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Toronto: A City of Startling Contradictions TORONTO, Oct. 6 /CNW/ - Toronto's Vital Signs(R) Report 2009, released today by the Toronto Community Foundation, finds Toronto still climbing the ranks of "world class" cities, but like so many of them, Toronto is failing on too many issues vital to its future success. For the fourth year in a row Toronto ranks 15th out of 215 global cities in the 2009 Mercer Quality of Living Survey. The 2008 MasterCard index of 75 leading global centres of commerce says Toronto is 13th in liveability and 4th in ease of doing business in the world. Toronto is "seriously unaffordable", ranking 190th in the world for affordable housing. We are in a country that ranks last among 14 western nations in spending on early learning, childcare, and kindergarten programs. And the indicators show that more than 30% of children five and under are in Low Income families. The youth unemployment rate has surpassed 20%, which means a 5% climb in just one year. This puts Toronto 4% higher than the national rate. "We will not be able to count on young families and immigrants to support our declining population and workforce because life here is getting just too hard for those just starting out," said Rahul Bhardwaj, President and CEO of the Toronto Community Foundation. Toronto's Vital Signs(R) foresees young families choosing other cities where the cost of living is lower than Toronto and affordable housing is available. The effect is leading to an expanding gap between rich and poor which will reduce social cohesion increasing the risk of disengagement and crime. "Despite what the data suggests, demographics need not be Toronto's destiny. Toronto can still choose its future," says Bhardwaj. "We believe that the knowledge and creativity that rank us so high internationally give us the tools to build a better city for the future." Toronto's Vital Signs was created to provide an integrated snapshot of the vitality of our city. This annual Report looks at key indicators in 11 specific areas ranging from Work and Housing, to the city's record on Environment, Safety, Learning, Getting Around, Belonging, Getting Started in Toronto and Gap between Rich and Poor. The Community Foundation is committed to the vitality of Toronto. The findings from this Report guide our grant making while also informing our donors and Torontonians on the priority issues facing our city. Toronto's Vital Signs(R) has inspired similar reports in major cities across Canada. This year Vital Signs will be published in 16 cities as the report is also considered a valuable tool for policymakers, philanthropists and community groups across Canada. Toronto Community Foundation: With more than 375 funds, and assets of more than $200 million, Toronto Community Foundation is one of Canada's largest charitable foundations. Community vitality has been our purpose, promise, and passion since 1981, when we started connecting donors to community needs and opportunities. We help people invest in Toronto, making it the best place to live, work, learn and grow. We monitor the quality of life in our city, identifying its strengths and weaknesses through our Toronto's Vital Signs(R) Report. We provide the leadership and guidance to bring people together from all parts of our community. We exist for Toronto - for now and for always. Context: In 2008, Toronto ranked 13th worldwide and 3rd in North America (after New York and Chicago) on an index of 75 leading centres of commerce. Toronto placed 4th globally on the ease of doing business and 13th overall on liveability. Toronto ranked 15th out of 215 global cities as having a highly desirable quality of life, for the fourth year in a row. Toronto consistently ranks in the top 20 world cities for the number of patents registered each year (one of the most direct measures of innovation). What the indicators are saying by Vital Signs issue area: Learning Children risk scoring poorly on the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in 43% of Toronto neighbourhoods with low incomes, high immigrant populations and many lone-parent families. Arts and Culture Toronto scores third among its peers (ahead of Seattle, Boston and Chicago) on the 'Bohemian' Index - a measure of a region's proportion of professionally creative people. Work The youth unemployment rate in the Region surpassed 20% in June 2009, up 5% in just one year and 4% higher than the national rate (at 16%). Getting Around Traffic congestion costs each Torontonian $555 annually in lost time, additional vehicle operating costs, accidents and emissions. Toronto is the second most congested among Ontario's 15 largest municipalities and regions. Getting Started Recent immigrants are more than 3 times as likely to have lost jobs in the economic downturn than their Canadian-born colleagues. Health & Wellness 1,316,000 people (58%) report that they are inactive during leisure time, including 38.9% of youth. Environment Toronto diverted 44% of its residential waste in 2008. The 2% increase over 2007 was offset by an increase in total waste produced, so the amount going to landfills remained about the same (494,539 tonnes). The goal of 70% waste diversion by 2010 is still a long way from being met. Housing The Toronto Region is rated "seriously unaffordable", ranking 190th internationally and 29th in Canada for housing affordability, with median housing prices of 4.8 times median household incomes. Safety The Toronto Region's overall crime rate (3,998 per 100,000) was well below the national average as both the volume and overall severity of crime fell in 2008 for the fifth year in a row (6% over the year prior, and was the lowest of Canada's 33 large metropolitan centres). Gap Between Rich and Poor In 1970, 66% of Toronto neighbourhoods were middle-income; in 2005, it dropped to 29%. Projections for 2025 erode them further to 20%. Belonging and Leadership One indicator of a community's sense of civic engagement is the number of people who turn out to vote. Only 39% of all eligible voters turned out to vote in the last two civic elections in Toronto.

