location

Torontos satellite

Toronto is located on the north-west bank of the Ontario River, part of the Québec Windsor Corridor, the most densely populated area in Canada. In its immediate vicinity, the villages of Mississauga and Brampton, which are part of the Regional Municipality of Peel, are to the west. A little further east is the Regional Municipality of Halton, with its headquarters in Milton. To the north are Vaughan and Markham (Regional Municipality of York). To the east is the town of Pickering, which belongs to the Regional Municipality of Durham. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) includes these four regional municipalities in addition to the urban area.

The urban area covers an area of 630.18 km² and extends to 21 km north-south direction and 43 km east-west direction. The area is similar to the slightly larger one of Hamburg (755 km²). The city border is in the south of Lake Ontario, the west of the Etobicoke Creek and Hwy 427, the north of Steeles Avenue and the east of the Rouge River. The port area on the shore of the lake forms a coastline of 46 kilometers in length.

North of the city area, from the Niagara layer to the Peterborough, the 1900 km² area of Oak Ridges Moraine, an ecologically significant green train stretches.

topography

The cliffs of Scarborough: Scarborough Bluffs

Toronto is crossed by the Humber River at the western edge, the Don River east of downtown on the opposite side of the port and numerous tributaries. The natural harbor was formed by sedimentation that also led to the creation of the Toronto Islands. The numerous streams and rivers that flow from the north through the area and into the Lake Ontario have created numerous wooded gorges. These ravines influence city planning in such a way that some roads, such as Finch Avenue, Leslie Street, Lawrence Avenue and St. Clair Avenue, end on one side of the gorge and continue on the other. The nearly 500-meter-long Prince Edward Viaduct spans the 40-meter-deep gorge formed by the Don River.

During the last ice age, the lower part of the city area was under the Glacial Lake Iroquois, an ice water reservoir. Demersions from this period can be seen from Victoria Park Avenue, which runs east of the city center, at the mouth of the Highland Creek. The Scarborough Bluffs are rugged cliffs up to 65 meters in length 14 kilometers along the shores of the Ontario. Toronto has no significant surveys. The lowest point is on the bank of the Ontario at 100 feet above sea level, the highest at 100 feet near York University in the north of the city.

water supply

Lake Ontario promenade: The lake supplies Toronto with water

The water management of Toronto, like that of the York region, is based on Lake Ontario. From 1843 to 1873, a private company provided water supplies and since 1873, the municipal administration has been taking over this function. It now allows an average of 2.9 million cubic meters of water to be pumped through the power grid every day. Since 1949, the steel tubes have a diameter of at least 750 mm and are enclosed with cement and concrete. As the lake provides enough water, Toronto manages with few reservoirs. Most of the water is stored in the piping system itself.

With the DLWC project, Toronto has developed a new process for air-conditioning of office buildings. Since the water temperature at the bottom of the very low Ontario is constant at four degrees Celsius throughout the year, it can be used for cooling the city center.

climate

Due to its location in the extreme south of Canada, Toronto has a very moderate climate (effective climate classification: Dfa). The four seasons are very marked with considerable differences in temperature, especially in the cold months. Due to the proximity to the water, temperatures vary little during the day, especially in densely populated and near-by areas. In certain times of the year, the lake's moderating climate can turn into extreme local and regional weather situations, such as the Lake effect snow, which delays spring and causes autumn conditions.

Winter in Toronto is cold, with short periods of extreme temperatures below -10°C, which are perceived as even colder by the wind. The lowest temperature was measured at -32,8 °C on January 10, 1859. Snow is expected in Toronto from November to mid-April. In addition to snow storms and ice rains, mild temperatures between 5 and 14 °C are possible.

Summer is characterized by long periods of humid climate. The average daily temperature varies between 20 and 29 °C. However, it may also rise to 35 °C. The maximum temperature measured on 8 July 1936 was 40,6 °C. Autumn and spring bridge the main seasons with mild or cold temperatures and changing periods of dry and wet.

The rainfall is spread throughout the year. The focus is usually in summer, the most humid season. most of the rainfall is in thunderstorms. On average, the total annual snow height is 133 centimeters. The largest amount of snow was measured on December 11, 1944 at 48.3 centimeters. The average annual sunshine duration is 2038 hours.

city

See also: List of districts of Toronto

Toronto district map with the main transport routes

Due to the diversity and in many cases also the very distinct identity of Toronto's many neighborhoods, the city is sometimes called the City of Neighborhood ("City of Towns"). Up to 240 parts had the Old Toronto (English: It was also incorporated in Metropolitan Toronto in 1997. The Old City is the most densely populated of these. It also has a business and administrative center.

Since 1 January 1998, the metropolis consists of six districts (municipalities) of Old Toronto (subdivided in Downtown Core (Central), North End, East End, West End), North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, York and East York, which in turn occupy a total of 140 districts (English: Neighhoods, here: neighborhoods). The 140 districts are grouped into 44 districts (English ward) headed by a councilor. For meetings, the 44 Wards will be divided into four municipal councils: Etobicoke York Council, North York Community Council, Toronto and East York Community Council and Scarborough Community Council. The Community Councils were created in 1997 as part of the reorganization and form a body of the City Council. The task of the local councils is to submit proposals to the council of the city, insofar as they concern their districts.

pre-European population

The 20-meter high Taber Hill in Scarborough, an Iroquois fashion. There were some remains of about 472 people from around 1250.

The oldest traces of human settlement in today's city of Toronto are 11,000 years old. After the last ice age, Preindian peoples moved from the south to the north shore of Ontario. The Wyandot named the place Tarantua, derived from tkaronto from the language of the Mohawk, which belongs to the Iroquois. It means a place where trees stand by the water and later the meeting or meeting point. The name is derived from Lake Simcoe, where Wyandot planted and fished trees, and originated on a much-used portrait route from Lake Simcoe to Lake Huron (Toronto Carrying-Place Trail).

Today's urban area was home to a series of First Nations that lived on the banks of the Ontario. At the beginning of the European settlement, the neutrals living near Toronto lived, as the French called them, because at that time they kept out of the wars. They were destroyed by the Iroquois in the middle of the 17th century. As a result, the greater Toronto area was home to Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, and Cayuga, which were Iroquois. The immediate neighbors were the Seneca villages of Teiaiagon and Ganatsewyagon.

European discovery and settlement

map of the Ontario region, Vincenzo Maria Coronelli 1688

French traders founded the current Exhibition Place 1750 Fort Rouillé, which was demolished back in 1759. During the American War of Independence, British settlers poured into the region. In 1787, the so-called Toronto Purchase came into being, an agreement between the British monarchy and the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. The Mississaugas of New Credit exchanged 101,528 hectares of land in today's Toronto area for 140 barrels of goods and 1,700 British pounds. However, this trade was reversed in 1805.

