Do we really need more hockey rinks?

I’ve been following the story of the all-glass, four-level hockey rink being built out in the east-end. 

The one question that comes to my mind when I read this is: Do we really need more hockey rinks? 

I guess this is a very un-Canadian thing of me to say. I happen to think there’s more to being Canadian than worshipping hockey, lining up at Tim Horton’s for a double-double and every other stereotypical Canadian thing, but that’s a debate for another day. 

The City of Toronto boasts it has a multicultural mosaic and welcomes people from all corners of the world to live, work and play here. 

I’m willing to bet a large majority of newcomers and residents not born here have never grown up with snow, know what hockey is or care for it. 

They’ll most likely never use these facilities so why are we building them? I’m sure the proposed price tag of $88 million could go a long way to fixing and upgrading existing facilities.

If it has to be built why not add something to the design everyone can use? How about adding a recreation centre to the existing plan?

Cricket is exploding across the GTA, why not build more cricket fields? Baseball diamonds are starting to disappear, why not build one more? Or soccer pitches.

I’d like the City to take a step back and re-think this hockey rink complex. If they want more rinks maybe they should call MLSE and their corporate sponsors and get them to build rinks for people to use, if, as MLSE claims, it’s so important to reach out to newcomers and visible minorities and get them into hockey.

There’s a fantastic state-of-the-art practice facility near Lake Shore Blvd. and Kipling built by MLSE a few years ago. I’m sure they can spare a dollar or two to build a few facilities to meet the demand. 

For the longest time Maple Leaf Gardens sat empty on purpose because of MLSE’s stubbornness until Ryerson and Loblaws stepped in with a great design for the entire community. 

Put something in the neighbourhood that all residents can use. Don’t put something in that only a small percentage of people will use. 

The City’s focus should be on growing sports like soccer and basketball and others so Canada won’t be, for example, embarrassed internationally when the soccer team is ranked 101st in the world or when the basketball team can’t qualify for the Olympics even with the best point guard in the world in Steve Nash.

There’s more to life in Toronto and Canada than hockey. Hopefully the City will wake up to this realization and build other recreational facilities for residents before it’s too late.

About Robert Kirsic

The progressive silence is deafening

Today's entry is inspired by my last post and leaves me wondering where Toronto's progressive voice is in this mayoral race. My last post left me rambling about something that a reader was kind enough to seek clarification about:

“Hi, Tonika,

while I heard a lot of rhetoric in this piece, and agree with the general sentiment that we should give our seniors more help, I don't quite get the specific issue you are complaining about.”

To be clear the “rant” was about 3 things:

1. As a first generation Canadian, I appreciate the work that my grandmother put in to ensure that my father and subsequently, I had a better life

2. Toronto needs to acknowledge that a newcomer who retires, is not like a Canadian-born retiree through an innovative taxation system

3. This innovative system should be part of a larger seniors strategy that is inclusive and includes the experiences of seniors like my grandmother (who is not sitting on a $500,000 nest egg)

I read the comment three times and then read my post. After the third time I regretfully conceded that the reader was, in fact, correct. My point was lost somewhere between my passionate story about grandma and the end. It really got me thinking about this in a larger context.

It’s no secret that I would count myself among the politically progressive. These circles often consist of advocates, activists and sometimes radicals who enjoy jumping on their soapbox. However, I often find that many of my peers get so passionate about illustrating their point that they lose it. In turn, our conservative counterparts, who often don’t share our fire, desire and compassion use these moments to discredit our views on the basis that we can’t clearly state them in 30 words or less.

The progressive voice in this mayoral race is missing. Why? Is it because overzealous storytelling trumps the utility of the story itself? Can the progressives in this mayoral race just get to the point?

About Tonika Morgan

Is street hockey the answer?

I have read with great interest many of the wonderful ideas Torontonians have suggested to improve the city. Although the upcoming municipal election is unlikely to solve all our issues, perceived or real, it does have the capacity to set us on the right course for the next decade.

And why is the next decade so important? For many reasons, but perhaps none so important as that we expect have close to 1 million more people arrive in Toronto over that time, and many of those coming from other countries. How and how quickly these newcomers embrace Canada and Canada embraces them will have a lasting effect on the quality of life in Toronto.

