Assignment #3

GGR124H1S

Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood
Changes in the City of Toronto

Name: Tong Li
Student Number: 997 024 786
Professor: Dr. D. Dupuy
TA: Helen Looker
Tutorial Session: T5202
Tutorial Room: SS1088
Word Count: 2975
Date: April 8th, 09
 The scope of this paper is to cover the Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood changes in

the City of Toronto. The first part of the paper deals Kensington and Chinatown separately. It

includes an overall description of the current profile makeup of Kensington and Chinatown, and

a brief history of the neighbourhood. The second part of the paper will mainly focus on the

statistical analysis of the social, cultural, and economic trends of the neighbourhood from 1981

to 2001. Each aspect is examined in a number of areas using census data drawn from CHASS.

The last part of the paper is a future analysis of the possible trend in gentrification.

Before any specific detail is discussed, one needs to know what kind of vibrant cultural

diversity the current Chinatown and Kensington are offering. Being one of the largest Asian

communities in of North America, the Chinatown today not only has food shops, house-ware

stores, Chinese emporiums, karaoke bars, clothing boutiques, and restaurants, it has also many

Chinese import and export firms, electronic companies, and banks. It is located around Bay,

Queen, and Dundas Streets, but mainly centred on Dundas Street and Spadina Avenue.

Kensington, on the other hand, is one of the most dynamic and culturally diverse areas in

Toronto. The Kensington Market is an entire neighbourhood area that is full of cheese stores,

fish shops, coffee houses, fruit stands, butcher stalls, as well as second-hand clothing outlets. In

the busy and crowded streets, one can find international eateries that

include delicacies from Portugal, France, Italian, Mexican, and even the

Middle East. It stretches from Spadina in the East to Bathurst in the West, and from College in

the North to Dundas in the South.

In order to have a better understanding of the present, one needs to know its past. As for

the case for the Chinatown and Kensington, the ethnic communities were set up after an

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immigrant group had adjusted to the new society both economically and socially (Hou and

Milan, 2003). During the mid-1920, the Chinatown was centred on Elizabeth Street between

Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street West on the north. It was during the

construction of the new city hall in the early 1960s, when the Chinese community moved to the

present site at the Spadina and Dundas intersection (Thompson, 1989). In 1978, the Canadian

Government introduced an "entrepreneur" category of immigration through the Business

Immigration Program. This resulted Chinatown to experience its greatest growth in the early

1980s (C. Ember, M. Ember, & Skoggard, 1994), as thousands of Chinese emigrated from Hong

Kong fearing that Communist China will take possession of the British colony, ending their

capitalist economy. This is why prior to 1997, the largest source of Chinese migrants was from

Hong Kong. After 1997, mainland China became the largest source of immigrants to Canada,

because mainland China has gone through a series of social and economic transformations (C.

Ember, M. Ember, & Skoggard, 1994). As a result, the Chinese population became more

culturally mixed, which helped to boost its economy. An increasing variety of social and cultural

skills and the economic status of the population began to widen as well. Chinatown saw its

transformation in the past couple decades, as there has been many ethnic Chinese people from

Vietnam. As a result, an increasing number of store signs are now in Vietnamese, in addition to

original, well-established Chinese stores. On the other hand, Kensington was first habited by

British working-class immigrants who worked in open-air market (Bruce, 2005). But in the

1920s and 1930s, the ethnicity of Kensington was changed as waves of immigrants arrived in

Kensington from continental Europe and Russia (Bruce, 2005), these immigrants were

predominantly Jewish. This was why the entire Kensington area was originally called as the

“Jewish Market" (Pacher, 2008). Kensington offered a refuge for ethnic minorities to get away

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from the social prejudices from the rest of the society. The market mainly served Jews, Italians,

Portuguese, Ukrainians, and Hungarians immigrants (Cochrane, 2000). By the 1970s, new waves

of immigrants from South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean moved into the neighbourhood,

further contributing to the already rich mix of cultures.

