Three Cities Report

Did you know that during the 1970’s, Jane/Finch Community and the whole Black Creek area was a middle-income area? Thirty years later, our community is considered to be one of the lowest income and poorer neighborhoods in Toronto. This sad reality has been documented by numerous researchers. According to a recent report from the Centre for Urban and Community Studies (CUCS) at the University of Toronto, Toronto’s rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and middle-income neighbourhoods are becoming a minority. The report goes so far as to say that Toronto is no longer a “city of neighbourhoods,” but a “city of disparities.”* http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca. We now have three distinct geographical “cities” within the City of Toronto:

City # 1: High income- it is clustered around the two subway lines, much of the area south of Bloor/Danforth, some of the waterfront, and central Etobicoke. It includes about 17% of Toronto’s residents. In this “city,” incomes have increased by 71% over the 30-year study period. The ethnic origins of residents are mostly White (84%), a small minority are immigrants (12%), and their occupations are mostly white-collar (60%).

City #2: Middle Income- it’s between the other two cities, with some neighbourhoods in the core and south of Bloor-Danforth, and others in the former North York. Forty-two percent of Toronto’s residents live City #2. The ethnic makeup of City#2 is 67% White and 21% Black, Chinese or South Asian, 48% are immigrants, and their work is 39% white collar and 18% blue collar.

City #3: Low income- comprises much of northern Toronto, outside the Yonge Street subway corridor, plus large parts of Scarborough. It comprises 40% of the city’s population. Incomes in City#3 have decreased by 34% between 1970 and 2000; its residents are 43% Black, Chinese or South Asian in origin (40% are White); 62% were born outside of Canada; and 32% work in white-collar and 25% in blue-collar jobs. The entire Jane and Finch community and surrounding neighborhoods are part of the City #3.

For more information, or if you are interested to be part of a social movement to change this unjust situation, please contact Jane/Finch Action Against Poverty at janefinchactionagainstpoverty@gmail.com. *Source: http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca