Immigrants in Toronto

Research Paper # 102364

Anthropology
Canadian Studies > Immigration Issues
Hot Topics > Immigration

This paper provides a report on immigrants in Toronto and discusses the suburbanization of immigration.

1,191 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer provides a comparison and contrast of two distinct Toronto electoral districts; one in the downtown core that has served as a traditional immigration reception area, and one in the suburbs. The writer points out that their social compositions is important for what it reveals the changing ethnic demographics of Canadian society. The writer looks at how these changes are shaping the urban landscape of the major cities. This essay argues that a comparative analysis of these two districts reveals the suburbanization of immigration in Canada, as now established immigrants seek to migrate internally within the city from the downtown to the suburbs. The writer maintains that this intra-migration is complemented by direct settlement of new immigrants from abroad into Toronto's suburbs, effectively bypassing neighbourhoods such as the famous Kensington Market that were defined by successive waves of immigration for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Outline:
Introduction
Social Composition: A Comparative Analysis of the Numbers
Ethnic Groups and Visible Minorities in the Landscape
Commentary

From the Paper:

"Thus, it may be argued that many of the visible signs of immigrant presence in this area are remnants of past settlement, and that the former immigrant settlers in this district have moved elsewhere in Toronto. Indeed, the fact that the Italian population in York West is more than double that of "Little Italy" suggests that many former Italian immigrants and/or their children may have moved from the downtown to the suburbs. In contrast to "Little Italy" which seems to be a "shell" of its former self, the Chinatown neighbourhood of Trinity-Spadina reveals how dominant this one ethnic group is in the visible landscape of the district; a visual dominance that reflects its 52.2 percent of the district's visible minority population."

Sample of Sources Used:

Eveden, L.J. and Walker, G.E. "From Periphery to the Centre: The Changing Geography of the Suburbs." In The Changing Social Geography of Canadian Cities. Ed. Larry Bourne and David Ley. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993, 234-251.
Magocsi, Paul Robert, ed. Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
Murdie, Robert and Teixeira, Carlos. "Toward a Comfortable Neighbourhood and Appropriate Housing: Immigrant Experiences in Toronto." The World in a City. Ed. Paul Anisef and Michael Lanphier. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003, 132-191.
Zucchi, John. "Italian Hometown Settlements and the Development of an Italian Community in Toronto, 1875-1935." In Gathering Place: Peoples and Neighbourhoods of Toronto, 1834- 1945. Ed. Robert Harney. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1985, 121-146.