What do other diverse cities worldwide think of Toronto's claim to be "the most multicultural city"?

[wild goose chase]

In California the Asian population is more than double the Black population.

Asian Americans (especially East Asian) tend to have their population in the western half of the country and are more likely to be the local largest minority in some places there, while African Americans tend to be the largest minority more in the eastern half of the country (including the South, Midwest etc.).

Interestingly, the trend seems to kind of hold for Canada too -- There are more Asian than Black Canadians in Ontario and westward to BC, but in Ottawa, the province of Quebec, including Montreal, and the Maritimes, there are more Black than Asian Canadians (if you exclude Arab/ West Asians, which is what the US census does for Asians).

 

[King of Kensington]

In the 1990s, an outsider would get the impression from the media coverage that L.A. was a city of "blacks and whites" (i.e. O.J. Simpson trial, Rodney King and the L.A. riots etc.)

 

[wild goose chase]

In the 1990s, an outsider would get the impression from the media coverage that L.A. was a city of "blacks and whites" (i.e. O.J. Simpson trial, Rodney King and the L.A. riots etc.)

LA's black population was larger back then though compared to now (both in proportion and in total numbers), and it looks like its white population made up a higher proportion in the past too -- it is currently about the same proportion as Toronto's (near 50%). Looking at the stats though it seems like LA's Asian population percentage-wise isn't as big as I would have thought (being 11%, less than half of Toronto's proportion, even excluding West Asians, which I know there are a lot of in both LA and TO) -- noticeably though LA's Latino population outnumbers both its Asian and African American populations considerably.

Unlike in eastern cities (where African Americans had a much longer history than other non-white minorities), I think many Western cities had significant Latino and even Asian populations before or at the same time that a significant Black population arrived (I assume Western US cities had their African American populations mainly come from eastward within the country since I rarely hear about Caribbean or African immigrants making up a big proportion of western cities, unlike in the east).

 

[prosperegal]

Asian Americans (especially East Asian) tend to have their population in the western half of the country and are more likely to be the local largest minority in some places there, while African Americans tend to be the largest minority more in the eastern half of the country (including the South, Midwest etc.).

Interestingly, the trend seems to kind of hold for Canada too -- There are more Asian than Black Canadians in Ontario and westward to BC, but in Ottawa, the province of Quebec, including Montreal, and the Maritimes, there are more Black than Asian Canadians (if you exclude Arab/ West Asians, which is what the US census does for Asians).

I think eastern Canada has a larger proportion of multigenerational black Canadians than, say, Toronto. Growing up, the few black kids I went to school with were first generation Canadian with parents from the Caribbean. My first year roommate (from Halifax), however, can trace her roots back several generations (not sure if it goes as far back as black Loyalists).

 

[King of Kensington]

Yes, in Nova Scotia and around Windsor/Chatham there are longstanding Black Canadian communities.

 

[D633]

Ahhh yes the good old Canadian & Toronto fascination/obsession with what other countries think about us. Seriously we need to grow up as nation.

 

[Zlar Vixen]

By sheer numbers, New York City is obviously the most diverse city on the planet, but that's simply because it literally swamps almost any other city in terms of sheer population size.

However, in my experience, it is actually less "diverse" than Toronto as a whole. The Greater Toronto Area in general has a massive amount of people from over 100 countries living in the suburbs all in relative proximity. Outside of downtown NYC, the major ethnic groups are mostly either White, Hispanic, or Black. NYC is also heavily segregated by race, regardless of income - rich WASPS dominate certain areas while immigrant ghettos tend to congregate around others. I actually visited a hospital in the Queens borough this one time, and 90% of the people in it were white. You don't see stuff like that in Toronto.

As a result, NYC is segregated to the likes of Chicago and Los Angeles - it's diverse, but it's not the stereotypical diversity like you see in Canadian cities. Not to say that Canadian cities don't have ethnic groups amalgamating in clustered neighborhoods, but compared to the states, Canada is a real salad.