Star: Half of GTA foreign-born

[dt_toronto_geek]

My mom came to Canada in 1967 from Trinidad as a 26 Year old!!!

Canada needs more Trinidadians!!!!!!

Trinidadians are very cool and stylish. Lots of gold, gold rings, gold chains, gold earings, gold necklaces, gold rims, gold trimmed kleenex holders, gold eye glasses, gold belt buckles, gold braclets, etc, etc,

Hot Trinidadians!! (please)

My mom & I helped decorate floats for Trinidadian contingents in Oshawa for Caribana when I was a kid in the mid-late '70's. There seemed to be a sizable Trinidadian community in Oshawa back then. Great memories.

 

[JasonParis]

Born in Brampton, Ontario to a recently arrived Italian father and a British mother (from Belfast, NI) who had lived in Canada since childhood.

While I'm a dual-national and carry a U.K. passport, I only really consider myself Canadian.

 

[interchange42]

Canadian born (Toronto). My mother's side goes way back, I'm also a registered United Empire Loyalist.

What - we can register?

42

 

[interchange42]

Oh, so here goes:

Paternal Grandfather - off the boat from England.
Paternal Grandmother - off the boat from Scotland.
Maternal Grandfather - Scottish family which went to Ireland, then the States, then UELed it up here.
Maternal Grandmother - 2nd and 3rd generation Scots again.

If I could find a little Welsh I could claim to be fully British Islish.

Up yer kilt.

42

 

[Bogtrotter]

Born in Saskatchewan. Welsh, English and Native American background.

 

[King of Kensington]

It would be interesting to know what percentage of Torontonians/GTAers can claim that all of their great-grandparents were born in Canada? Certainly less than 10 percent.

Remarkable of course is how quickly Toronto became a bastion of multiculturalism. In 1900 the population was probably about 90% Anglo-Celtic, the main "minority" being the Irish. In the early 20th century we got Jews, Italians and Slavs added into the mix, but it wasn't until after 1965 or so that Toronto became notably diverse. I wonder what year can be declared the year of death for puritanical WASPy Toronto. Well after Nathan Phillips being elected the first non-WASP mayor (hey at least we beat Philadelphia!) I think.

 

[Edward Skira]

Earlier in the year I was walking to the bank when the Orange Day parade went by. What a sad sight it was compared to what I read it was even 40 years ago. Hardly anything to it.

 

[junctionist]

I was born in Toronto, and my family is Polish.

 

[King of Kensington]

Earlier in the year I was walking to the bank when the Orange Day parade went by. What a sad sight it was compared to what I read it was even 40 years ago. Hardly anything to it.

Good riddance. And it seems to me the old WASP elite has pretty much given up its desire to turn back the clock.

 

[MisterF]

There's still an Orange Day parade??

I was born in Peterborough, my parents left Czechoslovakia after the Soviet invasion of 1968. Both were out of the country, my mom in Germany and my dad in Bulgaria. They just never went home.

 

[caltrane74]

Maybe that's why Trinidadians aren't among the "winnable" groups according to Conservative strategists.

"Believe it or not" my mom votes Conservative. I tried scaring her out of voting Conservative by telling her they would cut her pension, but she didn't believe me.

 

[St. Even]

"Half of GTA foreign-born" ... I'm going to be flamed for this but... hence why Torontonians don't care about their city. A general quick questioning of people on the street will yield a not surprising result: Torontonians aren't proud to be Torontonian. Home is somewhere else.

Perhaps that's why we haven't become the great city we can become. Toronto is a place where people live, but they don't call it home. Home is the place where they'll eventually retire to.

I haven't been on UT for a few months and I join this thread late but I couldn't let this go by without my two cents. I'm not going to "flame" you here, we're all entitled to our opinions, but I think there is a flaw in your assumption that civic pride is lacking in Toronto because so many people were born elsewhere.

When I see that half of the people who live here chose this place out of so many other places in the world to move to and start a new life in, if I'm going to assume anything it's that this must be one helluva place for them to choose to raise their families in and to invest that much time and energy into. In fact, many immigrant groups to Toronto (until the 90s) enjoyed higher employment/education rates and standard of living than those born here. These people, including my family and many friends, love this city and can't believe how lucky they were that they came here. My experience is obviously different from yours.

Again drawing from my own experience, when i travel to other Canadian cities I meet a lot of ex-Torontonians, many of whom left because they hated it here. Toronto is not for everyone. But it seems to me that the ones who stayed probably did so for a reason. When you said a "general quick questioning of people on the street will yield a not surprising result: Torontonians aren't proud to be Torontonian"... were you referring to an actual poll? If you were, I'd love to see it. If you weren't, try it and let me know how it goes. I'll even volunteer to do it with you, cuz I'd be curious as hell as to how people would respond. We might both be surprised.

I bash the imperfections and shortcomings of this city all the time. But I'm damn proud to call this place home. And I would wager that many other Toronto critics would say the same thing.

Oh, and since we're disagreeing, I'm not so sure I buy the notion that "home is the place where they'll eventually retire." I know a lot of Snowbirds who would beg to differ.

Toronto is already a great city, dude. And we're headed in the right direction again for the first time in a long time. Lemme know if you wanna do that street poll.

 

[Desi_Doubkle]

k so dual indian & canadian citizenship came here wen youngin tho. got canadian when parents got it. TO aint my home rex is my home. india is my tru home. but rex also is. love both. Northwest is Canada for me. dont know bout rest never been there. been 2 downtown lyk twice. never been in white areas seen em on tv. gone 2 scartown couple times. & go on a bus ride 2 mci everyday cuz i got expelled from ol school. so ye thas bout TO 4 me. i always wonder tho how kingsway look & how it must b der. you know not havin yer ppl diein knowin em. seein it. anyways better den back home tho lot better

 

[299 bloor call control.]

i'm just going to roll my eyes.

 

[paraone]

sure you didn't flunk out of school because no one could understand one single f*ckin word you wrote??!!!

geez, dude type don't text on here