Buffalo, of course, is only a stepping stone to Canada in my own personal life map. As I point out to the Rector at St Mary’s at least once a week as he asks me to stay: They have Free Healthcare and Legal Marriage there.
They have other things, too: as this article from Common Dreams points out: Imagine It in Toronto.
The most significant impression I had of Toronto is that its people are so civilized
I’m sure Peter might offer a different view: as a resident rather than a tourist.
Peter will remember when he and I went walking through Hamilton: how I kept talking about my urban alarm system and seeing people of different races, walking together around the city. What, in Asheville, SF or NYC would have been a gang situation or a case of crime was, in Canada, a perfectly normal celebration of diversity and living-together. It kept freaking me out.
What does it mean that the 5th largest city in North American had only 84 homicides in 2007? (The fourth largest, Houston, TX, had 351.)
(Props to Catholic Anarchy.)
This Avi not Tamara!!!
Your are right (IMO) about everything but Jewishly speaking Canada bite’s!
And still despite that, I miss it big time! Ok well not the cold but the other stuff!
A few observations.
The health care system in Canada is not free. We pay for it through our taxes. What this means is that it *is* universal - those living in poverty have coverage even if they don’t pay taxes.
I saw Bowling for Columbine, and while I think Michael Moore is a bit of a buffoon, it is true that Toronto is a relatively safe city. There are areas where I would be more aware of my surroundings than others, but I feel free to walk ANYWHERE in the city at any time of the day or night.
As you noted, racial tensions are basically a non-issue in urban southern Ontario. There are bigots, to be sure, but we haven’t had race riots in Toronto in fifty years.
There is organized crime in the city, but one of the euphemistically named “motorcycle clubs” decorates for Christmas.
There are problems but at the end of the day, it’s home.
Oh yeah, and according to the 2001 census data there are around 164,000 Jews living in Toronto. (I love the StatsCan site!)