This is where street hockey comes in; and it's a personal story.

Last month I was moderator at the Get Active Toronto Summit. At the summit some of our panel participants shared stories about how sport affected them and, in some cases, changed their lives. It got me thinking about my own story.

I moved from London, England to London, Ontario in the late 1960s. I arrived in the late summer, as an anomaly; a young South-Asian boy in the heart of hockey central in Southwestern Ontario. In the late fall, I was on skates, and loved it. I would have loved it more had we known to sharpen them. Well, you live and learn.

Since I was an only child at that time, my parents and I were constantly on the lookout for things to keep me busy. Most days I was sent out to play - to just go and play. One particular day my mother could see boys playing road hockey in a parking lot across the street from where we lived. She told me to go and join them. So, since I feared her more that them, I wandered over not knowing what to expect. I was still the new kid on the block, and very obviously so.

I watched in amazement as the ritual began. All the kids tossed their sticks into a pile at "centre ice." So I did the same. The big kids started throwing the sticks, one to the left, and one to the right - voila two teams. I saw my stick fly into a pile. I stood and stared. Then I heard the voice that may have changed my life. You can never really be sure, but if what happened didn't happen, things may very well have turned out differently.

A kid looked at me and screamed - "Hey, you're on our team - let's go!" At that moment I became a Canadian. I picked up my stick and never looked back. I spent many years experiencing the sweet, oh-so- Canadian pain of frozen tennis balls against frozen jeans, yelling "car" and adopting the pose a la Ken Dryden, and praying the games would never end.

I embraced Canada quickly, because Canada embraced me. Those are the type of opportunities that we need to create, because they will have a lasting impact on the type of city we have. Maybe street hockey is the answer, if not, we need to find one, and fast!

About Rahul Bhardwaj

Increasing intercultural relations

Two years ago, city councillor Rob Ford made disparaging and stereotypical remarks about people of Asian descent, saying “Oriental people work like dogs” and that “they're slowly taking over.”

Ford initially defended his remarks as complimentary, and only apologized after city councillors voted to force his apology

So, why is this relevant now?

Ford recently announced his candidacy for the mayor's seat in one of the most diverse cities in the world. As a public figure, the mayor represents Toronto both in Canada and abroad.

Our mayor is a reflection of our city and our people. He or she should be a leader we can be proud to call our own.

As a Torontonian of Chinese descent, the sting of Ford's comments lingers even now. And I know many of my fellow Asian-Canadians feel the same way.

To gain the trust of voters, particularly ethnic minorities such as myself, city councillors need to do more than just throw around words like “diversity” and “multiculturalism.” They need to demonstrate cultural sensitivity, and a real understanding of the racial dynamics in Toronto.

This city may be diverse, but there is a lack of integration among Toronto's ethnic communities. As local leaders, city councillors shouldn't reinforce these divisions – they should break them down.

I recall attending anti-racism and anti-oppression sessions during my time as a member of the Toronto Youth Cabinet several years ago. The city should offer similar programs to the general public. It should also host more intercultural events that will bring various ethnic groups together. Far too often, I see events such as the Toronto Chinatown Festival marketed and publicized specifically to Chinese communities. Meanwhile, other minority communities are left in the dark about these kinds of festivities, and as a consequence, lose out on an opportunity to explore and understand another culture.

Only when city councillors show this kind of racial awareness and act upon it, can they possibly earn my vote, and the vote of thousands of other Torontonians like me.

About Anita Li

Toronto needs a volunteer strategy

It’s National Volunteer Week in Canada, an opportune time to ask ourselves where volunteering fits into our lives, and into the life of our city.

According to a 2007 report prepared by Statistics Canada, 12.5 million Canadian volunteers give more than two million hours of their time per year.

Despite this impressive statistic, the rate of volunteering is declining in Ontario (from 50 per cent in 2004 to 47 per cent in 2007). There are fewer willing to give of their time, energy, ideas, influence and/or money to good causes. This is concerning, given that volunteers are the lifeblood of many charitable organizations and deliver many vital social services.

