Becoming ‘Toronto the Good’ again
Toronto is not well.
What’s more, the situation here is worse than just about anywhere in Canada. August 2021 unemployment numbers show that the Greater Toronto Area still has significantly higher unemployment rates than before the pandemic, while much of the country has mostly returned to normal.
The lowest paid saw the biggest drop in hours worked during the pandemic, a 20 per cent decrease in Toronto versus one per cent in the rest of Canada.
The cost of living is out of control. Toronto had the fifth-highest median home price to median household income among 92 global markets. And for working families the situation is particularly challenging with the highest national child-care costs overall.
All told, 650,000 adult Torontonians do not have sufficient income to thrive in this city. That’s nearly equal to the entire city of Vancouver. Close to half the population said they worry about making ends meet, up from 34 per cent before the pandemic. The toll of this is dire and will far outlive the pandemic itself. More of us are depressed than elsewhere in the country (49 per cent vs. 42 per cent). And three-quarters of city residents are anxious. The very sad fact is that since the pandemic, 250,000 more people have absolutely no one to comfortably rely on.
It’s not easy to admit weakness. Toronto has long regaled the world with its “city that works” narrative. It’s a darling of global rankings, and a beacon of diversity and inclusion. But right now, acknowledging our failure and declaring that right now we are the worst is precisely what we need to do. Only in this way can we identify with those most vulnerable among us and mobilize to take action.
In this year’s “Toronto’s Vital Signs Report” released on Oct. 4, we zeroed in on those of us who have been most impacted by the fallout from the pandemic. They’re young and more often racialized. A disproportionate number are Indigenous. And people with disabilities have fared worst of all across most indicators of well-being we were able to track.
The truth is that while the rich are growing richer and healthier, a growing number of people in this city are losing hope. Young people left Toronto in droves seeking more affordable and friendlier places to live. Half of youth want to move out of province, and 16 per cent of youth in the GTA thought about suicide.
There’s a risk in continually sharing this depressing picture. We’re all exhausted by the limitations imposed on all of us, the sad realities of losing friends and neighbours, the loss of vibrancy we feel on our city streets.
But the realization and acceptance of our collective failure is actually what gives us hope. We’ve watched and participated as the world has started to come to terms with the depths of systemic racism and our collective desire to address it. While the work is only just beginning, the shameful revelation of our cruelty and indifference toward Indigenous children and societies feels like a step toward a new relationship.
In sickness, we come to terms with what matters. From our particular vantage point of mobilizing money to tackle Toronto’s growing inequalities, we are privileged in our ability to see the best too. While the country’s focus has been on the state of primary health care, community organizations — many operating at the grassroots — have provided critical life supports to hundreds of thousands of our fellow community members. We’ve seen Black leaders and other leaders of colour emerge with responsive and innovative programs, and bold new organizations too. We’ve seen Indigenous leaders come together in solidarity to take care of family, friends and neighbours.
It has been said that the pandemic is a mirror. It reflects back who we really are, warts and all. In that reflection is also a city on the cusp of something new and better. If we can lead with humility and an openness to listen and learn from our failings, Toronto can truly work for all of us.