at Oakwood Collegiate, a highly cosmopolitan high school in Toronto's west end, decided to form an African dance troupe in the Fall of 1995, more than half of the participants were not from the Black community. The multiracial ensemble performed proudly and to considerable acclaim during Toronto's celebration of Black History Month in February of 1996. Nor is this level of diversity restricted to the inner city or to schools. In 1998, people from 19 different ethnic groups in the Rexdale area came together to form the Association of Concerned Citizens of Etobicoke North to deal with common issues such as integration, school bullying, and workplace exploitation. Kipling Collegiate Institute, which is located near Pearson International Airport, counted students from some 57 countries among the members of its student body of 750 in 1995, with 43 per cent enrolled in English as a Second Language programs. Students from all backgrounds banded together to deal with problems of racism. T.L. Kennedy Secondary School in suburban Peel Region housed students from more than 65 countries in 1996; and its baseball team, the Kougars, boasted 12 different nationalities among its 18 players, including participants from such relative baseball wastelands as Nigeria and Sri Lanka. It has been common to view Canadian society as a cultural mosaic, in contrast to the melting pot found in the United States. Neither myth, of course, is entirely true; but the most apt metaphor for Toronto may well be that of a slowly-stirred mixing bowl.(112)
Civic leaders, however, will need much more foresight if these opportunities are to be fully exploited. For example, the decisions to grant exclusive contracts to an American multinational firm, McDonald's, to provide food at such important institutions as the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo and the SkyDome did nothing to enhance Toronto's reputation as an important multicultural city in the minds of tourists and citizens alike. Such decisions simply represent lost opportunities to establish a positive and distinctive image for Toronto. As Cynthia Wine, restaurant critic for the Toronto Star, observed at the start of the 1996 Major League Baseball season:
Toronto has some of the best bun food on the continent. Our ethnic diversity gives us steamy hot Italian veal sandwiches and Greek souvlaki with fat chunks of meat and rich garlic sauce. There's masala dosai, the huge East India crepe stuffed with curried potatoes from Gerrard St. E., or the juicy mile-high pea meal bacon sandwiches from St. Lawrence Market. But at [the] SkyDome, where we and the world go to see our best, we get McDonald's, the corporate food of America. Close your eyes and you could be eating a Big Mac in Cincinnati . . . . Other stadiums offer food that reflects the populations of their home cities. New York's Yankee Stadium offers knishes. . . . Instead of corporate souvlaki and mystery meat at our stadium, we should have a choice of Toronto's excellent sandwiches. . . . Why can't we have our own food?
Why, indeed? Happily, when the Air Canada Centre [quickly dubbed "The Hangar" by many writers] opened in February of 1999 as the new home to the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, Wine found the food served there to be much more reflective of Toronto.(113)
Some Distance Yet to Travel
Ultimately, the city's reputation on the world stage will be determined by facts, achievements, and the imaginative promotion of Toronto's multicultural character and overall quality of life, and not by internally-fabricated urban legends. Only then, when Torontonians learn to fully appreciate the wonderful complexity of their city without a nod of approval from others, will Toronto be able to claim a place near the pinnacle of the urban hierarchy. And the mark of that achievement undoubtedly will be measured by the degree to which Toronto's diverse residents participate in the life of their city and its institutions, itself a recognition of their acceptance as Torontonians.
One small indicator of the change afoot in Toronto society was the publication in the July 1997 issue of Toronto Life of an extensive article on "Who's Who in the Chinese Community."(114) The true test of what the Globe and Mail's John Barber has called the "remarkable [multicultural] experiment" now playing in Toronto, however, will lie in the extent to which power, in all of its myriad urban forms, is shared by its residents. In fact, Royson James, the Toronto Star's urban affairs columnist, recently suggested that a key indicator of Toronto's success in the near future might well rest in the way in which a single question is handled: "Is this diverse cosmopolitan city - by its actions in providing opportunity, a sense of openness, and access to good jobs and the halls of power - creating the grid for a future of strife or one of continued prosperity?"(115)
Should the latter outcome occur, then the United Nations, or one of its agencies, may well want to bestow an honour of some sort on Toronto; but that kind of award-deserving-level of maturity and sophistication has not yet been realized. For example, the annual Caribana festival, described by a 1996 Metropolitan Toronto Task Force as "A Jewel Worth Polishing," has not, in the view of many members of Toronto's growing Black community, received the respect it deserves. In their view, government and corporate support, when given at all, seems to have been provided reluctantly, even grudgingly, with too few of the economic benefits generated by the festival returning to the community. To be sure, Caribana needs to be better organized. With some justification, journalist Ali Sharrif recently described it as being "endlessly mismanaged." But it also needs more support from the business sector and the broader community, neither of which could imagine a Toronto summer without Caribana.(116)
In fact, the 1998 festival opened with a much greater sense of optimism because of both the appointment of Hassan Jaffer, a widely-respected Bay Street insolvency expert, as its new CEO and the promise of federal funding in the form of annual $100,000 Heritage Canada grants, though the Globe's political columnist John Ibitson wondered: "how much do you think it would spend if Caribana were centred in Montreal?" The first of these grants was received in time for the 1998 festival, which was one of the most successful ever, allowing the organizers to cut the festival's accumulated debt by more than half to around $495,000. Some, however, complained about the festival's increasing commercialization, its apparent evolution towards becoming a more- multicultural and less-Caribbean event, and Jaffer's heritage - Tanzanian-born and not Black. So, the future of Caribana looked better, but its problems were a long way from being resolved to the satisfaction of all interested parties. Jaffer, in fact, surprised many when he resigned after just eight months in March of 1999, and was quickly replaced by a young Black woman, Michelle Jones, a Montreal native who had been a culture and education program co-ordinator with the Canadian Embassy in Washington. For her, the priorities were familiar ones: to restore the festival's credibility and to increase its corporate sponsorship. Within a year, she, too, had been replaced. Her contract was not renewed by the Caribbean Cultural Committee, and Ken Jeffers, a long-time manager with the City of Toronto, took over when he was elected chair of the CCC. While the 2000 edition of Caribana was its usual artistic success, the festival remained "woefully underfunded," bereft of corporate sponsors, in search of respect, and subject to "games" within the organizing committee, and the Caribbean Cultural Committee was rated as the worst organization in the year 2000 by the editor of The Caribbean Camera, who opined:
Caribana has been sitting on a gold mine for three decades, with a potential to make millions and millions for re-investment in the community. But instead it drives away local talent, wastes public money, and squanders enormous goodwill.
Many were shocked when a forensic audit into the festival's finances was ordered by its organizers near the end of 2000 placing future government funding in some jeopardy. While most Torontonians continue to hope Caribana is about to enter a period of stability, support, and success, a major reorganization of the organization was being requested by Toronto politicians. Sadly, at the time of writing, Caribana's leadership for the 2001 festival remained undetermined.(117)
At times, even today, Toronto's institutions and some citizens can appear to be quite churlish in the face of certain ethnocultural activities. In 1998, Toronto police threatened to crack down on the flag-waving celebrations that usually follow World Cup soccer games. Fortunately, the police gave up on their plan in the face of both public sentiment and the sheer hopelessness of their task. And some ordinary citizens have been known to object to such flag-waving as unpatriotic. Others, however, see in such views a convenient "cloak for racism." As Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star observed, it is not uncommon for Canadians living in the US to cheer for Canadian-based National Hockey League teams, especially the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, and against their hometown teams. Seldom is such behaviour treated as unpatriotic.(118)
Toronto's famed tolerance invariably is put to the test whenever the question of renaming a street rises to the fore. In 1993, Mississauga City Council, by a vote of 8 to 1, rejected a proposal to rename a "virtually undeveloped" portion of the Second Line, between Eglinton Avenue and Britannia Road, after the Indian pacifist and humanitarian Mohandas Gandhi. In spite of a promise to name a new street after Gandhi, at the time of writing, no such thoroughfare existed in Mississauga or anywhere else in the Greater Toronto Area. The same Council also refused to name a portion of Airport Road after Indian freedom fighter Veer Shaheed Bhagat Singhji. Such decisions cannot be viewed as mere aversions to the memorialization of foreign dignitaries. Canada's first superhighway, the Queen Elizabeth Way, was named in 1939 after the wife of King George VI, the current Queen Mother. One of the main streets in Mississauga is Winston Churchill Boulevard, and the former British Prime Minister is also remembered in Scarborough's Winston Churchill Drive. Nor have such gestures been used only to recall Canada's ties to Great Britain. Former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been memorialized in Roosevelt Avenue (Ajax), Roosevelt Drive (Richmond Hill), and two Roosevelt Roads (Mississauga and East York). Meanwhile, to honour the 1992 World Series victory, Toronto City Council voted to rename part of Peter Street as Blue Jays Way, and later voted to extend the new name farther to the north so that hockey star Wayne Gretzky's restaurant could take as its address 99 Blue Jays Way.(119)
By their very nature, street renamings are invariably controversial. Even in tolerant Toronto, they can sometimes bring to the surface long-standing animosities. A 1998 proposal to rename a small portion of William Morgan Drive in East York as Patriarch Bartholomew Way, in honour of the visit to Toronto of the Greek Orthodox Christian leader, met with opposition from members of Toronto's Macedonian community. Few should have been surprised by this dispute, for there is a long-standing history of ill-will between these two groups in Toronto. Late in 1992, a brawl broke out between members of the two groups over the right to call themselves Macedonians during a flag-raising ceremony at Mel Lastman Square. Lastman, then Mayor of North York, was kicked and punched during the melee, and some spoke of the need for a ban on the raising of "ethnic flags" on municipal property, except during official visits by dignitaries from foreign countries.(120)
And, before Torontonians step forward to receive any multiculturalism awards, they should remember their city is home to Ernst Zundel, one of the world's most infamous Holocaust deniers. Toronto streets recently have served as battlefields between neo-Nazis and anti-racist groups, and between rival gangs, with Toronto described as a "ripe market" for such organizations. Immigrants have suffered severe beatings at the hands of neo-Nazis in entirely unprovoked attacks. And hate crimes have been on the increase in the area (by 22 per cent in the City of Toronto in 1998, and by a further 28 per cent in 1999, the fourth consecutive annual increase), with Muslims, Sikhs, and Roma as new targets, though such cases have been poorly covered in the press according to Don Sellar, ombud at the Toronto Star. Old hatreds also remain visible from time to time. Swastikas are still applied to Toronto synagogues periodically, and both Jewish and Roman Catholic cemeteries have been vandalized. In 1999 two elderly, Jewish men were beaten with a pipe for no apparent reason near a Bathurst Street synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath. Nor have politicians always displayed leadership on such matters. In 1997, Gordon Chong, a member of Metro Council, was forced to apologize to his fellow politicians for remarks made during an interview with a newspaper reporter in which he categorized recent Gypsy refugees from Europe as "pimps and criminals."(121)
Youth bear an often heavy burden in the new Toronto. Many young, immigrant Torontonians still search for "racial peace" in their new environment, making "new worlds out of their parents' old ways," while many agonize over pressures created by the need to balance their "heritage with Canadian culture." Sadly, some recent initiatives have spawned friction between communities. When a branch of the US-based Nation of Islam set up its first mosque in Toronto in the summer of 1998, controversy erupted over allegedly anti-Semitic remarks by its pastor, charges that church members denied. Recently, and quite surprisingly given the importance of tourism to the Toronto economy, complaints have surfaced about the lack of information and services available to visitors in languages other than English.(122)
Any residual smugness about the equality of life in Toronto received a significant jolt in the spring of 2000 with the release of four reports into the immigrant and visible minority experience in Toronto. One study based on a survey of more than twelve hundred white, Black, and Chinese adults, by Scot Wortley of the U of T and Gail Kellough of York University, concluded Blacks were much more likely to be stopped, questioned, and searched by police than whites or Asians. The study also identified race-based differences in the treatment of individuals by the courts. Blacks, for example, were 1.6 times more likely than the members of other races to be held without bail.(123)
The second report, by Edward Harvey and Kathleen Reil of the U of T, examined changes in unemployment rates, employment income, and the per cent of families living below the poverty line for visible minorities and non-visible minorities. On every measure for the Toronto area, the visible minorities fared more poorly. For example, whereas the unemployment rate fell for non-visible minorities from 11.7 per cent to 7.6 per cent between 1991 and 1996, it actually rose for visible minorities from 13.1 per cent to 13.4 per cent over the same period. According to the study, average employment income figures for visible minorities averaged $24,606, compared to $33,600 for non-visible minorities. Incomes for visible minorities increased by just 3.9 per cent between 1991 and 1996, compared to an increase of 20.2 per cent for non-visible minorities.(124)
The third report, by Frances Henry and Carol Tator of York University, examined the degree of racial bias within Canada's English print media. It pointed to the continuing presence of racist statements in the mainstream press, the under-representation of people of colour in the media, and an ongoing tendency to misrepresent and stereotype them. A subsequent study by the Canadian Islamic Congress identified the National Post as the worst and the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail as the best in terms of their coverage of Islamic issues.(125)
Finally, the spring of 2000 saw the release of a detailed study of the conditions of the 89 ethno-racial groups with at least 2,500 members in City of Toronto. This study, authored by Michael Ornstein of York University, was commissioned by the Access and Equity Unit of the City of Toronto and prepared by the Institute for Social Research at York. Based upon special tabulations of the 1996 Census results, this study uncovered "enormous ethno-racial variation" on a variety of socio-economic dimensions such as income, employment rates, education, and rates of poverty, with the differences almost all tied to race. For example, the study found 14.4 per cent of European-background families living in poverty. The figures for other groups were - East and Southeast Asian and Pacific, 29.6 per cent; Aboriginal, 32.1 per cent; South Asian, 34.6 per cent; Latin American, 41.4 per cent; African, Black, and Caribbean, 44.6 per cent; and Arab and West Asian, 45.2 per cent. More than half of the families from the following groups lived in poverty according the 1996 census: Ethiopian, Ghanaian, Somali, Pakistani and Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Tamil, Afghan, Iranian, and Central American. While perfect comparisons were not possible because of changes in the way things were measured and recorded, the plight of immigrants, especially those from visible minorities, seemed to worsen on many dimensions between 1991 and 1996. More groups were disadvantaged in the latter year than in the former on most measures, and the proportion regarded as disadvantaged often rose. For example, in 1991 some 20 groups were identified as being at a significant disadvantage or worse on the measure of the proportion of poor families in the group. The minimum proportion for inclusion as significantly disadvantaged in that year was 30 per cent. In 1996, 19 groups were identified as significantly disadvantaged or worse, with the minimum proportion of such families now set at 40 per cent. As Share editor Arnold Auguste observed shortly after the release of the report:
while our city and province attempt to convince the world that Toronto is indeed a world class city, large numbers of people from around the world are experiencing just the opposite here. Soon our dirty little secret will get out(126)
In the past few years, Toronto Life has published separate articles on the mistreatment of Filipino nannies in Toronto homes and the importation of American racist attitudes, while Andre Alexis has written of a "Borrowed Blackness" that can be seen in the rapid Americanization of culture and attitudes in Toronto's Black community. Some have speculated openly about the poor prospects faced by many young, Black males. Many Blacks simply do not feel part of the larger Toronto community, an attitude aptly captured in the very title of Frances Henry's recent book The Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto: Learning to Live with Racism. Political scientist Sheila Croucher, for one, has explored the extent to which racial harmony in Toronto, viewed from the perspective of the Black community, can merely be regarded as an image framed by the city's elite. She found reasons to question the validity of that image in such events as the 1992 Yonge Street riot, the protests over the openings of both the play Show Boat in North York and the "Into the Heart of Africa" exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, and the deteriorating relations between the police and members of the Black community.(127)
But the problems go well beyond the confines of Toronto's police force. Statistics released in the summer of 1998 seemed to suggested that Jamaicans were being targeted for deportation by the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration. Of the 355 people deported from Ontario since mid-1995, 138 were sent back to Jamaica, with Trinidad in second place as a destination at 22 deportations. This trend continued during 1999, when 310 people were deported to Jamaica from the GTA, with the next most significant destinations including Hungary (135), Grenada (73), Trinidad and Tobago (62), Mexico (53), and India (50). Only 22 people were deported to the United States from the GTA in 1999. Some have even begun to speak of a "racialization" of crime among certain segments of Toronto society - an assumption that violent crimes are the work of Blacks and other immigrants. This was clearly the case in the aftermath of the tragic stabbing death of Toronto police officer William Hancox in the summer of 1998. According to representatives of the African Canadian Legal Clinic, callers to radio and television phone-in shows ". . . judging by the area where the act took place [Scarborough] and the brutal nature of the crime, jumped to the conclusion that the killing must have been committed by an immigrant, and specifically by a Black man." Two white women, in fact, were subsequently charged with the crime. A poster in the Toronto subway system used by the Toronto Police Association during the 1999 Provincial election was widely viewed as stereotyping young, Latin American males as criminals. In spite of requests to do so, officials with the Police Association refused to apologize for the image portrayed in the poster, even though members of Toronto's Hispanic community were said to be "deeply hurt" by it. About a year later, the newly formed Latin American Coalition Against Racism countered with its own "Racism Is A Crime" posters.(128)
In the face of such racist attitudes, it is no wonder that some communities have begun to turn inward for strength, support, and self-esteem. Since 1992, a Black Prom has been staged for high school graduates from the community, and there has even been talk of the need to established black-focussed schools to better acquaint students with their history and place in Canadian society. Many complaints about the education system have been raised, and some progress has been made. The insistence by Black parents in the late 1980s that their children not be "streamed" into dead-end educational programs was a firm step in the right direction which led to changes in the Ontario high school curriculum, most notably, the "de-streaming" of grade nine. Former Toronto Mayor John Sewell shares these concerns. In a 1994 television interview he warned fellow citizens:
It's clear that the Black community is getting isolated from the mainstream in Toronto. That's a really significant problem for any community - to opt out or to feel it's being pushed out. What do we do to start strengthening our links there and pulling people back together? (129)