In the 18th century, the fur hunters used the meeting point quite successfully for their business until British Governor Simcoe had the economic transshipment site converted into a fort and founded it in 1793. The settlement developed slowly; The then seat of government of Upper Canada was in Niagara-on-the-Lake. (→ History Ontarios) It was only in 1797 that York became capital of Upper Canada. During the British-American War, there was a battle between the United Kingdom and the United States on April 27, 1813. Around 1,700 British invaded York. The six-hour battle ended after the British side blown up their ammunition camp and withdrew to Kingston. After the loss-making battle for both sides, the Americans occupied York for six days. The fact that they were unable to maintain a lasting position is seen as one reason why the British were able to stay in Canada. In 1815, the city was the first to have a military base. (→ war and influence with the USA)

Following the renaming of York in Toronto

Toronto in 1854: View of Front Street

Map of Torontos 1894

King George IV. On March 15, 1827, King’s College, now known as the University of Toronto, founded the Bank of Upper Canada, with which the city gained further importance after a bank had opened in 1819, which existed until 1866. In 1832, Upper Canada's seat of government changed from Kingston to York. On March 6, 1834, York was renamed to Toronto to distinguish between New York and New York. The first mayor was William Lyon Mackenzie in the same year. He was a radical reformer in Upper Canada. This culminated on December 5, 1837, in the fact that he led rebels against the provincial government. But two days later, he had to surrender with his followers.

On February 10 , 1841 , the British colonies of Lower Canada and Upper Canada formed the province of Canada, whose capital was Toronto from 1849 to 1852 and from 1856 to 1858 . The Canadian Confederacy was founded on July 1, 1867. Ontario was the capital of the province of Toronto.

excavation at the former railway station of the Grand Trunk Railway

In the second half of the 19th century industrialization developed in the city. On December 19, 1846, Canada's first telegraphic news was sent from Toronto to the destination of Hamilton, which was about 60 kilometers away. Ten years later, on October 27, 1856, the railway line between Toronto and Montreal was opened. In 1861, the first trams were run along Yonge Street, King Street and Queen Street. In order to meet the growing demand, more than 200 trams were pulled by around 1000 horses before electrification of public transport. Due to the good transport connections, the Canadian National Exhibition has been held annually in Toronto since 1879.

In the 1850's, the British colony's inhabitants were predominantly British, and at about 73% of the population was Protestant. British dominance lasted for another half-century. Protestantism was not a homogeneous community of beliefs, but divided among followers of the Protestant Baptists and the Anglican community. Religious differences led to intense tensions, resulting in several unrest from 1867 to 1892. Catholics and Irish Protestants were the main participants in the fighting.

The 1901 census showed that eight percent of Toronto's population was not from the UK. The largest group came from Germany with 6866 immigrants, followed by 3015 from France; 3090 people had Jewish ancestors, 1054 came from Italy, 737 from the Netherlands, 253 from Scandinavia, 219 from Asia and 142 from Russia. The city now has about 208,000 inhabitants. The multicultural society of Toronto was already in its early stages at the turn of the 20th century. Toronto Quebec was the second largest power in Dominion Canada after Montreal in the 1870s. On April 19, 1904, the major fire in Toronto destroyed more than 100 buildings in the city center. In 1906, electricity production at the Niagara Falls began to electrify the city.

Finalization of the Canada Life Building (around 1930)

In 20 years, the population grew to more than double, reaching more than 522,000 in 1921. After that, growth slowed somewhat. In the first half of the 20th century a number of important buildings and facilities were built. In June 1913, the Toronto General Hospital was opened at College Street and two years later, on March 19, 1914, the Royal Ontario Museum was founded in 1912.

However, the integration of returnees from the European theater of war from 1918 onwards caused enormous problems; About 100,000 of them were from the Greater Toronto area alone. With the pretext of Greece's late entry into the war, anger spread to the Greeks. These were a small group of 3000 people, but they were very present in the townscape with businesses and restaurants. On August 2, anti-Greek riots occurred in Toronto in 1918. Several 10,000 Toronto tourists stormed the Greek district on Yonge Street and destroyed 20 restaurants alone. Some 50,000 people were involved in the street fighting, which ended only after three days.

Until the 1920's, there were partly competing public transport companies. These were summarized by the city in 1921 under the Toronto Transportation Commission, the later Toronto Transit Commission. At the same time, private transport also rose sharply. In 1910, there were about 10,000 automobiles - an eight-fold increase until 1928. In June 1929, the Royal York Hotel was opened, with its 28-story building, 124 meters high, the highest building in the city. From the 1930s on, the skyline changed significantly due to a large number of towers.

During the Great Depression, the unemployment rate rose to 30% until 1933, with capital and personal wealth being destroyed. At the same time, average monthly wages fell by more than 40 %. The number of marriages and the birth rate also decreased by 40%. Even in 1939, economic power did not return to pre-1929 levels. In 1934, the city, which at the time had 629,285 inhabitants, still celebrated its 100th birthday.

Similar to World War I, Canada was an opponent of the German Empire during World War II, especially as a supplier of war material. Deprivation in the form of food rationing and cut-off times for electricity and water marked the war economy, which created numerous jobs in the production of war materials. After 1945, the economy had to be reoriented to civilian products.

On September 17, 1949, a catastrophe occurred in the port of Toronto, when the passenger steamer Noronic, who arrived overnight on Pier 9 during a Great Lakes cruise, burned into flames and burned out in a short time. 122 passengers were killed.

Development to a millionth city

CN Tower, Rogers Center and the Gardiner Expressway with a west view

In the 1950's, Toronto's population reached the millions. Immigration from the European and Asian regions is mainly due to the destruction there during the Second World War. As a result, residential and working spaces shifted significantly beyond the city's borders: By 1946, 90% of York County's industrial operations were located in the city. In 1954, it was 77%. This trend was followed by and reinforced by ever-improving transport and transport routes. However, the city in Canada was still only second only to Montreal in terms of population and economic power.

On January 1, 1954 the Metropolitan Region Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was created. The building consisted of the inner city, the districts of New Toronto, Mimico, Weston, Leaside, Long Branch, Swansea and Forest Hill, as well as the districts of Etobicoke, York, North York, East York and Scarborough. The newly established Toronto Transportation Commission pushed the development of the Toronto Metro network and opened a number of new bus lines. The completion of the last section of Highway 401 and the opening of the Gardiner Expressway were milestones in the development of the city.

Already in 1965, more national authorities had their headquarters in Toronto than in Montreal. In addition, separatism in Quebec encouraged the exodus of business enterprises to Toronto. The population of the Toronto metropolitan area exceeded that of Montreal for the first time in 1976, according to the census. With Canada's entry into the group of eight (then G7) in the same year, the city also entered the international political arena. In 1988, Toronto hosted the 14th G7 conference.

On January 1, 1998, the city districts were thoroughly reformed, with autonomous municipalities merged with the city of Toronto. Since then, Toronto has been Canada's most populous and economically strongest city. Sir Peter Ustinov once observed that Toronto is clean and safe as a Swiss-led New York. Toronto is considered the safest city in Canada. (→ crime)

On 10 August 2008, a serious explosion occurred in the North York district on the site of the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases propane plant. Some 100 houses remained uninhabitable as a result. (see Toronto explosion 2008)

The fourth G20 Summit took place in Toronto from 26 to 27 June 2010. A day earlier, the 36th was launched. G8 Summit in Huntsville, which originally was to host the G20 meeting.

