The Future of Cities – join the dialogue on The Mark, a daily online forum for news, commentary, and debate. In her contribution, Ratna Omidvar, Maytree’s President, argues that for Canada’s urban centres to be successful and sustainable, they cannot exclude immigrant and Aboriginal populations.
—————————————
The Cities of Inclusion
By Ratna Omidvar, President of Maytree
For Canada’s urban centres to be successful and sustainable, they cannot exclude immigrant and Aboriginal populations.
Cities have always been a magnet for people and ideas. Today, Canadian cities are seeing a boom in population growth as a result of both immigration and migration from inside Canada.
Winnipeg has more young aboriginals than any other city in Canada. Vancouver attracts huge numbers of mainland and Hong Kong Chinese. The gay pride parade in Toronto is the second largest in the world after San Francisco’s. In the outer suburbs of Toronto like Markham and Brampton, minorities are the majority.
If we are to believe urban studies guru Richard Florida, this richness of diversity will create a boom in innovation, ideas, and creativity, leading to opportunity and prosperity. But will it create opportunity for everyone? Or will it lead to a new class system, with the creative at the top? Or will the rising tide lift all boats – and all cities?
Two groups in Canadian cities that are particularly vulnerable are aboriginal peoples and new immigrants. Both tend to live in high poverty neighbourhoods. Both face major problems finding affordable housing and employment. Notwithstanding higher levels of education that new immigrants are bringing to Canada, their attachment to the labour market is discouraging. Aboriginal high school completion rates lag behind those of the general population. Adverse crime and health outcomes follow.
Also troubling is the imperviousness and rigidity of our institutions. There are classrooms in the Toronto suburb of Brampton where sometimes the only white face is that of the teacher. Despite the high degree of ethnic diversity in Toronto, where 47 per cent of the population is visible minority, the leadership landscape is populated by a demographic that is best described as male, white, and middle-aged.
Inclusion starts with community institutions like schools, libraries, and parks. Its indicators are trust in institutions, solidarity and community among residents, and participation at the level of influence and power.
In order to achieve this goal, we must create new governance vehicles to address social exclusion. An example of this is the work being done in the Greater Toronto Area by DiverseCity – an initiative that focuses on diversity in leadership positions. It argues that leaders with diverse backgrounds bring not just the usual and expected qualities of leadership, but also the value-added ones of new perspectives, new connections, and ability to arrive at new solutions.
In addition to this, we must invest and reinvest in success. A number of excellent local initiatives have made gains in reducing poverty in cities – sometimes based on place (such as the Action for Neighbourhood Change projects across Canada), and sometimes on specific demographics, such as the work of The Toronto Region Immigrant Alliance with skilled immigrants.
An appropriate role for government in these efforts is essential. It must invest in local leadership and capacity, and make every effort to coordinate and integrate investments and services across jurisdictions.
Successful cities are cities of inclusion. It’s possible to have prosperous cities where not everyone has a share of the prosperity. Such cities may even be socially cohesive, where law and order is maintained and communities live side by side in relative harmony. But one cannot imagine sustainable cities that are not also inclusive.