WislaHD
Superstar
Maybe we should start accepting Toronto's status as North America's third (/fourth including CDMX) most important city.
It would still require significant buy-in from American audiences though, which is the surprising part for me.
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Toronto's Culture Production Boom
- Thread starter Northern Light
- Start date
It would still require significant buy-in from American audiences though, which is the surprising part for me.
Northern Light
Superstar
With a Toronto-set (Montreal-shot) series on primetime network TV in the U.S. (Transplant) and winning its slot.......
A feature movie, with A-List stars coming out where Toronto is even in the title (Man from Toronto).......
and the Pixar offering; I suspect the process of making that change is underway.
afransen
Senior Member
Toronto is still bizarrely un-heard of in much of the US. My parents had many encounters during vacations in smaller towns in the South where they tried explaining where they were from, and 'Toronto' draws blank stares. You'd think the Raptors would get people familiar with the name of the city.
Northern Light
Superstar
I don't want to sidetrack this thread too much........but Geographic Literacy is a challenge throughout the world. While most nations can and should expect better of their citizenry, the U.S. really is chief among them.
The link below is quite dated (2002)........but revelatory nonetheless.
Survey Reveals Geographic Illiteracy
The National Geographic-Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey polled more than 3,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden and the United States.
www.nationalgeographic.com
From the above link, two excerpts:
AlbertC
Superstar
This brings up a couple thoughts on this topic:
Around half or more of my immediate and extended family are Americans. Most of them are concentrated in the Metro New York City or Philadelphia area. Their knowledge of Canada ranges from being able to have an orientation of where major cities on the eastern portion of the country like Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal are, to just generically conceptualizing Canada as a blob of a northern expanse situated across the border of Syracuse/Buffalo or wherever the hell they went to college in upstate New York. I also have some outlier relatives in Georgia, some further extended family in Houston, Texas, and one cousin in Seattle. For a lot of them, saying Toronto is essentially not too relevant, as it just gets generalized into "Canada". And this applies for the people around my age too (I'm a Gen Y). Whether jovial or actual unawareness, the prevalent interpretation of the difference between both countries tends to often give off a sense of American centric-ism.
On the other note, I was just having dinner with some people on the weekend and the topic came up of how some American banks' credit cards don't have any foreign transaction fees. And one of the ideas that came up was that someone mentioned that most Americans don't have passports to travel abroad so those fees aren't too important. I had to look this up afterwards, and most sources online mentioned that around 1/3rd to low-40% of Americans have active valid passports.
One of the sources:
today.yougov.com
Around half or more of my immediate and extended family are Americans. Most of them are concentrated in the Metro New York City or Philadelphia area. Their knowledge of Canada ranges from being able to have an orientation of where major cities on the eastern portion of the country like Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal are, to just generically conceptualizing Canada as a blob of a northern expanse situated across the border of Syracuse/Buffalo or wherever the hell they went to college in upstate New York. I also have some outlier relatives in Georgia, some further extended family in Houston, Texas, and one cousin in Seattle. For a lot of them, saying Toronto is essentially not too relevant, as it just gets generalized into "Canada". And this applies for the people around my age too (I'm a Gen Y). Whether jovial or actual unawareness, the prevalent interpretation of the difference between both countries tends to often give off a sense of American centric-ism.
On the other note, I was just having dinner with some people on the weekend and the topic came up of how some American banks' credit cards don't have any foreign transaction fees. And one of the ideas that came up was that someone mentioned that most Americans don't have passports to travel abroad so those fees aren't too important. I had to look this up afterwards, and most sources online mentioned that around 1/3rd to low-40% of Americans have active valid passports.
One of the sources:
Only one-third of Americans have a valid US passport | YouGov
Only a third of American adults say they have a valid and unexpired U.S. passport (37%) – about the same percentage as those who have never had a passport at all (38%).
today.yougov.com
Northern Light
Superstar
This brings up a couple thoughts on this topic:
Around half or more of my immediate and extended family are Americans. Most of them are concentrated in the Metro New York City or Philadelphia area. Their knowledge of Canada ranges from being able to have an orientation of where major cities on the eastern portion of the country like Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal are, to just generically conceptualizing Canada as a blob of a northern expanse situated across the border of Syracuse/Buffalo or wherever the hell they went to college in upstate New York. I also have some outlier relatives in Georgia, some further extended family in Houston, Texas, and one cousin in Seattle. For a lot of them, saying Toronto is essentially not too relevant, as it just gets generalized into "Canada". And this applies for the people around my age too (I'm a Gen Y). Whether jovial or actual unawareness, the prevalent interpretation of the difference between both countries tends to often give off a sense of American centric-ism.
On the other note, I was just having dinner with some people on the weekend and the topic came up of how some American banks' credit cards don't have any foreign transaction fees. And one of the ideas that came up was that someone mentioned that most Americans don't have passports to travel abroad so those fees aren't too important. I had to look this up afterwards, and most sources online mentioned that around 1/3rd to low-40% of Americans have active valid passports.
One of the sources:
Only one-third of Americans have a valid US passport | YouGov
Only a third of American adults say they have a valid and unexpired U.S. passport (37%) – about the same percentage as those who have never had a passport at all (38%).
Based on the data issued by the U.S. State Department, there are 143 Million valid passports in circulation vs a population of ~328 million citizens.