Although it is recognized by the City that volunteers play an instrumental role within various Toronto communities, there isn’t a city-wide volunteer strategy in place to promote volunteerism, connect potential volunteers to suitable opportunities, nor celebrate and recognize their contributions (Toronto’s last set of Community Service Volunteer Awards were handed out in 2006).

Vancouver has extensive online resources for its citizens to learn how and where to volunteer, and Montrealers are offered a comprehensive guide to volunteer opportunities, as well as volunteer bureaus to consult throughout that city.

Why volunteer? Apart from the feel-good aspect of contributing to the community, there are real skills to be learned and networks to be built.

And there is interest in engaging. For example, in a recent survey, Business for the Arts found that young professionals expressed interest in learning about, and spending time, volunteering in the arts and culture sector. What’s missing is a guide to what volunteer opportunities are available.

For someone early in their career, volunteer opportunities offer the opportunity for skill development and learning. Often skills learned while volunteering can be applied to professional endeavours (I’ve found that to be particularly true).

For newcomers to Toronto, volunteer opportunities potentially offer social connection and the ability to build networks, thereby supporting professional aspirations, or fulfilling other needs of the volunteer.

In short, volunteering can offer citizens invaluable building blocks for future success. And our city is built for the better in the process. Toronto needs a volunteer strategy to harness our diverse talent and put it to (pro bono) work.

About Gillian Hewitt Smith

Changing Toronto's political culture

Mark Kuznicki.

Toronto, the city and the region, is being transformed. Like many global urban regions, we are growing rapidly and that growth is changing the face of our community. A recent StatsCan study tells us that by 2031 we can expect the people of the Toronto region to be 63% visible minorities.

We are experiencing rapid and accelerating change on many fronts, but our political culture isn't keeping pace. If it doesn't catch up, we risk creating a city plagued by systemic problems stemming from exclusion, political dysfunction and the growth of a permanent underclass alongside a confused dominant class trying to reclaim an idea of Toronto based upon a mirage from its past.

Others have argued, and I agree, that the people who govern our city ought to reflect the diversity of the city itself. All adult permanent residents of Toronto should have the the opportunity to vote municipally and fully participate in civic life, regardless of their Canadian citizenship status. Despite the many commenters to the post by Gelek Badheytsang linked above who find the idea offensive, it is an idea whose time is coming. Newcomers and their children need better on-ramps to civic participation.

Beyond specific political reforms, I argue that we also need a cultural shift.

Torontonians are a reserved people. Visitors often comment on our city's coolly aloof attitude, while at the same time lauding our diversity and the vibrancy of our multicultural assets. How do we reconcile these two impressions?

My hunch is that the dominant culture's tolerance of diversity has for the most part been made easy by social distance and relative prosperity. When difficult decisions press us - hard choices forced upon us by limited resources - how well will we perform at reconciling our differences?

It's not just our leaders who need to change. We need to change. "We have to engage", John Tory said on this blog post, "WE have to listen to EACH OTHER". I agree.

I believe that we change the realm of possibilities when we shift the dialogue we have about this city and our place within it. We need to talk about our responsibilities to each other as well as our rights and individual needs and desires. We need a movement for civic engagement powered by people.

We need to have difficult conversations that acknowledge our differences and we need to transcend these differences in ways that help us make collective decisions. We need to recognize that our futures are shared, and we need to seize the opportunity to participate in shaping that shared future.

My vision of the future of Toronto as a livable city is a place where citizenship, civic life and community are re-imagined and reinvigorated, where the potential of our diversity is realized as a strength and an asset for our future prosperity. For the experiment of Toronto to succeed, we as a people must become world leaders in civic engagement and civic innovation that embraces an inclusive diversity.

This will be difficult. This is a job for all of us; not only our City government, our elected officials and our civic leaders. In future posts, I will propose specific ideas for how to realize this vision. I invite you to share your own ideas in the comments.

About Mark Kuznicki

Look back as we leap forward

Torontonians look wistfully to New York City these days.

A planning commissioner with a vision, someone who is not afraid of making bold decisions and exudes passion for the city and its neighbourhoods.

The kind of vision that sees an abandoned, elevated rail line transformed into a striking urban park.

Better commuter times than Toronto (I’m still reeling).