Next, the social, economic, and cultural aspects of the Kensington-Chinatown

Neighbourhood is examined, to study their trend from 1981 to 2001. The census data was drawn

at the census tract level. Census tracts (CTs) are relatively small and stable geographic areas

located in Census Metropolitan Areas, which is the City of Toronto in this case. The Kensington-

Chinatown Neighbourhood covers four CTs: 36, 37, 38, 39. All the data below were based on

information obtained from these CTs. In order to have consistency, all the data are obtained from

1981 to 2001 either in time intervals of ten years or five years. It is important to note that

CHASS does not provide CTs for the year 2006, that’s why the analysis is limited to the years

before 2006. It should also be noted that because some of the data are not provided by CHASS in

1981, that’s why some figures are missing in the tables. In addition, some data provided for the

year 2001 are estimated based on surveying 20% of the population instead of the 100%, therefore

they may be not as accurate.

The population trend in the social aspect of the Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood is

being studied first. The following table shows the total population in the neighbourhood from

1981-2001 in periods of five years.

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 Year 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001
Total 14459 15207 15988 16579 17093

The data above has shown that the population of the neighbourhood is rising over the two

decades. The rise in population of the Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood may be largely

attributed by immigration. The Immigration Act of 1976 removed the all discrimination against

immigrants from countries in Asia and Africa, so the immigrants from China were under the

same regulation as immigrants from other countries. The population rate of change during each

time interval of five years can be calculated using the formula:

Time Interval 1981-1986 1986-1991 1991-1996 1996-2001

Total %
5.2 5.1 3.7 3.1
Change

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 According to the above table, the growth during 1981-1986 and 1986-1991 were over

5%, and the growth slows down during 1991-1996 and during 1996-2001. The slowing down of

the population growth may be due to less available living spaces can be found in the

neighbourhood, after successive waves of immigration over a long period of time.

With the population trend in mind, the changes in age group during the period of 1981 to

2001 are examined. The table below categorizes the population into three age groups. One is the

“Learning Group”, which includes the population that are 14 and younger. The other one is the

“Working Group”, which includes the population that are between 15 and 64 years of age. This

group is the work force, and contributes to the economy of the neighbourhood. The third group is

termed as the “Retiring Group”, which includes the population that are 65 and older.

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 Learning Group Working Group Retiring Group
(0-14) (15-64) (65+)
1981 2235 10155 2010
1991 1945 11825 2210
2001 2170 12500 2415

According to the graph above, both the Learning and the Retiring Groups are relatively

steady over the two decades, while the Working Group has increased by more than 2000 people.

This may suggests that there has been an increase in work opportunities in the neighbourhood.

The fact that the population in Learning and Retiring Group remained relatively stable may

suggests that the public services such as schools, and elder-care provided by the neighbourhood

remain mostly unchanged.

Since the Working Group that has experienced the most change, it is necessary to see the

trend in marital status of the neighbourhood, to find out whether the working population have

their families living in the neighbourhood as well. The table below has divided the marital status

into two categories. One group is called “Without Partner”, which includes people that have

never married, widowed, or divorced. The other group is “With Partner”, which includes people

who are either married and stay together or married but separated.

With Partner Without Partner

1981 6650 5565
1991 8230 5820
2001 9225 5690

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 The graph above shows that the group “Without Partner” remained relatively stable over

the two decades, while the group “With Partner” experience significant growth. This is

consistent with the previous graph, where the Retiring Group remained relatively stable, while

the Working Group experienced growth. The two graphs above may also suggest that from 1981,

as the population of the working group increased, more families were settled down in the

neighbourhood.

With the social aspect in mind, the cultural aspect of the Kensington-Chinatown

Neighbourhood is explored next. The first area being examined is the population’s mother

tongue, to see the change in the ethnic diversity of the neighbourhood. Here, only single mother

tongue is provided in the table. Note that the data for number of Italian mother tongue is not

provided due to the fact that the numbers are too insignificant, and the mother tongue for the

Jewish population is also not provided due to the fact that Jews from different countries speak

different languages. Note that the data provided for 2001 were estimated from 20% of the

population.