This suggests a rate of approximately 43.6%
Source: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/about-us/reports-and-statistics.html
****
Data from 2017 is the most recent I can find for Canada at the moment, shows 22 million valid passports in circulation, which would be ~60% of the population at the time.
Considerably higher than the U.S., but not as much as one might intuitively expect.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
This survey also give some clues (though the sample size is small):
www.forbes.com
-- Eleven percent of survey respondents have never traveled outside of the state where they were born.
-- Over half of those surveyed (54 percent) say they’ve visited 10 states or fewer.
-- As many as 13 percent say they have never flown in an airplane.
-- Forty percent of those questioned said they’ve never left the country.
-- Over half of respondents have never owned a passport. (For years U.S. citizens did not need one to travel to Mexico, Canada and on many cruises, which may clarify the previous stat.)
---
I think growing up, and living in a cosmopolitan city tend to skew our perception of how "rooted" one is to their place of birth.
AoD
Percentage Of Americans Who Never Traveled Beyond The State Where They Were Born? A Surprise
Stay-at-home survey
www.forbes.com
-- Eleven percent of survey respondents have never traveled outside of the state where they were born.
-- Over half of those surveyed (54 percent) say they’ve visited 10 states or fewer.
-- As many as 13 percent say they have never flown in an airplane.
-- Forty percent of those questioned said they’ve never left the country.
-- Over half of respondents have never owned a passport. (For years U.S. citizens did not need one to travel to Mexico, Canada and on many cruises, which may clarify the previous stat.)
---
I think growing up, and living in a cosmopolitan city tend to skew our perception of how "rooted" one is to their place of birth.
AoD
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Northern Light
Superstar
This survey also give some clues (though the sample size is small):
Percentage Of Americans Who Never Traveled Beyond The State Where They Were Born? A Surprise
Stay-at-home survey
-- Eleven percent of survey respondents have never traveled outside of the state where they were born.
-- Over half of those surveyed (54 percent) say they’ve visited 10 states or fewer.
-- As many as 13 percent say they have never flown in an airplane.
-- Forty percent of those questioned said they’ve never left the country.
-- Over half of respondents have never owned a passport. (For years U.S. citizens did not need one to travel to Mexico, Canada and on many cruises, which may clarify the previous stat.)
---
I think growing up, and living in a cosmopolitan city tend to skew our perception of how "rooted" one is to their place of birth.
AoD
According to a survey published in the National Post in 2016; the number of Canadians who have never visited another country is 15%.
With 39% having visited between 2-5 countries.
Source: https://nationalpost.com/travel/canadians-happy-at-home-when-it-comes-to-travel-new-poll-suggests
UrbanFervour
Active Member
The same people who think Trump won the election, Covid is a hoax, the US civil war had nothing to do with slavery, Jesus was a white anglo-saxon, and Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs around the Garden of Eden 6000 years ago.
Let's hope they never hear of Toronto.
Northern Light
Superstar
Lets also hope their children get a far better education than they did.
gabe
Senior Member
I find a lot of people in Toronto are pretty clueless about places in Ontario. It's like they don't travel outside the GTA bubble. I had a family cottage in Port Elgin, I'm amazed the amount of people I have encountered, that have no idea where Port Elgin is or what lake it's on. Same with the people who go to Niagara Falls all the time, but never set foot in Niagara On The Lake.
Ontario is a big province with lots to discover.
WislaHD
Superstar
I'd like to think that the Toronto Raptors, as well as the global fame of artists like Drake, The Weeknd, and Shawn Mendes would have put Toronto more on the map/cultural consciousness across North America, but perhaps not.
Northern Light
Superstar
Ya know..........I'm not going to fault anyone for not knowing about Port Elgin......................LOL..... *ducks*
I mean that huge population of 7,800..................
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Seriously though, I'm a regular up in the Bruce Peninsula, and I don't remember if I've been there once (in town).
I know the name and location, but that's about it and
I'm quite well traveled in the province.
****
Niagara-on-the-Lake I would expect to be well known, given that its the home of The Shaw, the heart of wine country, and close to the Falls.
But I wouldn't necessarily expect everyone to have been there, again, its main draws are theatre, cute lil' town, and romantic getaway.
Not everyone's thing (totally mine).
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Not knowing Toronto (as an American) would be comparable to a Canadian not knowing Chicago.
That said, geographic literacy is an issue everywhere.
Just go ask the average person to name even 2 cities in France.........let alone 4 or 5.
I'm not sure most people know Cannes is a place, not merely a film festival name; or that their Nicoise salad may have something to do with Nice.
I wish it were otherwise; but many people take little interest in such things; our education about it isn't great; our cultural exposure to places outside North America tends to be poor; and many, of course, don't get
the opportunity to travel.
UT is a comparatively affluent demographic; we're not the most representative group.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
AlbertC
Superstar
The "Ports" of Ontario can sometimes be confused for either other. I was speaking to someone the other day, and they mentioned Port Perry as a place where they may want to live as they get older. For a good few minutes, I kept thinking that they meant Port Hope as I referred to it as "a place right along Lake Ontario", only to get it cleared up afterwards.
Port Colborne and Port McNicoll are a couple others that come to mind scattered throughout the province.
