TORONTO: IS JUST BEING DIVERSE GOOD ENOUGH?

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TORONTO 000039 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SOCI SMIG SCUL CVIS CA SUBJECT: TORONTO: IS JUST BEING DIVERSE GOOD ENOUGH? ¶1. (U) Summary: Toronto proudly proclaims its status as one of the most diverse cities in the world, with some 47% of the population in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) having been born abroad and over 150 languages spoken daily. Comparatively few minorities are seen in visible leadership roles, however, creating what can be called a "diversity deficit." In response, public agencies and private groups are creating educational and mentorship programs which aim to significantly increase the number of visible minorities among the city's leadership. A number of socio-economic challenges must be addressed first, however, if civic engagement among minorities is to be increased and potential alienation reduced. End Summary. -------------- A WIDE SPECTRUM OF COLORS -------------- ¶2. (U) According to the Ontario government, each year the Province receives some 125,000 new immigrants, more than half of Canada's total. Toronto itself is home to a large number of the world's cultural and ethnic groups, with more than 150 languages and dialects spoken in the city. The trend toward diversity has existed since the late 1980s and in fact, was strong enough to spawn an urban myth that the United Nations had declared Toronto to be the world's most diverse city. ¶3. (U) According to Statistics Canada, more than two-thirds (68.5%) of new immigrants to the GTA were born in Asia and the Middle East, with top source countries including China, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, in that order. Four of those five countries (all but Sri Lanka) also are among the top five nationalities we see in our nonimmigrant visa operation. At the same time there is significant immigration from Europe, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Because of the GTA's rapid economic expansion and changing demographics in the labor force (about 10% of Canadian-born workers are in the pre-retirement age bracket, ages 55 to 64) the province has aggressively sought to attract new immigrants for many years. -------------- PALE AT THE TOP -------------- ¶4. (U) Despite Toronto's status as the most diverse city in Canada, there is a clear dearth of visible minorities in leadership positions. (As defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act, the term 'visible minority' applies to anyone who is non-Caucasian in race or non-white in color. Under the Act, Canada's aboriginals are not considered to be members of visible minority groups.). Research conducted by the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a network of businesses and city leaders, showed that at present 56% of corporate boards in Toronto have no members belonging to a visible minority, and only four of the 44 Toronto city councillors and fewer than 2% of public-sector management positions (such as municipal managers) are held by visible minorities. There are similarly low ratios for judges and high-school teachers, 4% and 5% respectively. Moreover, out of the 106 elected federal Members of Parliament representing Ontario, only seven appear to be members of visible minority groups, further highlighting the continuing disproportionately low representation of minorities. In fact, this represents a drop from the 2006 election total when nine visible minority MPs were elected from Ontario. ¶5. We have noticed the same pattern in corporate or law firm sponsored meetings and "power lunches" made up of the local economic elite. In one such meeting we attended, of 37 attendees, 35 were white males. The other two were a male Asian, and the assistant to a presenter who was a female Hispanic. Occasional questions we have asked local counterparts about the perceived difference between the diverse population and the "undiverse" elite receive responses that some would consider predictable. Minorities feel validated that a third party has noticed the disparity and strongly agree that it exists, while non-minority elites either have not thought much about the issue or for the most part seem comfortable with the status quo. ¶6. (U) In response to the diversity disconnect, DiverseCity on Board - a joint public-private initiative launched three years ago - aims to match 1,000 candidates from local ethnic enclaves with governance positions in agencies, boards, commissions, and non-profit organizations across the GTA by the end of 2010. The initiative promotes broader civic engagement and participation in political life. The group's goal, prompted by Toronto regional leaders during the 2007 Toronto City Summit, is to have at least 500 visible minority individuals join public-sector boards, more than double the current 220. ¶7. (U) Public agencies are also creating their own initiatives to diversify their governing bodies. At the start of 2009, Toronto Children's Aid Society (CAS),a non-profit funded by the Ontario government, began a recruitment campaign to add more minorities to its board of directors. Although 67% of the families CAS serves are visible minorities, its governing board currently has only one TORONTO 00000039 002 OF 002 minority member out of 19. Ironically, although CAS is striving to address the scarcity of minorities on its board, the agency's requirements for board applicants include previous experience on other corporate boards. -------------- -------------- USING ALL THE COLORS: A STEP TOWARDS CIVIC ENGAGEMENT -------------- -------------- ¶8. (U) The problem of minority under-representation will be difficult to solve until the underlying challenges to social-economic integration are addressed. The vast majority - perhaps 80% - of the 125,000 immigrants arriving in Ontario each year settle in the GTA. About 65,000 of the new immigrants are skilled workers, but Statistics Canada analysis shows that skilled immigrant workers are not succeeding as expected in the years following their arrival in Toronto. 60% are downwardly mobile upon arriving and 30% of immigrants who have a post-secondary degree find work in jobs requiring a high school degree or less. Although the 2005 Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement provided C$920 million over five years (some C$3,400 per new immigrant) to the province to help new immigrants integrate into Ontario communities, obstacles to successful settlement, such as language training and adequate job placement, persist. ¶9. (U) Addressing one such challenge, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) - a non-profit organization which includes community organizations and corporate partners - helps foreign-trained professionals find work in the Toronto region through a mentorship program. In 2007, TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program brought together 1,150 mentoring relationships between skilled immigrants and Canadian professionals (mentors are both Canadian-born and established immigrants). Based on an evaluation survey completed at the end of 2007, nearly 80% of mentees who completed the program were able to find employment and 85% of those were working in the field of their choice. -------------- A PERSONAL STORY -------------- ¶10. (U) One of our colleagues at the Consulate is a prime example of the difficulties faced by new immigrants in Toronto. He arrived in Canada from Southeast Asia in 2003 under the landed immigrant program, through a family-based petition. Although he had graduate level education and 15 years experience as a school teacher, he was unable to work in his field when he first arrived in Canada. He explains that he received minimal assistance for what he described as a complicated re-certification and licensing process. As a result, he worked in fast-food service and janitorial jobs his first few years in Canada. More than 3 years after immigrating, he was able to begin the recertification process. In our colleague's case, the Ontario College of Teachers ultimately granted him a license without requiring that he obtain further training. However, after 19 months of applying to both public and private school boards in Toronto, he is still unable to find work in his field. ¶11. (U) Comment: As the face of the GTA becomes ever more diverse (Statistics Canada predicts that more than 50% of GTA residents will belong to a visible minority by 2017.) city leaders are becoming aware that the leadership in the public and private sectors does not reflect this diversity. While the raw numbers may indicate that Toronto is an extremely diverse city, area leaders will have to work hard to ensure that all that diversity is not stuck at only one end of the province's social-economic spectrum. Given that many arriving immigrants immediately move to an enclave largely comprised of people of their own ethnic background, such an effort is an important part of helping integrate minorities into Canadian society and reducing potential alienation among their young people - those most vulnerable to extremist elements who might lure them toward the angry fringe. NAY