It’s not like we aren’t trying. Spend some time exploring this city’s nooks and crannies and you stumble upon urban art installations and bike lanes alongside the train tracks. And there is a vision (albeit moving at a snail's pace) in the waterfront plans, in some community housing development and revitalization projects across the city.

But here’s something else we could take from the Big Apple: a museum that celebrates Toronto’s immigrant communities, and all that they have brought to the city.

Why not start with one little corner of the city.

In New York, it was the Lower East Side.

The Lower East Side Tenements Museum started when a historian and social activist decided she wanted to build a museum that honoured America’s immigrants. In 1988, she and her co-founder finally found what they were looking for… One of the original tenement buildings, those multiple family buildings that housed thousands of immigrant families from the mid-nineteenth century on.

Now, having restored six apartments to reflect the living conditions of six actual families, residing in the tenement at various points during those many years, the museum is a living history of immigration, a slice of time and cultures, all carefully told by guides with talent for telling their stories.

So my Idea of the Day is a celebration of Toronto’s immigrant history. And yes I recognize that we are all – with the exception of First Nation people – immigrants to this land. But let’s start somewhere. Perhaps a storefront on Spadina Avenue, once the centre of Jewish life in Toronto, the home of the garment district, Yiddish theatre, cinemas. The advent of Chinatown and the waves of new families, cultures and communities ever since. The smells and sounds of Kensington Market.

And it is true that the dreams of a Toronto museum have been lingering out there for years… so maybe this could be a first step, a little taste of what we are and what we will become. A celebration of something that we are proud of, a reminder of the good and the bad, the racism, the struggles, the triumphs.

Oh and since we are talking about museums, and thinking big ideas, spend a few moments checking out the virtual museum of Toronto. It’s a beautiful little thing.

About Marit Stiles

Leave the Canadian Citizens Alone!

So, on Monday my post about why I think Toronto’s Permanent Residents should be allowed to vote in the municipal elections went online.

And boy did that open some kind of floodgate.

It’s like most of the commentators there can barely resist the urge to spit at immigrant-looking people when they enter the subway trains in downtown Toronto. And then they get home, tired and irritated of dealing with all the brown people in the city, turn on their computers and innocently browse the internet, and, whoa, a blog headline about immigrants.

Empathy switch: off. Raving jerk mode: on.

The comments range in the spectrum of single one-off declarations — no Citizenship, no vote — to the classic insecure, drive-by “who the hell do you think you are, you dirty immigrant? Get out of Canada if you don’t like it here” raging type. There are some supportive, well thought-out responses too, but they are pretty much deluged by the barrage of negative, vitriolic words.

There is a deep and pervasive sadness inherent in all the bile because it gives you a glimpse of the type of person who is basically just desperately clutching on to one of the few cards left in their life to grant them the exclusive, privileged pass to knock a person a notch or two beneath them.

It's one of the few instances when they can hold their nose up high and say "no", even though no one is asking them to give up anything.

It’s also sad because the moment they hear that the immigrants are demanding something, they react as if we are encroaching on their rights, while the immigrants live a life of blissful comfort and convenience. They must think that immigrants just spend the whole day twirling around their apartments while drinking wine from silver goblets paid (just) by Canadian citizens' taxes.

As if by suddenly opening our mouths and not being a Canadian, we know nothing about what it means to be a resident or a person. As if the only reason we want to have a voice in the city that we love and live in is so that we can disrupt the lives of the normal, decent, hardworking and law-abiding Canadian citizens who have to put up with so much nonsense from immigrants all the time.

It’s sad that most of them probably didn’t even bother to read what I’d written. Instead of talking about how immigrants can be better integrated into the country, or why this might be a bad idea because [insert study or fact] shows that it's not effective, all they care about is knowing whether the person who's lived in Toronto for five years, owns a house, participates in the community and cares for the city, has a passport or not. If you don’t have one, you’re SOL as far as they’re concerned.

In their knee-jerk rationality, all the immigrants in Toronto only care about are avoiding the duties and responsibilities that only Canadian citizens carry the burden of. And we even actively avoid becoming a citizen because, man, life's too gravy just living without an identity and purpose.