No doubt, a large part of this disaffection is because many of the city's institutions still do not reflect Toronto's multicultural mosaic in their workforces, creating what one young journalist called our very own version of "a tale of two cities." For example, only about 3.4 per cent of the members of the Toronto Police are Black, well below the representation of that group in the community. Not surprisingly, there is a lack of trust between members of the police and the Black community, and in the minds of many citizens, the police have been too quick to use deadly force against members of visible minority groups. Eight Black men were shot and killed by Toronto police officers between 1988 and 1992 alone, and a recent analysis of police shooting statistics by Nicole Nolan found an alarmingly high rate of the use of lethal force against civilians in Toronto in comparison to large US cities. People have begun to question the need for such violence, especially against unarmed members of visible minorities. In fact, a group called the Black Action Defence League was started in 1988 after the police shooting of Lester Donaldson, a mentally ill Black man. Turbans were approved by the force in 1986, but the first officer to wear one did not arrive until 1991. In fairness, however, a special, eight-member team was set up in 1997 to help recruit more officers from five targeted minority groups - Chinese, Black, East Indian, Filipino, and Korean. They met with some success - 36 per cent of the 1997 crop of new police officers came from minority groups, compared to just 9 per cent in 1996, but problems in encouraging members of these groups to apply for employment with the force suggest that more work needs to be done. Indeed, in 1998 when more than 40 per cent of Torontonians were classified as members of visible minority groups, just 8.7 per cent of constables, 3.6 per cent of sergeants and staff sergeants, and 3.7 per cent of senior and command officers on the Toronto force were from visible minority groups, though they did comprise 22.1 per cent of the civilian members of the force. By 1999, about 10 per cent of Toronto police officers were members of visible minority groups. This figure had risen to 10 per cent by early 2001, and Keith Forde became the first visible minority officer to be promoted to the rank of superintendent with responsibility for the Community Policing Support Unit.(130)
In contrast, fewer than 5 per cent of the firefighters in the City of Toronto in 1997 were from minority groups, and the organization was seen to be resisting changes to its hiring practices. At the TTC, minorities made up just 12 per cent of the workforce in 1991, a figure that had improved to just 14 per cent by 1993. Some, like the Toronto Star's Ali Sharrif, and City Councillor and former TTC Chair Howard Moscoe felt the TTC had not done enough to embrace the reality of a multilingual Toronto, especially in the area of civil communications between vehicle operators and riders whose grasp of English was in need of improvement. The city's major cultural institutions - the Toronto Symphony, the National Ballet of Canada, and the Canadian Opera Company - were all struggling "to be as diverse as the city" in order to sell "European art forms to a population that, more than ever, comes from virtually every part of the planet but Europe." At Ryerson Polytechnic University, just 11.8 per cent of faculty members belong to visible minority groups, the highest figure for any Toronto university. At York University, about 9 per cent of faculty come from visible minority groups; while at the University of Toronto, where a target of 15 per cent minority representation among faculty had been set, professorial diversity was said to be at a "standstill," and actually fell from 9.1 per cent to 8.7 per cent between 1997-98 and 1998-99. One study estimated it would take the U of T at least 25 years to reach its hiring target. Throughout much of 1999 and 2000, the U of T was embroiled in a nasty Human Rights Commission case involving charges of racism in hiring brought against the University by Dr. Kin-Yip Chun. Happily, the case has been resolved and Dr. Chun has returned to a position at U of T.(131)
When the new Council was elected in November of 1997 for the amalgamated City of Toronto, among its 57 members were found 15 women (26.3 per cent) and seven members of visible minority groups (12.3 per cent). While not perfect, Royson James of the Toronto Star described it as "the closest yet to reflecting the makeup of the new Toronto." Sadly, the picture was far less encouraging at Toronto's newly amalgamated District School Board where just one of the twenty-two trustees (4.5 per cent) elected in the Fall of 1997 was from a visible minority background and where, according to one published report, none of the Board's forty-seven superintendents and less than two per cent of its executives belong to visible minorities. In the 2000 municipal elections, the representation by visible minorities on the Toronto District School Board doubled to two, or 9 per cent of its 22 members. At Toronto City Council, where the number of seats had been cut from 58 to 45 by the provincial government, female representation rose to 28.9 per cent, but visible minority representation declined in both absolute and relative terms with the retirement of Gordon Chong and the defeat of Rob Davis, a Black Councillor from the former City of York. The new Council contains just five visible minority members who constitute only 11.1 per cent of its membership in a municipality where more than 40 per cent of the residents claim to be members of visible minority groups. As Royson James observed shortly before the 2000 elections, municipal governments in the Toronto area are:
too white, too middle class, too unrepresentative of Toronto's diverse reality. . . . If non-white citizens of Greater Toronto seeking office reflected the population makeup, there'd be about 100 candidates in the city of Toronto alone and at least 200 more across the GTA. In fact, there are only about 25 on the Toronto ballot and 60 more across the GTA. Toronto boasts that it is home to the world, the most multicultural city on Earth, a place where immigrants make up more than half the population and a city where the motto is, Diversity Our Strength. But it will take a while, a long while based on the current slow march, for our city and town councils to reflect the population they serve.(132)
Toronto's diversity was said to be a key to the sales pitch to members of the International Olympic Committee being prepared in association with Toronto's bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Sadly, the Olympic bid team's face was "mostly white and male" even though one of the proposed pillars of the bid is to make it "inclusive and fully [reflective of] the strength in the diversity of our community." The team was headed by three white males - David Crombie, the bid chair; Steve Hudson, the executive committee chair; and John Bitove, Jr., the president and CEO of TO-Bid. Representation was better on the bid's executive committee, however, where five of the nineteen members (26.3 per cent) were visible minorities and seven (36.8 per cent) were women. Organizers, however, were said to be actively recruiting volunteers from the city's cultural communities, and Toronto's ethnic communities were being counted upon to contribute to the mandatory Olympic Arts Festival that would run parallel to the sporting events. Nevertheless, the optics of the key players did not reflect Toronto's diversity. Rather than being central to the bid team, women and visible minorities appeared to represent almost afterthoughts to the power structure of the organization. The highest ranking visible minority representative within the structure was Joe Halstead, a Black man who was on the team as the City of Toronto's Olympics Commissioner. While welcome, and an improvement over the team behind Toronto's earlier bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics, this hardly represents equitable power sharing for an important and costly civic initiative. Earlier, I spoke of the growing transculturalism among some individual Toronto citizens. Sadly, transculturalism has yet to spread to many of the city's institutions.(133)
So, there is still plenty of room for improvement in both attitudes and actions in most of Toronto's public institutions. A recent study by Myer Siemiatycki and Engin Isin, for example, found not only the above-noted lack of visible minorities in the ranks of public office holders throughout the GTA, but also their absence from participation in the battle against the amalgamation of Toronto. Only 3 of the 212 people elected in 1997 to the various councils in those parts of the GTA lying outside the City of Toronto, the so-called 905 region, were from visible minority groups. The one area in which they found a strong expression of citizenship was in the use of public streets, civic squares, and parks by members of immigrant and minority groups for such things as parades, marches, religious processions, and other community gatherings.(134)
At the neighbourhood level, reports have begun to surface about the lack of meaningful interaction between residents. For example, Sean Fine of the Globe and Mail came upon a very multicultural street in Thornhill, Swinton Crescent, where the neighbours hardly knew each other: "no garage sale had ever been held. No Block Parents or Neighbourhood Watch signs proclaim that a vigorous community resides here." The very diverse Malvern area in north-east Scarborough is now said to be divided along lines of colour, with parking-lot fights between different groups following the annual multicultural night at Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute on a regular basis during the 1990s. John Montesano has also commented recently on the political and geographic divisions emerging within Toronto and suggested:
. . . in the eyes of the older, long-established communities, immigrants may give the city some flavour but they don't set the menu. . . . Official Toronto likes to talk about multiculturalism but some people only want to see it in a brochure.(135)
But like any large and complex urban centre, Toronto can be full of pleasant surprises. In the same Thornhill where Sean Fine discovered Swinton Crescent, Nancy White of the Toronto Star found a group of 70 people from 6 different religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism - who met regularly to develop mutual understanding and who held a "Peace Meal" each January in honour of Martin Luther King Jr. Since 1997, children at John Ross Robertson school in affluent North Toronto have participated in a program called Bookshare, whereby books are donated to less affluent students in downtown schools. The program spread to seven other schools in 1998. In 1998, the notorious and demographically complex Jane-Finch area received a Caring Community Award from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for grassroots community activism. And tragedy often brings out the best in Torontonians. In 1997, the Munchy King, a small West Indian restaurant in Scarborough was destroyed by racist vandals. Citizens from many backgrounds donated money to a specially-established trust fund to help owner Michael McPherson rebuild his business. In 1998, Toronto's oldest Black church, the British Methodist Episcopal Church, Christ Church - St. James, located on Shaw Street, was destroyed by arson. To help the congregation rebuild, the proceeds from the Chinese community's 1998 Lion Dance Festival were given to them, and members of the evangelical Peoples Church helped to stage a gospel concert to raise more money.(136)
In the late 1990s, Toronto municipal politicians were rushing over themselves to approve the rezoning of industrial land for big-box retail development, in spite of concerns over such things as increased traffic. Not all applications to use such land in new ways were greeted so favourably by the politicians. The difficulties encountered in recent, ultimately successful, attempts to get industrial land rezoned for a mosque in East York in 1995-96, for a community centre in North York for the Jamaican Canadian Association in 1997, and for other mosques in Mississauga and Markham in 1997-98 are clear indicators of the distance yet to be travelled to produce a truly inclusive city that could stand as a role model for the world.(137)
Sadly, many decisions relating to immigration policy and the provision of immigrant services do not reside at the local level. Recent cuts by the federal and provincial levels of government, for example, in the funds provided for both services for immigrants and for ESL programs, have not made the task of creating an inclusive city any easier. And some also fear that the recent amalgamation in Toronto, imposed on the area by the Provincial Government in 1998 against the wishes of the vast majority its citizens, in conjunction with the city's growing budgetary problems due to the downloading by the Province of such costly and unpredictable responsibilities as social housing and public transit, may result in a dilution of the strong equity policies formerly in place in both the old City of Toronto and the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.(138)
Nevertheless, a remarkable experiment is playing itself out on the streets and subways of Toronto. As Karen Connelly, a Canadian poet and travel writer, concluded after a recent 10-day visit to the city:
. . . On the streets, wandering around, I got lost often enough, took the long way around, and rode the streetcar the way you ride a train in a foreign place, to see what's over the hill, around the corner: What was around the corner in Toronto was always people and languages I could or couldn't understand, sometimes could not even identify. Was it Arabic or Farsi? Was it Urdu or Punjabi or a Kenyan Indian dialect? It was hip, it was funk, it was so unapologetically there and alive: the music of languages. Were they speaking a mixture of dialects, was that why it sounded so utterly bizarre? Was it Croatian, or something I hadn't even considered? Whatever it was made me smile, smile so hard I sometimes had to raise a notebook or newspaper to hide my teeth, lest I be taken for a madwoman. Yet even then my eyes were alive to all these energies, these different points of reference and contact, and I traded winks and the slyest of smiles. There is a joke out there, and a secret, too, perhaps, though a growing number of people are in on it. That is what getting lost in Toronto taught me. . . . This is miraculous - these people, together constitute a miracle. This place is a place where miracles can happen. I could live here, where people are this alive, and struggling for it, and winning out over the odds. . . . If the Canadian experiment is working - and in Toronto it is working, sometimes on a grand and fabulous scale - it is only working because people of colour and difference and people with free minds have fought, are fighting, and will continue to fight to make it work.(139)
In the final analysis, then, Torontonians should not be content with the title of world's most multicultural city. The real goal should be the creation of the world's most successful multicultural city. Luck, good will, resources, and a willingness to share power all will be required to reach that lofty goal. In her provocative 1998 book, Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities, planner Leonie Sandercock challenged her readers to think precisely along these lines:
Look into my crystal globe. Do you see a blue city? A green city? A city of women? I see a rainbow city, a multicultural city, and I rejoice and despair at what I see - the inferno and the carnival of this 'postmodern city.' It could be Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Bombay, Toronto, Sydney, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta. All of them are changing faster than we can keep up with. Products of hyper-mobile capital and complex human migrations, perhaps the most visible characteristics of these cities are struggles over space, which are really two kinds of struggle: one a struggle of life space against economic space, the other a struggle over belonging. Who belongs where, and with what citizenship rights in the emerging global cities?(140)
Thoughtfully, Sandercock provided a template for the successful multicultural city of the future:
Can a new civic culture be created on the basis of multiple publics, and what are the elements of such a culture? The discussion then moves from what is to what might be, from the modern metropolis with its will to eradicate difference to a postmodern Utopia which I have named cosmopolis, a construction site of the mind, a city/region in which there is genuine connection with, and respect and space for, the cultural Other, and the possibility of working together on matters of common destiny, the possibility of a 'togetherness in difference.'(141)
Sadly, rather than discovering a growing "togetherness in difference," a recently published study by University of Toronto sociologists Eric Fong and Kumiko Shibuya uncovered a growing spatial separation between the visible minority poor and other citizens in Toronto and other large Canadian cities, resulting in recognizable "pockets of poverty for visible minorities" in these urban settings. At the same time, recent media reports have examined the deplorable living conditions experienced in Toronto's "high-rise ghettos" in Flemingdon Park, Thorncliff Park, St. Jamestown, and parts of Scarborough. The citizens of the so-called "City That Works," therefore, are going to have to work together in order to make a true cosmopolis appear on the shores of Lake Ontario. All the ingredients are present, but the appropriate recipe has yet to be identified. As many observers have noted, Toronto's subway cars and other transit vehicles are filled with a wonderfully diverse mix of people, riding each day in apparent harmony to their respective destinations. The time has come to let this diverse population run the TTC and other Toronto institutions. Equality in a cosmopolis has to mean more than the opportunity to pay a fare and ride in a subway car.(142)
Appendix 1
Toronto's Ethnic Press, 1998
Name of Paper Ethnic Group Frequency Circulation
Al-Mughtarib Arabic Weekly 5,000
Al-Petra Arabic Monthly 7,500
Arab Guide1 Arabic Weekly 5,000
Arab News
International1 Arabic Weekly 5,900
The Arab Star Arabic Bi-Weekly 8,000
ARC Arabic Journal1 Arabic Bi-Weekly 6,000
Beladi Arabic Journal1 Arabic Monthly 3,500
Bissat-Errih Newspaper Arabic Weekly 7,000
Canada & Arab World1 Arabic 2/Month 5,000
Crescent International Arabic 2/Month 30,000
Hasna Magazine Arabic Monthly 5,000
Lisan Al-Arab1 Arabic Quarterly 2,000
Marcelle Magazine Arabic Weekly 12,000
Middle East Report1 Arabic Weekly 6,000
Loussapatz1 Armenian Weekly 500
Lradou Armenian 3/Year 500
Nor Serount1 Armenian Quarterly 500
African Express1 Caribbean/Afro Monthly 35,000
Caribbean Abroad1 Caribbean/Afro Monthly 25,000
The Caribbean Camera1 Caribbean/Afro Weekly 29,000
Dawn1 Caribbean/Afro Monthly 15,000
Equality News1 Caribbean/Afro Bi-Weekly 45,000
Guyana Current Caribbean/Afro Monthly 15,000
Guyana Times1 Caribbean/Afro 2/Month 18,000
Indo-Caribbean
World Caribbean/Afro Bi-Monthly 30,000
Pride News Magazine1 Caribbean/Afro Weekly 22,000
Share1 Caribbean/Afro Weekly 40,000
The Weekly Gleaner1 Caribbean/Afro Weekly 25,000
The Weekly Star1 Caribbean/Afro Weekly 25,000
Chinese Senior News1 Chinese Quarterly 6,000
Chinese TV Newspaper1 Chinese Bi-Weekly 30,000
Herald Monthly1 Chinese Monthly 37,000
Living Times1 Chinese Weekly 10,000
Markham Communicator1 Chinese Monthly 35,000
Ming Pao Daily News1 Chinese Daily 30,000
Modesty Magazine Chinese 9/Year 5,000
Shing Wah News1 Chinese Monthly 10,000
Sing Tao Newspaper1 Chinese Daily 38,500
World Journal Daily News1 Chinese Daily 28,437
Zogul Press Croatian Weekly 15,628
Novy Domov1 Czech Bi-Weekly 2,500
De Nederlandse Courant Dutch Bi-Weekly 6,200
India Calling1 East Indian 2/Month 3,000
Meie Elu1 Estonian Weekly 2,500
Vaba Eestlane1 Estonian 2/Week 2,500
Iran Star Farsi Weekly 10,000
Atin Ito Newsfeature Filipino Monthly 10,000
The Philippine Reporter1 Filipino 2/Month 10,000
Vapaa Sana1 Finnish Weekly 2,500
Canada Journal1 German 6/Year 25,000
Deutsche Presse1 German Weekly 21,000
Echo Germanica1 German 2/Month 16,000
Freundschaft1 German 3/Year 200
Evdomada1 Greek Weekly 6,000
The Greek Press1 Greek Bi-Weekly 7,000
Hellenic-Canadian
Chronicles1 Greek Weekly 10,000
Patrides1 Greek Monthly 25,000
Gujarat Vartman1 Gujarati Monthly 3,000
Subras Gujarati Monthly 5,000
Asian Tribune Hindi 2/Month 8,000
Canadian Times of India1 Hindi Weekly 20,000
India Abroad1 Hindi n.l. n.l.
India Journal Hindi Weekly 12,100
Sangam Hindi
Newsmagazine1 Hindi Weekly 20,000
Kanadai Magyarsag1 Hungarian Weekly 12,000
Magyar Elet1 Hungarian Weekly 7,750
Menora1 Hungarian Weekly 4,000
Toronto Irish News1 Irish 4/Year 5,000
La Cisilute Italian Quarterly 3,000
Corriere Canadese1 Italian Daily 28,360
Eyetalian Magazine1 Italian 6/Year 12,000
Panorama Magazine1 Italian Monthly 5,000
La Parola Italian Monthly 5,000
Lo Specchio Italian Weekly 22,000
Tandem1 Italian Weekly 35,000
Vita Italiana1 Italian 2/Month 12,500
The New Canadian1 Japanese Weekly 10,000
The Nikka Times1 Japanese Weekly 7,000
Nikkei Voice1 Japanese 10/Year 3,300
Canadian Jewish News1 Jewish Weekly 46,593
The Jewish Standard1 Jewish 20/Year 14,900
The Jewish Tribune1 Jewish Bi-Weekly 75,000
L'Chaim Jewish 5/Year 3,000
The World of Lubavitch Jewish 6/Year 8,500
The Korea Times1 Korean Daily 3,000
The New Korean Times1 Korean Weekly 2,000
Latvija Amerika1 Latvian Weekly 3,000
Teviskes Ziburiai Lithuanian Weekly 3,700
Macedonia1 Macedonian Monthly 1,800
Kerala Express1 Malayalam Weekly 2,000
Community Digest Multicultural Weekly 25,000
Peel Multicultural Scene Multicultural Quarterly 1,500
The South Asian Voice Multicultural Weekly 5,000
Toronto Review of
Contemporary Writing1 Multicultural 3/Year 600
Iranians1 Persian Monthly 6,000
Shahrvand1 Persian Weekly 10,000
Gazeta1 Polish Daily 12,000
Polish Canadian Courier1 Polish 2/Month 20,000
Spk W Kanadzie1 Polish Quarterly 2,200
Tygodnik Polski Polish Weekly 11,000
Variety Rozmaitosci1 Polish Monthly 2,500
Zwiazkowiec1 Polish Weekly 10,000
Correio Portugues1 Portuguese 2/Month 16,300
Familia Portuguesa1 Portuguese Weekly 10,000
Gente Modesta1 Portuguese Monthly 5,000
Portugal Illustrado Portuguese Bi-Weekly 10,000
Silva1 Portuguese Quarterly 10,000
Sol Portugues1 Portuguese Weekly 12,000
Voice1 Portuguese Weekly 10,500
Aar Paar Punjabi Monthly 3,000
Hamdard Weekly Punjabi Weekly 17,000
Quamantry Bardesi Punjabi Monthly 5,000
Jurnal Tec Canada1 Romanian Monthly 10,000
Observatorul Roman
Canadian1 Romanian Monthly 2,000
Beseda Russian Weekly 15,000
Bonus1 Russian Bi-Weekly 15,000
The Exodus1 Russian Monthly 6,000
Golos1 Russian Weekly 5,000
Info Trade1 Russian Weekly 11,300
Vestnik1 Russian Monthly 1,000
The Yonge Street Review1 Russian Bi-Weekly 10,000
Bratstvo Srpsko1 Serbian Monthly 2,250
Glas Kanadskih Srba1 Serbian Monthly 1,500
Gateway to European
Market1 Slovak Quarterly 6,000
Kanadske Listy Slovak 6/Year 2,500
Satellite1 Slovak/Czech Bi-Weekly 1,000
Vestnik CS1 Slovak/Czech Quarterly 1,000
De Norte A Sur1 Spanish Monthly 60,000
El Expreso1 Spanish Weekly 15,000
Migente1 Spanish Monthly 120,000
El Mundo Latino News1 Spanish Weekly 5,000
El Popular1 Spanish Daily 16,200
Que Pasa1 Spanish Quarterly 10,000
Lanka News Tamil Monthly 5,000
Thamilar Thakaval1 Tamil Monthly 4,000
Times of Sri Lanka1 Tamil Monthly 5,000
Ulahathamilar1 Tamil 2/Month 30,000
Uthayam1 Tamil Monthly 1,500
Evanhelska Pravda1 Ukrainian 6/Year 3,500
Homin Ukrainy1 Ukrainian Weekly 15,000
Moloda Ukrania1 Ukrainian n.l. n.l.