Immigrant illiteracy costs Canada billions http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=45102 Immigrants are not being utilized to their full potential, costing Canada's economy billions of dollars every year, says a new report from TD Economics -- and poor language and literacy skills are at the heart of the problem. About six in 10 newcomers have less than the desired level of literacy, the study says, and the employment rate for those with poor literacy skills is almost 20 percentage points lower than for those with the desired level. . Those with stronger literacy skills also tend to experience shorter periods of unemployment, obtain more skilled positions and receive significantly higher pay. . "There's an awful lot of opportunity that's being lost," Craig Alexander, a TD economist and the report's author, said in an interview. . Newcomers currently make up about a fifth of our total population, and with the immigrant contingent on track to comprise all of Canada's population growth by 2022, the study notes, it is imperative for government and corporations to address the issue head on. . Frank McKenna, deputy chair of TD Bank Financial Group and former New Brunswick premier, cited numerous advantages of having a more literate workforce that better. leverages the skills of newcomers. But many Canadians are unaware of the problem, he said in an interview. . "It's not a top-of-mind issue. It doesn't rank up there with health care and education, but it's just as important in terms of the productivity consequences for our economy and the potential for wealth creation," Mr. McKenna said. . "It's sort of like boiling a frog -- it's not a burning platform, it isn't something that would alarm people because it's not all that evident, and we just gradually become poorer as a nation as a result of this loss of potential." . Immigrants to Canada are increasingly coming from areas such as Asia where English and French are not native tongues. The economic wellbeing of these newcomers has been deteriorating over the past 25 years, the report states, with unemployment and poverty levels significantly higher among immigrants than Canadian-born citizens. . "Language and literacy is a major hurdle for newcomers and it might contribute between one-third to two-thirds of the earnings gap," the TD report states. . Many newcomers settle in "cultural clusters" that can further isolate them and prevent strong development of English or French, the study notes. . The policy response to these challenges has been "powerful," Mr. Alexander said, pointing to a number of government programs aimed at improving literacy levels among newcomers to prepare them for the workforce. But more resources must be allocated toward evaluating the effectiveness of these programs, he said. . On the corporate side, Mr. Alexander added, businesses should look beyond specialized software training to offer fundamental language training for new employees, a move that would increase output and profitability in the long term. .

Canada warns residents visiting India http://www.southasianobserver.com/south_asian_canadian_news.php?mid=5&cid=1742 (Sep 23 2009) Canada has joined Australia and Israel in issuing a travel advisory to its residents planning to travel to India. The Department of Foreign Affairs issued the new travel advisory to India Tuesday warning “Canadians should exercise a high degree of caution at all times.” Canadians in India should be particularly vigilant in the lead up to and on days of national significance, such as Diwali (Oct. 17), Republic Day (Jan. 26) and Independence Day (Aug. 15), as militants have used such occasions to mount attacks in the past, the advisory read. India has seen many terror acts in past. Most severe of this was terrorists’ strike in Mumbai in November last year. More than hundred people, including foreign nationals were killed in the attacks on two hotels and a Jewish centre.

Pope says African church must oppose 'toxic waste' of materialism http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/3485/849/ Monday, 05 October 2009 | Written by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service, Presiding Oct. 4 over the opening Mass for the special Synod of Bishops for Africa, Pope Benedict said the vocation of the Catholic Church on the continent is to work for peace and to promote the holiness that will lead to justice, strong families and care for the weakest members of African societies. Although there was a sprinkling of the languages spoken most in Africa, the major part of the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica was in Latin or Italian, including the Pope's homily. The Mass booklets used by the congregation and concelebrants were illustrated with sacred art from Congo, Togo, Burundi and Ethiopia. Accompanied by guitars and drums, a choir from Congo sang traditional African hymns while the Sistine Choir and an Italian choir led the singing in Latin. The theme of the Oct. 4-25 synod is "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace." Reciting the Angelus prayer after Mass, Pope Benedict said that, while a synod involves a lot of speeches and work in small groups to draft proposals, it is not a study meeting, but a special time dedicated to listening to the Holy Spirit and to discerning what God wants the church to do. The Pope said, "Africa is a continent with an extraordinary human richness" provided by almost one billion inhabitants and the highest birth rate in the world. "Africa is a fruitful land for human life, but this life is unfortunately marked by much poverty and still is suffering from serious injustices. The church is committed to overcoming them with the force of the Gospel and with concrete solidarity," he said.

