Toronto • Canada
Where diversity meets and a wealth of arts, culture and nightlight, a mix of people from all cultures welcomes the visitor to Toronto, Canada‘s largest city. Toronto‘s multicultural mosaic never stops evolving.
Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. As Canada’s economic capital, it is considered a global city and is one of the top financial centres. Leading economic sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, aerospace, transportation, media, arts, film, television production, publishing, software production, medical research, education, tourism and sports industries.
Toronto‘s population is cosmopolitan and international, reflecting its role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada, one of the world’s most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, as about 49% of the population were born outside of Canada. Because of the city’s low crime rates, clean environment, high standard of living, and friendly attitude to diversity, Toronto is consistently rated as one of the world’s most livable cities. Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians.
The production of domestic and foreign film and television is a major local industry. Many movie releases are screened in Toronto before a wider release in North America. The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most important annual events for the international film industry. Toronto hosts more festivals than anywhere in the world! The Dragon Boat Race, Symphony of Fire and the CHIN International Picnic just to name a few. Toronto’s Caribana festival takes place from mid-July to early August of every summer and is one of North America‘s largest street festivals, based on the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, the first Caribana took place in 1967 when the city’s Caribbean community celebrated Canada’s Centennial year, forty years later, it has grown to attract one million people to Toronto‘s Lake Shore Boulevard annually. Pride Week in Toronto takes place in late June and is one of the largest LGBT festivals in the world. One of the largest events in the city, it attracts more than one million people from around the world, the gay village is located in the Church and Wellesley area of Downtown. The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is held annually at Exhibition Place, and it is the oldest annual fair in the world and the fifth-largest in North America. Canada’s Wonderland, a big theme park located 30 kilometres north of downtown Toronto is considered one of North America’s premier amusement parks, with more than 200 attractions, open from May to October.
Its museums and galleries are among the best in North America, this meeting place of diverse cultures ensures visitors will be spoiled with an international choice of food and restaurants. There are lots to do in Toronto depending on the time of year you visit. United from all over the world, communities celebrate their origins with festivals and traditions from many backgrounds, Portuguese and Italian being present almost all year round. Toronto is a vibrant city that can’t be missed and is sure that anyone that visits will certainly leave delighted to see culture is celebrated by all that have made Toronto their home.
Toronto is an under-rated city of world-class quality. Having travelled to many places every return visit to Toronto reminds me of the uniqueness of the city. This city is made for walking to explore its neighbourhood, outdoor patios in the summer just add to the ‘outside living’ lifestyle of Torontonians, after a long winter indoors there is no better place than the beach, park, back yard BBQ and beer.
The city celebrated its 175th birthday in 2009, I decided to look into the city’s past and found archives that really show how it has grown so much. Even for me just seeing the development and growth over the last 8 years has been overwhelming and encouraging. If your a Torontonian, be sure to check the Toronto Archives for photos from 1856 of your neighbourhood and streets, a fascinating look into the cities past.
Being gone as long as I have, I can truly admit that this is a city I love.
