In “The Three Cities Within Toronto” by J. David Hulchanski, the author asserts that incomes in Toronto’s neighbourhoods and suburbs have become increasingly polarized since 1970 and can be understood as three distinct cities: city #1 comprises the relatively stagnant high-income core, city #2 is the shrinking middle income segment, dispersed throughout Toronto, and city #3 is the growing low income segment which surrounds the core. My field work in the Yonge and Wellesley area and beyond supports and builds upon Hulchanski’s findings; there is strong evidence of income polarization between the site in city #1 to city #2 demonstrated primarily through a change in retail form, decreased access to transportation, and the presence of immigrant
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During the course of my journey from city #1 to city #2, I noticed an increase in shops and advertisements which feature non-English languages. This gives evidence for a higher incidence of immigrant communities in city #2 and city #3, which may exacerbate the polarization issue already existing in these parts of Toronto. As Hulchanski mentions in page three of the text, Toronto’s diversity is likely a contributor to the continued growth of the divide between the rich and the poor in Toronto. Particularly around York Mills Road and northward, I noticed a large decrease in the quality of housing available and a suspicious correlating increase in non- English signage, as well as shops and restaurants offering ethnic foods. As migrants come to Toronto and other large Canadian cities, they tend to settle in city #3 because of its affordability and are unable to access employment and education opportunities, as well as transportation to public services which would allow them to more easily integrate into Canadian life and move into city #1 or #2. Hulchanski’s work is a helpful model for understanding the status of immigration and poverty in Toronto today because it proves that residents of city #2 and #3 are overwhelmingly immigrant (Hulchanski 20) and non-white and typically are disadvantaged at the intersection of their
During the course of my journey from city #1 to city #2, I noticed an increase in shops and advertisements which feature non-English languages. This gives evidence for a higher incidence of immigrant communities in city #2 and city #3, which may exacerbate the polarization issue already existing in these parts of Toronto. As Hulchanski mentions in page three of the text, Toronto’s diversity is likely a contributor to the continued growth of the divide between the rich and the poor in Toronto. Particularly around York Mills Road and northward, I noticed a large decrease in the quality of housing available and a suspicious correlating increase in non- English signage, as well as shops and restaurants offering ethnic foods. As migrants come to Toronto and other large Canadian cities, they tend to settle in city #3 because of its affordability and are unable to access employment and education opportunities, as well as transportation to public services which would allow them to more easily integrate into Canadian life and move into city #1 or #2. Hulchanski’s work is a helpful model for understanding the status of immigration and poverty in Toronto today because it proves that residents of city #2 and #3 are overwhelmingly immigrant (Hulchanski 20) and non-white and typically are disadvantaged at the intersection of their