[old boy]

Toronto is certainly quite diverse and interesting , but in general, be careful whenever you see phrasing like " the most " this or that. In some cases, like this, it's just hyperbole and boosterism, and not provable.

 

[vatche]

I live in st pete florida and whenever the subject of toronto comes up they say omg it is sooooo diverse, a lot of Asians. Theyre all surprised. When I say so is ny, they say oh noooo toronto is waaay more diverse. I agree. Canada's immigration policies are different than the US's and the US has a huge population to begin with so it does not show as much.
In toronto it is a lot more evident. In the airport, downtown, on the highways.
Just go to Dundas square and compare it with Times Square.

 

[wild goose chase]

I live in st pete florida and whenever the subject of toronto comes up they say omg it is sooooo diverse, a lot of Asians. Theyre all surprised. When I say so is ny, they say oh noooo toronto is waaay more diverse. I agree. Canada's immigration policies are different than the US's and the US has a huge population to begin with so it does not show as much.
In toronto it is a lot more evident. In the airport, downtown, on the highways.
Just go to Dundas square and compare it with Times Square.

I also have heard this a lot myself -- Americans expressing surprise at the diverse demographics visiting Toronto for the first time, including those from Midwestern cities not too far from Toronto.

I think though, the US does a better job of reflecting/showcasing its diversity in its media (it's true that minorities are still underrepresented in media but our southern neighbour still has a leg up on us in this regard). Many people (even worldwide) just seem much more aware of the diversity of the US than Canada -- many on the street could if asked in a minute easily quickly name many dozens of famous Americans of different races -- be they politicians, entertainers, authors, artists, public figures, etc., but many will draw a blank for famous Canadians of different races (people might know a few like Drake or David Suzuki, but nowhere near the representation of American minorities).

 

[wild goose chase]

Just go to Dundas square and compare it with Times Square.

Times Square has a lot more tourists I think though than Dundas. I think a higher proportion of people you'd encounter in the city of New York, especially in famous locales, might be visiting/travelling while in Toronto, more will be locals walking around.

 

[vatche]

Agreed. But also in general though. All over town, meat packing district, soho, Central Park, the runners, bikers. Restaurants in general. Toronto is more non white overall.
Chicago is very white, so is Boston.
Canada as a whole I feel is a lot more diverse.

 

[Johnny Au]

Patrick Chan is among the best known active Canadian figure skaters in the world, yet he isn't white.

 

[ksun]

I also have heard this a lot myself -- Americans expressing surprise at the diverse demographics visiting Toronto for the first time, including those from Midwestern cities not too far from Toronto.

I think though, the US does a better job of reflecting/showcasing its diversity in its media (it's true that minorities are still underrepresented in media but our southern neighbour still has a leg up on us in this regard). Many people (even worldwide) just seem much more aware of the diversity of the US than Canada -- many on the street could if asked in a minute easily quickly name many dozens of famous Americans of different races -- be they politicians, entertainers, authors, artists, public figures, etc., but many will draw a blank for famous Canadians of different races (people might know a few like Drake or David Suzuki, but nowhere near the representation of American minorities).

That's because Canada pretty much has zero cultural influence world wide. People outside Canada simply know very little about Canada except a few stereotypes.
Speaking of entertainers/artists, most eventually become a part of Hollywood, don't they? So people recognize them based on where they success takes place, not where they spent their childhood. That's not surprising. People know Drake is Canadian because he constantly talks about Canada. Most Canadian born artists don't.

 

[prosperegal]

At the same time, the US seems to do a good job leaving Asians out of race-related stats - unless it is something Asian-focused. I think we do a better job here.

 

[wild goose chase]

I see more race-related stats widely collected and reported in the US than Canada overall though. For example, racial demographics for elections (from exit polls or political surveys) are more commonly done and reported (eg. what % of whites, blacks etc. voted for which Presidential candidate, while you don't see those stats for any race very often in Canada, in our elections). Also, you see racial demographics of US colleges/universities widely collected, but not often really in Canadian ones (though just this year, the University of Toronto started collecting stats).

 

[wild goose chase]

Not race related, but in terms of another type of diversity -- religious -- it seems that Canada has better/more reporting on stats related to non-Christian religions.

In the US when talking about religion in large parts of the country, sometimes "religious diversity" means mainly diversity of Christian denominations, especially with Protestant denominations broken down by stats, as well as Catholics, but then non-Christians (which may include Jews, Muslims etc.) are often a footnote.

Canada seems to include more world religions like Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. more when talking about the diversity of religion plus Christianity is more often evenly split into Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity (the latter branch of Christianity is even sometimes forgotten about in the US too). Yet, Canada wasn't all that religiously diverse up to a couple of generations ago, relative to the US, but in terms of even national stats, it seems like we've caught on quickly to reporting/acknowledging our religious diversity.

 

[King of Kensington]

Agreed. But also in general though. All over town, meat packing district, soho, Central Park, the runners, bikers. Restaurants in general. Toronto is more non white overall.
Chicago is very white, so is Boston.
Canada as a whole I feel is a lot more diverse.

NYC and Chicago are only about one third white.

 

[ksun]

At the same time, the US seems to do a good job leaving Asians out of race-related stats - unless it is something Asian-focused. I think we do a better job here.

My Asian friends always say this: when the US government talks about racial equality or diversification, they only have the blacks and Hispanics in mind. Asians never seem to be relevant. US politicians don't seem to care about Asian voters whatsoever except in a few cities such as San Francisco. On the contrary, Asians often end on being the losing side of such political correctness policies (such as in education).

 

[prosperegal]

My Asian friends always say this: when the US government talks about racial equality or diversification, they only have the blacks and Hispanics in mind. Asians never seem to be relevant. US politicians don't seem to care about Asian voters whatsoever except in a few cities such as San Francisco. On the contrary, Asians often end on being the losing side of such political correctness policies (such as in education).

Especially if you're lower income.

Middle and upper income Asians are probably okay - especially if they're successful in school and have parents with the "right" connections.

 

[wild goose chase]

My Asian friends always say this: when the US government talks about racial equality or diversification, they only have the blacks and Hispanics in mind. Asians never seem to be relevant. US politicians don't seem to care about Asian voters whatsoever except in a few cities such as San Francisco. On the contrary, Asians often end on being the losing side of such political correctness policies (such as in education).

That's probably largely due to numbers/proportions of the different minority groups in either country though -- Black Americans make up 12% and Hispanic (of any race) 16% of the US population while Asian Americans are a bit less than 5%. In Canada, people of various Asian descents added together form about 15%, with Black Canadians making up 3% and those of Latin American descent just a bit over 1%.

In either country, a group making up double digit %'s of the population would be more visible and politically represented compared to one making up single digits %.

 

[King of Kensington]

In California the Asian population is more than double the Black population.