Political structures

seat of the city government: City Hall at Nathan Phillips Square

Toronto's city administration is one-tier, with the government system composed of mayors and city councilors. This governance structure is enshrined in the City of Toronto Act. Only since the renaming of York in Toronto did the city officially have a mayor. Prior to that, the Chairman of the General Quarter Session of Peace headed the site. The mayor is directly elected by the city's population and is the chairman of the city government. The Toronto City Council is a one-chamber legislature with 44 councilors representing the city districts. The mayor and councilors have been elected for a four-year term since the election in 2006, before which they were elected for a three-year term.

From 2010 to 2014, Rob Ford was the 64th. mayor. In November 2013, the city councilors removed most of Ford's powers. Previously, allegations of nepotism had been made for years, and in 2013 it was also known that he was using crack cocaine and was in contact with well-known criminals. Ford remained formally in office and was able to perform representative tasks, but no longer has political functions. Since 2014, John Tory has been the 65th. mayor. He was elected to replace Rob Ford with 40.27% of the vote.

Mayor of Toronto: John Tory

Since the beginning of the 2007 legislature, the city government has consisted of seven commissions, each with a chairman, a deputy, and four councilors, all appointed by the mayor. An Executive Committee shall consist of the Commission Chairmen, the Mayor, his deputy and four other Councils. The Council also monitors the Toronto (Toronto Transit Commission) and the City Police (Toronto Police Services Board). The city government is based in the New Town Hall on Nathan Phillips Square.

There are about 40 subcommissions, advisory teams and round tables that are also part of the city government. These institutions are formed by councilors and voluntary citizens. In addition, four other municipal councils, which make recommendations to the councils, do not have independent decision-making powers. A member of the municipal council is subordinate to each council. Toronto had a budget of $7.6 billion in 2006. The city is financed by the provincial government of Ontario by taxes and levies. The expenditure of the city is as follows: 36% goes to provincial programs, 53% to urban tasks such as the public library (Toronto Public Library) and the Toronto Zoo, 11% to external finance and unearmarked expenditure.

Coat and flag

The shield represents the two towers of the town hall and the blue sky in the form of a T for Toronto

Town signet with the silhouette of the Town Hall

The city's flag was designed by the then 21-year-old student Rene De Santis. This design won a design competition in 1974. The flag depicts the two towers of City Hall on a blue background with the Canadian national symbol, the red maple leaf, at its base. After the territorial reform in 1997, the city government looked for a new design in vain. The proposal to make minor changes to the 1974 draft, which led to the current flag in October 1999, was then implemented. The space above and between the towers represents the letter "T", the initials of the city of Toronto.

The coat of arms of the city of Toronto was created by Robert Watt and was introduced during the 1998 territorial reform. It shows a beaver on the left, and a bear on the right, standing opposite each other and holding the map of the city. Both animals stand on a green hill with a blue T for Toronto on a golden ground. The coat of arms also contains a crown and an eagle. Below the coat of arms, three blue vertical waveways symbolize the rivers Humber, Don and Rouge. Below is a horizontal wave line for the Lake Ontario, where the three rivers flow. Below the city coat of arms is a band with the motto "Diversity Our Strength" (German: "Diversity is our strength"), framed by two Canadian red maple leaves. The slogan was introduced during the 1998 territorial reform.

In addition to the coat of arms and the flag, the silhouette of the Town Hall is also used for the city’s signet.

partner cities

Town twinning shall consist of:

China People's Republic of Chongqing, China. Chongqing and Toronto concluded three $50 million trade deals in May 2006. The partnership was established on 27 March 1986.

United States of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The former Mayor of Chicago, Art Eggleton, and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley signed the partnership contract at the Chicago Stock Exchange in 1991.

Germany Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Since the beginning of the partnership, regular exchange programs have been organized with Frankfurt am Main. The contract was signed on 26 September 1989 by the then Mayor of Frankfurt, Volker Hauff, and the Torontoer Mayor, Art Eggleton, at the Römer city hall in Frankfurt. In May 1991, for example, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra played in the Century Hall. In addition to cultural exchanges, there are also scientific collaborations through study visits by professors and students and joint seminars. In 2012, the University of Toronto and the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main concluded a formal cooperation agreement to strengthen their cooperation in research, teaching and administration.

Italy Milan, Italy, since 30 June 2003

Toronto had no longer existing town-twinning partnerships with the cities of Amsterdam, Wuxi and Indianapolis. Toronto is linked to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Kiev (Ukraine), Rostov on Don (Russia), Quito (Ecuador), Sagamihara (Japan) and Warsaw (Poland).

population

population development Toronto

In 1820, Toronto had 1,250 inhabitants, many Indian villages were significantly larger. But Toronto succeeded in breaking Montreal's strong position in the banking sector, while the city promoted industrialization early on. In 1833, steam engines were first produced in Toronto with 80 employees, locomotives were produced in 1857 and a wide range of suppliers was created.

At the same time, the government encouraged immigration, so the population rose sharply. The biggest winner was Toronto, which was already the largest city in the West by 1850 with 31,000 inhabitants and more than doubled its population in the following ten years. It was able to take its goods to Montreal by bypassing Kingston, using the way across the Lake Ontario. At the same time, it was connected to New York, where a telegraph line existed in 1847. The capital used to build the railways that Canada's metropolises connected between Halifax and Vancouver came mainly from the UK, where most immigrants came from. London and later Ottawa successfully fought against Canada's political integration with the US. Toronto nevertheless benefited from its market opportunities. Meanwhile, the growing separatism of the francophone Canadians has led many companies to go to Toronto.

When Montreal became the center of the railway industry, the capital, Ontario, began to rely on the electric industry and the motorway in the decades around the turn of the century, and later on to build aircraft. This made Toronto one of the beneficiaries of the war economy in World War II. Shipping houses such as Eaton’s provided a growing market, soon to be international, and infrastructure development required new workers. After the war, immigration erupted into the city's borders and larger organizational units, such as the metropolitan area. From 1901 to 1951, the city had a population of fivefold.

Finally, the share of service-sector workers that soon became by far the largest employers increased sharply. With many of these industries running out of trained staff and foreign capital flowing into the city, immigrants from economically emerging countries with strong population growth have increasingly come. Between 1951 and 2001, the number of inhabitants in the metropolitan area quadrupled.

Results of the 2001 census and population development until 2006

The 2001 census estimated 2,481,494 inhabitants, and in 2006 it estimated a population of just over 2.6 million. There were about 5.5 million people living in the Greater Toronto area. At 2.5 million, just under half of the population lives in the city center, the remainder being spread over 24 municipalities with a total area of 7,125 square kilometers. Between 1996 and 2006, the city grew by 1.8% per year, making it one of the fastest growing urban centers in Canada. In absolute terms, this is equivalent to an influx of almost 100,000 people a year. Due to the high density of the city center, the municipalities of the surrounding area are growing. Brampton, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Ajax, Whitby recorded an overall increase of 20% between 2001 and 2006. Strong growth is mainly due to international immigration. Between 2001 and 2006, 447,900 people migrated from abroad to the urban area. The proportion of foreign-born residents was 45.7% and 2.32 million in 2006, respectively; The city is therefore the most important Canadian destination. The largest immigrant groups come from India, with 77,800 people, and China, with 63,900 people. The high rate of migration has a more expensive effect on the housing market, which is why immigrants are now increasingly settling in the surrounding cities. The neighboring cities of Markham (56.5%) and Mississauga (51.6%) have the highest shares of non-Canadian citizens.