New Pathway Almanac1 Ukrainian Yearly 3,000
Novy Shliakh1 Ukrainian Weekly 3,900
Slovo1 Ukrainian 2/Month 5,000
Svitlo1 Ukrainian Monthly 2,000
Ukraine and the World1 Ukrainian Weekly 3,000
Vsesmikh1 Ukrainian Monthly 2,000
Zdorov!1 Ukrainian Quarterly 2,000
Ahmadiyya Gazette Urdu Monthly 2,200
Al-Hilal1 Urdu Monthly 2,000
Azad1 Urdu Monthly 2,000
Eastern News Urdu 2/Month 5,000
Leader International1 Urdu 2/Month 10,000
New Canada1 Urdu Weekly 10,000
Pakeeza Weekly Urdu Weekly 5,000
Shama Urdu Monthly 5,000
Thoi Bao1 Vietnamese Weekly 11,000
Note: 1 Publications with offices in the 416 area code.
Source: Bowden's Media Directory: Print (Toronto: Bowden's Information Services, 1998).
Notes
1. Austin C. Clarke, The Meeting Point (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1967): 35. The quotation is part of a conversation between Dots and her friend Bernice Leach, a Barbados-born, Forest Hill housekeeper.
2. Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2000), 291.
3. Joel Garreau, "Manifest Destiny Lives! We Want The Blue Jays and Niagara Falls . . . Mounties, Maybe . . . But Not Quebec," Washington Post, Sunday, 17 June 1990, D1.
4. Olivia Ward, A Minority Report (Toronto: Toronto Star, 1986): 63.
5. Paul Chato, "Skelton Dispenses Cure for Flock of Faithful Fans," Toronto Star, Sunday, 24 May 1992, E2.
6. Bob Rae, From Protest to Power: Personal Reflections on a Life in Politics (Toronto: Viking, 1996), 284.
7. As quoted in John Sewell, "Close-Up: John Sewell," CBC Evening News, CBC television, 9 November 1994.
8. Diane Dadian, "Black and White and Right at Home," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 9 September 1998, A18.
9. Richard Gwyn, Nationalism without Walls: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Canadian (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995), 6.
10. Toronto Ontario Olympic Council, Toronto's Proposal to Host the Games of the XXVITH Olympiad (Toronto: Toronto Ontario Olympic Council, 1990), Forward [sic].
11. Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1996), 89.
12. Robert J. Kasher, Ethnic Toronto: A Complete Guide to the Many Faces & Cultures of Toronto (Lincolnwood, Illinois: Passport Books, 1997), ix.
13. Pico Iyer, The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000): 124-5.
14. As quoted in Wallace Immen, "Unfamiliar Liberty Delights Iranians," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 27 December 2000, A18.
15. Cary Fagan, City Hall and Mrs. God: A Passionate Journey Through A Changing Toronto (Stratford: Mercury Press, 1990), 8.
16. Jim Byers, "TO-Bid's Pitch: 'Expect the World,'" Toronto Star, Wednesday, 12 April 2000, B1-B2.
17. Promotional items using this slogan were first observed by the author in the Fall of 2000. CFMT, the world's first multicultural television station, began broadcasting on channel 47 in 1979.
18. This motto was adopted for the coat of arms for the new City of Toronto. It replaced the slogan used by the former City of Toronto since its incorporation in 1834 - "Industry, Intelligence, Integrity." See John Spears, "Toronto Approves New Coat of Arms," Toronto Star, Thursday, 29 October 1998, B3.
19. Prithi Yelaja, "Rye[rson] Hosts Conference on Needs of Visible Minorities," Eyeopener, Wednesday, 7 November 1990, 7.
20. Jan Harold Brunvand, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1981), xi-xii. The FOAF factor is discussed in Michele Mandel, "Urban Myths," Toronto Sun, Sunday, 4 January 1998, 26-27.
21. Brunvand, The Vanishing Hitchhiker, 3-4. On Brunvand see Robert Fulford, "The Stuff that Urban Legends Are Made Of: If There's an Alligator in Your Sewer, Jan Harold Brunvand Will Find It," National Post, Tuesday, 1 February 2000, B1-B2.
22. Ibid., 3-4. Italics added.
23. Brunvand's other books on the subject of urban legends include The Choking Doberman and Other "New" Urban Legends (New York: W.W. Norton, 1984); The Mexican Pet: More "New" Urban Legends and Some Old Favorites (New York: W.W. Norton, 1986); Curses, Broiled Again!: The Hottest Urban Legends Going (New York: W.W. Norton, 1989); and The Baby Train and Other Lusty Urban Legends (New York: W.W. Norton, 1993). For a review of the films Urban Legend and Urban Legend: Final Cut, see Liam Lacey, "Hit and Myth," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 26 September 1998, C9 and Jennie Punter, "Another Heap of Dead Students," Toronto Star, Friday, 22 September 2000, C4.
24. AFU Inc. "Official Usenet Alt.Folklore.Urban Frequently Posted Legends," World Wide Web, 1995 and James Coates, "`Good Times' Virus Is Just a Bad On-Line Myth," Chicago Tribune, Sunday, 21 May 1995. On other such hoaxes see Myles White, "Computer Wares: Virtual Viruses, Part II," Toronto Star, Thursday, 5 March 1998, H2; Mark MacKinnon, "Cyberscares: E-Mail Hoaxes Press `Aggravate' Button," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 28 June 1998, B15; and Peter Cheney, "Urban Myth Made Real by E-Mail: A Rapist Cab Driver Is Feared by Professional Toronto Women, Even Though He Doesn't Exist," Globe and Mail, Monday, 27 July 1998, A4.
25. The Neiman Marcus cookie recipe myth was explored in detail on CBC Television "Chips, Lies, and Cyberspace," Undercurrents, 19 March 1996. The program is hosted by Wendy Mesley. Neiman Marcus has never made cookies for any of its stores, a fact that could be determined with a single phone call. See also, Peter Cheney, "Urban Myth Made Real by E-Mail: A Rapist Cab Driver Is Feared by Professional Toronto Women, Even Though He Doesn't Exist," Globe and Mail, Monday, 27 July 1998, A4; Shellene Drakes, "Netizens Beware: Flesh-Eating Fruit, Mutant Chickens are Among the Hoaxes and Urban Legends Thriving Online," Toronto Star, Monday, 21 February 2000, E1 and E8; and Nicholas Dinka, "Forward Thinking: E-Mail Forwards - Jokes, Chain Letters, Hoaxes, Urban Legends - Are Spreading a New Kind of Folk Culture for the Wired Age," Toronto Star, Thursday, 25 May 2000, K1-K2.
26. Ann Landers, "Dear Ann: Urban Myths Are Malicious," Toronto Star, Monday, 29 June 1992, D2, reprinted from Creators Syndicate; Andrea Brenton, "E-Mail Justice: Neiman-Marcus Loses Its Costly Cookies," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 11 November 1995, D3; and Tim Jones, "Over-Charged Biscuit Lover Gets Even on Recipe-Hungry Internet," The Times, Friday, 20 October 1995.
27. Eve Johnson, "$250 Neiman Marcus Recipe Is a Cookie Myth That Refuses to Crumble," Vancouver Sun, Wednesday, 15 November 1995, C1.
28. CBC Television, Undercurrents 19 March 1996. See also, Sharon Oosthoek, "You Could Be Next: We've All Been Suckered In [sic] by Urban Legends," Toronto Sun, Sunday, 31 January 1999, 48-49.
29. Paul Moloney, "Police Action Sparks Pleas to Cool Down," Toronto Star, Friday, 13 January 1989, A8. David Lewis Stein, "Figures Don't Support Notion We Are Overgoverned," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 2 November 1994, A23 and "Election Carries Warning We Should Heed," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 16 November 1994, A6; Isabel Vincent, "Chasing After the Ethnic Consumer," Globe and Mail, Monday, 18 September 1995, A8.
30. Giovanni Malito, "Celebration Crowned by $40 Parking Ticket," letter to the editor, Toronto Star, Tuesday, 2 July 1991, A18.
31. Jeremy Ferguson, "Consuming Passions: The Global Village Has a Kitchen in Toronto," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 20 May 1992, D6.
32. Havard Gould, News report on the CBC at 11, CBC Television, Thursday, 28 February 1991.
33. Yelaja, "Rye[rson] Hosts" and Jill Lawless, "Actors of Colour Get Room to Move at Theatre Plus," Now, 6-12 June 1991, 117.
34. Robert N. Jenkins and Peter Benesh, "Toronto: The Most Sophisticated City in the World?," St. Petersburg Times, Sunday, 12 March 1989, 1E; Richard P. Carpenter, "Toronto: A Cosmopolitan City That's Alive with Activities," Boston Globe, Sunday, 12 July 1992, B1; Anonymous, "Festival Brings World to Toronto," Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 5 June 1993, I1; Richard P. Carpenter, "Toronto Celebrates Its Ethnic Richness," Boston Globe, Sunday, 15 May 1993, B1 and "Toronto's Diversity Cause to Celebrate," Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, 12 June 1993, L7, reprinted from Boston Globe; Jay Clarke, "Toronto: Our City Celebrates 200 Years of Diversity and Harmony," Toronto Star, Saturday, 14 August 1993, H9, reprinted from Knight-Ridder Newspapers, "Many Faces: Toronto Mixes in Eclectic Appeal as Continent's Most Diverse City," Chicago Tribune, Sunday, 22 August 1993, 12, reprinted from Knight-Ridder Newspapers, "Pulse of Diversity: Toronto Relishes Presenting Its Differences," Phoenix Gazette, Wednesday, 6 October 1993, D1, reprinted from Knight-Ridder Newspapers, and "Hogtown Holiday: Ethnically Diverse Toronto Plans Big Bash to Celebrate 200th Birthday," Winnipeg Free Press, Saturday, 23 April 1994, D1, reprinted from Knight-Ridder Newspapers; Clyde H. Farnsworth,"Toronto Journal: To Battle Bigots, Help from South of the Border," New York Times, Friday, 12 February 1993, 4; Steve Jacobson, "The City of Champs," Newsday, Saturday, 16 October 1993, 95; and Harvey Schachter, "Toronto Is a Changed Metropolis: Immigration Has Brought Tensions," Montreal Gazette, Wednesday, 21 December 1994, B3.
35. Eggleton is quoted in Paul Moloney, "Police Action Sparks Pleas to Cool Down," Toronto Star, Friday, 13 January 1989, A8, while the Crombie speech was reported in Donna Jean MacKinnon, "Five Revolutions Reshaping City, Crombie Says," Toronto Star, Thursday, 26 August 1993, A6. I heard Dr. Wong make the statement in Joseph Wong, "Panel Discussion: Social Change in the Global City: Challenge and Diversity," Urban Regions in a Global Context Conference, University of Toronto, 19 October 1995. After his presentation, I drew Dr. Wong's attention to the urban legend about Toronto and a UN declaration. Perhaps that is why it was not repeated in the report of the GTA Task Force. Ms. Minna used the phrase in a speech she gave at a press conference at the University of Toronto on 22 March 1996 to mark the inauguration of federal funding for a joint Centre for Excellence for research into immigration and integration for Toronto's three universities. She graciously provided me with a copy of her remarks, which contained the statement "the United Nations recently proclaimed Toronto the most ethnically diverse city in the world," on page 6. I was informed of Ms. Minna's comments by Dr. Kevin Goheen, then-Associate Vice President, Research at Ryerson, who was present when they were delivered.
36. John Fitzgerald, "Toronto Today," Ladies Home Journal 110 (January 1993): 120; Valerie Vaz, "Live It Up in Ontario," Essence (October 1993): 102; and Bill Saporito, "The World's Best Cities for Business," Fortune 130 (14 November 1994), 122. Canadian Press, "T.O.: Attractively `Somnolent'," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 26 October 1994, B1; "Best-City List Ranks Toronto Seventh," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 26 October 1994, B1; "Toronto Among World's Top 10," Calgary Herald, Wednesday, 26 October 1994, D9; "Magazine Picks T.O. As One of World's 10 Best Business Cities," Halifax Daily News, Wednesday, 26 October 1994, 26; "Toronto the Good Is Good for Business, Magazine Says," Ottawa Citizen, Wednesday, 26 October 1994, E1; and "Fortune Frowns on Wee Vancouver: Magazine Says 7th-Place Toronto Pleasant to Point of Somnolence," Vancouver Sun, Wednesday, 26 October 1994, D4.
37. Barbara Hall, "Consider Toronto," advertisement, The Next City 1 (Fall 1995), 2.
38. Government of Canada, Canada, Take It to Heart: Growing Together Activity Guide, February 12-19, 1996 (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1995).
39. John Barber, "Remarkable Experiment Playing Out," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 22 August 1996, A11.
40. James P. Allen and Eugene Turner, "The Most Ethnically Diverse Urban Places in the United States," Urban Geography 10 (1989): 525.
41. Ibid. Allen and Turner examined 1980 census data for all 2,903 US places with at least 10,000 people. Using an entropy index, they found the most diverse place to be the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos. Their 13 ethnic groups were Blacks, American Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Asian Indians, Vietnamese, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Northern and Western European, and Southern and Eastern European.
42. Michael J. Doucet, Toronto in Transition: Demographic Change in the Late Twentieth Century, CERIS Working Papers (Toronto: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto, 1999). Harold Troper, History of Immigration Since the Second World War: From Toronto "The Good" to Toronto "The World in a City," CERIS Working Paper No. 12 (Toronto: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto, 2000) and Larry S. Bourne, Migration, Immigration, and Social Sustainability: The Recent Toronto Experience in Comparative Context, CERIS Working Paper No. 5 .(Toronto: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto, 1999). For an overview of recent research in this area see Daniel Hiebert, "Immigration and the Changing Canadian City," The Canadian Geographer 44 (2000): 25-43.
43. The concept of Toronto as a "City of Nations" was explored in a lengthy photo-essay of that title by Karen Connelly and Yuri Dojc in Toronto Life 34 (November 2000): 98-132. Douglas McArthur, "Heritage Sites: 29 New Designations," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 16 December 1995, F1and Gerry Hall, "Canadian Treasures that Belong to the World," Toronto Star, Saturday, 24 June 2000, L1 and L16. Quebec City was designated a World Heritage Town in 1985, Lunenburg in 1995. The other Canadian World Heritage Sites are: Kluane National Park, Sgaang Gwaii, Nahanni National Park, L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Wood Buffalo National Park, Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Gros Morne National Park, Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, and Miguasha Provincial Park. Candidate sites are nominated to UNESCO by national organizations like Parks Canada. On the Best Practices competition see "International Jury Selects 12 Best Practices for Awards," and "Metro Receives Best Practice Award from Habitat II," Press Releases, Chief Administrators Office, Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 29 March 1996. These press releases were also distributed via Canada NewsWire. The other winning submissions came from Buenos Aires, Argentina; Fortaleza, Brazil; China; Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; India; Agadir, Morocco; Tilburg, The Netherlands; Lublin, Poland; Alexandra, South Africa; South Bronx, New York City, USA; and Chattanooga, USA. The quotation is from "On the Right Course," editorial, Toronto Star, Tuesday, 21 May 1996, A16. The only other story about the award was Moira MacDonald, "Metro Wins Top UN Award," Toronto Sun, Thursday, 6 June 1996, 24.
44. As quoted in Paul Moloney, "Police Action Sparks Pleas to Cool Down," Toronto Star, Friday, 13 January 1989, A8.
45. Robert N. Jenkins and Peter Benesh, "Toronto: The Most Sophisticated City in the World?," St. Petersburg Times, Sunday, 12 March 1989, 1E. At the time when this article was published, Benesh was resident in Toronto and may well have heard Eggleton's speech or seen the article quoting from it in the Toronto Star.
46. MTCVA, "Toronto Blue Jays Fans Hope for Bad Weather," PR Newswire, Thursday, 28 September 1989. The MTCVA is now known as Tourism Toronto.
47. See the examples, especially to the writings of Richard Carpenter and Jay Clarke, listed in note 26.
48. Clyde H. Farnsworth,"Toronto Journal: To Battle Bigots, Help from South of the Border," New York Times, Friday, 12 February 1993, 4.
49. Full citations for these articles can be found in notes 26 and 28.
50. Lexis®/Nexis® is a Dayton, Ohio-based online service owned by Reed Elsevier Properties Inc. It was accessed under license through the library of Ryerson Polytechnic University. All other such services used for this paper were accessed in the same way, except for a search of the Toronto Sun, which was done for me, for a fee, by research staff at that newspaper. On the visit of Perez de Cuellar see Olivia Ward, "U.N. Chief Praises Canada's Unity," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 29 May 1990, A6.
51. Michael Valpy, "Making It Too Easy to Remain Diverse," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 25 October 1990, A13. The Info Globe search was conducted for me by Zita Murphy of the Ryerson Polytechnic University library.
52. Christina Blizzard, "For Peace Sake, Let Flags Fly," Toronto Sun, Thursday, 25 March 1993, 14.
53. Scot Magnish, "T.O. Joins Biz Elite: We're Seventh on Fortune List," Toronto Sun, Wednesday 26 October 1994, 57.
54. Gretchen Drummie, "Man Jailed for Racist Attack on 4 Others," Toronto Sun, Thursday, 31 August 1995, 42.
55. Peter Donolo, Telephone conversation, 16 January 1991.
56. Janice Dembo, Telephone conversation, 29 January 1991.
57. Graham N. Green, Personal correspondence, 25 March 1991.
58. Mark Nakamura, Telephone conversation, 29 January 1991 and Suwanda Sugunasiri, Telephone conversation, 30 January 1991.
59. See Tana Turner, The Composition and Implications of Metropolitan Toronto's Ethnic, Racial, and Linguistic Populations (Toronto: Multicultural and Race Relations Division, Chief Administrative Officer's Depart, Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1990) and Multicultural and Race Relations Division, A Review of Ethno-Racial Access to Metropolitan Services (Toronto: Multicultural and Race Relations Division, Chief Administrative Officer's Department, Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1990).
60. Mel Lastman, "Diversity in Toronto," speech presented to the G-8 Summit of the Cities, Birmingham, England, 14 May 1998. The text of the speech was available on the Internet at http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/mayor.diversity_speech.htm
61. Nicolaas Van Rijn, "The Winner!: `Toronto - Home to the World'," Toronto Star, Sunday, 4 January 1998, A7. A Tourism Toronto advertisement containing their new slogan appeared in Leisureways 17 (August 1998): 11. The new Toronto motto was adopted for the coat of arms for the new City of Toronto. It was selected from amongst 1,105 responses to the City's Coat of Arms survey and replaced the motto for the former City of Toronto - "Industry, Intelligence, Integrity." The new Coat of Arms and motto was approved by City Council by a vote of 32 to 17. See John Spears, "Toronto Approves New Coat of Arms," Toronto Star, Thursday, 29 October 1998, B3; John Spears, "Toronto Approves New Coat of Arms," Toronto Star, Thursday, 29 October 1998, B3; Jack Lakey, "Public Invited to Design City Coat of Arms," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 8 July 1998, B1; and Royson James, "'Potent Potpourri' of Mottoes Offered for '#1 City'," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 21 October 1998, B1. The closest rival for the new motto was "Meeting Place." The suggested mottoes on the survey instrument were "Stronger in Unity," "Together, We Build a New Destiny," and "Other." Clearly, the latter was the winner. "A New City for a New Century" is found in the banner section of the amalgamated City of Toronto's official web page at http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/. The other nicknames listed here all have been frequently used in the press. On the push to declare Toronto a world-class city see Rick Salutin, "Who We Are and How We've Changed," Toronto Life 25 (November 1991): 68-71+. On the 2008 Olympic bid see Elaine Carey, "City's Diversity Key to Olympic Sales Pitch: Toronto Tops in Multiculturalism, Bid Officials Say," Toronto Star, Friday, 1 September 2000, F1 and F5. The other cities in the running for the 2008 Olympics were Beijing, Paris, Osaka, and Instanbul.
62. On the cosmopolitan nature of Montreal see Jacques Godbout, "Montreal's Cosmopolitan Nature Ensures its Future, Novelist Says City's Strength Will Be a `Diversified Culture'," Globe and Mail, Monday, 6 November 1989, A10. To novelist and filmmaker Godbout cosmopolitan means "a population that has come from all over the world, that accepts French as a natural fact, English as a convenient means of communication, and that will create a diversified culture grafted on a French-speaking tree." On the problems in finding a good cup of coffee in Toronto before 1960 see Barbara Aarsteinsen, "Clients Devoted to Ground-Breaking Coffee Mill," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 26 December 1990, F3. Toronto's first licensed sidewalk café was opened by restauranteur Gaston Schwalb on Markham Street in May of 1971. Bob Strupat, "Sidewalk Café `Feels Just Like Paris'," Toronto Star, Thursday, 20 May 1971, 44. Leanne Delap and Jacob Richler, "Sin City . . . Where to Find All Things Montrealish in Toronto," Toronto Life 33 (October 1999): 102-112.
63. Jeremy Ferguson, "Consuming Passions: The Global Village Has a Kitchen in Toronto," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 20 May 1992, D6 and Donna Jean MacKinnon, "Five Revolutions Reshaping City, Crombie Says," Toronto Star, Thursday, 26 August 1993, A6.
64. Bill Saporito, "The World's Best Cities for Business," Fortune 130 (14 November 1994), 122.
65. See the references to articles from Canadian Press in note 28.
66. Scot Magnish, "T.O. Joins Biz Elite: We're Seventh on Fortune List," Toronto Sun, Wednesday 26 October 1994, 57.
67. Justin Martin, "A Guide to the Best Cities for Business," Fortune 132 (13 November 1995): 97-112.
68. David Lewis Stein, "Figures Don't Support Notion We Are Overgoverned," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 2 November 1994, A23 and "Election Carries Warning We Should Heed," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 16 November 1994, A6 and Harvey Schachter, "Toronto Is a Changed Metropolis: Immigration Has Brought Tensions," Montreal Gazette, Wednesday, 21 December 1994, B3.
69. Isabel Vincent, "Chasing After the Ethnic Consumer," Globe and Mail, Monday, 18 September 1995, A8; John Barber, "High-Speed Rail Link Needs to Go Nowhere," Globe and Mail, Friday, 27 October 1995, A13; and Michael J. Doucet, "A Myth About Toronto," letter to the editor, Globe and Mail, Monday, 2 October 1995, A10.
70. Barbara Hall, "Consider Toronto," advertisement, The Next City 1 (Fall 1995), 2.
71. Michael J. Doucet, Letter to Mayor Barbara Hall, 4 October 1995.
72. Barbara Hall, Personal correspondence, 3 November 1995.
73. Andy Barrie, "Interview with Michael Doucet," Metro Morning, CBC Radio, Tuesday, 14 November 1995; Canadian Press, "Toronto Claim to Fame Turns Out to Be Myth," Tuesday, 14 November 1995; Sharon Pang, "Fact Turns to Fiction: T.O. Less Multicultural Than Thought, Says Prof," The Ryersonian, Wednesday, 6 December 1995, 5; and Don Wanagas, "Mayor Miffed by City's Myth: `Multicultural Toronto' Tag Nailed," Toronto Sun, Tuesday, 14 November 1995, 22.
74. Barbara Hall, "Consider Toronto," revised advertisement, The Next City 1 (Winter 1995), 83.
75. Greater Toronto Area Task Force, Greater Toronto: Report of the GTA Task Force (Anne Golden, Chair) (Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1996), 27 and 63.
76. Allan Fotheringham, "The Decline of Tranta the Good," Maclean's 109 (5 February 1996): 64 and Anne Golden, "Blurred Vision," letter to the editor, Maclean's 109 (26 February 1996), 6.
77. Metro Community Services, Metro Toronto's Changing Communities: Innovative Responses. Habitat II - Best Practices Submission, Metropolitan Toronto, Canada, Executive Summary (Toronto: Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1995), 2. MTCVA, Metropolitan Toronto, brochure, 1996. Tim Rees Together We Are One: A Summary Paper on Diversity in Toronto (Toronto: Access and Equity Centre, City of Toronto, 1998), 3-4.
78. Richard Conniff, "Toronto," National Geographic 189 (June 1996): 123. The controversy arose because one of the people Conniff interviewed for and quoted in his article was Toronto-based white supremacist and Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel. On this issue see Colin Vaughan, "Zundel Interview Provokes Outcry," Globe and Mail, Monday, 13 May 1996, A9 and "Zundel Protest a Useful Lesson," Globe and Mail, Monday, 20 May 1996, A3 and Gail Swainson, "Article's Racist Quotes Anger Mayors," Toronto Star, Thursday, 16 May 1996, A32. Early in 1996, the MTCVA was renamed Tourism Toronto. On the participation of the organization over a three-year period in the preparation of the Conniff article see "Toronto Featured in National Geographic Magazine," Canada News Wire, Monday, 13 May 1996. Ludwig is quoted in Deidre Hanna, "Toronto Pulse Propels Gerd Ludwig's Show," Now, 13 June 1996, 89.
79. Government of Canada, Canada, Take It to Heart, 10 and 12.
80. Macleod was quoted from Trisha Naylor, News report, CBC Radio, Monday, 19 February 1996. Ms. Naylor was kind enough to provide a taped copy of this news report for me.
81. John Barber, "High-Speed Rail Link Needs to Go Nowhere," Globe and Mail, Friday, 27 October 1995, A13.
82. John Sewell, "Insecurity Behind World-Class Image," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 20 November 1986, A8.
83. Royson James, "Toronto's Best Calling Card: Its Diversity," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 15 April 1998, A23. Antoni Shelton, "Multiculturalism Is a Unifying Force: It Is Those Opposed to Diversity Who Risk Splintering This City," Toronto Star, Monday, 7 November 1994, A21.
84. On the Sahara Cup see Norman Da Costa, "Toronto a Safe Cricket Haven for Pakistan and India," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 20 August 1996, D6; Tom Fennell, "Cricket on the Road," Maclean's 109 (30 September 1996): 56; James Christie, "India-Pakistan Cricket Expected to Lure Huge Television Audience," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 12 September 1996, C15; Pierre Lebrun, "India, Pakistan Meet on Neutral Toronto Soil," Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 14 September 1996, D9; Mary Ormsby, "Cricketers Take Friendship Mission on the Road,"Toronto Star, Saturday, 14 September 1996, B7; "World-Class Cricket in Toronto," Canada AM, CTV Television, Saturday, 21 September 1996; Norman Da Costa, "Yes, It's Cricket: Tourney Called a Huge Success," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 25 September 1996, B1 and B4 and "Cricket Anyone?: Bitter Enemies Resume Hostilities on Cricket Pitch," Toronto Star, Friday, 11 September 1998, D1 and D12; and Adam Sternbergh, "Subcontinetal Divide: How a Major Ticket on the Cricket Calendar - and One of the World's Most-Watched Sporting Events - Ended Up on a Tree-Ringed Field at Wilson and Avenue Road," Toronto Life 32 (September 1998): 77+. The only unpleasant incident to date occurred when a Pakistani player, Inzamam Ul-Haq, confronted a heckler in the crowd during the second day of play in 1997. See Norman Da Costa, "Cricket Dealt Black Eye as Player Attacks Fan," Toronto Star, Monday, 15 September 1997, D1 and D8; Mike Ganter, "T.O.'s Reputation Unsullied by Brawl," Financial Post, Tuesday, 16 September 1997, 61; and Norman Da Costa, "Cricketer Faces 3 Assault Charges: Pakistan Star Set to Return to Court Oct. 8," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 17 September 1997, C1 and C6. Haroon Siddiqui, "Cricket-Match Fears Overblown," Toronto Star, Thursday, 10 September 1998, A24. Late in 1998, members of the Cricket Club voted 712 to 248 in favour of continuing to host the Sahara Cup matches. See Norman DaCosta, "Cricket Club Members Vote to Continue as Sahara Hosts," Toronto Star, Friday, 23 October 1998, C8 and Ron Fanfair, "Vote Brings Sahara Cup Back to T.O.," Share, 29 October 1998, 17. Military hostilities between the two countries over Kashmir caused the cancellation of the 1999 and 2000 matches. See Norman Da Costa, "India Bows Out of Sahara Cup for the Second Year in a Row: Political Dispute with Pakistan Extends to the Cricket Pitch," Toronto Star, Friday, 11 August 2000, C7.
85. On some of the street signs used in Toronto see Frank Flemington, City of Toronto Street Signs (Toronto: Planning and Development Department and Public Works Department, 1990). John Barber, "Every Few Blocks You Get a Different Toronto," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 11 December 1996, A2. Some idea of the complexity of the multicultural organizations and celebrations in Toronto can be gleaned from Tony Ruprecht, Toronto's Many Faces: A Guide to the Restaurants, Shops, Festivals, Museums, and Monuments of More Than 60 Cultural Communities in the City (Vancouver and Toronto: Whitecap Books, 1990) and Laura Heller, Multicultural Information Resources: A Guide to Metropolitan Toronto (Toronto: Cross Cultural Communication Centre, 1987). On hospital customs see Robin Harvey, "Birth Rites: Hospitals Meld Cultural Sensitivity with Western Medicine for Women Who Want to Follow Childbirth Traditions," Toronto Star, Monday, 3 June 1996, C1-C2. Leach is quoted in "TTC to Provide Info in 140 Languages," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 June 1992, A4. "TTC Telephone Information System," advertisement, Metro, Wednesday, 20 December 2000, 2.
86. A discussion of the development of municipal multicultural organizations is contained in Towards A Metropolitan Anti-Racism Policy and Implementation Strategy (Toronto: Chief Administrative Officer's Department, Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1993) and Laurie Monsebraaten, "Will New City Keep Up Work on Job Equity?: Some Fear Gains Will Be Lost in Massive Change," Toronto Star, Monday, 29 December 1997, C1 and C5.
87. On Toronto's multicultural festivals see Theresa Boyle, "Caravan Kicks Off Its 22nd Year," Toronto Star, Saturday, 16 June 1990, A4; Nora McCabe, "Around the World in 9 Days: Caravan Is Back with Its Night Crawls into Toronto's Very Own Multiculturalism," Toronto Star, Thursday, 11 June 1998, G14-G15; and Bruce DeMara, "Caribana Boosted Economy, Poll Says," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 6 March 1991, A7. On the history of Caribana see Cecil Foster and Chris Schwarz, Caribana: The Greatest Celebration (Toronto: Ballantine Books, 1995). Over the years, Caravan has been comprised of between 30 and 50 pavilions, representing different cities from around the world. There were 30 pavilions in the 1998 version of the event. On the financial impact of Caribana see Deborah Kyvrikosaios and Martin Powell, "Caribana More Than Carnival to City: $200 Million Economic Boost Highest of Any Tourist Event, Celebrants Told," Globe and Mail, Monday, 2 August 1993, A7 By 1996, Caribana was in some financial difficulty, needing loan guarantees from both the City of Toronto and Metro Toronto to continue to help organizers deal with a cumulative deficit of $700,000. See Maureen Murray, "Caribana: Beyond the Bailout. Street Festival's Future Still Not Secure," Toronto Star, Friday, 3 May 1996, A21. Caravan has not been without its critics who feel that it is too sanitized and, therefore, unrealistic. See, for example, José Leandro Urbina, "The Multicultural Mystique. Caravan: Notes from a Piece of the Mosaic," This Magazine 22 (October 1988): 19-22. Caribana started in 1967 and Metro Caravan in 1969. On the 1999 Lion Dance Festival see "Blacks, Jews Join in Chinese Lion Festival," Share, 3 June 1999, 1 and 21. On the decline of the Orange Parade see Jill Mahoney, "Toronto's Orange Parade Fading Quietly: After 177 Years, the Celebration of the `Glorious Twelfth' Will Be Lucky to Attract 1,500 People," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 11 July 1998, A3 and Rosie DiManno, "Distant Hostilities a Pale Echo at Our Sad Little Orange Parade," Toronto Star, Sunday, 12 July 1998, A4. While Table 1 focuses on events within the City of Toronto, it should also be noted the Carabram multicultural festival has been held in the edge city of Brampton since 1982. It has grown from four to fourteen international pavilions over the years. Frank Calleja, "Brampton Ready to Welcome World: Annual Celebration Highlights 14 Cultures," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 6 July 1999, B2.
88. Information provided through telephone inquiries with representatives of each station. CHIN is found at 1540 on the AM dial and 100.9 on the FM dial. On CHIN see D'Arcy Doran, "CHIN Up ... You're Only 30," Toronto Sun, Thursday, 6 June 1996, 21. CIAO is found at 530 on the AM dial and provides programming for 14 different ethnic and cultural groups each week. Lombardi is quoted in Wayne Grigsby (ed.) A Toronto Lampoon (Montreal: Eden Press, 1984), [147]. CFMT broadcasts over channel 47. See Robert Stephens, "Ethnic TV: A Tower of Babel?," Toronto Star, Monday, 4 June, 1979, C9 and Greg Quill, "CFMT the World in Miniature: Serving 18 Cultural Groups in 15 Languages, Multicultural TV Station Is Unique in the World," Toronto Star, Sunday, 19 May 1996, B1 and B7. While there is no doubt CFMT airs an impressive range of multicultural programming each week, few such offerings are shown during prime-time evening hours on weekdays. The period between 6 pm and midnight on these days is split between four hours of US reruns and two hours of multicultural programs. On the lack of minorities in the mainstream electronic media see Saada Branker, "Invisible Visible Minorities in Canadian Broadcast News," The Word, June 1998, 26-7 and Henry Mietkiewicz, "If Only TV Were More Colourful: 114-Hour Survey of Commercials Shows Advertisers Aren't Tuning in to Our Racially Diverse World," Toronto Star, Saturday, 27 March 1999, J1 and J12. Of the 1,314 Canadian commercials viewed, most of which would have been produced in Toronto, only 10.4 per cent featured visible minority actors for at least 3 seconds. In contrast, almost a third of the 473 US commercials viewed featured visible minority actors for at least 3 seconds. Robert MacLeod, "Raptors Venture onto Multicultural Court: Toronto Becomes First Club in NBA to Broadcast Home Games in Chinese to Sizable Community of Basketball Fans," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 2 December 2000, S5.
89. On the 1990 radio licencing decision see William Walker, "Tories Back FM Radio Licence for Country, Not Black Music," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 October 1990, A1 and A28; Sid Adilman, "Radio Fails to Reflect Racial Mix," Toronto Star, Saturday, 18 August 1990, G3; and Julia Nunes, "A Vote of Confidence for Visible Minorities in Film, TV Roles," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 15 May 1990, A20. On the 1997 radio licencing decision see Gary Dunford, "CRTC Slicing Thick, White Bread," Toronto Sun, Wednesday, 30 July 1997, 6; Rob Granatstein, "FM Radio Decision Fuels Rage," Toronto Sun, Thursday, 31 July 1997, 19; John Barber, "CRTC Decision Gags Black Community," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 31 July 1997, A7; Peter Goddard, "Listeners Furious with Toronto FM Award to CBC: Loser of Spot Appealing to Federal Cabinet," Toronto Star, Thursday, 31 July 1997, E7; "Giving CBC FM Spot Was Short-Sighted," editorial, Toronto Star, Friday, 1 August 1997, A20; "Opportunity Lost," editorial, Toronto Sun, Monday, 4 August 1997, 10; Nicholas Davis, "They're Trapped in a Time Warp," Toronto Sun, Monday, 4 August 1997, 12; Michael Valpy, "Static from the FM Decision," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 5 August 1997, A15; "Father CRTC Doesn't Know Best," editorial, Globe and Mail, Friday, 8 August 1997, A12; T. Sher Singh, "Let's Tune Out Racial Debate," Toronto Star, Monday, 11 August 1997, A13; Royson James, "Wrong-Headed CRTC Fails Black Community," Toronto Star, Saturday, 30 August 1997, B2; Cecil Foster, "CRTC Failing Listeners," Toronto Star, Monday, 15 September 1997, A15; "Radio for Everyone," editorial, Toronto Star, Sunday, 21 September 1997, F2; Frank Jones, "Why Toronto Needs a Black Radio Station," Toronto Star, Thursday, 2 October 1997, E1; "Spike CRTC Ruling on Toronto FM Spot," editorial, Toronto Star, Saturday, 4 October 1997, B2; and Nicholas Davis, "FM Feud Sends Wrong Signal," Toronto Sun, Monday, 27 October 1997, 11. On the plans to provide radio space for an urban/dance station see "Radio Waves Calmed," editorial, Toronto Star, Tuesday, 21 October 1997, A20; Tim Harper, "Cabinet Eyes a Radio Deal for Black Station and CBC," Toronto Star, Saturday, 18 October 1997, A1 and A36 and "Cabinet Paves Way for a Radio Solution: CBC Spot Upheld, CRTC to Decide on Others," Toronto Star, Friday, 24 October 1997, A3; "Make Room on Radio for Diverse Voices," editorial, Toronto Star, Saturday, 2 May 1998, B2; "Black Culture Radio Gets Another Shot," Toronto Star, Friday, 7 August 1998, D18; Cecil Foster, "Traditional Radio Still Ignoring Minorities," Toronto Star, Monday, 14 September 1998, A13; and Ron Fanfare, "Include Blacks in Broadcasting: Auguste Urges CRTC Hearings," Share, 11 February 1999, 1 and 22.. Early in 1999, CISS-FM was sold to Rogers Communications Inc., which quickly relaunched the station as the all-hits format KISS-92. This further alienated those who had been pressing for more diversity on the radio dial. See "Country Station Changes Its Tune: Focus Shifts to Top 40 as Rogers Takes Over CISS-FM," Toronto Star, Saturday, 6 February 1999, A22; "Power to the People," editorial, eye, 18 February 1999, 9; and Peter Goddard, "Other Stations Feeling Effects of the CISS-Off," Toronto Star, Saturday, 20 February 1999, M8. On the new stations licenced in 2000 see "Diversity on the Dial," editorial, Toronto Star, Monday, 31 January 2000, A14; Ashante Infantry, "Nobody Said that Urban Would Be Easy: Denham Jolly Uses Unique Personality to Continue His Quest: To Create a Black Radio Station," Toronto Star, Sunday, 30 January 2000, D7; Daphne Gordon, "Black Community Wins Radio Station: CRTC Finally Grants FM Licence for Urban Music," Toronto Star, Saturday, 17 June 2000, A2; Ron Fanfair, "Milestone Wins Licence for Black Radio, Share, 22 June 2000, 1 and 13; "Get Bone, Make Soup," editorial, The Caribbean Camera, 22 June 2000, 6; "Finally!," editorial, Share, 22 June 2000, 8; Yvonne Blackwood, "Black Community Gets Its Radio Voice," Toronto Star, Thursday, 29 June 2000, A27; Fitzroy Greene, "A New Flavour Is Coming to T.O. Airwaves: Milestone 'Will Keep Promise'," Share, 20 July 2000, 1 and 5; Saada Branker, "Lift Every Voice, The Mic Is On: Milestone Communications Gets Its Radio Station," Word: Toronto's Urban Culture Magazine 9 (July 2000): 22-23 and 26; and Ravi Ubha, "Aboriginal Station Gets Approval from CRTC," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 17 July 2000, A24. More recently, the CRTC granted a licence for a digital specialty television channel to Black-owned Onyx Productions for the Caribbean and African Television Network. The station was expected to be in operation by the Fall of 2001. See "Black-Owned TV Coming to T.O.," Share, 30 November 2000, 16 and Gerald V. Paul, "CRTC Approves Licence for Caribbean Channel: First Radio, Now TV!," The Caribbean Camera, 30 November 2000, 1. The new Black station, Flow 93.5, went on the air on 9 February 2001. See Greg Quill, "Radio Dream Gives City Its First Black Station: Flow 93.5 FM Offers Eclectic Blend of Music," Toronto Star, Thursday, 8 February 2001, A1 and A20; Raynier Maharaj, "Milestone Signs On: First Black-Owned Radio Station Goes On Air Friday," The Caribbean Camera, 8 February 2001, 1; "On with the Flow," editorial, The Caribbean Camera, 8 February 2001, 6; "Go with the FLOW on Milestone Radio: New Black Station Goes to Air on 93.5 FM," Share, 8 February 2001, 1.
