London Mike

What does it matter whether it's 54% Indian or 41% Indian? The point is that it is unequivocally the most Indian of all regions in Southern Ontario let alone Toronto and that's simply a fact. Perhaps that's to be celebrated rather than repeatedly challenged.

MarylandNed

http://www.brampton.ca/en/Business/e...20Minority.pdf

If you add up the people of European descent, they still outnumber those of Indian and Canadian descent combined.

dbd33

I'm not challenging it. I suppose I celebrate it in going there for Indian meals. I'm just disconcerted by that other fellow's denial of the central fact about the place and, when bored, prepared to drone on about it.

Picture, 1000 words, and all that, attached is an image of the queue to apply for a driving license in Brampton.

London Mike

Wow, I'd call that 89%. Case closed.

Secam

I would definitely recommend renting for the first year. It will allow you to get a lay of the land.

How about the Woodbridge area? It's fairly close to the airport, especially if you're willing to take the 407 toll highway.

Mostly Italians though

MarylandNed

So now you're claiming that a single photograph of a driving license queue is representative of the general population of a city? If so, how do you explain that only 26% of the population of Bramption is of South Asian (e.g. Indian) descent?

dbd33

I offer this as a typical street scene in Brampton. I expect I've similar ones of train and bus stations. Feel free to offer images of nursing homes and the like featuring solely caucasian people.

I don't accept, btw, that "city" is appropriate for a suburb. I understand that it's a "City" in that Canadians use that as an administrative unit but it's not really a place in its own right. My image is not representative of the city of Toronto.

FlyingDutchman6666

It's been a long while since I had such a good laugh browsing through a thread on this forum.

dbd33, you are bad !

JamesM

I'm embarrassed to say I once spent an hour in that que on a Saturday afternoon before abandoning it

I then popped back first thing on the Monday. Then having forgotten my glasses I noticed the guy wasn't paying attention when doing the eye test so I managed to read all the letters with out looking through the lense. When he caught me on the fifth test case I told him I thought the machine was broken so he just stamped everything and gave me a temporary license...........

It was noticed by an English guest and I that whilst riding the bus to and from the Driving Test/License Centre from Downtown Brampton that we were the only anglosaxon's on the bus. That does put weight behind what DBD is saying although it could also be an indicator that car affordability is also more difficult for some immigrants.

A few days later in Hooters Brampton (sadly no longer there) my english guest and I were enjoying our wings and sport when a very hot blonde waitress ending her shift asked to join us. We couldn't believe our luck. She then started to unload on why she hated Brampton and how she was the only "white" person when ever she went to the mall. I have never turned off such an attractive women so fast. I think once Hooters closed she went south and became a Grand Wizard for a Clan.

I have not spent any time back in Brampton since and this was the summer of 2004.

Lastly in Hooters absence I can highly recommend Cactus Jacks.

MarylandNed

I probably wouldn't argue if someone said that South Asians were the fastest growing minority group in Brampton. Perhaps one day they will be in the majority but that day is not here yet.

I'm not racist - I think that multiculturalism has been very beneficial to Canada. However, I admit that I am concerned by the thought that one culture could completely swamp an area to the exclusion of other cultures.

Earlier this year I took my daughter to an open day at the University of Toronto. She felt completely overwhelmed by the number of East Asian (Korean, Chinese, etc) and South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, etc) students and families there. She's not racist and has friends here in Maryland from multiple cultures (which has been great for her by the way - a fact she recognizes herself) but she has no interest in being completely swamped by 1 or 2 cultures. She felt claustrophobic and turned down the opportunity to attend U of T mostly on the basis of the demographics she saw that day.

I think Canada has to be careful about its immigration policy. It's important that new immigrants integrate into Canadian society and complement it - not congregate in their own enclaves within it while turning those enclaves into microcosms of their home countries. That view applies to white Europeans (e.g. Brits, Irish, Latvians, Poles, etc) as much as it does to East or South Asians - or indeed any other culture.

dbd33

On the UofT, I have a colleague whose daughter just turned down a place there, in favour of McGill, due to the percieved uniculturalism of the UofT. That gave me pause because the family's from Macao and is ethnically Chinese.

Toronto and area though is a series of islands of uniculture, Little Indian, Greektown, Koreatown, Little Italy, Woodbridge, Brampton, Markham. I don't see that changing. Multiculturalism is, to me, many fractious communities visiting their old racisms on a new country. I think it works here due to absence of a "Canadian" culture, there's nothing to assimilate to and so nothing is lost if a place becomes the new Latvia or new wherever.

lmartin999

You mean by doing things like attending university?

I actually don't understand what you mean. Integrate how?

lmartin999

Don't you mean she was overwhelmed by all the Canadians?

London Mike

There is nothing different immigration patterns and settlement in Toronto/the GTA than there is in London or the UK more widely. Generally, people settle where they can afford and - yes - where they feel they 'belong' too. I expect that goes beyond nationality/race i.e. social class plays a part as well. I don't think immigration 'policy' in Canada has anything to do it with it at all. Certainly no-one at Pearson is eyeing someone who is Indian in origin and suggesting strongly that they move to Brampton.

From what I've seen multi-culturalism works pretty well in Canada. In my view, it works better than it does in the UK. Integration is fine on some levels but expecting complete assimilation is unrealistic; as I said earlier, I think cultural differences is something to be celebrated anyway.

johnh009

Try Georgetown, very close to Brampton but populated with people of mainly British descent. It is also quite a safe area surrounded by nice countryside.