Alarms ring across social divide
Toronto is a city with a big heart and a strong sense of community. Its citizens donate almost twice as much to charity as the Canadian average. Businesses and individuals funnel more than $ 1 billion a year — the equivalent of one- fifth of the municipal budget — into philanthropic endeavours. In every neighbourhood, there are nonprofit organizations working tirelessly to create opportunity and reach out to those in need.
Yet despite this desire to share, the gap between rich and poor is widening. Certain neighbourhoods have become breeding grounds for anger and despair. An underclass of students, trapped by a poor command of English, is developing in the schools. Youth unemployment is at a 10- year high. The homicide rate is rising. “We risk becoming a city of extremes,” said Anne Swarbrick, president of the Toronto Community Foundation, which released its annual report on the city’s well- being last week.
Four years ago, the foundation, which pools Torontonians’ donations and steers them toward high- impact charities, decided to publish Vital Signs, an across-the-board-look at the city’s quality of life. The intent was twofold: to give citizens a clear picture of Toronto’s strengths and weaknesses and to act as a catalyst for change.
It has accomplished the first goal remarkably well. Vital Signs ( available at www. tcf. ca) is a concise, easy- to- read summary of how the city is doing economically, socially and environmentally. The foundation’s second objective has proved more elusive.
For four years running, it has sounded the alarm about the high degree of income polarization in the city. Yet the trend is accelerating. Each year, it has identified the lack of affordable housing as an urgent problem. Yet the number of homeless people dying on the streets keeps rising.
Every one of its reports has warned that newcomers are not getting the support they need to participate fully in Canadian society. Yet immigrant assistance agencies are still starved for funds.
Year after year, it has pointed out that Toronto’s child poverty rate — which now stands at 35 per cent — is dangerously high. Yet the number of low- income children continues to climb.
It is not the charity’s fault that policymakers have failed to act on the information it has put before them. Nor can lack of progress be blamed on a disengaged citizenry. Hundreds of thousands of Torontonians are doing what they can — through the United Way, community groups, faith- based organizations and individual acts of altruism and advocacy — to keep the city strong and inclusive.
This left a huge question hanging in the air at the launch of this year’s edition of Vital Signs. What will it take to halt the downward spiral? A panel of community leaders struggled to provide answers.
Glen Grunwald, president and chief executive of the Toronto Board of Trade, said political pressure was the key. Things are starting to move in the right direction, he said, pointing to recent federal investments in affordable housing and public transit. If enough Torontonians raise their voices in the coming election, it might be possible to move city-building up the national agenda.
Carolyn Acker, executive director of the Regent Park Community Health Centre, urged citizens to volunteer their time and talent to help vulnerable young people. Until governments are prepared to invest in the city’s social capital, it will be up to public- spirited individuals to provide leadership, she said. “ The most important thing we can do is create a sense of possibility among our youth.”
Janice Gross Stein, professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said a way has to be found to align the country’s priorities with its policies. No one benefits when immigrants are underemployed, she pointed out. No one is served when highly motivated students are held back by their inability to grasp English. No one wins when Canada’s cities can’t keep enough of the wealth their citizens generate to tackle the problems on their doorstep.
“ We desperately need to look at our fiscal architecture in this country,” she said.
All of these responses were right, but none was wholly satisfying. All of these approaches have been tried, with limited results. As the session drew to a close, Martin Connell, the pioneering businessman and social entrepreneur who chairs the Toronto Community Foundation, reflected on what he’d heard. The indicators look disheartening, he conceded. But Toronto has assets that don’t show up on any scorecard: tenacity, imagination, generosity and hope.
“ We have a lot going on here that is quite incredible.” Carol Goar’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.