90. Calculated from the ethnic press listings in Bowdens Media Directory: Print (Toronto: Bowdens Information Services, 1998). Isabel Vincent, "Magazines Launch Chinese Editions: Move by Maclean's and Toronto Life to Gain Affluent Ethnic Market Seen as Canadian Publishing First," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 28 September 1995, A16. "New Magazine Aimed at Upscale Chinese-Canadians," National Post, Tuesday, 21 September 1999, B3
91. Rob Ferguson, "Star Links Fortunes with Chinese Daily: Sing Tao Gets Star Stories, Photos; Star Gets Equity Share," Toronto Star, Saturday, 4 April 1998, C1 and C12. Late in 1999, Isabel Vincent was hired away from the Globe and Mail by the editors of the new National Post. She has yet to be replaced with a new multiculturalism reporter at her former paper. On the Beyond 2000 project see John Honderich, "Editor's Notebook: It's a World within a City But Does It Work For All," Toronto Star, Saturday, 23 January 1999, A1. The basic questions to be explored in the project were listed on the same day in "Beyond 2000: Home to the World," A15. On the awards received by the paper for the series see "The Star Honoured for Series," Toronto Star, Saturday, 15 April 2000, A26 and "Black Journalists Honour The Star," Toronto Star, Friday, 8 September 2000, A2. Alan Barnes, "Star Editor to Receive Order of Ontario," Toronto Star, Thursday, 7 December 2000, A2. In 2000, Carol Goar, the Star's new editorial page editor established a 12-person community editorial board to help create a paper that would more accurately reflect Toronto. See Danielle Milley, "Student Lands Star Post: [Sabrina] Chung Wants More Diversity in Newspaper Coverage," The Ryersonian, 18 October 2000, 7. The articles in the Globe's series included: Wallace Immen, "Somalis Pitch In for Mutual Aid: New Beginnings in Canada Mean Low-Paid Jobs, Unfamiliar Surroundings for Refugees from War-Torn East Africa," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 26 December 2000, A22 and "Unfamiliar Liberty Delights Iranians," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 27 December 2000, A18; Stephanie Nolen, "Terrorized Family Flees to Canada: Prosperity of Mexican Life Can't Compare with the Peace of Mind Here, Woman Says," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 28 December 2000, A18; James Rusk, "Six Years Later, Success All Around: After Arriving with Doubts from Tanzania, the Rajani Family Is Glad It Chose Canada," Globe and Mail, Friday, 29 December 2000, A18; Martin Mittelstaedt, "Arrival in Canada Unforgettable: Making a New Start with Just a Few Dollars, A Russian-Jewish Émigré Built a Business," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 30 December 2000, A22; Krista Foss, "School Helps Newcomers Adjust: Teenage Immigrants Adapt to New Culture and Language with Help of Classmates Who Know the Ropes," Globe and Mail, Monday, 1 January 2001, A12.
92. On the lack of diversity among the newsroom staff at major Canadian dailies, including those published in Toronto, see John Miller, Yesterday's News: Why Canada's Daily Newspapers Are Failing Us (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1998), 126-147. The quotation is from page 127. Scott Johnson, "Don't Ignore Black Singers," letter to the editor, Toronto Star, Sunday, 16 August 1998, F2.
93. Toronto Sun, Tuesday, 5 May 1992, 1. Stephen Lewis, untitled report to Premier Bob Rae, 9 June 1992, 2-3. The report was widely covered in the press. See "Anti-Black Racism `Deep' Lewis Warns Ontario," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 June 1992, A1 and A11; Craig McInnes, Martin Mittelstaedt, and Lila Sarick, "Discrimination Pervasive, Lewis Says," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 10 June 1992, A13; "Racism Report: Task Force Urges Probe into Criminal Justice System," Toronto Sun, Wednesday, 10 June 1992, 1 and 4-5; and "A Blinkered Report on Race," editorial, Globe and Mail, Thursday, 11 June 1992, A16. Andrew Duffy, "Blacks in Near-Ghettos, Study Says," Toronto Star, Monday, 7 October 1991, A1 and A7. Other major investigations into racism in Toronto include Brenda Billingsley and Leon Muszynski, No Discrimination Here? Toronto Employees and the Multi-Racial Workforce (Toronto: Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, 1985); George A. Brown, Community Tensions and Conflicts among Youths of Different Ethnic and Racial Backgrounds in Wards 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Downtown Toronto (Toronto: Ministry of Labour and the Ontario Human Rights Commission, 1968); John A. Buttrick, Economic Discrimination in Toronto (North York: Institute for Social Research, York University, 1988); Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter, Report to the Civic Authorities of Metropolitan Toronto and Its Citizens [Police-visible minority relations] (Toronto: Office of the Cardinal, 1979); Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System, Racism Behind Bars: The Treatment of Black and Other Racial Minority Prisoners in Ontario Correctional Institutions: Interim Status Report (Toronto: The Commission, 1993) and Report of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System (Toronto: The Commission, 1995); Effie Ginzberg, Power without Responsibility: The Press We Don't Deserve, A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Toronto Sun (Toronto: Urban Alliance on Race Relations, 1987); J. Paul Grayson, The Attitudes of White Torontonians to Visible Minorities (North York: Institute for Social Research, York University, 1995) and The `Visible Minority' Question (North York: Institute for Social Research, York University, 1996); Wilson Head, The Black Presence in the Canadian Mosaic: A Study of the Perception and Practice of Discrimination Against Blacks in Metropolitan Toronto (Toronto: The Ontario Human Rights Commission, 1975); Frances Henry, The Dynamics of Racism in Toronto: Research Report (Downsview, Ontario: Department of Anthropology, York University, 1978); Frances Henry and Effie Ginzberg, Who Gets Work? A Test of Racial Discrimination in Employment (Toronto: Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, 1985); Carl James, Making It: Black Youth, Racism, and Career Aspirations in a Big City (Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1990); Clare Lewis, The Report of the Race Relations and Policing Task Force (Toronto: Task Force on Race Relations and Policing, 1989); A Strategy to Enhance the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force's Profile with Racial Minorities (Toronto: Prepared by Equal Opportunity Consultants for the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board, 1992); David A. Northrup, Public Perceptions of Police Treatment of Minority Groups and the Disadvantaged in Metropolitan Toronto (North York: Institute for Social Research, 1996); Walter Pitman, Now Is Not Too Late: Report of the Task Force on Human Relations (Toronto: Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1977); Addressing the Needs and Issues of Black M.T.H.A. Residents (Toronto: Reference Group for the Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority, 1991); A Time for Change: Moving Beyond Racial Discrimination in Employment (Toronto: Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, 1990); A Study of Cultural and/or Racial Conflicts in Regent Park (Toronto: Toronto Board of Education, 1976); Final Report of the Sub-Committee on Race Relations (Toronto: Sub-Committee on Race Relations, Toronto Board of Education, 1979); Final Report of the Consultative Committee on the Education of Black Students in Toronto Schools (Toronto: Toronto Board of Education, 1988). Charles Hightower, "Why Metro Can't Be Smug about Racism: U.S. Black Says We Have to Work to Avoid Becoming Another Detroit," Toronto Star, Saturday, 27 November 1976, B4. Hightower was invited by the Star to investigate racism in Toronto. See also Colin Vaughan, "The Enduring Racism of Toronto Cops: A Matter of Black and White," Toronto Life 14 (January, 1980): 22-7.
94. Bob Papoe, "One Violent Night Won't Hurt Toronto Business, Experts Say," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 6 May 1992, C1 and C10. Ian Robertson, "Scars of Yonge St. Riot Could Be Hard to Heal," Toronto Sun, Saturday, 9 May 1992, 94. "City's Troubles Making Headlines Around the World," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 6 May 1992, A7. Alan King, "Now Are We World-Class?..," editorial cartoon, Ottawa Citizen, Wednesday, 6 May 1992, A10. King's cartoon was reprinted in the Toronto Star, Sunday, 10 May 1992, B3. Tuz is quoted in the Robertson article. Martin Mittelstaedt, "World-Class City or World-Class Problems?," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 26 October 1991, A1. On Andrew Moodie's play see Geoff Chapman, "Riot Avoids Pitfalls of Popular Theories," Toronto Star, Saturday, 28 September 1995, E5; Vit Wagner, "A Slice-of-Life Take on Racism in T.O.: Frank, Funny Riot Probes the Aftermath of Rodney King," Toronto Star, Thursday, 21 September 1995, H3 and "Countrified Sitcom Anything But a Riot: Review of Wilbur County Blues," Toronto Star, Sunday, 5 July 1998, B4; and Geoff Chapman, "Andrew Moodie Play Riot Captures Chalmers Award," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 14 May 1996, B1.
95. On the problems surrounding the "Into the Heart of Africa" exhibit and the opening of Show Boat see M. Nourbese Philip, Frontiers: Essays and Writings on Racism and Culture (Stratford: Mercury Press, 1992): 103-8 and Showing Grit: Showboating North of the 44th Parallel (Toronto: Poui Publications, 1994); Robert Fulford, "Into the Heart of the Matter," Rotunda 24 (Summer 1991): 19-28; Cecil Foster, "Rocking the Boat," Toronto Life 27 (November 1993): 49-56; Margaret Cannon, The Invisible Empire: Racism in Canada (Toronto: Random House of Canada, 1995), 129-42; Eva Mackey, "Postmodernism and Cultural Politics in a Multicultural Nation: Contests Over Truth in the Into the Heart of Africa Controversy," Public Culture 7 (1995): 403-431; Phinjo Gombu, "United Way Group Quits to Protest Show Boat," Toronto Star, Saturday, 17 April 1993, A1; Jeff Henry, "`Show Boat' Protest Watershed for Blacks,"Toronto Star, Tuesday, 15 November 1994, A23.
96. The Dwight Drummond incident is discussed in Margaret Cannon, The Invisible Empire: Racism in Canada (Toronto: Random House of Canada, 1995), 164-6 and Philip Mascoll, "Skin Color Reason for `Take-Down,' Police Hearing Told," Toronto Star, Friday, 31 March 1995, A22. Tracey Tyler, "DWB: `Driving While Black'," Toronto Star, Saturday 24 October 1998, A8. Tyler also reported on the findings of a survey conducted for the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System. This survey found that 46.2% of the blacks aged 18-24 interviewed had been stopped by police two or more times between 1993 and 1995. For Chinese and white youths, the figures were 10.9% and 23.8%, respectively. On these issues see also Dalton Higgins, "I Am the Black Composite," Now, 28 January 1999, 18 and 28; Gerald V. Paul, "`Driving While Black' Case for Appeal Court," Caribbean Camera, 4 February 1999, 3; and Jane Gadd, "Black Driver's Convictions Overturned: Judge's Weighing of Witness Credibility Central to Appeal Court's Ruling," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 5 May 1999, A3. Morgan Campbell, "Police Harassment: A Rite of Passage for Black Men," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 7 February 2001, A22.
97. On Dudley Laws and the Toronto Police see Kathy English, "Metro Police Probed Black `Activists'," Toronto Star, Friday, 11 February 1994, A1 and A24; Wendy Darroch, "Officer Denies Revenge Prompted Police Probe: Laws Case Treated Like Any Other, Hearing Told," Toronto Star, 13 February 1994, A6 and "Officer Said Police Out `To Get' Laws, Court Told: Probe Called `Top Priority' Woman Tells Court," Toronto Star, Thursday, 17 February 1994, A10; Phinjo Gombu, "Laws Jailed Nine Months But Appeals and Gets Bail," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 15 March 1994, A7; Kirk Makin, "Laws Sentenced to Nine Months in Immigration Scam: Black Activist's Supporters Maintain Loud Commotion during Proceedings," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 15 March 1994, A14; Glen Cooly and Enzo Matteo, "Judge Accused of Bias in Laws' Conviction Appeal: Legal Challenge Says Trial Judge Erred in His Jury Instructions," Now, 24 March 1994, 17; Kirk Makin, "Well-Connected Activist Becomes a Cause Himself," Globe and Mail, Friday, 1 April 1994, A1 and A4 and "Questions Surround Laws Case," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 2 April 1994, A4; Donovan Vincent, "Dudley Laws: Villain or Hero?," Toronto Star, Sunday, 10 April 1994, A2; Lincoln Depradine, "Laws Charges `Political'," Share, 23 February 1995, 1 and "Laws `Framed'," Share, 9 March 1995, 2; Thomas Claridge, "New Trial Ordered for Black Activist: Private Meeting Between Judge and Prosecutors Violated Laws's Right to a Fair Trial, Appeal Court Rules," Globe and Mail, Friday, 11 September 1998, A14; and Tracey Tyler, "Ruling Gives Dudley Laws New Trial," Toronto Star, Friday, 11 September 1998, B1 and B5. On the case involving Michael Taylor and the wearing of a kufi in court in 1993 see Harold Levy, "Banned Muslim Cap Sparks Landmark Case: Judge Accused of Religious Discrimination," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 25 January 2000, B3; Nick Pron, "Apology May Resolve Cap Dispute, Lawyer Says: Court Considers Case of Banned Muslim Headgear," Toronto Star, Friday, 28 January 2000, B2; and Canadian Press, "Supreme Court Won't Hear Two Appeals: Man Expelled from Court for Muslim Headgear," Toronto Star, Friday, 13 October 2000, B3.
98. On the problems at Scarborough Town Centre see Mark Palmer, "Mall Harassment Rife, Filipinos Say: Protestors Threaten Boycott of Scarborough Town Centre," Globe and Mail, Monday, 23 August 1993, A8; Lincoln Depradine, "Filipinos March on Mall," Share, 26 August 1993, 1 and 3; Gay Abbate, "Racism Complaints Filed Against Scarborough Mall," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 16 November 1993, A20; and Sterling Taylor, "Harassment Continues at Mall, Filipinos Say: Scarborough Town Centre Denies Targeting Specific Group," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 August 1994, A4 and "Filipinos Say Mall Still Bans Their Teens," Toronto Star, Friday, 19 August 1994, SD1. On the problems encountered by Somalis in Etobicoke see Paul Watson, "Somalis Find Home in Etobicoke: It's Not a Ghetto Just a Haven for Refugees in a Strange City," Toronto Star, Monday, 23 September 1991, A11; "A Place Called Dixon," Prime Time News, CBC Television, Monday, 22 August 1994; Maureen Murray, "High School [Kipling Collegiate] Leads Metro's Evolution," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 May 1995, A4; and Jean Sonmor, "Coping with a `Holy Mess'," Toronto Sun, Tuesday, 5 December 1995, 24. On the 1997 incident see Rosie DiManno, "Youth Clash Evokes Troubling Symbols of Multiculturalism," Toronto Star, Monday, 20 January 1997, A7 and Catherine Dunphy, "Racism Denied in Free-For-All: Etobicoke Fight About Respect, Students Say," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 11 February 1997, A6.
99. Brian Dexter, "Chinese Demand Apology for Bell's `Racist' Remarks: Political Veteran Says the Majority Support Her View," Toronto Star, Thursday, 11 August 1995, NY1; Peter Krivel, "Councillor Sparks `Racism' Protest: Delegation Asks Markham Council to `Remove Hurt'," Toronto Star, Monday, 21 August 1995, A6 and "Bell Stands Her Ground: Markham Deputy Mayor Refuses to Apologize Over Chinese Remarks," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 22 August 1995, A6; Isabel Vincent, "Asian Shopping Centres Take Suburban Mauling," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 23 August 1995, A1 and A6; "Raising the Spectre of the Yellow Peril," editorial, Toronto Star, Thursday, 24 August 1995, A26; Maureen Murray, "Markham: Can Good Salesmanship Turn into Racism?," Toronto Star, Sunday, 27 August 1995, F1 and F4; Heather Greenwood, "Markham Crowd Hails Bell in Row Over `Racism': Mayoral Advisory Panel Probing Rift," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 29 August 1995, A8; Susan Eng, "Markham Ill Feeling Lacks Logic," Toronto Star, Sunday, 4 September 1995, A9; Cecil Foster, "Red Neck Capital of Ontario," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 12 September 1995, A17; Bruce DeMara, "Mayors Condemn Comments on Chinese," Toronto Star, Saturday, 16 September 1995, A4; Joseph Hall, "Markham Mayor Under Fire: Won't Sign Petition Condemning Remarks by Deputy," Toronto Star, Sunday, 17 September 1995, A3; John Barber, "Chinese Developers Playing by the Rules," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 19 September 1995, A8; "Intolerance in Markham," editorial, Toronto Star, Tuesday, 19 September 1995, A20; Maureen Murray, "Markham Race Group Votes to Quit: Criticizes Council over Remarks by Deputy Mayor," Toronto Star, Saturday, 23 September 1995, A3; Brian Dexter, "Markham Declares Truce with Chinese," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 27 September 1995, A6; Clumsy Council," editorial, Toronto Star, Thursday, 28 September 1995, A26 and "Committee Lists Concerns About Rift in Markham," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 4 October 1995, A20 and "Committee Seeks Public Views on Town's Chinese Controversy," Toronto Star, Thursday, 13 October 1995, NY1; Sandra Gionas, "Bell's Remarks Still Prompt Debate within Community," Toronto Star, Thursday, 5 October 1995, NY1 and NY6; Peter Krivel, "Bell's Latest Remarks Attacked," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 15 November 1995, A7. On media coverage of the affair see Leslie Jones, "Is the Concentration of Chinese Immigrants Hurting Markham?," Canada AM, CTV, Tuesday, 23 August 1995; Ron Charles, "Chinese Markham," Prime Time News, CBC, Tuesday, 23 August 1995; and Maureen Murray, "Chinese Media Target Markham: Mall Furor Dominates the Headlines," Toronto Star, Thursday, 21 September 1995, A1 and A28. On the growth of Chinese retailing in the Toronto area see Shuguang Wang, New Development Patterns of Chinese Commercial Activity in the Toronto CMA, Research Report No. 3 (Toronto: Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 1996) and "Chinese Commercial Activity in the Toronto CMA: New development Patterns and Impacts," Canadian Geographer 43 (1999): 19-35, and Mohammad Qadeer, Ethnic Malls and Plazas: Chinese Commercial Development in Scarborough, Ontario, Working Paper Series (Toronto: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto, 1998). On recent settlement patterns for Chinese in Toronto see Lucia Lo and Shuguang Wang, " Settlement Patterns of Toronto's Chinese Immigrants: Convergence or Divergence?," Canadian Journal of Regional Science 20 (Spring/Summer 1997): 49-72.
