Windsor / Detroit Relations (Midland, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe: neighborhoods, casinos, gated)

[tvdxer]

How many DTWers have been to Windsor? How many Windsorites to Detroit?

Detroit has a large African American population and a Polish heritage. Are there any Polish neighborhoods or African American-derived neighborhoods in Windsor?

Is it truly like going to another country when you enter Windsor?

[animatedmartian]

There's a good number of Windsorites who commute into Detroit for work, mostly those in the medical industry. Many Windsorites also shop in the malls surrounding Detroit. Many Detroiters tend to go over to visit bars and the casino, though obviously now less prevalent with the growth of Detroit's own casinos and restaurants. Still, the drinking age in Canada is 18 so you usually get a lot of youngins going over there. Other economic relations come from Ford and Chrysler having a few offices and factories in the Windsor area.

I've been through Windsor on the way to Niagara Falls, though I've never really been around Windsor itself. Plus it's been many years since.

[snoopygirlmi]

Yes, it is like entering another country when you go to Windsor.

Oh - the drinking age is 19, not 18.

A lot of people stopped going over the border simply because trying to get back into America is a big hassle since 9/11.

However, every town has it unique features and I'm sure that Windsor has some African neighborhoods simply because a lot of slaves didn't stop at Detroit, but went to Canada to escape the US entirely.

Neighbourhoods of Windsor, Ontario - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah, I know how some people feel about wiki, but I've found it's a good place to get started on researching things.

[Retroit]

I go to Windsor a few times a year to visit relatives. Other than customs, I don't feel as if I am in a different country. Windsor is a lot nicer (safer, cleaner, hardly any abandonment, etc.) than Detroit, but pretty comparable to most Detroit suburbs. Crossing Alter Road from Detroit to Grosse Pointe Park is a more noticeable difference than Detroit to Windsor.

[North 42]

Windsor's traditional black neighbourhood is just to the east of downtown, centred on the Glengarry and Mercer St. area. There are many families that have been in this area for generations, and still consider it the main African Canadian neighbourhood in the city. Even though the area has changed considerably with more immigration as of late, it still retains it's original character amongst all the multicultural new arrivals that have settled in the area.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by North 42

Windsor's traditional black neighbourhood is just to the east of downtown, centred on the Glengarry and Mercer St. area. There are many families that have been in this area for generations, and still consider it the main African Canadian neighbourhood in the city. Even though the area has changed considerably with more immigration as of late, it still retains it's original character amongst all the multicultural new arrivals that have settled in the area.

Do they speak Ebonics?

[memph]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

Do they speak Ebonics?

Probably not. Canada doesn't have as many African Americans and they're often more spread out and less segregated.

Looking at the census tracts that Windsor neighbourhood is in, they're only about 10% black. It's more than Windsor as a whole (5%) but still not very much. The neighbourhood is also about 40% visible minority, and actually has more Arabs than blacks (smaller minorities are mostly the various other Asian ethnicities common in Canada). I'm guessing they're relatively well integrated into the broader Canadian culture since they don't dominate the neighbourhood like in Detroit.

Toronto has neighbourhoods with a higher concentration of blacks, mainly in the NW of the city and also certain pockets of Scarborough. But even there the census tracts have at most 50% blacks*. Also with Toronto (maybe less so with Windsor though) a lot of the blacks have African and Caribbean accents because they immigrated from those regions relatively recently. I live in Canada and the blacks I know either have the same accent as other native Canadians or have immigrant accents.

The % of blacks that are recent immigrants is probably lower in Windsor since it gets fewer immigrants in general, although it's probably still higher than in smaller SW Ontario communities like Chatham or Wallaceburg.

Also it seems like Poles are the 4th most common non-British or Irish European ancestry after French, Italian and German. There's lots of Italians throughout Ontario. French Canadians are mostly in Northeastern Ontario, like North Bay, Kapuskasing, Hearst and Sudbury, and in Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Cornwall and some smaller towns around there. You do have a moderate concentration of French Canadians in a few communities in Southern Ontario though, Windsor is one of them, and you also have Welland and Midland-Penetanguishene. The rest of Southern Ontario has rather few French Canadians and a lot of them have just assimilated into the local (Anglo) culture.

*It's actually possible that there isn't a single census tract in Canada with over 50% blacks.

[canadian citizen]

Would this be a good time to point this out.................Windsor went two full years without a single murder. Quebec City, in the Province of Quebec also has a VERY low homicide rate, at less than three per year.

The murder rate in the USA, based on population groups of 100,000 people, is FIVE times higher than in Canada. One city in the USA, Chicago, as more murders per year, than ALL of Canada does.

So, Yes, Windsor is in a different country, and that is quite clear.

Jim B. In Toronto.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by memph

*It's actually possible that there isn't a single census tract in Canada with over 50% blacks.

I believe there might be a few in the Preston-North Preston area just outside Halifax.

[North 42]

Originally Posted by memph

The % of blacks that are recent immigrants is probably lower in Windsor since it gets fewer immigrants in general, although it's probably still higher than in smaller SW Ontario communities like Chatham or Wallaceburg.

Actually windsor has a lot of black immigrants, and is one of the most diverse cities in Canada. It is now more likely to see black people in traditional African clothing as it is to see blacks who were born here.