wild goose chase
Active Member
I was just thinking about the fact that occasionally, I will try and keep in touch with old Torontonian classmates/friends/neighbours who I grew up with or went to school with during the last couple of decades, and find out some of them have moved not just outside Toronto, but outside of Canada. Some of them may be expats in another country (especially the US) but a large number seem to have been people who themselves were immigrants (or have immigrant roots) making a "return" migration to their place of heritage.
The kinds of people I've met who've done this range from young people who returned in their teenage years, to older people who retire back to the place of origin, and these former Torontonians moved back to places all over, from the UK, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East.
I've never seen any stats (indeed I hear though there are lots of stats on immigration and arrivals, of course, to a city, very little information is taken about emigration or people who leave the city), but I'd still imagine that immigrants who stay in Toronto for the long haul still outnumber those who return. There are claims that 21st century "immigrants" are far more mobile and connected to their homelands than those of the past and so immigration is no longer as "one-way", though I have no idea how often earlier 20th century immigrants to Toronto returned (I know many made their way to the US). Nonetheless, I'm still occasionally surprised when I see that someone I knew growing up who seemed like they'd not be one to leave the country has his or her current location in Jamaica or Hong Kong.
The kinds of people I've met who've done this range from young people who returned in their teenage years, to older people who retire back to the place of origin, and these former Torontonians moved back to places all over, from the UK, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East.
I've never seen any stats (indeed I hear though there are lots of stats on immigration and arrivals, of course, to a city, very little information is taken about emigration or people who leave the city), but I'd still imagine that immigrants who stay in Toronto for the long haul still outnumber those who return. There are claims that 21st century "immigrants" are far more mobile and connected to their homelands than those of the past and so immigration is no longer as "one-way", though I have no idea how often earlier 20th century immigrants to Toronto returned (I know many made their way to the US). Nonetheless, I'm still occasionally surprised when I see that someone I knew growing up who seemed like they'd not be one to leave the country has his or her current location in Jamaica or Hong Kong.