And alright, here’s the last part about it being sad: to hear Torontonians complaining that granting municipal voting rights to immigrants is sacrilegious because it shreds the fabric of Canada is like that neighbour who throws a hissy fit when you ask him if he can lend you his step ladder so that you can help clear the gutters of his garage roof. He won’t because it’s his ladder and his roof, goddamit. Never mind the fact that he rarely, if ever, uses the step ladder.

But if there’s one comment on my blog post that takes the cake, just on sheer awesomeness and ridiculousness, this one has to be it:

Landed immigrants need to understand what landed means. It sorta relates in Canadian terms, to a bark canoe touching a sand beach, and the occupants being europoeans seeking furs and fortunes, crept ashore. They often were made welcome at the campfire of the local chief, and they could participate in the life of the locals, but if they pushed to hard, they were scapled, tortured, and they died a death of pain and humiliation for offending the resident hosts. This ridiculous rant captures the mood of those early visitors, and perhaps the writer might want to reflect on that, if he ever thinks of traveling in the north, or indeed anywhere outside the warped out, sold out, gaped out city of Toronto. The federal cabinet minister who told David Miller to F-Off, had it right.

There are so many things wrong with the person that took the time to type that paragraph out. It’s almost hard to register whether the response was written by a conscious person or a series of algorithms based on malice, satire and ignorance.

1. That he refers to how the early settlers were welcomed by the First Nations people in Canada. Seriously? This coming from a person whose forebears violently claimed, looted, desecrated, pillaged and killed the natives out of their land? That he somehow contextualizes my post about municipal voting rights for immigrants against the backdrop of a bloody and tragic history of Canada which to this day affects Aboriginal people and has reduced them to being second-class citizens in their own lands? There must be some kind of prize for this kind of warped audacity.

2. Threatening me with violence. I’d just like to know that when I do get scalped, tortured, and die a death of pain and humiliation, will the commenter at least have the decency of signing off his property, family and life to the new settlers? Because, you know, I need that. It’s what the immigrants dream of when they land in Canada.

3. He (or she) most likely doesn’t even live in Toronto. So, to put it bluntly, what the hell does he care? I mean, this doesn’t concern and affect him the least bit. Why does he feel the need to stick his neck out like that and forever be branded with this toxic concoction of stupidity, insecurity and malevolence. Why?

Oh, and you know what’s the craziest thing in all of this? I am a Canadian citizen. And this is the response I get when I voice an opinion: get out of Canada.

You stay classy, Toronto.

About Gelek Badheytsang

Integrating immigrants key to Toronto's future

The successful integration of immigrants is not simply a matter of individual efforts by newcomers to Toronto. It must be accompanied by the city’s will to make social cohesion a priority by engaging a range of stakeholders, and it requires action from many players. In other words, inclusion is a two way street.

In a cosmopolitan city like Toronto – where our residents speak more than 100 languages and come from 200 distinct ethnic groups – the integration of immigrants is critical. Toronto continues to be a city of choice for many newcomers to Canada with 49 per cent of our city’s population comprised of immigrants.

In light of our aging population and our declining birth rate, we’ll rely more and more on immigrants as a key resource for building and strengthening our city and country. By 2011, Canada will rely 100 per cent on immigration for our net labour market growth; by 2026, our net population growth will be derived from immigration. 

Based on these imminent realities, we need to continue to effectively integrate new immigrants into our communities, especially if they choose Toronto as their home. 

This is why Maytree incubates ideas and collaborates with many stakeholders on local practical solutions for immigrant integration. This is also why we are communicating and partnering with national and international organizations on solutions that work.

We know these initiatives have made a meaningful and tangible impact on Toronto. And they are gaining traction in diverse urban centres across Canada and abroad – many communities are looking to Toronto to lead by example.

A few key highlights:

Since the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council was launched in 2003 by Maytree and the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a range of successful projects have helped skilled immigrants integrate smoothly into the Greater Toronto Region labour market.

Now through the ALLIES project, a partnership with The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, cities across Canada are learning from – and adapting – the TRIEC model to set up their own, locally-led, immigrant employment councils. In Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Ottawa, Montreal, Waterloo Region, Niagara, London, Fredericton, Moncton and Halifax, a strong civic movement is building to ensure immigrants can put their international skills, education and experience to good use.