New Policy shows how to Provide Human Rights in Rental Housing TORONTO, Oct. 5 /CNW/ - New guidelines will help improve equal access to rental housing for all Ontarians. The Policy on Human Rights and Rental Housing, Canada's first comprehensive look at how barriers to housing can be identified and eliminated, was released today by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). The policy follows extensive research and consultation with tenants, housing providers, decision-makers and other partners. Its aim is to provide tools, practical scenarios and information that can be applied to everyday situations, so that human rights problems can be eliminated quickly or prevented from happening in the first place. "The evidence is very clear," said OHRC Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall. "Discrimination occurs in many forms in rental housing across Ontario. Vulnerable and marginalized people have a much tougher time getting the housing they need because they face a number of barriers. This new policy is just part of a wider effort to break down those barriers to fair rental housing." Under Ontario's Human Rights Code, tenants and housing providers have rights and obligations. But the Code does not spell out what these protections and duties mean. The policy gives practical advice on how people can exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations. "There is an undeniable link between affordable and adequate housing and quality of life," Barbara Hall said. "Secure housing is a starting point for access to good employment, strong community resources and supports, and educational opportunities." Housing is a strategic priority for the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Today's policy release will be followed by a report on the progress of recommendations made last year in the OHRC's consultation report, Right at Home as well as new public education "e-learning" tools and other materials to help build awareness of human rights protections in housing.

Canadian fertility rates up, but still not high enough http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/3460/849/ Friday, 02 October 2009 | Written by Michael Swan, The Catholic Register, Excerpts… More women are having more babies, but still not enough to sustain Canada’s population, reports Statistics Canada. The latest numbers are from 2007 and show a 3.7-per-cent increase in births over 2006. It’s the fastest increase in the birth rate since 1989. The question for some observers is whether the uptick in births has anything to do with public, government policy. “I don’t think there’s any government policy that can come around and change this way of thinking,” said Andrea Mrozek, the Institute for Marriage and Family Canada’s manager of research. “For decades now we’ve been told that we don’t need a lot of kids — kids are economically a burden, it’s difficult, it’s expensive, will there be day care? — all these sorts of things. I think it’s too late. You can’t turn around now and say, ‘By the way, we think you should have lots of kids.’ ” Mrozek points out that Alberta, which had the largest increase in births, has no government-sponsored day care. There were 49,028 babies born in Alberta in 2007, an 8.4-per-cent increase over 2006. An urban bias against having children is the biggest reason why Canada can’t replace itself, according to Mrozek. “When you grow up in downtown Toronto and you never, ever see any women with children living satisfied, happy lives it further perpetuates the cycle,” she said. “You think, ‘I couldn’t ever be happy’ (with children) because you’ve never seen anyone who has done it.” In urban Canada women are taught to believe they can only afford a child after they have finished their education and securely started their careers, she said. “You get everything else in gear — career, income, but mostly the career — and then you have kids as some sort of icing on the cake when you are fully settled in all other regards,” said Mrozek. Those pressures to delay child-bearing show up in the statistics. Women 30 and over drove the 2007 increase in births, said Statistics Canada in the 2007 issue of “Births.” Women 30 to 34 had 115,415 babies, the largest number of all age groups. In 1997 the largest number of babies were born to women 25 to 29. There were 367,000 babies born in 2007, which brought Canada’s fertility rate to 1.66 babies per woman — the highest fertility rate since 1992. However, the replacement rate is 2.1. The world’s average fertility rate in 2008 was 2.61, according to the CIA World Fact Book. Wealthier nations of Western Europe, North America and Japan generally have fertility rates below replacement. The United States’ fertility rate is very close to replacement at 2.05. The United Kingdom’s fertility rate is 1.66. Italy and Spain stand at 1.3. The highest fertility rate in Canada is in Nunavut, where women give birth to an average of 2.97 children. Among the provinces Saskatchewan is tops with 2.03 children per woman. Newfoundland and Labrador lag behind with a fertility rate of 1.46.