English Chinese Portuguese Spanish Vietnamese

1981 5675 --- --- --- ---
1991 6300 5665 870 255 405
2001 6460 3475 500 125 635

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 From the table, we can observe that English and Chinese are the two dominant mother

tongues. It is clear that the Chinese mother tongue is increasing, because in 2001, the number of

Chinese mother tongue is higher than the number of English mother tongue. Both English and

Chinese are much more significant than the other three. The Portuguese and Spanish mother

tongues dropped slightly from 1991 to 2001, while the Vietnamese increased slightly in the same

period.

Next, the diverse ethnic origin of the Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood is studied. It

was certain affected by the Canadian Multiculturalism Act passed in 1988, which made Canada

to be the first country in the world to embrace a national multiculturalism law (Heritage

Community Foundation, 2007). Here, only the population with a single ethnic origin and the

major ethnic groups are examined in the following table. Note that the data provided for 2001

were estimated from 20% of the population.

British Canadian Chinese Portuguese Jewish Ukrainian

1981 3190 --- --- --- --- ---
1991 1415 465 7010 930 160 180
2001 1470 1695 7560 615 445 310

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 According to the graph above, the population for British ethnic origin has declined more

than twofold from 1981 to 2001, while the majority of the decline happens from 1981 to 1991.

Despite the decline in British population, the majority of the population living in Kensington-

Chinatown Neighbourhood has always been Chinese ethnic origin. In the Canadian Journal of

Urban Research, McDonald (2004) has argued that the concentration of an ethnic group in an

area would increase the possibility of new immigrants of the same ethnic group to live in that

area. This may help to explain why the Chinese ethnic origin was rising and was significantly

higher than other ethnic groups living in the same neighbourhood. The population for Jewish

ethnic origin is relatively low in the graph. This is a surprise finding, because Kensington was

originally known as a Jewish Town. The nearly three-fold increase may suggest that Jewish

population have moved into the neighbourhood since 1991. Another surprise finding is that there

has been a three-and-half-fold increase in Canadian ethnic origin at the neighbourhood between

1991 and 2001, while the Portuguese population has declined in the same period.

The third area cultural aspect of the Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood being

explored is religion, because changes in ethnic makeup of the neighbourhood also changes the

religious aspect of the neighbourhood in ethnicity affects overall religion. The table below shows

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the trend in Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, as well as Atheist during 1981-2001. Note

that the data provided for 2001 were estimated from 20% of the population.

Catholic Protestant Buddhist Jewish Atheist

1981 4020 3405 --- 295 5600
1991 3460 2745 1455 275 7005
2001 3545 2220 1820 360 7570

According to the table above, the most obvious trend is the increase in atheists. Since

1981, the Atheist population is the highest, and has been growing for the following two decades.

This may be caused by the fact that a lot of the Chinese immigrants from China are Atheist, and

the increasing number of immigrants from China increases the Atheist population in the

Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood as well. Since Buddhism is the largest religion in China,

out of the immigrants who have faith, most of them are Buddhism believers. This explains the

rise in Buddhism from 1991 to 2001. The religion with the least number of believers is Jewish.

The number of Jewish believers has experienced minor increase, which is consistent with the

findings of previous graph, where only a small number of people have Jewish ethnic origins. As

for Christianity (Catholicism and Protestant), there is a steady decrease in the believers from

1981 to 2001. This may due to the fact that there has been less Portuguese and British ethnic

origin population living in the neighbourhood.

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 The last part to be explored is the economic aspect of the Kensington-Chinatown

Neighbourhood. The overall standard of living in the neighbourhood is mainly affected by the

average income of the population. The table below shows the average annual income of male,

female, and private household during the time from 1981 to 2001. Only the average income of

the Working Group aged 15 to 65 are calculated. The average income that has been rounded to

the nearest whole number. Note that the data provided for 2001 were estimated from 20% of the

population.

