NIE ACTIVITY
GEOGRAPHY Connections
This yearlong series is presented in collaboration with the Connecticut Geographic Alliance. For more information about NIE visit www.courantnie.com or call 241-3144.
Toronto
Jacqueline Stack
Howell Cheney Technical High School
Manchester, Connecticut
Toronto, Ontario Canada is its nation’s largest city. The 2.7
million residents of its 140 neighborhoods call this diverse
city home. Sitting on the shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto,
Canada’s commercial capital, boasts a sophisticated, multi-
ethnic population. Toronto has long been a destination for
immigrants. Greater than 100,000 immigrants disembark
in this Canadian city yearly. Foreign-born people make
up 49% of its population. The majority of the population
hails from the European countries of the United Kingdom,
Ireland, Italy and France. The largest minority groups
include South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino and Latin
American. Aboriginal people, perhaps representative of the
Iroquois Confederacy, comprise .5% of the city’s residents.
Christians make up the city’s biggest religious group, yet
other visible religions include Islam, Hinduism, Judaism,
Buddhism and Sikhism. English is the principal language
spoken by Torontonians, but the variety of languages
utilized by the city’s varied population is highlighted by the
fact that the 911 emergency responders are able to provide
assistance in 150 languages.
Toronto has a mayor-council form of city government.
All officials are elected to 4-year terms by popular
vote. They can serve the people through a one-house,
unicameral, lawmaking body as long as they are re-elected.
Government officials are proud of Toronto’s reputation as
one of the safest cities to live in North America. This low
crime rate metropolis is also the most expensive place to
call home in Canada.
Toronto is a major world financial center. Its people may
work in Canada’s five largest banks or in the seventh
largest stock exchange in the world. The city also counts
among its employers the majority of the nation’s corporate
headquarters. These headquarters include, but are not
limited to, aerospace, transportation, media, the arts, film,
music and television production companies, as well as
telecommunications, publishing and software corporations.
Medical research and educational facilities are also vibrant
employers. Toronto, home to seven major league sports
teams, provides jobs in that industry. It is no surprise that
tourism is a notable activity.
TAKE 5
Location: The City of Toronto is in the Canadian
province of Ontario. Located in southern Ontario on the
northwest shore of Lake Ontario, this city encompasses
243.2 square miles. It can be pinpointed at a latitude
reading of 43.6481 degrees north, and a longitude
reading of 79.4042 degrees west.
Place: The Urban areas of Toronto, Montreal and
Vancouver comprise 1/3 of Canada’s population. A
“bird’s eye” view of Toronto finds in its focus a city with
major streets divided by ravines and trisected by the
Humber, Don and Rouge Rivers. These rivers flow south
toward Toronto’s 29-mile harbor front on Lake Ontario.
Large tracts of forests are found in the city‘s valleys.
The city limits are Lake Ontario to the south, Steeles
Avenue to the north, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427
to the west and the Rouge River to the east.
Human-Environmental Interaction: Toronto’s
cityscape reflects its people’s architectural response
to time, place, climate, resources and technology.
The city’s buildings span the period from the mid
1800’s to the present. The residents of Old Toronto
live in gabled row houses, upscale homes, high-end
condominiums, high-rise apartments and low income
government housing. Toronto also has 1,800 buildings
that measure higher than 98 feet. The CN Tower, a
telecommunications center, completed in 1976, stands
at a height of 1,815 feet 5 inches. This harbor landmark
was the world’s tallest freestanding structure until 2007
when it was “dwarfed” by Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Region: Toronto is one of two Canadian cities, the
other being Montreal, where one out of two Canadians
live. Canada, the second largest land mass country in
the world, shares North America with one of its best
allies, the United States. Most Canadians live within
a few hundred miles of the southern Canadian/U.S.
border. Toronto lies within the province of Ontario.
Canada has ten provinces and three territories.
Toronto’s climate is moderate for this northern nation
with four seasons to experience. The winters are cold.
Snow may fall from November through April. The
warm, humid summers are marked by thunderstorms.
Spring and fall are the go-between periods for winter
and summer. Assorted pine, hemlock, and cedar trees
thrive alongside birch, maple and oak in this climate.
Movement: Toronto’s streets form a grid. Expressways
and provincial highways serve the city and its suburbs.
Highway 401 bisects the city from west to east. It has
a reputation of being the busiest highway in North
America. Torontonians also meet their transportation
needs through a public transit system that includes a
subway “rocket” train as well as a system of streetcars
and buses. Toronto is home to Canada’s busiest airport,
Toronto Pearson International.
DID YOU KNOW?
People have lived in the land area known as
Toronto since the last ice age approximately
12,500 years ago.
In 1793, the British founded the Town of York.
This village would grow into the City of Toronto.
During the War of 1812, American forces
attacked the British Upper Canadian town
of York. Americans occupied York for six
days after the battle, looting and setting fire
to government buildings. The British sought
revenge by burning the White House and the
U.S. Capitol in 1814.
Toronto has 558 public schools and the largest public library system in Canada with 99 branches.
Toronto is home to teams in the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball
Association, the Canadian Football League, Major League Soccer, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League
and the W-League (Women’s Soccer).
Toronto has the only National Basketball Association franchise outside of the U.S.A.
The Hockey Hall of Fame is housed in a former Toronto bank built in 1885.
MAP IT OUT
Toronto became the most populous city in Canada after the 1991 Census (Canada does its census
every 10 years like the United States and on the 1’s). It is the provincial capital for Ontario, but it is
not the national capital. Using a map of the world, map the
following cities that are their country’s most populous city,
but not the national capital.
Sao Paulo, Brazil Lagos, Nigeria
Zurich, Switzerland Casablanca, Morocco
Guayaquil, Ecuador Karachi, Pakistan
Istanbul, Turkey Shanghai, China
Auckland, New Zealand
1. What geographical advantages do these cities have that make them the most populous city in
their countries (3 examples)?
2. Research these cities and list 2 that were former capitals.
3. Using your answer for question 2, give the reason(s) why the national capital was moved.
Source: Geography: Realms, Regions, and concepts, 14 edition, c. 2010
Community Connections Activity
The United States /Canada border is the longest in the world. This border, also known as the
International Boundary, measures more than 5,000 miles (including the U.S.-Alaska border).
• Do some research. As a class, list the different land forms that make up this very long
U.S.- Canadian border.
• Now, plan a sightseeing bus trip from Connecticut to Toronto. Working in groups of three, map
out an interesting route. List the different states/cities you will travel through and the interesting
landscapes and tourist attractions you would want to see along the way. Use the newspaper to
find items that would be important to take along on this trip.
• Bonus: The XL Keystone Oil Pipeline is a controversial project that involves the U.S. and Canada.
The project is presently halted, but revisions have been made to the original plan. Scan the news
and the internet for details of this project. As a class, discuss the pros and cons of this project.
NEXT PAGE - March 7, 2013
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