Toronto Star article “Half of GTA foreign-born”

The Toronto Star on December 4, 2007 had an article discussing recent Statistics Canada data.  The Star noted that “The immigration figures shows that about one out of every five Canadians was born in another country. In the Toronto region the ratio is almost one out of every two, while for Ontario, it’s more than one out of every four.”  Interesting.  It may explain in part why there is so much interest in philanthropy taking place outside of Canada.  As a person comes to Canada as an immigrant should they forget about their country of birth when they consider philanthropy?  As some immigrants will one day return to their country of birth they may wish to consider what that country will look like without people volunteering and donating to make it better.  Furthermore, Canada benefits in many ways from the Canadian diaspora, whether they are in New York or Silicon Valley.  It makes no more sense for a Canadian who moves to the States to abandon Canadian charities than for a person coming to India to forget about the charities and charitable causes in India.

The Star also noted that “In terms of the country of origin for foreign-born people in the Toronto area, the highest proportion came from India, followed by China and then Italy.”