My city? Not so much if you're a landed immigrant

The discussion of allowing landed immigrants to vote during the municipal elections is nothing new. The Star covered it. David Miller is supportive of it. The Maytree foundation has a whole campaign based on this issue.

The reason I bring it up is because it is something that is close to me. A little over a month ago, I took one of the most important steps of my life: becoming a citizen of Canada. It was a powerful moment. I can now sing “O Canada” proudly as an accepted son of this great country. I can vote for all levels of the government, run as a candidate, apply for federal jobs and travel anywhere without being harassed by custom agents (most of the times).

And I am grateful for all of that, among the many other things.

My life as a resident of Toronto, though, is more or less the same. Except for the fact that -- for the first time ever -- I can participate fully in the upcoming municipal elections, my morning after the citizenship ceremony was the same as the ones of the last six years.

In no specific order, here are some highlights of my life since 2003 (the year I became a Landed Immigrant):

• Helped 25 youth get a unique summer employment experience in Toronto through my work
• Volunteered (4), attended and supported almost all of the major festivals that took place in the city
• Helped youth in the city become advocates for their health, rights and opportunities
• Became a 2010 DiverseCity Fellows member
• Organized and attended various rallies and actions (political, environmental, educational…)
• Helped organize cleanup events last year during the city workers’ strike and in 2008’s Earth Day
• Helped many newcomer immigrants, and other marginalized communities, become more included and engaged in their community
• Attended almost all Canada Day celebrations and picnics hosted by local dignitaries
• Helped raise funds for various charity drives and foundations
• Organized a major festival in Parkdale attended by over 600 people
• Enjoyed the wealth of restaurants, shops, cafes, galleries, parks … of Toronto
• Paid my taxes
• Etc, etc.

I hope this doesn’t come across as me showing off how awesome I am. We’ll cover that in some other post. Rather, it’s to show that I was offered all kinds of opportunities to be an engaged resident of this city. Not only that, but I was also active in many areas that helped sustain Toronto and make it a better, more vibrant city.

In the past six years, two municipal elections took place in which I couldn’t cast my vote. Since 2004, 7360 city bylaws were passed that affected my life as a Torontonian, all without me ever having a chance to voice my opinion in any meaningful way.

This year, I am fortunate enough to have a chance to finally say my piece and follow through on my responsibility of being a citizen. My dad won’t, even though he owns a house and is as active as I am in his community in Etobicoke. Neither will my friend who’s lived in Toronto for over five years. Neither will 263,000 other people like her. And if I didn’t get my citizenship this year, neither would I.

I am lucky in that my application was processed in six years. There are many who desperately want to be Canadian citizens whose papers will take much longer to get through, for various reasons, some of which that are beyond their control. For some, that letter inviting them to the citizenship ceremony will never arrive.

The history of progress is marked by the high points of people achieving the right to participate in that most cherished cornerstone of all democratic societies: voting. Women were allowed to vote in Canada 92 years ago. The Civil rights movement sparked a generation whose ideas and values are still resonant and reverberating today.

I don’t mean to say that the significance of those landmark moments then and this issue now is the same. But there are similarities in all three cases that are hard to ignore, namely that of exclusion and disparity of rights.

In an upcoming election where the same old tired complaints of voter apathy, disconnected wards and the lack of new faces among the political elites are loud and true, I can’t help but wonder if that would be mitigated by allowing the strong and active immigrant population to vote for changes that they deserve in the Toronto that they call home.

In the spirit of leadership, inclusion and a better Toronto for all, this is one step that is long overdue.

[Be sure to visit www.ivotetoronto.org for more info about this, and what you can do to help.]

About Gelek Badheytsang

A 905 dweller with downtown dreams

Ainsworth Morgan.

Like most people who migrate to a new land, there is often a sense of nostalgia associated with the return to “back home” or the “old country.” There is an unspoken expectation that the stay is never to be permanent; just enough time to secure the financial independence that would facilitate one’s return.

I grew up in Toronto and I am currently in the tenth year of my migration to the 905 world of mega big box stores and readily available free street parking. Yet I still dream of the day that I can return to the “old country” of corner stores and eclectic night life that is the land of Toronto.

For many immigrants, like myself, the true sign of “making it” in the new country is in becoming a homeowner, with a backyard. Unfortunately, with the ever increasing cost of homes and the limited access to affordable housing, the thought of home ownership in Toronto, especially when you’re raising children, is merely a dream for most. So insert plan B: a move to the suburbs to fulfill the immigrant dream.

And thus begins, what I call, community envy.

Let’s be honest, we all have it. Perhaps I should define exactly what I mean by community envy. It’s that desire we all have to step out of our front door and take a mid-afternoon stroll with the family along the (insert your neighbourhood of choice here) The Danforth, Yonge and Eglinton, Cabbagetown, College St. W., etc. for ice cream, without having to pack up the mini-van and leaving for that mid- afternoon stroll at 8 a.m. in an effort to ensure that we are able to secure parking that is relatively close to our destination; while praying that we’ve brought enough snacks and multiple “educational” toys to keep the children distracted - sorry, I meant engaged, for the journey.