100. The federal study in question was Douglas L. Palmer, "Public Attitudes at Year-End, 1996: EKOS and Environics Surveys: Initial Report," (Ottawa: Department of Citizenship and Immigration, 1997). Among other problems, the small sample sizes for the various "regions"examined yield results with such high margins of error that any differences among the results for the regions could well be meaningless in a statistical sense. For media coverage of this report see Jacquie Miller, "Toronto `Most Racist' City in Canada: Immigration Report Calls It `Disquieting'," Toronto Star, Monday, 6 October 1997, A1 and A10; Ashante Infantry and William Walker, "Toronto Residents Doubt Race Findings: Report Dubs City Most Intolerant in Canada," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 7 October 1997, A3; "Toronto the Racist?," editorial, Toronto Star, Tuesday, 7 October 1997, A16; Nick Pron, "Charge of Racism Strikes a Nerve: Bigotry Exists, But It's Hidden, Residents Say in Star Survey," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 8 October 1997, A4; Don Sellar, "Headline Unfairly Pinned `Most Racist' Label on Toronto," Toronto Star, Saturday, 11 October 1997, B2. The article by Jacquie Miller was produced for the SouthamStar network and carried by most Southam newspapers under a variety of headlines, none flattering to Toronto, including: "Toronto Most Racist City, Immigration Report Says," Calgary Herald, Monday, 6 October 1997, A3; "Racism Taints `Toronto the Good': Immigration Report Ranks Multicultural City Least Tolerant in Canada," Ottawa Citizen, Monday, 6 October 1997, A1-A2; and "Report Names Toronto as Canada's Racism Capital," Montreal Gazette, Monday, 6 October 1997, A8. In 1999, a similar study by Palmer identified Vancouver as the place with the most negative attitudes toward immigrants. See Rick Ouston, "Vancouver Residents Most Negative Toward Immigrants: Study: Prejudice Increases in Direct Parallel to the Numbers of Immigrants," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 12 October 1999, A4, reprinted from the Vancouver Sun. On the York University study see Andrew Duffy, "Whites in Metro Not Racist: Study," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 January 1996, A1 and A20 and "Blacks Wary of Police, Study Shows: Survey Finds They Believe Whites Are Better Treated," Toronto Star, Thursday, 11 January 1996, A10. For criticism of this study see Desmond Bill, "Metro Racism Survey Rapped,"Toronto Star, Thursday, 11 January 1996, A10 and Ali Sharrif, "Toronto's Amazing Vanishing Racism: Bizarre York Study Can't Be Taken Seriously by Visible Minorities," Toronto Star, Friday, 19 January 1996, A21.
101. The 1985 Toronto Star study was reprinted as Olivia Ward, A Minority Report (Toronto: Toronto Star, 1986).
102. Elaine Carey, "The `City That Works' Could Be Even Better: Our Biggest Problem Is Jobs, Survey Finds," Toronto Star, Saturday, 1 May 1999, A1, A10, A11 and Ashante Infantry, "Opportunity Knocks . . . But Not For All: Toronto Star Poll Reveals Hidden Discrimination That Hinders Quest for Jobs and Promotions," Toronto Star, Sunday, 2 May 1999, A1, A6, A7. Figures for specific communities were taken from: Elaine Carey, "Black Pride, City Prejudice: Discrimination Lingers On: Racism Remains a Concern for 71% of Those Polled," Toronto Star, Saturday, 3 July 1999, A1 and A4; Ashante Infantry, "Hispanics Feel at Home," Toronto Star, Saturday, 19 June 1999, M1-M2; Elaine Carey, "Close-Knit Portuguese Community Starts to Spread Its Wings," Toronto Star, Sunday, 13 June 1999, A6; Ashante Infantry, "Work and Play All in the Family for Three Generations of Italians," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 25 May 1999, A6; Donovan Vincent, "[South Asian] Family Finds Many Rewards in New Home," Toronto Star, Sunday, 16 May 1999, A14; and Tony Wong, "Family's Success Mirrors Community: Toronto's Chinese Report Highest Satisfaction Levels of Any Ethnic Minorities," Toronto Star, Monday, 10 May 1999, B1 and B3.
103. J. Paul Grayson, Are Torontonians Happy?, Quality of Life in Canadian Cities, Report #2 (Toronto: Institute for Social Research, York University, 1998). On this study see Jill Mahoney and Sara Jean Green, "World-Class City Fails to Make Everybody Smile: Despite International Reputation Residents No Happier Than Elsewhere: Study," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 14 May 1998, A12 and Elaine Carey, "Torontonians Not All Happy," Toronto Star, Friday, 15 May 1998, F2. Elaine Carey, "The `City That Works' Could Be Even Better: Our Biggest Problem Is Jobs, Survey Finds," Toronto Star, Saturday, 1 May 1999, A1, A10, A11. On the problems encountered by well-educated immigrants in Toronto see Tanya Ho, "Foreign Doctors in Battle for Hospital Residencies," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 14 April 1999, B1; Nicholas Keung, "Where the Welcome Mat Is Out: Ontario Blocks Overseas Doctors; Other Provinces Give Them a Chance," Toronto Star, Saturday, 20 March 1999, B1 and B4; Jennifer Quinn, "Doctor's Dreams Go Sour in Canada: Foreign-Trained Physicians Band Together for Work," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 March 1999, B1 and B5; Maureen Murray, "Vet Fights for Level Playing Field: Extra Exam 'Unfair' to Foreign-Trained," Toronto Star, Monday, 22 February 1999, B1 and B8; Nicolaas Van Rijn, "Canada Wasting 'a Valuable Resource': Expert Immigrants Are Being Left Out in the Cold," Toronto Star, Sunday, 21 February 1999, A6; Maureen Murray, "Immigrants Hide Shame in Struggle for Survival," Toronto Star, Monday, 15 February 1999, B1 and B4; Lynda Hurst, "Tragedy of Immigrant Brain Rein: Professionals Often Barred from Using Their Skills Here in Canada," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 February 1999, A1 and A8; Maureen Murray, "An Immigrant's Catch-22 - No Work, No Experience," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 16 February 1999, F1 and F4 and "MD Can't Even Work as a Nurse's Aide: Immigrants Find Credentials Useless Once They Arrive," Toronto Star, Sunday, 14 February 1999, A1 and A8; Prithi Yelaja, "Rejected in Canada, Doctors Head South: Qualified Foreign Physicians Help Ease U.S. Shortage," Toronto Star, Saturday, 30 December 2000, A1 and A22. For insight into the variable career experiences of recent immigrants to Toronto see Wallace Immen, "Somalis Pitch In for Mutual Aid: New Beginnings in Canada Mean Low-Paid Jobs, Unfamiliar Surroundings for Refugees from War-Torn East Africa," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 26 December 2000, A22 and "Unfamiliar Liberty Delights Iranians," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 27 December 2000, A18; Stephanie Nolen, "Terrorized Family Flees to Canada: Prosperity of Mexican Life Can't Compare with the Peace of Mind Here, Woman Says," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 28 December 2000, A18; James Rusk, "Six Years Later, Success All Around: After Arriving with Doubts from Tanzania, the Rajani Family Is Glad It Chose Canada," Globe and Mail, Friday, 29 December 2000, A18; Martin Mittelstaedt, "Arrival in Canada Unforgettable: Making a New Start with Just a Few Dollars, A Russian-Jewish Émigré Built a Business," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 30 December 2000, A22.
104. Michael Posner, "Happy in Hogtown," Toronto Life 30 (March 1996): 64-71. John Barber, "Conservative Land Rules and Tory Supporters," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 11 April 1995, A5.
105. Mel Lastman, "Toronto: Diversity Is Our Strength," paper presented to the G-8 Summit of the Cities, Birmingham, England, 13-15 May 1998. The text of this paper was available on the Internet at http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/mayor/G8_diverse_1.htm. On the new motto for the City of Toronto see John Spears, "Toronto Approves New Coat of Arms," Toronto Star, Thursday, 28 October 1998, B3.
106. Northrop Frye, "Northrop Frye's Canada," Globe and Mail, Monday, 15 April 1991, A13. J.L. Granatstein, "100 Canadians: Maclean's Ranks the Famous - and the Forgotten - Who Most Inspired the Nation," Maclean's 111 (1 July 1998): 14+.
107. Gerry Hall, "Toronto: A New Dynamism," Travel & Camera 33 (June 1970): 61. Italics added.
108. Kevin Connolly, "World Cuisine Brightens Danforth," eye, 4 January 2001, 27. In this piece, Connolly reviewed Makkah, a halal meat restaurant and the Senegalese Amadou restaurant. Lenny Stoute, "Toronto, Africa: A New Music Emerges," Toronto Star, Saturday, 11 January 1997, K1 and K10; Ben Rayner, "Blaxam Fuses a Toronto Sound: Band's Impetuous New Form Comes from a Mix of Cultures that Surround Us," Toronto Star, Thursday, 9 July 1998, G3; Richard Webb, "CanLit Ventures Out into World," Globe and Mail, Monday, 18 August 1997, C4; Philip Marchand, "Missing from Mosaic: There's a Literary Minority That Has Immigrated to Canada and It's Made Up of White Writers Who Feel Invisible," Toronto Star, Saturday, 29 November 1997, N1-N2; Diane Slawych, "City Is a Mecca for World Music: Whether It's Local Acts or Overseas Stars, Toronto Is Home to Global Grooves," Metro, Thursday, 16 November 2000, 12-13. DJ Serious is quoted in Lizz Mendez Berry, "Toronto Rap City," eye, 4 January 2001, 12. Janice Kulyk Keefer, "Writing, Reading, Teaching Transcultural in Canada," in Hans Braun and Wolfgang Klooss (eds.) Multiculturalism in North America and Europe: Social Practices - Literary Visions (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 1995): 180-197.
109. Robert F. Harney, Toronto: Canada's New Cosmopolite (Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1981), 11-12.
110. On the study of biracial Toronto children by Kenise Murphy Kilbride and Jean Golden see Al Sokol, "Listening to Voices of Black and White: Study Aims to Help Parents Understand What Their Biracial Kids Are Experiencing," Toronto Star, Saturday, 10 January 1998, L1. This article also appeared as "To Be Biracial in Canada: Landmark Study to Examine Issues Facing Young Canadians in a Racist Society," Edmonton Journal, Saturday, 17 January 1998, F6. Jason Cumming, "East Meets MacWest: Novel Wedding Ceremony Marked by Kilts and Saris," Toronto Sun, Sunday, 6 July 1997, 10.
111. The Carew story was reported in Marty York, "Carew Looks to Toronto for Gift of Life: City's Ethnic Diversity May Help Produce Marrow Donor for Leukemia-Stricken 18-Year-Old Daughter," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 10 January 1996, C6. Sadly, Michelle Carew died before a donor could be found. "Carew's Daughter Succumbs," Toronto Star, Thursday, 18 April 1996, D8.
112. An extensive report on the evolution of the Oakwood dance troupe was presented on the CBC Evening News, Thursday, 28 March 1996. On the Association of Concerned Citizens of Etobicoke North see Nicholas Keung, "Ethnic Organization Unites 19 Rexdale Groups," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 3 June 1998, B5. The 19 groups include representatives from Bangladesh, China, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, India, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Sri Lanka. Somalia, and the Philippines, as well as members of the Palestinian, Tamil, and native Indian communities. On Kipling Collegiate see Maureen Murray, "High School Leads Metro's Evolution," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 May 1995, A4. On the Kennedy Kougars see David Grossman, "Racially Mixed Ball Team Fits Like a Glove," Toronto Star, Friday, 10 May 1996, B7.
113. Cynthia Wine, "McFood Strikes Out with Critic: Improvements to SkyDome Fare Few and Feeble," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 April 1996, D1. On the food offered to patrons of the Air Canada Centre see Cynthia Wine, "Hangar Food Tastes . . . Like Toronto: It's Good, It's Cheap, and It Beats SkyDome," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 23 February 1991, A1 and A15. By 2000, McDonald's no longer provided food services to either the SkyDome or the Metro Toronto Zoo, but the firms chosen to replace had yet to tap into Toronto's rich culinary potential..
114. Margaret Cannon and Bageshree Vaze, "The Beauty Queen, the Tai Chi Master, the Power Brokers, the Patrons, the Activists, the Ladies Who Lunch: Who's Who in the Chinese Community," Toronto Life 31 (July 1997): 66-75. Some 58 people and families were discussed in this article in seven distinct groups: the old guard; social activists; politics; arts, media, culture; traditional practitioners; business; and science and medicine.
115. John Barber, "Remarkable Experiment Playing Out," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 22 August 1996, A11. Royson James, "Toronto's Best Calling Card: Its Diversity," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 15 April 1998, A23.
116. A Jewel Worth Polishing: The Report of the Caribbean Cultural Committee/Metropolitan Toronto Chairman's Task Force on Caribana (Toronto: Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 1996). See also Clifton Joseph, "Jump Up and Beg," Toronto Life 30 (August 1996): 46-54; "Caribana Jump-Up Is a Boost for All," editorial, Toronto Star, Friday, 2 August 1996, A16; Peter Krivel, "Hotel-Restaurant Tax Urged to Aid Caribana," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 13 May 1998, B7; "Keeping Caribana Alive," editorial, Toronto Star, Thursday, 16 April 1998, A24; Maureen Murray, "Big-Name Push on to Heal Caribana: Work Cut Out for New Board Trying to Bring Back the Sparkle," Toronto Star, Sunday, 17 August 1997, A4; and Cecil Foster, "Time to Overhaul Caribana," Toronto Star, Monday, 17 November 1997, A19. On the future of Caribana see Ali Sharrif, "Will Caribana Change Its Colour?," Now, 16 July 1998, 20-23; Richard Mackie, "Federal Funding Expected for Caribana: Boost from Ottawa Likely, Official Says," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 21 July 1998, A9; Tony Wong, "Caribana Taps Chief from Bay St.: Hassan Jaffer Chosen to Keep Festival Afloat," Toronto Star, Thursday, 23 July 1998, D5; and Phillip Vassell, "[Alvin] Curling Boosts Caribana's Fortunes," The Word (July 1998): 24-25.
117. On the 1998 festival see Natalie James, "Ottawa Gives Caribana $100,000 Shot in Arm: Organizers Say Boost Is Proof of Festival's Strength," Toronto Star, Thursday, 30 July 1998, B5; Herman Silochan, "Party Time!: Lastman to Start '98 Caribana Parade as Feds Kick in $100Gs," The Caribbean Camera, 30 July 1998, 1; Bianca T. Jacob, "Caribana Festival Back on Track," Share, 6 August 1998, 1 and 12; "A Great Job!," editorial, Share, 6 August 1998, 8; Phinjo Gombu, "`Successful' Caribana Concentrates on the Future," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 5 August 1998, B4; Jill Mahoney, "A Bright New Era for Caribana?: Success of 1998 Festival Has Many Hoping Years of Problems Are Now a Thing of the Past," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 4 August 1998, A10. On the debate over Jaffer and the conflicting visions for Caribana see Carla R. Ribeiro, "Caribana Is `Our' Festival," letter to the editor, Share, 23 July 1998, 8 and 9 and Audra Naomi Diptee, "Carnival Is Culture, Not Race," Share, 6 August 1998, 8. On the events in the aftermath of the 1998 festival see Peter Edwards, "Infighting Over, Caribana Organizaers Say: Caribbean Cultural Festival's Deficit Has Been Cut in Half," Toronto Star, Thursday, 28 January 1999, B3; Natalia Williams, "Caribana Chief Executive Calls It Quits: Hassan Jaffer Was `Branded an Outsider' Ex-Advisor Says," Toronto Star, Thursday, 18 March 1999, B3 and "Caribana Chair Rejects Race Issue in Hiring: Chief Executive's Resignation Was His Own Decision," Toronto Star, Friday, 19 March 1999, B3; James Rusk, "Caribana Festival Chief Quits Over Detractors," Globe and Mail, Monday, 22 March 1999, A11; Herman Silochan, "City, Bank Stay with Caribana," The Caribbean Camera, 25 March 1999, 1; and Natalia Williams, "Caribana Chief Sets Some Lofty Goals: More Corporate Sponsorship Is First Priority," Toronto Star, Friday, 9 April 1999, B3. On the 2000 festival see Herman Silochan, "[Ken] Jeffers Is New CCC Chief: Caribana CEO Michelle Jones' Contract Not Being Renewed," The Caribbean Camera, 20 April 2000, 1; Ron Fanfair, "Jeffers Brings Experience as New CCC Chair: Promises to Consult Membership on Changes," Share, 27 April 2000, 1; "Caribana on Its Way to Financial Health," editorial, Toronto Star, Saturday, 29 July 2000, K6; "Where's the Respect?," editorial, Share, 13 July 2000, 8; Brad McKay, "Caribana Growing Faster Than Its Funding: Organizers Say Festival Is 'Woefully Underfunded'," National Post, Saturday, 5 August 2000, A8; Natalie Southworth, "Fewer Sponsors Dancing to Caribana's Beat: Long History of Debt and Mismanagement Drives Away Private Donations, Leaves Governments Issuing Ultimatums to Organizers," Globe and Mail, Monday, 24 July 2000, A14; "Caribana Games," editorial, Share, 7 September 2000, 1 and 8; Barbara Turnbull, "Caribana in Peril Again: Organizers Order Forensic Audit of Festival Financing," Toronto Star, Monday, 27 November 2000, B1 and B5; Ron Fanfair, "CCC Executive Getting Tough," Share, 30 November 2000, 7; John Ibitson, "That Old Parliament v. Queen's Park Thing Isn't Going to Work Forever, Globe and Mail, Saturday, 2 December 2000, A10; Herman Silochan, "City Tells Caribana: Take This or Walk: Financial Rescue Offered - But at a Price," The Caribbean Camera, 7 December 2000, 1; Jacqueline Santos, "Open Caribana Up," letter to the editor, Toronto Star, Thursday, 7 December 2000, A37; Brad Honywill, "Cash-Hit Caribana Vows to Carry On," Toronto Sun, Friday, 22 December 2000, 26; Herman Silochan, "Caribana Members Want Seized Records Returned," The Caribbean Camera, 21 December 2000, 10; "Give Jeffers a Chance," editorial, Share, 4 January 2001, 8; Herman Silochan and Joy Gooding, "2000: The Best . . . and Worst," The Caribbean Camera, 4 January 2001, 7; Herman Silochan, "Caribana Staff Fired," The Caribbean Camera, 25 January 2001, 3; Herman Silochan, "Caribana Hit by New Controversy: Membership Votes to Oust Ken Jeffers as Chair," The Caribbean Camera, 1 February 2001, 1; Royson James, "Caribana Sings a Sour Chorus in Marley Month," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 7 February 2001, B1; Herman Silochan, "Caribana's AGM Threatened by Court Action," The Caribbean Camera, 8 February 2001, 9; "Injunction Petition Forces Postponement of CCC's AGM," editorial, Share, 8 February 2001, 1 and 8.
118. Michael Warren and Henry Stancu, "Police Flag Crackdown Draws Soccer Fans' Scorn: Safety Worries Are Ridiculous, Revellers Declare," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 16 June 1998, A1 and A18; Henry Stancu, "Gleeful Flag-Wavers Defy Harried Police: Crackdown Falls by Wayside at Brazil Party," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 17 June 1998, B1; Rosie DiManno, "Soccer Skepticism Often a Cloak for Racism," Toronto Star, Monday, 15 June 1998, D8. Ron Lowman, "End Flag Flapping, Adopt U.N. Standard," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 28 July 1998, A13.