According to a survey carried out in 2001, 43.7% of the urban population does not come from Canada; This share has been increasing steadily in recent years - in 1991 it was 38%. The large number of population groups is reflected in the many neighborhoods of a group, such as B. Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown or Koreatown. The largest proportion of the population is South Asian (12.0%); followed by ethnic Chinese (11.4%) and African-Americans (8.4%).

2011 census result

By census in 2011, 14.1% of the urban population reported descended from English immigrants. 13.2% said Canada was the country of origin of their family. Other major groups of pedigree were Chinese (10.8%), Indian (10.3%), Scottish (9.9%), Irish (9.8%), Italian (8.6%) and German (4.8%). According to Census 2011, 42.9% of the population of Toronto belonged to the 'visible minority'. (h) all non-white except First Nations, Inuit and Métis) 15.1% of the total population was of South Asian origin, 9.6% of Chinese origin, 7.2% black and 4.2% Filipinos.

languages

The predominant language in town is English. Canada's second official language, French, is the mother tongue of only about 1.4% of the population. Other languages with a significant number of speakers in Toronto are mainly Chinese, Portuguese and Italian. Only a minority of 2.1% know the bilingualism of English and French.

Jewish immigrants and refugees

Jews have been found in Toronto since the 1830s, and 18 families lived in the city in the 1850s. The first synagogue was built in 1856. Pogrome led East European Jews to emigrate to Canada. According to the countries of origin (only Orthodox) congregations, Yiddish theaters, afternoon schools and a newspaper were created. The immigrants from Great Britain to the east of Yonge Street, the East Europeans lived in the less prestigious St. John's Ward district. Until the 1950s, the Spadina Avenue/Kensington Market area remained the core of the fragmented Jewish community, and many moved further north. However, the Jewish community remains anchored in downtown, where the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Center was established. There is also a Downtown Jewish Community Council.

With the Great Depression, Richard Bedford Bennett's conservative government dramatically reduced the immigration that had previously been promoted in the early 1930's. This was accompanied by a selective principle that favors immigrants from North and Western Europe and US citizens. In 1931, of the 631,207 inhabitants, 45,305 were Jews. The general restriction and latent anti-Semitism in Canada led to the admission of only about 12,600 Jewish immigrants to Canada between 1930 and 1940; 4,000 of them came from Germany. In Toronto, the Jews were the largest ethnic group, serving as a scapegoat, especially during times of crisis. They were sometimes denied access to restaurants or events, and even boycotted Jewish shops. No university was willing to expand its courses to include interns, but Queen's University in Kingston included a small group that was particularly interested in engineering courses. The rejection persisted during the war. In October 1945, the status of refugees and internees was not fully established. To date, Canada had taken in some 3,500 refugees, including 966 internees.

religion

The neo-Gothic St. James cathedral was completed in 1844

According to the multicultural population structure, the city has a variety of different religious affiliations. Christian denominations are the largest group, with a good 50%. The Roman Catholic Church belongs to the Archbishop of Toronto. The proportion of the non-religious is 18.7%.

Religious affiliation is distributed according to 2011 surveys as follows:

• Catholic Church: 30.4%
• All other Christian faiths: 9.1%
• Islam: 7.7%
• Hinduism: 5.9%
• Judaism: 3.0%
• Buddhism: 2.2%
• Sikhism: 2.9%
• Not belonging to a religion: 21.1%

See also: Church St. Sava (Toronto), Serbian Orthodox

Social problems

In Toronto, there were about 552,300 households below the poverty line in 2003. More than 250,000 families had to spend more than 30% of their income on rent, and 20% paid more than 50% of their income. This development is due to the sharp rise in rental prices, which increased by 31% between 1997 and 2001 alone. Some 71,000 households were waiting for the construction of state-sponsored dwellings. In contrast to the 1980's and early 1990's, the supply of rental apartments stagnated despite the rising population.

In 2002 alone, 31,985 people were registered at least once in a homeless asylum. Since the 1990s, this figure has increased by 21% and by 40% since 1988. In 1988, 91.3% of them were individuals, but by 1999 this figure fell to 81.3%. At the same time, the number of families increased from 1.7% in 1988 to 9.6% in 1999.

The provincial government and the city are trying to address the problems by investing in housing. This included the Let’s Build housing project, which had funded around $10.6 million by 2001. As a result, 384 affordable homes were built for some 660 low-income tenants. When the project was completed, the city of Let’s Build continued with about $11.8 million. In addition, there were other measures to combat poverty and provide universal health care for the homeless.

crime

Ontario Provincial Police Strip in Toronto

A low crime rate has earned the city a reputation as one of the safest cities in North America. In 1999, the rate of homicides was 1.9 per 100,000 people. By comparison, this rate was 34.5 in Atlanta in the same year, 5.5 in Boston, 7.3 in New York, 2.8 in Vancouver, and 45.5 in Washington D.C. C. Toronto had the highest number of killing offenses in 1991, with 3.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. The city is also very low in robbery, compared to other major cities in North America, with 115.1 attacks per 100,000 inhabitants. Dallas had 583.7 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, 397.9 in Los Angeles, 193.9 in Montreal. The overall crime rate was 48 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. This comparability is also significantly lower than in other major cities, such as Cincinnati with 326, Los Angeles with 283, New York with 195, and Vancouver with 239.

financial and economic capital of Canada

The Gooderham and Worts distillery, around 1860

In the 19th century Toronto was an important economic and trading center. The stepbrothers James Worts and William Gooderham founded the Gooderham and Worts distillery in 1830, which also produced spirits and antifreeze products. It became Canada’s largest distillery and in the 1860s it became the world’s largest whiskey distillery. In 1862 the company produced for the first time the whole year and produced about 700,000 Imp.gal. which represented a quarter of the total production of spirits in Canada at the time. In the following years production grew to two million Imp.gal., making the company the most famous in the country and the largest in the British Empire. In 1987, the company was sold to a British company, closed the distillery in 1990 and transformed the 52,000 square meter area into the pedestrian zone of the Distillery District. The historic industrial complex, consisting of more than 40 brick buildings and ten streets, has been restored and serves as an entertainment center with bars, music bars and galleries.

Commerce Court West: the financial district of Toronto

Toronto is Canada's most important commercial and financial center and is also one of the world's most important. In the city, many banks and investment firms are concentrated in the financial district of Bay Street. The Toronto Stock Exchange is the eighth largest stock exchange in the world after its market capitalization and the third largest stock exchange in North America. (→ History of the Stock Exchange of Toronto) The five largest banks in the country are headquartered here. In addition, more than 40 foreign banks have branches in the city.

In the fields of media, publishing, telecommunications (e.g. B. Telus Tower), information technology and film industry also took the city a leading role. A separate authority (Toronto’s Film and Television Office) is responsible for promoting and supporting film and television production.

The most famous companies include Thomson Corporation, CTVglobemedia, Rogers Communications, Alliance Films, Celestica, as well as the Four Seasons Hotels and Manulife Financial chain. In total, over 80,000 companies are based in the city. Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest registered company in Canada and one of the oldest companies in the world. It moved its headquarters from York Factory to Toronto in 1957.

