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Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles |
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Toronto is known for its diversity and culture and this is reflected in its many neighbourhoods. This section provides detailed demographic information about each neighbourhood, prepared by the City's Social Policy Analysis & Research Unit. Reports and links to other studies about Toronto's neighbourhoods are also included.
Pollution and Poverty in City of Toronto
A new fact sheet looks at Toronto neighbourhoods with large releases of air pollutants, neighbourhoods with high rates of poverty, and those with both challenges (PDF 5MB).
This analysis, prepared by PollutionWatch with data support from the City of Toronto, maps air pollutant releases reported to the federal National Pollutant Release Inventory ((NPRI), and poverty rates at the census tract and neighbourhood ( group of census tracts) level. The review notes that not all facilities or sources of pollution are required to report to the NPRI and that reported releases by NPRI facilities can cross neighbourhood and census tract boundaries. The vast majority of census tracts in Toronto ( 89%) do not have NPRI facilities. The pollution and poverty maps identify seven Toronto neighbourhoods with high releases of toxic pollutants and poverty rates above the national average (11.8%) and 17 neighbourhoods that have high releases of combined air pollutants and poverty rates above the national average. Many of these communities have been identified as priority areas to be strengthened through targeted investments in services and facilities and may also need to consider the impact of pollution when developing their poverty reduction strategies.
Neighbourhood Profiles
The neighbourhood profiles contained in these pages were prepared by the Social Policy Analysis and Research unit in the City's Social Development & Administration Division with assistance from Toronto Public Health.
One of the services of the Social Policy Analysis and Research unit is to provide statistical information relating to the City's population, human services and demography.
The neighbourhood profiles were developed to help government and community agencies with their local planning, by providing socio-economic data at a meaningful geographic area. Not all people define "neighbourhoods" the same way. For the purposes of statistical reporting, however, these neighbourhoods were defined based on Statistics Canada census tracts.
Census tracts include several city blocks and have on average about 4,000 people. Most service agencies have service areas that are defined by main streets, former municipal boundaries, or natural boundaries such as rivers. These service areas include several census tracts. It is not uncommon for service areas of community agencies to overlap. Choices about neighbourhood boundaries were made to make the data in the profiles useful to as many users as possible, and are not intended to be statements or judgments about where a neighbourhood starts or ends. The boundaries for these neighbourhoods were developed using the following criteria:
- originally based on an Urban Development Services Residential Communities map, based on planning areas in former municipalities, and existing Public Health neighbourhood planning areas;
- no neighbourhood be comprised of a single census tract;
- minimum neighbourhood population of at least 7,000 to 10,000;
- where census tracts were combined to meet criteria 2 or 3 above, they were joined with the most similar adjacent area according to the percentage of the population living in low income households;
- respecting existing boundaries such as service boundaries of community agencies, natural boundaries (rivers), and man-made boundaries (streets, highways, etc.);
- maintaining neighbourhood areas small enough for service organizations to combine them to fit within their service area; and
- the final number of neighbourhood areas be "manageable" for the purposes of data presentation and reporting.
Note:
Neighbourhood level data has been adapted by the City of Toronto from Statistics Canada. Special Tabulations. Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the express permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada's Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at: www.statcan.ca and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.
To begin viewing the neighbourhood profiles, please click on the keymap below.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Viewer version 5 or higher to read these PDF files.
Please send all inquiries regarding the neighbourhood profiles to spar@toronto.ca. We will respond to your initial inquiry within 48 hours with either the answer to your question or the steps necessary to answer your request, thank you.
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