Toronto’s story of immigrant integration has also garnered the interest of civic leaders and policy makers from outside of Canada, from Sweden to Singapore to Spain.

The Mentoring Partnership is another successful program founded in Toronto in 2004. It has helped over 5,000 skilled immigrants navigate the local job market with guidance from volunteer mentors in similar professions.  Eighty three percent of mentees said their mentoring relationship made a positive difference to their job search.

Over 50 corporate partners from the private and public sector have been actively engaged in the program as a means to nurture their staff’s leadership capacity and to build cross-cultural competence in an increasingly diverse workforce.

Through a recently launched national initiative, urban cities across Canada – and as far away as Auckland, New Zealand – have implemented their own mentoring programs for skilled immigrants as well.

DiverseCity, another project launched by Maytree and the Toronto City Summit Alliance, supports and develops up-and-coming leaders from under-represented ethnic and racial groups to address their low numbers in senior leadership positions in the Greater Toronto Area. Other communities across the country are interested in learning how to ensure that institutions are governed by qualified leaders who are more reflective of their population.

Cities of Migration, also a Toronto-based project, is the first international initiative to connect communities in Canada, the United States and around the globe on issues of migration and immigrant integration. With existing partners in Germany, Spain, the UK and New Zealand, the project just began a new collaboration with The National League of Cities to exchange key learnings about successful integration strategies.

While Maytree has had a hand in shaping these projects and solutions, we have not developed these ideas alone. It is only with the vision, energy and innovation of key players including employers, educators, community agencies, media, civic leaders and government, that Toronto has moved the marker on immigrant integration.

This collaborative approach is yet another reason why communities around the world are looking to Toronto for inspiration.

Indeed there is still much work to be done in Toronto, but we have made measurable and marked progress.

For that, our city should be proud.

About Ratna Omidvar

New workers, new skills special section

Will Toronto become two cities?

Statistics Canada tells us that a demographic shift is happening, that soon we will no longer speak of visible minorities. By 2031, 63% of Torontonians will have become visible majorities.

In the streets of Toronto, in the subway and buses, the shopping and strip malls of the city, this international, multicultural make-up of our residents is already a fact of life. Clearly, this will only intensify over the next 20 years. The question is whether we are doing the right things today to be ready for tomorrow.

Consider the following.

In the city of Toronto, close to half of our residents are visible minorities (43%). But you would be hard pressed to see any visible minority faces in the leadership profiles of our city - whether you looked at Bay Street, in Queen's Park, or at the city's largest voluntary sector organizations and its many agencies, boards and commissions. In Toronto City Hall, only four councillors are visible minorities.

Further, immigrants and visible minorities are disproportionately affected by trends that impact all of us. The recession, for instance, has left its mark on all of us, but more so on recent immigrants. While we all seem to be disengaged as an electorate, immigrants and visible minorities often find it difficult to even become engaged.

Have we then already become a new modern version of a “Tale of Two Cities”?

The residents of one city enjoy inherited privilege and natural social networks that help them in many ways. In the other city, residents are on the outside of this circle, wanting to get in, but not quite managing to do so. It is cold comfort to them to know that their children may well succeed where they now fail.

The future of a majority minority city is alluring for many reasons: An intensified, international outlook to the world, new markets, new talent, new customers, new ideas, new tourists – all this for the asking. But can we rely on these positives for tomorrow without addressing the economic, social and political gaps that exist today?

Here are a few things we can do today to be ready for tomorrow:

• Ensure that new voices are being heard at City Hall, including finding alternatives to the way we elect city councillors (Better Ballots);
• Allow landed immigrants to vote in local elections so they can learn and experience early on what it means to be a participating citizen (I Vote Toronto);
• Reward Toronto employers who hire skilled immigrants (Immigrant Success Awards);
• Ensure that city institutions are governed by qualified appointees who are more reflective of the people who live in the city (DiverseCity onBoard).

Many argue that time will take care of these issues. But time is what we don't have. We are less than two decades away from a new reality. We would be better advised to work at collapsing natural time frames so that we ready for the Toronto of tomorrow.

About Ratna Omidvar