Among others, the following companies are headquartered in Toronto: Hudson’s Bay Company, RioCan Investment Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Manulife Financial, TD Canada Trust, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, Celestica, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Nortel, Citibank Canada, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Oxford Properties Group and Rogers Communications.

Although most industries and manufacturing companies are located outside the city boundaries, most of the wholesalers and distributors of these industries are located in the city. The strategic importance of the city in the Québec-Windsor Corridor facilitates the nearby production sites of motor vehicles, iron, steel, food, machinery, chemicals and paper. In addition, since 1959, Toronto has been accessible from the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint-Lorenz stream. With about 8,000 factories, the city is a leader not only in the service sector but also in the manufacturing sector.

The five largest private employers are, by number of employees (2001 figures): Toronto-Dominion Bank (14.000), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (12.000), Rogers Communications (11.600), Royal Bank of Canada (11.000) and Bank of Montreal (8400).

The city’s estimated gross operating costs in 2008 amounted to $8.17 billion. Budget revenue came mainly from property taxes, at $3.322 billion. The unemployment rate in 2007 was 7.87%, higher than the average in the province of Ontario, which was 6.38%. In 2008, the unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.52%. An average household had an annual income of $68,120.

educational establishments

The Hart House is the University of Toronto's Student Center

There are a number of universities in Toronto: The University of Toronto, York University, Ryerson University, Ontario College of Art & Design, and the University of Guelph Humber are located in various branches of the city. Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto is the largest ontarios in the world and ranks among the most renowned in biomedical research after Harvard University and Yale University. The University also hosts the third largest library system in North America, including the Robarts Library. York University is located in North York, in northern Toronto. It has the largest legal library in the Commonwealth.

Toronto also has a number of other universities, including Seneca College, Humber College, Centennial College and George Brown College. The French-speaking Collège Boréal also has a branch in the city. Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology are located near Oshawa, which is part of Toronto's metropolitan area.

The Faculty of Music and the Royal Conservatory in Downtown offer concert and opera programs. In 1988, the filmmaker Norman Jewison founded the Canadian Film Center, Canada's largest institute for professional education in film, television and new media. The Tyndale University College and Seminary is a non-confessional institute and Canada's largest preacher seminar.

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) runs a total of 558 public schools, including 451 primary schools and 102 secondary schools. This makes the TDSB the largest school authority in Canada. In 2008, the School Authority received the Carl Bertelsmann Prize for its efforts to promote equal opportunities and integration. Sectarian schools linked to the Catholic Church are administered by a separate authority, the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Toronto also has several private schools, including Greenwood College School, Upper Canada College, Crescent School, Toronto French School, University of Toronto Schools, Havergal College, Bishop Strachan School, Branksome Hall and St. Michael’s College School.

The City Library of Toronto is the largest library in the country with 99 branches and over 11 million media.

tourism

Tourism plays an important role in the economy of Toronto. With almost 4.5 million foreign visitors, Toronto ranked 29th in the world's most visited cities in 2016. Tourists generated revenues of $2.2 billion in the same year. Most foreign visitors came from the USA and Asia.

media

The historic CTV broadcasting building, which houses several studios

Toronto is home to a wide variety of print media. The Toronto Star is based on Yonge Street 1 and is the most widely published newspaper in Canada with around 400,000 copies. The print output is mainly read in Ontario. Other major newspapers in Toronto include the Globe and Mail newspaper founded in 1844, the conservative National Post, and Toronto Sun, as well as Chinese and Hebrew newspapers and a variety of magazines and magazines.

In addition to the local TV channel CITY-TV, the nationwide broadcasters such as U.S. a. CFMT-TV, CFTO-TV, CTV Television Network and CBC Television. Other TV channels include the news channel CP 24 - Toronto’s Breaking News, the business channel Business News Network (BNN) and the music channel MuchMusic. More than 30 radio stations, such as a. CHUM-FM, CKIS-FM also include those for the Chinese population with a program in Cantonese. The English-speaking part of the state-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is located in downtown Toronto. Other major media companies include Entertainment One and Rogers Media.

traffic

air

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

Toronto has the largest airport in the country, the Toronto Pearson International Airport, which accounts for one third of Canadian air traffic. Originally far from the city, it is located on the north-western outskirts of the city, some 20 kilometers from the center, mainly in the area of the neighboring city of Mississauga. A small airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, is located on the upstream Toronto Islands. Toronto/Downsview Airport, a former air base, has been used since 1994 mainly as a test airport of Bombardier Aerospace. The Greater Toronto Area has nine airports and ten heliports.

public transport system

Tram in Toronto

Toronto has the third largest public transport system in North America after New York City and Mexico City.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) operates three metro lines (subway) in the city area, a tramway (Scarborough line), eleven tram lines (Toronto Streetcar) and about 140 bus lines. The tram and bus lines are mainly arranged in a grid shape.

The suburbs adjacent to the urban area are served by bus lines from other companies connecting to the TTC network.

Starting from Union Central Station there is a seven-line GO Transit express train system, supplemented by own bus lines. The two-story trains take you to approximately 60 kilometers of downtown areas.

Since 6 June 2015, the Union Pearson Express (UP Express) has been connecting Toronto Lester B international airport. Pearson with the city center. The diesel trains on this line run every 15 minutes from Terminal 1 via the Bloor and Weston railway stations to the Union Station, the city's main railway station.

Shipping and ferry

The ferry Spirit of Ontario I no longer operates

There are also ferry services to the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. From Queen’s Quay on Bay Street, the ferries arrive at Hanlan’s Point, Center Island and Ward’s Island. On June 24, 2004, the Toronto-Rochester (USA) line was inaugurated. The boat Spirit of Ontario I completed the 152 km long distance at a speed of 83 km/h. However, due to a lack of utilization, this ferry service was closed again in January 2006.

train

Toronto is the starting point for the transcontinental long-distance train The Canadian. VIA Rail Canada's long-distance rail trains run from Union Central Station in the direction of Montreal-Quebec, Ottawa, Windsor, Sarnia, Niagara Falls-New York (operated with Amtrak) and Greater Sudbury-Winnipeg-Edmonton-Vancouver. The Ontario Northland Railway uses long-distance trains to the Cochrane moon, while Amtrak trains to New York.

individual traffic

Traffic on Lake Shore Boulevard

There are several motorways for individual traffic in East-West and North-South directions. Highway 401, located just north of the city center, has the highest traffic density in North America in certain sections. On the banks of the Ontario River, the Gardiner Expressway city rail links the western suburbs with the city center. At the east end, the Don Valley Parkway connects the Gardiner Expressway with Highway 401. The toll highway 407 ETR runs parallel to Highway 401. The 108 km long motorway connects the towns of Burlington with Pickering; the toll is collected using automatic license plate identification and radio transmitters. 401 and 407 are crossed by the northward highways 400 and 404. Also north-south, highway 427 is 21 km long. It runs from Gardiner Expressway north of Toronto Pearson International Airport until Vaughan. A further branch of the 427 at its southern end flows into the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), which leads to Niagara Falls on the east bank of the Ontario River.

Along Yonge Street, the east-west roads carry the East and West marks for better orientation in the city center.