119. On the street renaming proposals in Mississauga see Leslie Ferenc, "Bid to Rename Road after Gandhi Sparks Opposition," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 28 April 1993, A6; "Mississauga Rejects Proposal to Rename Street for Gandhi," Toronto Star, Thursday, 29 April 1993, A6; Leslie Ferenc, "How [Mayor] Hazel [McCallion] Helped Cool Row Over Road," Toronto Star, Thursday, 6 May 1993, MS1; and "Council Refuses to Rename Section of [Airport] Road," Toronto Star. Thursday, 26 August 1993, MS1. On the Queen Elizabeth Way see Robert M. Stamp, QEW: Canada's First Superhighway (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1987). On Blue Jays Way see Nicholaas van Rijn, "Street May Be Named for Jays," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 17 November 1992, A6 and "Street Renamed Blue Jays Way," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 9 December 1992, D9. On the accommodation of Wayne Gretzky's request see Robert MacLeod, "Gretzky Ignites Heated Street Fight: Councillor Attacks Hockey Star's Request to Rename Peter St.," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 21 September 1993, A1 and A16; Blue Jays Way," editorial, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 22 September 1993, A22; and Jane Armstrong, "City Council Takes from Peter and Gretzky Will Get His way," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 14 December 1993, A4. During his professional career, Gretzky wore numeral 99 on his team jerseys.
120. On the proposal for the creation of Patriarch Bartholomew Way see Ashante Infantry, "Move to Rename Street Sparks Political Uproar: Macedonians Oppose Honour for Patriarch," Toronto Star, Thursday, 25 June 1998, B3 and Louise Picot, "Street Renamed to Honour `Green Patriarch'," Leaside-Rosedale Town Crier, June 1998, 7. On the flag dispute see Dale Brazao and Jim Rankin, "Flag-Raising Sparks Brawl: North York's Lastman Hurt as Police Quite Crowd," Toronto Star, Monday, 7 December 1992, A1 and "Lastman Kicked in Public Brawling," Toronto Star, Monday, 7 December 1992, A6; Danielle Bochove, "Flag-Raising Turns to Fracas: Macedonians and Greeks Scuffle at Christmas Festival," Globe and Mail, Monday, 7 December 1992, A17; George Chritopoulos and Mark Stewart, "Bashed!: Mayor Mel Punched in Civic Square Melee," Toronto Sun, Monday, 7 December 1992, 4; Marcus Gee, "Balkan Passions Erupt in Toronto," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 8 December 1992, A17; Antonella Artuso, "Foreign Flag Ban Bid," Toronto Sun, Tuesday, 16 March 1993, 19; "Raising a Red Flag," editorial, Toronto Star, Monday, 29 March 1993, A16; and Jane Armstrong, "Toronto Rejects Bid to Fly Macedonian Flag," Toronto Star, Saturday, 23 October 1993, A4.
121. Press reports on the activities of Zundel are too numerous to mention. See, for example, Wendy Darroch, "Zundel's Web Site Hateful, Mayor Says," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 December 1997, A28. See also Gabriel Weimann and Conrad Winn, Hate on Trial: The Zundel Affair, The Media, Public Opinion in Canada (Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1986). A Canadian Human Rights Commission hearing into charges Zundel used the Internet to promote racial hatred had entered its fifth year by 2000, and continued even after Zundel withdrew. See Kirk Makin, "Angry Zundel Bows Out of Hearing," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 28 November 2000, A7. Zundel's attempts to obtain Canadian citizenship ended in 2000 when the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. Bruce Cheadle, "Top Court Ends Zundel's Bid for Citizenship: German-Born Holocaust Denier Stops Application," Toronto Star, Friday, 15 December 2000, A16. Zundel has lived in Toronto since the late 1950s. On incidents of vandalism see Donovan Vincent, "Vandals Deface Jewish School," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 21 March 1995, A12; Jack Kapica, "Vandals Deface Toronto Synagogues: Spray-Painted Swastikas, Anti-Semitic Slogans Left on Temples' Doors and Walls," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 1 July 1992, A11; Paul Moloney, "Vandals Spray-Paint Synagogue," Toronto Star, Sunday, 17 November 1991, A8; Ken Schular, "Vandals Desecrate St. Michael's Cemetery," Forest Hill Town Crier (August 1998): 3; Joel Baglole, "Neighbours Distraught after Cemetery Damaged: Residents Wonder If Damage Aimed at Catholics," Toronto Star, Friday, 10 July 1998, F5; Lila Sarick, "Etobicoke Jewish Cemetery Attacked by Vandals: Anti-Semitic Hate Scrawled on Holocaust Memorial, Rabbi's Grave No Juvenile Prank, CJC Says," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 3 November 1999, A11; "Hate Messages Sprayed on Palestinian Centre," Toronto Star, Monday, 9 October 2000, B4. On the battles between neo-Nazis and anti-racists see Clive Thompson, "I Hate You Back," This Magazine 28 (November 1994): 16-25 and Moira Walsh, "2 Arrested as Racism Protest Turns Ugly," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 26 January 1993, A1 and A6. On the increase in hate crimes in the Toronto area see Bob Brent, "Scarborough Struggles with Racism as Hate Literature Targets Chinese," Toronto Star, Monday, 29 April 1991, A7; Cal Millar, "Anti-Semitic Incidents Up 11%: Hate Groups Using Internet, B'nai Brith Says," Toronto Star, Saturday, 4 March 1995, A24; Gay Abbate, "Hate Crimes Increase in Toronto: Police Report Shows 7% Rise," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 26 February 1998, A10; Peter Small, "Neo-Nazi Rise Cited after Beating of [Tamil] Immigrant," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 9 June 1993, A2; Lois Sweet, "Rise in Anti-Semitism Raises Concern," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 15 March 1994, A1 and A24; Gay Abbate, "Hate-Related Crimes Rising, Police Say: Increase of 22 Per Cent Follows Trend Seen in Other Cities, Statistics Show," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 25 February 1999, A13; Don Sellar, "Hate-Law Case [Against Muslims] Went Unreported," Toronto Star, Saturday, 5 September 1998, E2. "Sentencing Delayed in Muslim Hate Case," Toronto Star, Saturday, 12 September 1998, A4; Ken Shular, "Vicious Attack [on Elderly Jewish Men] a Hate Crime, Police Say," Forest Hill Town Crier (September 1999): 1 and 3; Karen Palmer, "Two Men Beaten at Toronto Synagogue: Police Treating Savage Attack Friday Night on 66-Year-Old and 79-Year-Old as Hate Crime," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 17 August 1999, A3; "We Must Challenge Purveyors of Hate," editorial, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 18 August 1999, A18; Bob Mitchell, "Racism Charged in Assault on [Oakville Sikh High School] Students," Toronto Star, Monday, 28 February 2000, B5; Jim Wilkes, "Students Discuss Attack on Sikhs," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 29 March 2000, B4; Tracy Huffman, "Skinheads Cleared of Hate Charges in Protest Against Roma Refugees," Toronto Star, Saturday, 25 March 2000, B4; Ronald Lee, "Court Failed Roma, Society in Skinhead Trial," letter to the editor, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 26 July 2000, A26; John Duncanson, "Hate Crimes Reported Up [by 19 Per Cent]," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 22 September 1998, E4; and John Duncanson, "Hate Crime in Toronto Jumps 28%: Mall Outreach Promoted to Help Curb Racism," Toronto Star, Friday, 18 February 2000, A3 and "Chief Seeks Action on Hate Crimes: Police Board Passes [Chief] Boothby's Final Motion," Toronto Star, Friday, 25 February 2000, B5. The number of hate crimes in 1999, 292, approached the record of 302 set for Toronto in 1995. On Gordon Chong's remarks and apology see Gail Swainson, "Council Slams Chong for Gypsy Remarks: Apology Draws Angry Responses from Colleagues, Toronto Star, Friday, 26 September 1997, B3. Jennifer Quinn, "Toronto 'a Ripe Market' for Gangs," Toronto Star, Monday, 22 March 1999, B1 and B4.
122. On gang battles see Nick Pron and Phinjo Gombu, "Tamils' Gang War Takes to the Streets: Metro Police Fear Bystanders Will Be Caught in Rival Gang Crossfire," Toronto Star, Sunday, 4 August 1996, A13; Rob Lamberti, "Boys in the 'Hood: Gangs Are Proliferating and Violence Is Their Currency, But Cops Say Situation's Under Control," Toronto Sun, Sunday, 7 June 1998, 20; Michelle Shephard, "Tamil Violence Plagues Urban Village [Old Cabbagetown]," Toronto Star, Monday, 27 July 1998, B1 and B5; Jill Mahoney, "Tamil Gang Violence Suspected in [Scarborough] Stabbing," Globe and Mail, Monday, 24 August 1998, A6; Michelle Shepard, "Killings Turn Focus on Gangs: Tamil Community Shaken by Deaths in Youth Fighting," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 31 October 2000, A1 and A22; Colin Freeze, "City Far from a Violence-Free Haven: Immigrant Family Struggles to Deal with Loss of Illusions after Teenage Son Shot Dead," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 21 December 2000, A25. On the reaction to violence in the Tamil community see Nicholas Keung, "Young Tamils Work to Boost Community Image: Play to Show Consequences of Violence," Toronto Star, Thursday, 30 July 1998, B7; Colin Freeze, "Break the Silence, Tamils Urge: Memorial Signals Growing Frustration over Unsolved Shooting Deaths," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 28 December 2000, A18; Peter Edwards, "Community Remembers Victims of Gang Violence: Vigil Held on Third Anniversary of Teen's Death in Scarborough," Toronto Star, Thursday, 28 December 2000, B4. See also, Nicholas Keung, "Tamil Youth Gangs Are on Decline, Study Says: Year-Long Study Finds Leadership Disintegrating," Toronto Star, Friday, 15 September 2000, B5. On the cultural pressures faced by immigrant youth see Christina Sackeyfio, "The Search for Racial Peace," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 19 August 1997, E1 and E3; Caroline Choi, "Balancing Heritage with Canadian Culture," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 11 August 1998, F1-F2; San Grewal, "Torn Between Two Worlds: Young Sikhs Wrestle with a Culture Gap Their Elders Often Fail to Understand," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 23 November 1999, F1 and F5; Amira Elghawaby, "Youth Caught Up in a T.O. Culture Clash: Bangladeshi Teens Try to Respect Family Traditions," Toronto Star, Sunday, 4 September 2000, A8; San Grewal, "Creating a Unique Culture: Toronto Youth Are Making New Worlds Out of Their Parents' Old Ways," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 21 November 2000, D1 and D3; Krista Foss, "School Helps Newcomers Adjust: Teenage Immigrants Adapt to New Culture and Language with Help of Classmates Who Know the Ropes," Globe and Mail, Monday, 1 January 2001, A12.. On the activities of the Nation of Islam in Toronto see Joan Breckenridge, "Police to Probe Nation of Islam Over Comments: Anti-Semitic Remarks Attributed to Minister in Toronto Paper Prompts Complaint by CJC," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 4 July 1998, A3 and "U.S. Sect Bars Whites from Toronto Mosque: Farrakhan's Nation of Islam Makes First Move into Canada," Globe and Mail, Friday, 3 July 1998, A1 and A8; Ali Sharrif, "Bizarre Utterances from Nation of Islam: Local Chapter Attacks Gays and Jews as Enemies of Black Race," Now, 2 July 1998, 24; Haroon Siddiqui, "Islam and the Farrakhan Nation," Toronto Star, Thursday, 9 July 1998, A22; Susie Lindsay, "Nation of Islam at Centre of Controversy," Forest Hill Town Crier (August 1998): 4; and Heather Greenwood, "Church Not Anti-Jewish or Anti-Gay, Official Says: Nation of Islam Pro-Black, Says Toronto Minister," Toronto Star, Monday, 6 July 1998, A2. On tourist information problems see Adam Wetstein, "Lost in the Translation?: Tourism Advocate Decries Shortage of Multilingual Services," Toronto Sun, Sunday, 24 August 1997, 49.
123. Elaine Carey, "Police 'Bias' Hits Blacks, Study Says: Community Reports Harsher Treatment by Officers, Courts," Toronto Star, Thursday, 23 March 2000, B1-B2 and "Another Report," editorial, Share, 30 March 2000, 8.
124. The results of the study by Harvey and Reil were first presented at the CERIS-sponsored fourth Metropolis Conference in Toronto and reported in Nicholas Keung, "Poverty Linked to Skin Colour: Visible Minority Immigrants Make Less, Study Says," Toronto Star, Friday, 24 March 2000, A21.
125. Frances Henry and Carol Tator, Racist Discourse in Canada's English Print Media (Toronto: Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 2000). Nicholas Keung, "Racial Bias in Media, Report Concludes: Writers May Reinforce 'Negative Messages' Co-author Claims," Toronto Star, Thursday, 30 March 2000, A19; Gerald V. Paul, "Findings of Report on Racism in Media Called 'Disturbing'," The Caribbean Camera, 30 March 2000, 1; Peter Edwards, "Islamic Congress Lauds Star, Globe Coverage," Toronto Star, Thursday, 5 October 2000, A11.
126. Michael Ornstein, Ethno-Racial Inequality in the City of Toronto: An Analysis of the 1996 Census (Toronto: Institute for Social Research, York University for the Access and Equity Unit, Strategic and Corporate Policy Division, Chief Administrator's Office, City of Toronto, 2000). On press reaction to the study see Elaine Carey, "Race, Income Splits Toronto, Study Warns: 'Huge' Inequality Shown in Survey of Census Figures," Toronto Star, Friday, 7 July 2000, A1 and A18; Haroon Siddiqui, "Immigrants Should Boycott Canada," Toronto Star, Thursday, 14 September 2000, A34; Margaret Philip, "Poor? Coloured? Then It's No Vacancy: Housing Discrimination Rampant, Says Poverty Report, Despite Fact That Visible Minorities Are Poised to Become City's Majority," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 18 July 2000, A15; "Our Dirty Secret," editorial, Share, 20 July 2000, 8 (also published as "Toronto's Dirty Little Secret Is Revealed," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 25 July 2000, A20; and Gerald V. Paul, "Ethnic Divisions Clear in Toronto: New Report Sounds Ominous Warnings for Canada's Most Diverse City," The Caribbean Camera, 13 July 2000, 1. For national and regional perspectives on this issue see Jean Lock Kunz, Anne Milan, and Sylvain Schetagne, Unequal Access: A Canadian Profile of Racial Differences in Education, Employment, and Income (Toronto: Canadian Council on Social Development for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, 2000).
127. On the mistreatment of Toronto nannies see Geraldine Sherman, "Nanny's Dream," Toronto Life 30 (September 1996): 72-82. On the importation of American racist attitudes see Jay Teitel, "True Colours," Toronto Life 32 (April 1998): 98-108. Andre Alexis, "Borrowed Blackness," This Magazine 28 (May 1995): 14-20. On the fate of young Blacks see Charles Boehm-Hill, "Empowering an Endangered Species: The African-Caribbean/Canadian Male," Education Canada 33 (Summer 1993): 31-5. Frances Henry, The Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto: Learning to Live with Racism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994). Sheila L. Croucher, "Constructing the Image of Ethnic Harmony in Toronto, Canada: The Politics of Problem Definition and Nondefinition," Urban Affairs Review 32 (January 1997): 319-47.
128. On reaction to the statistics on deportation see Tracey Tyler, "Deportation Law `Targets' Jamaicans: Research Suggests All Criminals Not Treated the Same," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 19 August 1998, B5; Ron Fanfair, "Report Reinforces `Anti-Jamaican Myth'," Share, 27 August 1998, 1; "Answers Needed," editorial, Share, 27 August 1998, 8; Gerald V. Paul, "`Pure Discrimination': Call for Federal Probe into New Immigration Law after Stats Show Jamaicans Appear Targeted," The Caribbean Camera, 20 August 1998, 1; and "Alarming Stats," editorial, The Caribbean Camera, 20 August 1998, 6. The 1999 statistics on deportations were taken from Tom Lyons, "Deportations Target the Caribbean: Figures from Internal Immigration Document Cited as Proof of Racial Bias," eye, 30 March 2000, 12. On the "racialization" of crime in Toronto see Karen Flynn, "I Prayed that the Killer Was Not Black," and Joyce Burpee, "Racism Flourished in Rush to Judgment," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 18 August 1998, A13; Karen Flynn, "We Need to Re-Evaluate Ourselves," Share, 13 August 1998, 7; Gerald V. Paul, "`Black Backlash' Felt in Officer's Murder," The Caribbean Camera, 13 August 1998, 1; "Racism Flourishing Here: A Statement from the African Canadian Legal Clinic," Share, 20 August 1998, 8; Lorne Foster, "The Racialization of Crime," Share, 22 April 1999, 9; Haroon Siddiqui, "How the Media Report Crime News," Toronto Star, Thursday, 30 September 1999, A28; and Frances Henry, The Racialization of Crime in Toronto's Print Media: A Research Project (Toronto: School of Journalism, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 1999). On media reaction to the Henry study see Desmond Brown, "News Coverage of Minorities a Crime: Study: Jamaicans Especially Marginalized by Major Toronto Newspapers," National Post, Tuesday, 31 August 1999, B3; Ashante Infantry, "'Inadvertent Racism Seen in the Media: Jamaicans and Vietnamese Frequent Victims, Report Says," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 31 August 1999, A2; Susan Bourette, "Toronto Newspapers Blasted on Racism: Focus on Alleged Crimes Contributes to Negative Image, Ryerson Study Says," Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 31 August 1999, A6; Ron Fanfair, "Media Reports on Jamaicans 'Overwhelmingly Negative'," Share, 2 September 1999, 1 and 4; and Herman Silochan, "Media Stereotyping Minorities - Report," The Caribbean Camera, 2 September 1999, 1. The concept of the "racialization" of crime in Toronto was also discussed by Carol Tator, Professor of Race Relations at York University, in an interview with Hamelin Grange on the CBC Evening News, Friday, 7 August 1998. On the posters featuring Latin Americans see Paul Moloney, "Police Union Ad Incites Hatred, Ethnic Groups Say: Hispanic Community 'Deeply Hurt' by Gang Poster," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 2 June 1999, B5; Michael Valpy, "The TTC Ad that Slipped Through the Cracks," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 17 June 1999, A18; Peter Small, "Police Stand Firm on Poster: No Apology for Depiction of Hispanics," Toronto Star, Monday, 31 May 1999, B1; "Offensive Ad Campaign," editorial, Toronto Star, Tuesday, 1 June 1999, A18; Alison Blackduck, "A Tale of Two Posters: Anti-Racism Campaign Aims at Stereotypes about Latin Americans," Toronto Star, Friday, 14 July 2000, F2.
129. On debate over Black-focussed schools see George J. Sefa Dei, "Beware of False Dichotomies: Revisiting the Idea of Black-Focussed Schools in Canadian Contexts," Journal of Canadian Studies 31 (Winter 1996-97): 58-79; L. Baker, "What's Wrong with Having Black School?," Share, 12 October 2000, 8; and Carol Alfred, "Black Focussed School the Answer," letter to the editor, Share, 2 November 2000, 8. On the Black Prom see Pat Watson, "The Black Prom Encourages Youths to Graduate," Share, 18 June 1998, 5. On the streaming issue see Sandro Contenta, "Discrimination in Schools Said Keeping Blacks from University," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 30 June 1987, A1 and A24; Walter Stefaniuk, "Community Seeks to Help Itself: Counselling Service Works with Volunteers, `Zero' Budget to Aid Black Families in Metro," Toronto Star, Saturday, 5 September 1987, A2; and "Streaming Programs, Not Students," editorial, Toronto Star, Monday, 19 January 1998, A16. John Sewell is quoted from "Close-Up: John Sewell," CBC Evening News, CBC Television, 9 November 1994.
