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However, I don't think I have ever heard anyone say an area is " too white ".
I could be completely off my rocker with this - but I actually think this could be part of the reason Toronto is not exactly 'embraced' in our nation - because it is not white enough. If the over 100K new immigrants/migrants per year coming to the city/metro were from European countries-particularly western Europe and white domestic migration, than it would probably be more 'embraced' as representing our country. I don't think BMI's (who may just prefer certain European cultures) unfortunate comment is too hard to find among whites in our country - even not too far from Toronto. I lived and went to College in white Barrie or at the time white Barrie - its a lot more of a diverse bedroom community of the GTA now - but you get a lot of those 'unfortunate' comments there.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Unfortunately very little for a long time now.
If I was to guess, I’d say former east block countries the most.
Western europe is in many ways better than Canada (or perceived as such),
so no reason to move.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci
???
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
I don't really care either way and I have no idea of what the other poster's intentions are, but we are living in an era where it's not uncommon to hear people say it's "unfortunate" (or worse) that certain cities or regions are *too* white, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised if we hear some people say the opposite.
If a place can be said to be "too European", then some places can also be said be "too non-European".
It goes with the territory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci
I'll wait for their response on what they meant.
However, I don't think I have ever heard anyone say an area is " too white ".
Quote:
Originally Posted by netwit
I haven't either. When Harper mentioned "old stock Canadians" I thought he was talking about the UK and France. Not specifically white although that goes with the territory.
Anyway, the majority of European immigrants in my area are Germans, ethnic Germans from the former Soviet bloc and Russians. But surprisingly for this area, the largest group recently are Filipinos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fusion2
I could be completely off my rocker with this - but I actually think this could be part of the reason Toronto is not exactly 'embraced' in our nation - because it is not white enough. If the over 100K new immigrants/migrants per year coming to the city/metro were from European countries-particularly western Europe and white domestic migration, than it would probably be more 'embraced' as representing our country. I don't think BMI's (who may just prefer certain European cultures) unfortunate comment is too hard to find among whites in our country - even not too far from Toronto. I lived and went to College in white Barrie or at the time white Barrie - its a lot more of a diverse bedroom community of the GTA now - but you get a lot of those 'unfortunate' comments there.
I read BMI's post differently.
I read "Unfortunately very little for a long time now" as "Sadly, not many are coming here now" (it's dwindled).
Maybe I'm the one who's misunderstanding, but that's how I read it.
For me it isn't really the colour though - it is living in a multiethnic/multicultural society that I enjoy. I tend to separate the physical aspects but when you are dealing with someone from Guyana or Jamaica or Thailand etc - it is hard not to become fascinated and wanting to ingratiate yourself into the culture or the mixture of their native culture blended with something uniquely local.
I think the world is a big enough place that we can have a mixture of places with strong local culture and also places of heavy diversity. I don't think we are going to change it. The world is becoming ever smaller and technology will do more to bring variety together so you are simply going to see more and more nodes of diversity. The good thing is - there is choice in terms of places to live and places to visit. There is something to be said for people of different races/cultures and ethnicities setting aside differences and working together, living together etc. I don't know how we are going to escape it and for many of us - this is highly enriching and satisfying. That all said, I do enjoy visiting places with a monotonous or dominant culture. It is interesting to visit but for me, I don't know if it is a place I would feel invigorated living in. My idea of connection however, may be different from them and that is ok. I'd also volunteer that for me, the idea of different cultures/ethnicities and races united is far more of a triumph than culture itself.
I think a lot of people tend to see that as "triumph" simply because the differences between people have led to so much bloodshed throughout history.
I don't think that "you guys do your thing and we'll do our thing and we'll be cool with each other" is necessarily undesirable as an option either. It's worked as well here and there at times but it's always the bad stuff we have in mind and as result we think that a global melting pot will put all of that rest.
I also think that even if we ended up with a kind of global monoculture with everyone being a similar shade of, say, light brown, speaking the same language, with similar levels of prosperity, perhaps with no religion anymore... that people would still find ways to divide themselves up and there would still be conflicts.
Yesterday in Kabul a bomb went off and 20-30 people were killed. It targeted Shia Muslims and was most certainly a dirty deed done by Sunni Muslim groups. These are people that are all of the same ethnicity and nationality, speak the same language and are really even of the same religion - just different branches of it.
I could be completely off my rocker with this - but I actually think this could be part of the reason Toronto is not exactly 'embraced' in our nation - because it is not white enough. If the over 100K new immigrants/migrants per year coming to the city/metro were from European countries-particularly western Europe and white domestic migration, than it would probably be more 'embraced' as representing our country. I don't think BMI's (who may just prefer certain European cultures) unfortunate comment is too hard to find among whites in our country - even not too far from Toronto. I lived and went to College in white Barrie or at the time white Barrie - its a lot more of a diverse bedroom community of the GTA now - but you get a lot of those 'unfortunate' comments there.
I don't think so.
If you think of Canada's major cities, 8 of the 9 next largest cities (except for Quebec City) have fairly high degrees of diversity even if they're not as diverse as Toronto. The largest cities also make up half or more of Canada's population. Plus many smaller Canadian cities have some diversity within them so that's even more of our population right there.
And Toronto's diversity is not "shocking" to someone from Calgary or Ottawa. Let alone Vancouver.
My kids don't live in a hyper-diverse place but they still have exposure to diversity. They've been to Toronto a number of times and they've never made diversity-related comments about the city.
Now, I am sure people from many more rural parts of the country might make comments about Toronto feeling "alien" or something like that, but honestly - criticism or hostility to Toronto isn't limited to people from those areas. People in Vancouver or Ottawa can be critical of Toronto too.
Now if Toronto were predominantly of a single ethnicity (like, say, Detroit), then perhaps that might make a difference. But as it stands now when I go to Toronto I see lots of white people, black people, brown people, Asian people, Mediterranean people, etc. It's not really that different from what I see here at home - even if the proportions are fairly different.
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