Public bodies

Torontoise fire fighter

Since 1999, about half of the more than 20 hospitals have been part of the university hospital network. Founded in 1812, the Toronto General Hospital is the main hospital in the university hospitals.

The Toronto Fire Service was established in 1874. Before that time, volunteers were doing fire fighting. With the territorial reform in 1998, the fire brigades of the neighborhoods form an organizational unit. Toronto's fire department is Canada's largest, employing some 3,100 troops, 81 stations, and well over 100 vehicles, and the fourth largest in North America after New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Toronto's police have been in existence since 1834. The Toronto Police Service is divided into 17 units with 5710 police officers.

The legislative assembly of Ontario is located in the Parliament building at Queen’s Park. The 107 members will be elected by majority vote in the individual constituencies of Ontarios.

The city has three courts with jurisdiction for violations of Ontario provincial law.

Toronto is considered one of the three largest cultural centers in Canada.

city and architecture

Skyline Torontos at dusk: in the center of the CN Tower, next to the Rogers Center with its movable white dome

Toronto's architectural tradition began in the mid-19th century. Many of Toronto's leading architects have designed buildings, including Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Norman Foster, Will Alsop, Ieoh Ming Pei, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Santiago Calatrava. Some architectural styles were developed in Toronto, such as the so-called Bay and Gable style. These are very narrow semi-detached terraced houses made of red brick, some of which are only six meters wide. The term bay-and-gable describes two characteristics: The houses have a bay window (English: bay window) and a pointed gable (English: stable). The Victorian style houses sometimes contain neo-Gothic elements. Most of the Bay and Gable houses are located in the The Annex, Cabbagetown and Little Italy districts.

In Toronto, the highest buildings are concentrated in downtown

The road system is mostly chessboard. One of the most important streets is Yonge Street. It was intended as a military supply line; Nowadays, economic and cultural life takes place mainly along this road. It begins at a distance of more than 1800 kilometers in the hinterland, ends at Lake Ontario and is therefore one of the longest roads in North America. The city center (Central Business District) extends north to Bloor Street, south to Harbourfront, west to Spadina Avenue and east to Parliament Street. The multi-lane Gardiner Expressway is located between the main station Union Station and the Harbourfront. In the downtown area, the city's runway is usually built on a bridge for space reasons. Outside the city center, small houses characterize the city.

The city center is mainly composed of high buildings. In the Greater Toronto Area metropolitan area, there are nearly 2000 buildings over 30 meters; This makes Toronto the second highest number of tower blocks on the North American continent after New York City. In downtown Toronto alone, there are over 100 skyscrapers that are higher than 100 meters. Toronto's tallest skyscraper is at 298 meters First Canadian Place on King Street and Bay Street. At the beginning of 2009, the number of skyscrapers increased significantly and several hundred high-rise buildings were in the planning or construction phase.

South of the city center are the Toronto Islands, four artificially extended islands in the Lake Ontario and shield the port from the lake. On the westernmost island there is a small airport (Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport), which can be reached by ferry from the city center. The other islands are designed as a park with smaller lakes, watercourses, sea bridge, beach and entertainment facilities. The islands are closed to private motorized traffic and can be reached from the Queen’s Quay Terminal by passenger ferries in about ten minutes.

tower

Tower basket of the CN Tower

The Canadian National Tower (CN Tower), completed in 1976, is the highest freestanding building in the American continent, dominating urban areas and a landmark. From its completion to the indicative festival of the Canton Tower in May 2009, it was the tallest television tower in the world at 553 meters. The tower is one of the most visited buildings in Canada, with around two million visitors per year, and was originally designed for radio transmission only. Until 12 September 2007, the CN Tower was also the tallest freestanding building on earth. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is now in this position at 828 meters. In addition to a rotating restaurant and a viewing platform at 342 and 346 meters altitude, the tower has a second viewing platform (Sky Pod) below the antenna masts at an altitude of 447 meters, and by 2008 the highest viewing chancellery in the world.

Sports and entertainment venues

overnight illuminated Rogers Center

Adjacent to the CN Tower is the former SkyDome, opened in 1989 and renamed Rogers Center on 2 February 2005. The 54,000-seater arena is home to the BlueJays (baseball) and the Argonauts (Canadian Football) and was the first sports arena in the world to have a fully retractable roof and the largest video panel in the world. The building houses the Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown (formerly: SkyDome Hotel), which offers 70 two-story suites with a view of the playground and a restaurant (until 2009 Hard Rock Cafe), also with a view of the playground.

To the east of the Rogers Center there is the Air Canada Center, a multi-purpose hall on the south side of the railway lines, which is home to concerts and theater performances as well as the basketball team Toronto Raptors, the ice hockey team Toronto Maple Leafs, the Lacrosseman team Toronto Rock and the football team Toronto Phantoms. Depending on the event, the hall can accommodate up to 19,800 spectators.

To the west of downtown, the BMO Field, Canada's largest pure football stadium, was completed in April 2007 and has a capacity of around 20,000 spectators.

downtown

In front of Union Station on Front Street, the luxury hotel Fairmont Royal York is located. Completed in 1929, the building is 124 meters high, has 28 floors and different levels of buildings. It was the tallest building in the city until 1931.

Below the district is the 28 km long tunnel network PATH, which links office complexes underground and over 1200 shops and offices. The north-south axis of this network extends from the Royal York Hotel and Union Station to far beyond Queen Street West. On the East-West axis, the yellow St. Andrew and King metro stations are the extreme points of this world's largest underground city.

Allen Lambert Galleria: by Santiago Calatrava

Also connected to the PATH is the Brookfield Place (formerly BCE Place), an office and business complex composed of the two skyscrapers Bay Wellington Tower (207 meters) and TD Canada Trust Tower (261 meters). The complex was planned by the Torontoise architect Bregman + Hamann Architects with the help of Santiago Calatrava, who designed the six-story Allen Lambert Galleria. This gallery, including a large, light-flooded atrium, completed by an arched beam construction, connects both skyscrapers.

To the east of Brookfield Place is the Gooderham Building, built in 1892, a prominent iron building.

The Toronto Dominion Center is a six-tower complex built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1967 and 1969. The most prominent buildings are two black skyscrapers, the highest of which is the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower at 222 meters. The IBM Tower is close to the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Opened in the 1970s, the Eaton Center is a 6-story shopping center with over 300 shops, 17 cinemas, discotheques and a luxury hotel that attracts up to a million people every week. It was named after the Irish immigrant Timothy Eaton, who opened a mixed-goods shop here in 1869. This was the origin of a well-known shipping company in Canada. The south entrance is at the corner of Queen Street West and Yonge Street; the shopping center extends north to Dundas Square and is connected to the PATH below the surface. The Eaton Center was designed by the German architect Erhard Zeidler together with Bregman + Hamann Architects.

To the east of the south entrance of the Eaton Center, at the corner of Queen Street West and Bay Street, is the avant-garde building complex of the New Town Hall of Toronto, built by the Finnish architect Viljo Revell in the early 1960s. The two buildings are 20 or 27-story high-rise buildings with curved ground. The two high-rise buildings are connected to each other via a lower shell-shaped hall. The building has been a town hall since 1965 and is located opposite the Old Town Hall. The Osgoode Hall joins the west of the town hall. The former court building was built between 1835 and 1855 and is named after the first chief judge, William Osgoode of Upper Canada.