Average Male Average Female Average Household

Annual Income ($) Annual Income ($) Annual Income ($)
1981 11139 8228 18538
1991 21503 17525 37312
2001 29486 22481 47608

The graph above shows a general trend that that the increase in income of both female

and male has led to the increase of the average household income by two-and-a-half-fold during

the two decades. The male average income over the two decades has been fairly consistent, in

that it increases by roughly $10,000 every decade. On the other hand, the increase in the female

average income has gradually slowed down in the two decades. The table above shows the gap

between average male and female income is almost $3000 at 1981, but by 2001, the gap has

increased to around $7000. This means that difference has widened by more than twofold. It may

be argued that this is caused by high birth rates, so more women need to stay at home to care

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their children. But this is not the case, because the population 14 and under in the Learning

Group remained relatively stable over the two decades. The widening average income difference

between the two genders may suggest that sexism still exists in the job force, as males tend to be

more successful in finding a job with higher pays or having a more successful business.

Besides income, the other key factor that affects the economic aspect of the

neighbourhood is the change in property ownership from 1981 to 2001. The table below shows

the change in the number of private dwellings that are owned or rented from 1981 to 2001. Note

that the data provided for 2001 were estimated from 20% of the population.

Owned Private Dwellings Rented Private Dwellings

1981 1005 4070
1991 1460 4835
2001 1935 5535

The above graph shows that the number of people who rent their dwellings has increased

more than the number of people who own their dwellings from 1981. The graph also shows that

the gap between renting private dwelling and owning private dwelling has decreased from 1981

to 2001. In 1981, the ratio between number of rented dwelling and the number of owned

dwelling is close to 4:1. But by 2001, the ratio has decreased to roughly 3:1. This means that a

greater proportion of the population were able to purchase for their housing by 2001 as compared

to 1981. As noted earlier, the previous graph has shown that the average household income has

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significantly increased from 1981 to 2001. It can be said that the results of this graph and the

previous graph both confirm that the standard of living in the neighbourhood is getting higher.

As more business is being opened and as the standard of living rises, there may be

gentrification taking place in the Kensington-Chinatown Neighbourhood in the next decade. The

neighbourhood may be subjected to new condo development and spare land may be invested by

developers. They will raise the land and material prices in the neighbourhood, which forces low-

income and anyone who are unable to afford to live the neighbourhood to gradually move out of

the neighbourhood to other inner suburbs, leaving space for the upper-class population to move

in. Chinatown is one of the largest Asian communities in North America, while Kensington is

the most dynamic and diverse area. The Chinatown was present in Toronto since the 1920s, but

its development only gained momentum after 1978, when the Business Immigration Program

attracted a lot of Chinese who emigrated from Hong Kong. But after 1997, with the increasing

immigrants from mainland China and Taiwan, there was an increasing variety of social and

cultural skills and the economic status of the population began to widen as well. On the other

hand, the Kensington Market was at first dominated by Jews in the 1920s. But over time,

successive immigration from Continental Europe diversified the ethnic makeup of the area, as

Kensington offered a refuge for the minorities from the social prejudices. Between 1981 and

2001, the rising population in the neighbourhood may be largely attributed by immigration. As

the population of the working group increased, there were more families were settled down in the

neighbourhood. As for ethnicity, English and Chinese have always been the two dominant

mother tongues. With the decline in British population, the neighbourhood experience a great

growth of Chinese ethnic origin. In terms of the religion, there is a rise in Buddhism and a

decline in Christianity, while the Atheist population has always been the highest. As for

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economy, the average household income was more than doubled, while there is more increase in

average income for male than female. With the rise in income, there are increasingly more

portion of the population who could afford to own their dwellings, but the total of people who

rent their dwelling are still higher. The rise in standard of living may lead to gentrification of the

neighbourhood in the next decade, which would force poorer people to move out, leaving spaces

for richer people to more in.

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