By Ratna Omidvar (Maytree Opinion, August 2010)
In a recent article, the American blogger Laurie Lyons wrote that “Toronto is the hot new destination for all things crazy, sexy, cool”. In particular, she highlights Toronto’s accessible art, our fusion and fresh restaurants and the fact that Toronto is also one of the most diverse cities in North America. Toronto has something else to be proud of. Global cities around the world look to Toronto to understand and learn from our ongoing experiment with diversity. However, as Ratna Omidvar writes in this month’s Maytree Opinion, Toronto has still a long way to go before claiming success. To do so, it must be open to learning from other cities.

By Alan Broadbent (Maytree Opinion, July 2010)
Did anything good come out of the G20 meetings? Apart from a luke-warm pledge on maternal health (which is unclear on abortion), and which might turn out like many G8-G20 “pledges” (remember aid to Africa?), was there a benefit?

By Ratna Omidvar (Maytree Opinion, June 2010)
Soccer, or football as most of the world calls it, is very much part of the Canadian identity, writes Ratna Omidvar in this month’s Maytree Opinion. Every four years, it brings us together in a wonderful one-month celebration. Soccer is a defining feature of Toronto’s landscape in other ways too. Soccer helps many immigrants integrate. Recent immigrants search out soccer fields to meet new people. It’s a place where their struggle in a new land can be forgotten for a while, where it does not matter whether they have Canadian work experience, or whether their English is heavily accented. The soccer field becomes the place for new beginnings.