The St. James Cathedral is Toronto's highest church with almost 93 meters and the second highest in Canada after the St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal. The Anglican Church, which was completed in 1844, is part of the oldest church community in the city and is located a little away from the city center at Church Street, where many other churches in Toronto are located.

South of St. James Park is the St. Lawrence Market with a south and a north building. The southern building served as a town hall between 1845 and 1904. Today, changing exhibitions inform about the city's history. The first floor used to be a police station. Today, more than 120 traders offer their products, especially in the northern market hall.

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360-degree view from the CN Tower

Outside Downtown

Casa Loma in winter

To the north of the city center is Casa Loma, a "European" style castle built by Sir Henry Pellatt in early 1900. Today it is a museum with 98 rooms, secret passages, an old swimming pool and a botanical winter garden.

Bilingual road sign in Chinatown

Toronto's Chinatown is one of the largest in North America. Like the others, it is characterized by bilingual street signs and numerous Chinese shops and restaurants. It is located on Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue, just west of Yonge Street. The district goes back to 1878. At the time, hundreds of immigrant Chinese helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway. The biggest increase in Chinese immigrants was in Toronto from 1947 to 1960. When construction of the new town hall began in 1961 at Nathan Phillips Square, the Chinese quarter moved westwards from the intersection between Queens Street and Bay Street.

To the east of the Don Valley Parkway lies Greektown (Toronto), a neighborhood on Danforth Avenue, home mainly to Greek immigrants. In the 1970's and 1980's, the district was considered the largest Greek district in North America. In the neighborhood along Danforth Avenue Corner Pape you will find bilingual street signs in English and Greek. With about 125,000 Greecktown today is the second largest Greek community outside Greece. The Danforth Avenue, lined with Greek and Canadian flags, is home to numerous restaurants and cafés serving Greek cuisine and music.

On three artificial islands in Lake Ontario there is the Ontario Place amusement park, which was opened on 22 May 1971 and covers an area of about 566,000 square meters. It's about four kilometers west of downtown. In addition to various waterways and waterslides, a large IMAX cinema is one of the attractions.

Parking and gardens

In the city area there are well over 200 parks and gardens with more than 90 kilometers of walking paths.

autumn day in the High Park

The largest park, 161 hectares, is the High Park to the west of Humber Bay. It stretches south of Bloor Street West and west of Parkside Drive, east of Ellis Park Road. It is a mixture of recreational area and nature park with a zoo.

Allan Gardens is a botanical garden that was founded by former mayor George William Allan. For example, six greenhouses have rare tropical plants and palm trees. In 1931 the university moved its greenhouse to the Allan Gardens.

Trinity Bellwoods Park, located between Queen Street West and Dundas Street, covers an area of approximately 15 hectares and includes games for various sports such as tennis, football or volleyball.

The HTO Park, located on the Harbourfront south of the Rogers Center, is an urban beach that opened in 2007 on the banks of the Ontario River.

In the north-east of the city is the 287 hectare zoo, the Toronto Zoo. The new building started in 1970 on the basis of a citizens' initiative and was opened on 15 August 1974. It is the third largest zoo in the world with more than ten kilometers of footpaths and houses about 5000 animals and 460 species. His predecessor, the Riverdale Zoo, opened in 1888. The zoo attracts around 1.2 million visitors every year.

Nearby the zoo is the Rouge National Urban Park, a national park.

The Toronto Islands, accessible by ferry, offers 230 hectares of extensive walks, beaches and sports facilities. More than 1.2 million visitors use the facilities of the Toronto Island Park every year.

music and theater

Roy Thomson Hall concert hall

The city has a concert hall called Roy Thomson Hall for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Massey Hall (predecessor of Roy Thomson Hall), concert halls and a number of buildings for opera, ballet, operetta and drama. After London and New York, Toronto has the third largest theater scene in the English-speaking world. The Royal Alexandra Theater, opened in 1907, was particularly well known. Following the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1998 saw the opening of 13 streets around the Royal Alexandra Theater Canada’s Walk of Fame. 131 famous Canadian athletes, singers and stars from the media world are currently honored with a memorial stone in the sidewalk.

On 14 June 2006, the Four Seasons Center was opened, an opera house with more than 2000 seats south of the new town hall. Built for $181 million, the building replaced the large opera house from 1874. The Canadian National Ballet and the Canadian Opera Company are present there. Toronto is home to the renowned Baroque Orchestra Table Music.

In addition to the extensive music industry, the English-language literary scene is taking place here. Many literates studied at the University of Toronto, such as Stephen Leacock, Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient).

Art and museums

Expansion The Crystal of the ROM

The city has several important museums. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), with the main focus on Canadian painting, European painting and sculptures by Henry Moore, is one of the largest art museums in North America.

The Royal Ontario Museum is the largest museum in Canada. It is mostly called ROM. It has collections of natural sciences, archeology, art and cultural history as well as the First Nations. Its art collection from the Far East made it world-famous. Since June 2007, the ROME has had ten galleries. The new building and the old building were nested together. The Crystal's new exterior has a deconstructivist, rugged, crystalline-like shape, 25% glass and 75% aluminum. The facade overlooking Bloor Street West houses the main entrance to the museum. The new building, designed by architects Bregman + Hamann and Daniel Libeskind, cost $270 million.

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art presents contemporary art.

The Ryerson Image Center (RIC) opened in 2012 and displays exhibitions on photography, new media, installation and film.

The International Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) is an institution that honors the best ice hockey players in an ice hockey museum.

The Bata Shoe Museum is located on Bloor Street West, a shoe museum belonging to the Bata group. Founded in 1979, the museum displays more than 12,000 shoes, the oldest exhibits dating from around 2500 BC.

A total of ten different houses, schools, industrial buildings and other buildings have been declared historical sites. One of the most important is the Fort York National Historic Site. It is located in the place where Toronto was founded in 1793, where the height of the British-American War was held as a battle of York on April 27, 1813.

About 11 kilometers north-east of downtown is the Ontario Science Center, a science museum opened in 1969. It shows scientific connections based on experiments that can be carried out by the visitors themselves. It attracts around 1.5 million visitors every year.

sport

Game at Rogers Center between New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto has a club in all major North American sports leagues except American football. Toronto Maple Leafs, a National Hockey League association, is one of the most famous ice hockey clubs in North America. He won the Stanley Cup 13 times and is one of the most successful ice hockey teams on the continent. The Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League serve as a farm team for the Maple Leafs.

The Toronto Raptors are the only team in the NBA basketball league to be played outside the United States. Like Maple Leafs, the Raptors are playing at the Air Canada Center. The Toronto Blue Jays (baseball), the only MLB team outside the US, and the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football) play in the Rogers Center, which is widely visible and in the center of the city. The Canadian Football League, the Grey Cup, took place 46 times in Toronto, most recently in 2007. Due to this special position in the most important leagues in the USA, Toronto is considered the most sporty Americanized city in Canada.

