Taking a Glance at the Yonge-Church Corridor Neighborhood Profile
Abolfazl Dadvar
(FR) La ville de Toronto est depuis longtemps louée pour sa grande diversité et la coexistence de personnes de différentes ethnies, orientations sexuelles, ou religions, dans un environnement relativement paisible. Le quartier Yonge-Church, qui connaît une croissance rapide, est un lieu qui reflète cette diversité et en est fier. Ce texte examine les données d’un recensement de 2016, afin de mieux comprendre la relation entre l’environnement et sa démographie. La communauté LGBTG2+ qui est concentrée dans ce quartier — pour cause de désir d’appartenance — joue depuis des décennies un rôle important dans le façonnement de la structure physique et spirituelle du quartier. Les entreprises qui y opèrent et leur forme d’expression révèlent ceci de manière limpide. De plus, les données de ce recensement sont complexifiées par la présence des étudiants de l’Université Ryerson et les clients du centre commercial Eaton. Ainsi, pour les raisons susmentionnées et leurs interconnexions, un modèle intéressant de statistiques analytiques a été mis en place : un faible revenu moyen, des taux de marche plus élevés, ainsi que des niveaux d’éducation plus élevés sont tous attendus.
The city of Toronto is famous for its diversity. This heterogeneity can be observed in neighbourhoods wherein an array of people of different ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religions live among each other. The Yonge-Church Corridor is one such neighbourhood, which includes the Church-Wellesley Village, an area that has been associated with the LGBTG2+ community for decades.
When examining the Yonge-Church Corridor, it is imperative to begin with its most unique component: the Church-Wellesley Village (Figure 1), which has been functioning as a center point for the LGBTG2+ community for years (Figure 2). In the early 1970s, when gay rights movements were burgeoning, the gay community was largely concentrated around Parkside and St. Charles Street, where they intersected with Yonge Street. However, the businesses in this region were majorly straight-owned. As a result, the growing LGBTG2+ gay community moved to Church Street, an area with cheaper rent and where new gay entrepreneurs were able to open their own businesses by the end of the 1970s.[1] The New York police’s unsuccessful raids of gay bars in 1969 were monumental in the LGBTG2+ community’s history during this era.. This led to the LGBTG2+ movement gaining momentum, causing even more demonstrations and activities, such as the University of Toronto’s Homophile Association and the first Pride celebration, which was held on the Toronto Islands as a picnic.[2] It is important to note that this was still a time of little legislation in relation to gay rights. Consequently, the LGBTG2+ community felt the need to concentrate themselves the Wellesley-Church Village for two reasons: discriminatory practices enforced by law enforcement and/or the public, and the internal cultural retention within the gay community itself.[3] The 2016 census profile of the neighbourhood shows that 15% of the population lives in common law cohabitation, compared to 7% in Toronto , suggesting that common law relationships are more popular in the LGBTG2+ community, as shown Figure 3. The statistics further show that 58% of households in this area are one-person dwellings compared to 32% in Toronto.[4] The data indicates that many have decided to move and live in this neighbourhood as individuals, therefore not adhering to traditional family structures.
The array of LGBTG2+-owned pubs, restaurants, and shops are not the only component shaping the Yonge-Church Corridor. The neighbourhood, in holding one of the largest and most famous shopping centres in Toronto, the Eaton Centre, has also become a hub for retailers and shoppers. Thus, it can be hypothesized that a major part of the population is employed in service-providing occupations. According to Statistics Canada, the most popular mode of commute to work amongst the residents is walking, with 40% of the population choosing this compared to the 46% of Torontonians who drive a vehicle as their primary mode of commute to work.4 A significant indicator of the economic well-being of a population in a geographical region is household income. As seen in Figure 4, the data collected by Statistics Canada reveals that the mean household income of this neighbourhood is significantly lower than that of the rest of the city, which is derived from the fact that retail jobs are dominant in this neighbourhood, with few occupations falling under the white-collar category. However, the income of economic families, a group of two or more persons living in the same dwelling while being related to each other in some way, is relatively high. A possible reason for this is that younger couples choose to live in this neighbourhood due to the communal atmosphere. Furthermore, a similar distribution of income is apparent in the census data collected by Statistics Canada in the two previous censuses in 1996 and 2001.[5] This consistency is due to the fact that the markets were open since the 1970s and that the Eaton Centre was established in 1977.[6] Moreover, a positive conclusion that can be extrapolated from the census data in Figure 4 is the small gap between the mean and median household incomes, even compared to the city of Toronto as a whole
Education plays a crucial role in how the Yonge-Church Corridor is physically and demographically shaped. Ryerson University, with its modern buildings, stands out in the heart of this neighbourhood. The existence of this university partly accounts for the high percentage of the young population in the neighbourhood. The high number of students is one of the leading causes behind condominium developments. Despite the area already being population-dense with over 23,000 people per square kilometre, compared to 4,334 for Toronto, the population still saw a +10.6% increase from 2011-2016,4 making the area enticing to real estate companies. The density along with the high demand for compact housing have together resulted in 92% of the types of housing to be apartments of 5+ stories, much greater than Toronto’s 42% (Figure 5). As a result, there is increasing construction happening in recent decades in this area, of which is greater than the rest of the city’s.4 The high student population in this region as a result of Ryerson University’s location can also account for the high renter to owner ratio, as many residents of this neighbourhood are temporary. Furthermore, a direct product of the university’s presence in the area is the education level of the population. The Yonge-Church Corridor’s population is highly educated, with rates of educational attainment being higher than the rest of the city for people with a bachelor’s degree or higher. However, there seems to be a discrepancy between the level of education and income of the population. The fact that the household income is relatively lower in this neighbourhood can be explained by the university’s existence, students’ temporary residence, and the high number of retail service-providing occupations.
The Yonge-Church Corridor symbolizes the diversity of Canadian culture and is, therefore, of extreme significance in representing the city at a global level. The LGBTG2+ community has had its effects on, for example, the types of businesses and income in the area. Education is also another component that has physically and socially shaped the area, in motivating the condominium-style housing and high education rate. This examination of the Yonge-Church Corridor shows that the profile of a neighbourhood is the result of a series of factors. It is important that the Yonge-Church Corridor continues to be analyzed and planned for as is population continues to grow.