130. Sonia Kuczaj, "A Tale of Two Cities," The Eyeopnener, 1 November 2000, 11 and 13. On Police employment patterns see Cal Millar, "New Police Officer 1st to Wear a Turban," Toronto Star, Friday, 1 February 1991, A6; Nicholas Keung, "Police Recruit Ethnic Officers to Boost Force: Just One in 10 New Officers Last Year Were Visible Minorities," Toronto Star, Friday, 25 July 1997, A7; "Police Take Major Multicultural Step," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 17 December 1997, A9; Kirk Moss, "Stereotypes Split Police, Black Youth," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 21 July 1998, F1 and F3; Nicholas Keung, "Minorities Not Trying for Police Jobs: But Internal Audit Calls Hiring Process Fair," Toronto Star, Friday, 24 July 1998, B3; John Duncanson, "White Men Dominate Police, Report Says," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 27 January 1999, C1; Cal Millar, "Police Diversity Needed, Board Told," Toronto Star, Friday, 29 January 1999, B5; Wallace Immen, "Face of Toronto Police Force Still White: Quotas Failed to Increase Minority Members, Superintendent Admits," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 13 March 1999, A12; and John Duncanson, "Police Step Up Drive to Hire Minorities: Toronto Seeking 306 Recruits This Year, Team Hopes to Boost Force's Diversity," Toronto Star, Saturday, 13 March 1999, A30. Much has been written about the police use of deadly force against Toronto's visible minorities. See, for example, "A City with a Bullet Wound," editorial, Globe and Mail, Thursday, 17 May 1990, A6; Lynda Hurst, "Colour No Barrier in War on Racism: Urban Alliance Chief Says All Can Join in Fight Against Bias," Toronto Star, Monday, 15 June 1998, A4; and Nicole Nolan, "A Shot in the Dark," This Magazine 30 (March/April 1997): 12-17. On other unpleasant incidents involving the police and visible minorities see Rashida Dhooma, "Canada's Been Good to Me, But . . . ," Toronto Sun, Sunday, 12 July 1998, Comment 6. Some have also criticized the representation of visible minorities on the Toronto Police Services Board. See David Lewis Stein, "Police Board Posting Doesn't Reflect Diversity," Toronto Star, Friday, 16 May 1997, A25. John Duncanson, "Mostly White, Mostly Male: Why Police Are Reaching Out Again," Toronto Star, Saturday, 6 March 1999, A1 and A25. On the career and promotion of Keith Forde see Ron Fanfair, "Keith Ford [sic] Promoted to Police Superintendent," Share, 4 January 2001, 1and Jim Rankin, "Veteran City Police Officer Becomes Agent of Change: First Black Superintendent Says Force Must Reflect Community," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 January 2001, B2.
131. On employment at the TTC see Paul Moloney, "TTC Makes `Progress' Hiring Women, Minorities," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 22 May 1991, E8. The 1993 figure was taken from the TTC Annual Report for that year, the last to provide such an employment breakdown. Ali Sharrif, "Memo to TTC: It's a Multilingual City," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 12 December 2000, A25; Moira Welsh and Peter Edwards, "Moscoe, Union in 'Racism' Clash: Outgoing TTC Chair Unapologetic over Comments," Toronto Star, Thursday, 30 November 2000, B1 and B3; Brandi Jasmine, "TTC Drivers Are Equal-Opportunity Jerks," letter to the editor, Toronto Star, Friday, 1 December 2000, A31. For the response of the Amalgamated Transit Union to Moscoe's comments see "Howard Moscoe: You Owe Us an Apology," advertisement, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 29 November 2000, B4. On Toronto's Fire Department see Paul Moloney, "Hiring Methods of City Firefighters to Be Probed: Women, Minorities Face Tough Barriers," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 17 December 1997, A1 and A36; "Toronto's Fire Halls: White Male Bastion," editorial, Toronto Star, Monday, 26 February 1996, A14; "Toronto Hoses Job Equity," editorial, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 3 February 1993, A16; and Lincoln Depradine, "Firefighters' Status Quo Challenged," Share, 2 March 1996, 3. On cultural institutions and diversity see Mitch Potter, "Culture Shock: Toronto's Arts Scene Faces a Challenge - To Be as Diverse as the City," Toronto Star, Sunday, 7 November 1999, A3. On the situation at York University see Kristin Rushowy, "York U Policy to Cover Visible Minority Hiring," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 11 January 2000, B3. On minority faculty at the U of T see Kristin Rushowy, "U of T Faculty: Where Minorities Not Very Visible: May Take 25 Years to Reach Even 15% Minority Mix, Prof's Study Finds," Toronto Star, Monday, 10 January 2000, A1 and A14 and Richard McKergow, "Diversity in U of T Faculty at a Standstill: Critics Say Administration Needs to Do More," The Varsity, Monday, 2 October 2000, 2. Figures for Ryerson were contained in the "Revised Faculty Employment Equity Plan" which was approved by the University's Board of Governors at their 29 March 1999 meeting. The plan projected 116 new hires over the following three years, and set a target of between 18 and 23 visible minority members within that total, or between 15.5 and 19.8 per cent of new hires during this period. On the Chun case see Ashante Infantry, "'They Treated Me Like a Migrant Worker': Rally Demands U of T Set Up Inquiry into Chun's Racism Claims," Toronto Star, Monday, 6 March 2000, B3; Nicholas Keung, "'Cronyism' Cited in U of T Hiring: Human Rights Report Support Physicist's Claim of Discrimination," Toronto Star, Monday, 7 February 2000, A1 and A16; Sarah Schmidt, "Rights Panel Sees Racism in Hirings at U of T," Globe and Mail, Monday, 7 February 2000, A1 and A15; Andrew Loung, "Rights Board Backs Claims of Racism by Former U of T Prof: Evidence of Discrimination," National Post, Monday, 7 February 2000, A17; Nicholas Keung, "Faculties Must Be More Open to Minorities, [U of T President-Elect] Birgeneau Says," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 8 February 2000, A2; Cheryl Sullivan, "U of T and Kin-Yip Chun Reach Agreement," University of Toronto News and Events, www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bin1/000908a.asp, 8 September 2000; Robert Birgeneau, "Open Letter to the University of Toronto Community," 19 September 2000; and "All Ends Well for Dr. Chun: CAUT Plays Positive Role in Scientist's Reinstatement," CAUT Bulletin 47 (October 2000), A1 and A4; Amy Carmichael, "U of T Reinstates Researcher: Denied Tenure, Physicist Drops Discrimination Lawsuit to Accept Job at University," Globe and Mail, Saturday, 9 September 2000, A2; Nicholas Keung, "Scientist Gets His Job Back at U of T: Deal Ends Discrimination Dispute, Lawsuit," Toronto Star, Saturday, 9 September 2000, A6.
132. On the composition of Toronto City Council see Royson James, "Time of Grave Risk, Great Opportunity," Toronto Star, Saturday, 3 January 1998, A5. On the Toronto District School Board see Doug Little, "School Execs Lack Colour," Now, 30 July 1998, 14 and Karen Flynn, "We Must Get Involved in Our Children's Education," Share, 3 September 1998, 8 and 11. The sole non-white trustee in 1997 was Stephanie Payne. On the prospects for the 2000 elections see Royson James, "Election Doesn't Reflect Diversity: Visible Minorities Still Slow to Enter City's Halls of Power," Toronto Star, Thursday, 9 November 2000, G1 and G11. The quotation is from page G1 of this article. On the results of that election see Ron Fanfair, "Cliff Gyles Back in Mississauga. Shaw, Balkissoon Return in T.O., But Rob Davis Loses to Joe Mihevc," Share, 16 November 2000, 1 and 26.
133. " - " "- - - " " ' ' " "' " " ' " " "
134. On the participation of immigrants and minorities in Toronto's political life see Myer Siemiatycki and Engin Isin, "Immigration, Diversity, and Urban Citizenship in Toronto," Canadian Journal of Regional Science 20 (Spring/Summer 1997): passim. Pauline Ling joined Stephanie Payne on the Toronto District School Board following the 2000 elections.
135. John Montesano, "Diversity Not Yet Firmly Rooted Here," Toronto Star, Monday, 7 September 1998, A9. On Swinton Crescent see Sean Fine, "The Street That Diversity Calls Home: It's a Multicultural Microcosm Where People Are Good Neighbours (If Not Quite Friends)," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 1 January 1998, A2. On the Malvern area see Sheila Avari, "Racial Harmony Out of Tune," The Eyeopener, 22 September 1999, 12.
136. Nancy J. White, "Interfaith Group Breaks Bread `In Peace': 70 People from six Religions Honour King's Message," Toronto Star, Monday, 19 January 1998, B2. On the Bookshare Program see Virginia Galt, "Uptown Children Share the Joy of Summer Reading: North Toronto Kids Donate Books to Pupils in Downtown Schools," Globe and Mail, Monday, 22 June 1998, A8. On the award to the Jane-Finch area see Laurie Monsebraaten, "Coffee, Cookies Beat Drug Deals: Jane-Finch Residents' Unique Approach Lauded," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 16 September 1998, A1 and A24 and Sara Jean Green, "Jane-Finch Fights Back, Tenderly: Much Maligned Neighbourhood Wins Award for Its Sense of Grassroots Community Activism," Globe and Mail, Thursday, 17 September 1998, A14. On the Munchy King restaurant see Jeff Gray, "Racist Vandals Trash Eatery," Toronto Star, Saturday, 17 May 1997, A6; Zen Ruryk, "Help Arrives for Victim of Racism," Toronto Sun, Monday, 19 May 1997, 19; Vinay Menon, "Community Rallies to Restaurateur: `Still Shaken Up' Over Racists' Vandalism," Toronto Star, Monday, 19 May, 1997, A6; and Dale Anne Freed, "Vandalized Restaurant Set to Reopen June 26," Toronto Star, Saturday, 14 June 1997, A4. On the BME Church see Jennifer Bain, "Rising Anew from the Ashes: One Culture's Loss Is a Problem for All, City Shows Black Community," Toronto Star, Saturday, 11 July 1998, L11 and Ron Fanfair, "BME Raises Funds," Share, 16 July 1998, 1 and 8.
137. On the growth of big-box retailing on formerly industrial land see Kenneth G. Jones and Michael J. Doucet, The Big Box, The Big Screen, The Flagship, and Beyond: Impacts and Trends in the Greater Toronto Area (Toronto: Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 1998) and The Impact of Big-Box Development on Toronto's Retail Structure, Research Report 1999-1 (Toronto: Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 1999). On the lack of power-sharing and recognition of non-whites see, for example, David Lewis Stein, "Redrawing City's Cultural Map," Toronto Star, Monday, 8 June 1998, B1 and B5; Sid Adilman, "To Cultural Elite, Canada Is Still White," Toronto Star, Saturday, 27 June 1998, M5; and Ali Sharrif, "How Minorities Can Take Control," Now, 11 June 1998, 14. On the East York mosque battle see Phinjo Gombu, "East York Rejects Proposed Mosque: Councillors Fear Loss of Taxes in Business Area," Toronto Star, Thursday, 22 June 1995, A6; "Mosque-Bashing," editorial, Toronto Star, Friday, 23 June 1995, A26; Phinjo Gombu, "East York's Choice: Cash or Culture?: Councillors Weigh Mosque Against Eroding Tax Base in Vote Today," Toronto Star, Monday, 10 July 1995, A2 and "Muslims Get Their Mosque: East York Council Votes 5-4 to Allow It in Borough's Business Centre," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 11 July 1995, A3; David Lewis Stein, "Decency Prevails, Barely, Over Dollars in East York," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 12 July 1995, A17; Abdullah Hakim Quick, "Is Prayer Too Frightening for East York?," Toronto Star, Saturday, 15 July 1995, L15; Phinjo Gombu, "Parking Snag May Jeopardize Mosque," Toronto Star, Friday, 29 September 1995, A6; "East York Follies," editorial, Toronto Star, Sunday, 1 October 1995, D2; Phinjo Gombu, "East York Kills Mosque: Councillors Vote Down Plan Over Parking Spots," Toronto Star, Thursday, 3 October 1995, A6; John Barber, "Tax at the Root of East York Mosque Woe," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 4 October 1995, A2; "Intolerant Council," editorial, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 4 October 1995, A22; David Lewis Stein, "Better to Abolish East York Than to Block Mosque," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 4 October 1995, A23; Phinjo Gombu, "Mosque Row: 4 Churches Won Parking Breaks: East York Has Granted Exemptions," Toronto Star, Thursday, 5 October 1995, A1 and A25; Maureen Murray, "Religious Wars: Opposition to Sunni Muslims Building a Mosque in East York Is about a Lack of Parking. Or Is It the Darker Side of Red Tape?," Toronto Star, Sunday, 8 October 1995, F1 and F4; Jim Rankin, "Muslims Win Round in Battle for Mosque," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 13 February 1996, A3; John Duncanson and Nicolaas Van Rijn, "Mosque Finally Wins Go-Ahead," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 20 February 1996, A1; "Bitter Victory," editorial, Toronto Star, Wednesday, 21 February 1996, A18; "Bigotry Still Blinds Our Only Borough," editorial, Toronto Star, Sunday, 3 March 1996, F2; Bruce DeMara, "Mosque Gets Final Okay from East York Council: Close Vote Ends Months of Debate," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 5 March 1996, A2; and Phinjo Gombu, "Parking, Prejudice, and the Mosque: Did Traffic or Racism Stall East York's Muslims?," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 27 March 1995, A20. On the difficulties with the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) community centre see Bianca T. Jacob, "Stonewalling JCA?," Share, 3 April 1997, 1 and 19; Sam Donkoh, "JCA Centre at Risk!: Black Community Urged to Support Zoning Application," Share, 15 May 1997, 1 and 5; "Support JCA," editorial, Share, 15 May 1997, 8; Bianca T. Jacob, "Large Turnout Witnesses Vote as JCA Gets Rezoning OK," Share, 22 May 1997, 1 and 8; "The JCA Centre Will Be Built," editorial, Share, 22 May 1997, 8; Bianca T. Jacob, "JCA Gets Final Nod," Share, 29 May 1997, 1 and 8; Lincoln Depradine, "JCA Centre Gets Go-Ahead," Share, 20 November 1997, 1 and 8; and "A Win for JCA," editorial, Share, 20 November 1997, 8. This issue received almost no coverage in the mainstream press. For two of the rare exceptions see Gail Scala, "Politicians Make Strange Bedfellows," Toronto Sun, Monday, 3 November 1997, 12 and Leslie Ferenc, "Jamaican Group Protests Delay in Okaying Centre," Toronto Star, Thursday, 27 March 1997, A31. Members of the Black community got busy raising funds for the community centre in 1998, and it opened in the summer of 1999. See Pat Watson, "Community Homeless without Centre - JCA," and "Let's Build Centre," editorial, Share, 9 July 1998, 1, 8, and 9; Pat Watson, "JCA Needs Funding Help," Share, 13 August 1998, 3; Maureen Murray, "Warehouse Beginning of a Dream: Jamaican Group Needs Money to Finish Centre," Toronto Star, Friday, 21 August 1998, B8; Ron Fanfair, "Renovation Work to Begin on JCA Centre Soon," Share, 27 August 1998, 1 and 3 and "New Jamaican Canadian Centre Opens," Share, 12 August 1999, 1 and 3; "Congrats, JCA," editorial, Share, 12 August 1999, 8; and Maureen Murray, "Jamaican Centre a 37-Year Odyssey: Determined Group Sees Fruit after Decades of Setbacks," Toronto Star, Friday, 6 August 1999, B2. On the Mississauga and Markham mosques see Mike Funston, "Disputed Mosque Plan Goes to Municipal Board: `An Injustice Has Been Done to Us,' Group Says," Toronto Star, Tuesday, 26 June 1997, A7 and "Mosque Approved Despite Protests: OMB Okays Site in Mississauga Rejected by Council," Toronto Star, Monday, 9 March 1998, B3 and "[Mississauga] Mosque, School to Open in a Year," Toronto Star, Thursday, 20 July 2000, D2; and Gail Swainson, "Two Cultures Clash Over Plan for Mosque: Markham Okays Building Despite Objections," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 7 July 1999, B7 and "Building Faith and Harmony: Ground Broken for First Mosque in Markham," Toronto Star, Monday, 8 November 1999, B2. For a thorough analysis of the Mosque approval difficulties see Engin F. Isin and Myer Siemiatycki, Fate and Faith: Claiming Urban Citizenship in Immigrant Toronto, Working paper series (Toronto: Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto, 1999).
138. On problems with the funding of educational and other services for immigrants in Toronto see "What's Good for Toronto Is Good for Ontario," editorial, Globe and Mail, Tuesday, 21 January 1997, A12; Peter Small, "Adult Schools: Successful, Threatened: Province's Funding Cuts Could Doom Six in Toronto," Toronto Star, Sunday, 25 January 1998, A6; "Harris Stiffs Toronto One More Time," editorial, Toronto Star, Friday, 6 February 1998, 24; "Tories Treat Toronto as a Cash Cow," editorial, Toronto Star, Friday, 13 February 1998, A22; "Toronto Critics Unfair," editorial, Toronto Star, Monday, 2 March 1998, A16; "Show Us the Money," editorial, Toronto Sun, Wednesday, 4 March 1998, 14; Gail Nyberg and Sheine Mankovsky, "Schools Need Money for Immigrant Students," Toronto Star, Thursday, 5 March 1998, A18; Jack Lakey, "Downloads Leave Cities Nowhere to Hide," Toronto Star, Sunday, 15 March 1998, F6; Sue-ann Levy, "Adult Day Students Fear for the Future," Toronto Sun, Monday, 20 April 1998, 16; John Spears, "Mayor Wants Aid for Immigrants," Toronto Star, Wednesday, 10 June 1998, B7; Debra Black, "Lack of Funding Undermines ESL Courses: Teachers Fear Immigrant Children Are Being Programmed for Failure," Toronto Star, Saturday, 20 November 1999, M13 and M18. On the threat to equity programs see Laurie Monsebraaten, "Will New City Keep Up Work on Job Equity?: Some Fear Gains Will Be Lost in Massive Change," Toronto Star, Monday, 29 December 1997, C1 and C5. A Task force on access and equity was due to present its final report to Toronto City Council in December of 1998. See Bruce DeMara, "Diversity Study to Guide Toronto," Toronto Star, Monday, 21 September 1998, B1 and B5.
139. Karen Connelly and Yuri Dojc, "City of Nations," Toronto Life 34 (November 2000): 128 and 130.
140. Leonie Sandercock, Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1998), 3.
141. Ibid, 7.
142. Eric Fong and Kumiko Shibuya, "The Spatial Separation of the Poor in Canadian Cities," Demography 37 (November 2000): 449-59; Lila Sarick, "Immigrants Skip Downtown Stage," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 28 December 1994, A1 and A4; Isabel Vincent, "Ethnic Communities Definitely on the Rise," Globe and Mail, Wednesday, 1 November 1995, A12; Elaine Carey, "High-Rise Ghettos: In Toronto, Visible Minorities Are Pushed into 'Pockets of Poverty'," Toronto Star, Saturday, 3 February 2001, M1-M2.