The Toronto Rock, which plays in the NLL Lacrosse, and the young Toronto FC, which plays in the MLS soccer, are also worth mentioning. Toronto FC was initially also considered the only team in its league that did not come from the United States. In 2011, however, Vancouver Whitecaps were also included in the league. Toronto is also a stronghold of rugby in Canada. There are over 70 rugby clubs in the entire metropolitan area. The Ontario Blues, which also competes in the international ARC against teams from the USA, Argentina and Uruguay, are of national importance.

Toronto has hosted numerous international sporting events. After the 1976 Summer Olympics were awarded to Montreal, the city hosted the 5th Summer Paralympics. Since 1990 the Rogers Masters (formerly: Canadian Open) in Toronto, one of the new ATP Masters Series tournaments; In 1993, the 4th athletics world championships. A year later, Toronto hosted the basketball world championship alongside Hamilton. The city applied for the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics, but was defeated by Atlanta and Beijing respectively. The Toronto-based Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is considering applying for a third time, for the 2020 or 2024 Summer Games. Toronto hosts the 2015 Pan-American Games together with the Golden Horseshoe region. The Province of Ontario supports this application with $1.77 billion.

Since 1892, the Rogers Cup has been held as part of the US Open Series. In July and August 2000 the Du Maurier Open 2000 was held at the National Tennis Center in Toronto. Since 2000, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon is held annually in the center of the city.

Regular events

Canadian National Exhibition

The Toronto International Film Festival in early September is one of the largest film festivals in North America. It has been held since 1976 with the Genie Awards (since 1980) and the Gemini Awards (since 1986). The international film festival IFCT Festival took place in Toronto in 2002.

Since 1974, the Canadian International AutoShow is held annually in February at the Metro Toronto Convention Center and the Rogers Center. It is Canada's largest automobile exhibition with an exhibition area of 79,000 square meters.

The since 1981 in March (from 2014: Canadian Music Week is a four-day music festival and a music conference.

Since 1968 the ethnic-cultural folk festival International Caravan has taken place in Toronto in early June. It consists of musical and folklore events in the form of concerts and theater performances in more than 30 pavilions in the city area.

The Pride Week at the end of June is one of the largest gay pride festivals in the world. Highlights include the Dyke March and the Pride Parade, which attracts up to a million people.

Since 1989, four-day Beaches International Jazz Festival is held every summer as an open-air event in The Beaches of Old Toronto, the main act on a stage in the Kew Garden. In parallel, bands play on a distance of two kilometers along Queen Street East. In addition, since 1987 the Toronto Jazz Festival has been held in June/July. Since 1995 the music and culture festival North by Northeast (NXNE) has been open in June.

Since 1994, the festival Taste of the Danforth has taken place in Greektown every year in August. Once a local street festival with Greek specialties, it attracts well over 1.5 million visitors today.

The Canadian National Exhibition is a mixture of fair and agricultural fair. The event has been held since 1879 from mid-August to Labor Day at Exhibition Place, a place west of downtown. It is the fifth largest trade fair in North America with around 1.3 million visitors per year. In addition to the exhibitions, there are sports and music events as well as an air show.

The Toronto Santa Claus Parade is a Christmas parade in mid-November since 1905. More than half a million people watch the parade on six kilometers of downtown Toronto. It has been broadcast nationwide on television since 1952.

Toronto is also known as the "Hollywood of the North" because of its important position in media and film. For example, the city is often the hub of international films. In 2007, film production companies spent a total of $791 million on Toronto's filming. The municipal film and television authority Toronto Film and Television Office reports about some 200 productions in 2005, including 39 feature films, 44 TV films and 84 TV series.

Especially the futuristic-looking town hall (Toronto City Hall), which dates back to the 1960s, served as a backdrop for many films. In the American thriller The Sentinel - Who can you trust? is the venue for a G8 summit in the City Hall, and the film is also on display. a. at Nathan Phillips Square, where the final takes place. In the horror film Resident Evil: In 2004, Toronto City Hall served as the City Hall of the fictional city of Raccoon City, and Exhibition Place is called the National Trade Center. In the episode All Our Yesterdays (1969) from the science fiction television series spaceship Enterprise, the town hall is a portal for aliens. And in the action comedy The Tuxedo — dangers in the suit, it serves as the headquarters of a intelligence service.

The film dramas M. Butterfly (1993) by director David Cronenberg and Das sweet Beyond (1997) directed by Atom Egoyan played partly in Toronto as did Take This Waltz by Sarah Polley (2011). M. Butterfly had his world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. The Police Academy series of cinema comedies was partly shot in Toronto, the third part almost completely. The film is supposed to play in a big American city, but you can see the striking Skyline Toronto several times. The title of the film Am Highpoint flips the prey refers to the tower basket of the CN Tower, where the showdown takes place. In order to depict the fall of the antagonist, the stuntman Dar Robinson jumped with a parachute from the tower.

The Toronto-born cowboy junkies have played an important role in the style of the Alternative Country. On November 27, 1987, they recorded the album The Trinity Session at the Toronto Church of the Holy Trinity (Church of the Holy Trinity). The successful alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies was founded in Scarborough in 1988 and also recorded their albums in Toronto. The Rapper Snow describes his origins from Toronto in his most famous song Informer in the early 1990s.

Neil Young was born in Toronto

Toronto is the birthplace of a number of prominent figures, including Robert Baldwin (1804-1858), a key Canadian politician. The Canadian capital of cinema, music and media is particularly popular with many people from this area. The following film-makers were born in Toronto: Raymond Massey, Michael Ironside, Mike Myers, Harland Williams, Will Arnett, actress Jessica Steen and director David Cronenberg, who has become famous for his horror films. Neil Young, a native of Toronto, is the world's most famous rock musician. Not raised in Toronto is comedian and actor Jim Carrey. He was already at the age of 15 at various stages of clubs in Toronto. Partly raised in Toronto, the Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado. From Toronto comes the rock band Rush and her singer and bassist Geddy Lee. The great pianist and music writer Glenn Gould was born in Toronto and died there at the age of 50 after a stroke.

Frank Gehry, who is an architect and designer worldwide, was also born in Toronto in 1929. The Pritzker Prize winner was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1998 from the University of Toronto. The university even named his own chair for visiting professors who change every year. Gehry's only work in Toronto is the redesign of the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2008. Former Prime Minister Lester Pearson was born in 1897 in the Toronto district of Newtonbrook and grew up in Toronto. He studied at Victoria College and at the University of Toronto. In 1957, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as initiator of the end of the Suez crisis. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who took office from 2006 to 2015, was born in Toronto and grew up in the city. Newcomer Shawn Mendes is also from Toronto. He lives with his parents and sister in a suburb of Toronto.

In Toronto, a number of famous scientists also worked. The doctor Frederick Banting studied and worked there. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine with John James Richard Macleod, also a Toronto researcher. Arthur L. Schawlow, who graduated in mathematics and physics from the University of Toronto in 1941, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981 for his involvement in the laser's development. Bertram Brockhouse, who graduated from the University of Toronto, also received the Nobel Prize in Physics. John C. Polanyi is a university teacher in Toronto and received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1986. Physicist Walter Kohn was a Master in Applied Mathematics at the University of Toronto in 1946 and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel laureate in literature, lived in Toronto in the early 1920s and began his career as a journalist at Toronto Star. Born in Montreal, the journalist and icon of the globalization critique Naomi Klein lives with family in Toronto.