Biodivercity

First he might notice that there aren’t many Swiss people running around. Toronto has become Canada’s—possibly North America’s—most culturally diverse city. Nearly half of its 3 million people were born outside the wintry shores of Canada, most of them decidedly Asian, African or Caribbean in appearance. Even those Europeans who still settle in Toronto are from the wilder bits of Europe—Moldova, Poland, Ukraine, Bosnia. It all makes for a teeming mix of nationalities and a welcome obliteration of the Protestant, strait-laced, Anglo-Saxon tone that gave rise to Wolfe’s parting comment. The bars stay open all night, there is a huge and demonstrative gay community, restaurants offer everything from Kerala seafood to Ethiopian flat breads. In St Lawrence market, the place to buy fresh food, I counted 17 different varieties of rice on sale. South Asians, of course, are among the deans of Toronto’s non-European inhabitants. Some even grumble unappreciatively at the hordes of newcomers, swamping the streetcars and filling the bylanes with the smells of their cooking. "I just wish they’d learn to adapt better, this is Canada you know," said a friend of mine from Peshawar, as we ate Macedonian pastries in a coffee shop run by Eritreans.