I will admit that I have often fantasized about waking up one morning only to discover that a giant hand had swooped down and scooped up my house in the middle of the night and gently placed it at the corner of Bathurst and St.Clair. Crazy I know; but I would bet that I am not alone in my delusion and my wishful thinking.

Yes, I am a 905er and like many other 905ers who work and play in Toronto, the reality of community envy connects me to the upcoming municipal election. Issues such as the universal transit pass make my connection all too real. As a 905er, I would like to see the issue of linking the TTC to other GTA transit systems and the GO transit addressed. It should not be cheaper for me to drive from Brampton to Toronto and back, than it is for me to use public transit.

Given our interconnectedness, Torontonians should not take us 905ers for granted. Like Toronto residents we also pay into the city’s infrastructure and play a role in its growth and sustainability.

There is no doubt that the suburbs are growing and that more and more newcomers to Ontario are actively choosing to make a life for themselves in the GTA instead of settling in Toronto proper. At this rate of expansion, it is not difficult to conceive that eventually the suburbs will be on par with Toronto in terms of employment opportunities, lifestyle options and daily living conveniences. As a result, there will be fewer reasons for people like me to trek into the city; which is more reason to broaden the dialogue to include the contributions of 905 residents.

I’ve said all of this to say that what I don’t want to see is downtown Toronto falling prey to the ills suffered by many large American urban cities, in which their downtown core has become primarily a space for the super-wealthy or the ultra-poor. Cities that operate in those extremes are not sustainable and ultimately become quite costly.

Part of what I will be looking for from the candidates, in the upcoming municipal election, is their individual ability to understand and articulate a message that speaks to the needs of their Toronto constituents while not alienating their 905 neighbors and supporters. For this to happen, we need leaders who are forward thinking and who are willing and able to look beyond their personal interests in order to address the needs of the collective.

At this rate, I am unsure that I will ever be able to go “back home”. But just like any self-respecting ex-patriot, I keep abreast of all the news from home, hoping that my knowing will somehow lessen my longing for the “old country” and diminish the intensity of my community envy.

About Ainsworth Morgan

Don't fear the rise of the new

Aditya Jha.

The discussion of mayoral leadership of the GTA needs to be elevated from budget to budget line item presentation to the electorate to ideas, agendas and model.

One such core issue is the "rise of the new" as the total population of GTA grows to 8.8 million (5.5 million of them visible minorities) by 2030. This is a sea change from 1960 when 80 per cent of Torontonians had their origin traced to British lineage.

The "rise of the new" should be one of the key issues for GTA: the transition we are going to witness will not only be a matter of dollar and cents, it will have serious political and cultural consequences.

The "rise of the new" need not be more destabilizing, as it is not going to be comprised of all homogeneous groups but will be a group of groups with its own push and pull.

The mainstream population will still be the most important group to exercise influence in every realm.

Although more assertive individual groups would mean more antagonists and demagogues, and if the mainstream Canadian leadership continues to be engaged in pandering politics, then it will give rise to bigoted extreme elements from these groups of new Canadians. THis will inevitably challenge our social fabric and many times foment sectarian problems in their country of origin as well.

On the other hand, it also means the presence of more negotiators and ethnic leaders with stakes in keeping the harmony and common interests of all. It is the organizing and encouraging of the impulse to keep harmony and common interests that new mayoral leadership should articulate: how Toronto would become more vibrant and prosperous city with the rise of the new.

The larger sections of the new Canadian groups share the same basic interests and ideals with the dominant mainstream population. They left their country of origin looking for Canada and not their country of origin in Canada.

The major leadership challenge for Rocco Rossi and George Smitherman and the other mayoral candidates is to articulate how to create co-operation among various communities on the common issues that plague us all - a new social architecture for the City of Toronto that would ensure peace, growth and sense of belonging for all.

The issue is not the decline of mainstream population by 2030, but the rise of the new. It is about the great transformation taking place in GTA, that is discussed prominently, but selectively, and remains poorly understood.

The distribution of power in GTA will shift. But question to ponder is, will it be controlled from the ethnic religious places which is mostly led by dogmatic, lesser educated with lesser mainstream exposure or by the larger section of these ethnic groups that is tolerant, accommodative, peaceful and moderate? Rise of the New doesn’t mean that we are entering a reverse discriminatory world by 2030, but we are moving into an era where it could be part of the solution for great city of Toronto in the globalized world. We will have greater success as Canada becomes more world-centric, globally engaged, and lesser dependent and sometimes lesser subservient to American interests. It will be defined and directed from many ethnic worlds and by many people.

What kind of challenges do these changes present? What do they portend for Toronto and for mainstream Canadians? What will the new GTA look like as our society, ideas and culture mix change? What will it mean to live in 2030 Toronto?

Will our mayoral candidates outline for all of us to debate and envision a shared world of Toronto marching towards 2030?

About Aditya Jha