SOCIAL, ETHNIC, AND RACIAL STRUCTURES & SPATIAL OUTCOMES
Social, ethnic, and racial structures are the foundation of cities. Each is a critical component of a city’s economy and politics. Moreover, they each influence a city’s resources, programs, and infrastructure. Thus, as changes occur within one or more of these structures, the city too experiences significant shifts. By understanding why and how such changes occur and manifest, planners can better prepare cities for the resulting outcomes. In specific regard to Toronto, the city’s economy is thriving. However, it maintains Canada’s highest child poverty rate and the nation’s highest percentage of total population living on low-incomes. In a city where the cost of living is extremely high, such high levels of poverty are not surprising. However, the city’s long-time experience with poverty, for adults, children, and seniors alike, has drastically affected Toronto’s politics and spatial composition. Moreover, the city’s historic poverty trends tend to coincide with shifts in its ethnic and racial structures. While poverty is not tied to any specific race or ethnic group, it has been associated with many immigrant groups within the Greater Toronto region. Evidence of such is discussed below.
HISTORIC CONDITIONS
Toronto has had a long history of poverty. It, similar, to many cities in the United States has experienced societal ups and downs, as well as economic booms and crashes. A significant period in the city’s history was around 1913, when Toronto included “the Ward,” which was a slum in notably poor condition. The area, which has since been destroyed, was home to “at least 3,000 houses each being occupied by two to six families” (Plummer 2008). During this time, the Ward was a refuge for European immigrants fleeing famine, violence, and oppression (Plummer 2008). During the first World War, the Ward maintained a high percentage of Jewish immigrants, however, by World War Two, “the Ward had become Toronto’s first Chinatown” (Plummer 2008). Due to the area’s high density, as well as the lack of social programs and opportunities, the Ward experienced significant crime and drug abuse, and it became known as the city’s “red-light district” (Plummer 2008). Ironically, in 1950s the site was demolished and was rebuilt as the the new City Hall and a public square. Still, erasing the site from the map only displaced the poor and opportunity-less individuals and families who previously resided there.
This discrimination of the city’s immigrants was of common practice until 1976, when the nation-wide Immigration Act of 1976 “did away with quotas and introduced non-discriminatory criteria for the selection of migrants” (Qadeer 2003, 1). Thus, after the act’s passage, the demographics of the city’s immigrants changed. The city began to see an influx of Asian immigrants and a reduction of immigrants from the Americas and Europe.
MODERN-DAY TORONTO
Modern-day Toronto continues to experience the ills generated by such economic and ethnic segregation and discrimination established in its past. As aforementioned, the city today continues to have the highest child poverty rate (28.6 percent) amongst large cities in Canada” (Children's Aid Society of Toronto 2015, 1). Similarly, the rate of adults living below the poverty line is at nearly 20 percent (Toronto.ca). In a report completed by the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, it was stated that “Poverty is racialized, that is, disproportionate to people of colour who are Canadian-born and newcomers” (12). Thus, in Toronto, the shifts in poverty have commonly been correlated with the city’s racial and ethnic shifts. This relationship is further address by the analysis of the spatial outcomes of poverty, race, and ethnicity in Toronto.
SPATIAL OUTCOMES OF POVERTY
SPATIAL OUTCOMES OF IMMIGRATION
1951-1960
1971-1980
2001-2006
Source: Policy Options
Source: Statistics Canada
Source: Toronto Canada