72 Facts About Toronto

1.

Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

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2.

Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10, 000 years.

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3.

Diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada.

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4.

The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprising 25 councillors since the 2018 municipal election, representing geographical wards throughout the city.

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5.

Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets.

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6.

Toronto is the third-largest tech hub in North America after Silicon Valley and New York City, and the fastest growing.

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7.

The word "Toronto", meaning "plenty" appears in a 1632 French lexicon of the Huron language, which is an Iroquoian language.

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8.

Site of Toronto lay at the entrance to one of the oldest routes to the northwest, a route known and used by the Huron, Iroquois, and Ojibwe, and was of strategic importance from the beginning of Ontario's recorded history.

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9.

The first 25 years after the Toronto purchase was quiet, although "there were occasional independent fur traders" present in the area, with the usual complaints of debauchery and drunkenness.

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10.

Reformist politician William Lyon Mackenzie became the first mayor of Toronto and led the unsuccessful Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 against the British colonial government.

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11.

Toronto became the capital of the province of Ontario after its official creation in 1867.

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12.

These enabled Toronto to become a major gateway linking the world to the interior of the North American continent.

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13.

Toronto became the largest alcohol distillation centre in North America.

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14.

In 1967, the seven smallest municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto were merged with larger neighbours, resulting in a six-municipality configuration that included the former city of Toronto and the surrounding municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, and York.

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15.

Toronto's population grew to more than one million in 1951 when large-scale suburbanization began and doubled to two million by 1971.

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16.

On January 1, 1998, Toronto was greatly enlarged, not through traditional annexations, but as an amalgamation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and its six lower-tier constituent municipalities: East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, York, and the original city itself.

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17.

Toronto called in the Canadian Army to aid snow removal by use of their equipment to augment police and emergency services.

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18.

Toronto hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan and Parapan American Games in 2015.

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19.

Toronto Islands were a natural peninsula until a storm in 1858 severed their connection to the mainland, creating a channel to the harbour.

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20.

City of Toronto has a hot summer humid continental climate, though was on the threshold of a warm summer humid continental climate (Dfb) until the 20th century but still found in the metropolitan region, with warm, humid summers and cold winters.

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21.

Toronto encompasses an area formerly administered by several separate municipalities that were amalgamated over the years.

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22.

The Wychwood Park neighbourhood, historically significant for the architecture of its homes, and for being one of Toronto's earliest planned communities, was designated as an Ontario Heritage Conservation district in 1985.

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23.

Pre-amalgamation City of Toronto covers the downtown core and older neighbourhoods to the east, west, and north of it.

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24.

Old Toronto is home to many historically wealthy residential enclaves, such as Yorkville, Rosedale, The Annex, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Lytton Park, Deer Park, Moore Park, and Casa Loma, most stretching away from downtown to the north.

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25.

Examples included the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, Canadian Malting Company, the Toronto Rolling Mills, the Union Stockyards and the Davies pork processing facility.

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26.

Toronto still has some active older industrial areas, such as Brockton Village, Mimico and New Toronto.

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27.

The Waterfront Toronto agency has developed plans for a naturalized mouth to the Don River and to create a flood barrier around the Don, making more of the land on the harbour suitable for higher-value residential and commercial development.

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28.

At the census metropolitan area level in the 2021 census, the Toronto CMA had a population of 6, 202, 225 living in 2, 262, 473 of its 2, 394, 205 total private dwellings, a change of 4.

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29.

Toronto's economy has seen a steady boom in growth thanks to a large number of corporations relocating their Canadian headquarters into the city, and Canada's growing cultural significance.

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30.

Toronto is one of the centres of Canada's film and television industry, due in part to the lower cost of production in Canada.

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31.

Toronto is a large hub of the Canadian and global technology industry, generating $52 billion in revenues annually.

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32.

Real estate is a major force in the city's economy, Toronto is home to some of the nation's—and the world's—most expensive real estate.

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33.

The Toronto International Film Festival is an annual event celebrating the international film industry.

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34.

Toronto's buildings vary in design and age with many structures dating back to the early 19th century, while other prominent buildings were just newly built in the first decade of the 21st century.

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35.

Lawrence Richards, a member of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, has said, "Toronto is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles.

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36.

Toronto is a city of high-rises, and had 1, 875 buildings over 30 metres as of 2011.

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37.

In contrast, since 2000, amid the Canadian property bubble, Toronto has experienced a period of condo construction boom and architectural revival, with several buildings by world-renowned architects having opened.

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38.

The Toronto Islands are close to downtown Toronto, and do not permit private motor vehicles beyond the airport.

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39.

The Toronto Zoo is home to over 5, 000 animals representing over 460 distinct species.

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40.

Toronto is home to Casa Loma, the former estate of Sir Henry Pellatt, a prominent Toronto financier, industrialist and military man.

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41.

Toronto has a diverse array of public spaces, from city squares to public parks overlooking ravines.

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42.

The Toronto Public Space Committee is an advocacy group concerned with the city's public spaces.

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43.

Toronto is represented in five major league sports, with teams in the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), Canadian Football League (CFL), and Major League Soccer (MLS).

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44.

Toronto is one of four North American cities to have won titles in its five major leagues (MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS and either NFL or CFL), and the only one to have done so in the Canadian Football League.

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45.

Toronto is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's Original Six clubs, and has served as home to the Hockey Hall of Fame since 1958.

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46.

In 2016, Toronto hosted the 65th NBA All-Star game, the first to be held outside the United States.

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47.

Toronto is represented in soccer by the Toronto FC MLS team, who have won seven Canadian Championship titles, as well as the MLS Cup in 2017 and the Supporters' Shield for best regular season record, in 2017.

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48.

Toronto has a high level of participation in soccer across the city at several smaller stadiums and fields.

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49.

Toronto FC had entered the league as an expansion team in 2007.

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50.

The Rock formerly shared the Scotiabank Arena with the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, However, the Toronto Rock moved to the nearby city of Hamilton while retaining its Toronto name.

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51.

Toronto has hosted several National Football League exhibition games at the Rogers Centre.

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52.

Toronto Wolfpack became Canada's first professional rugby league team and the world's first transatlantic professional sports team when they began play in the Rugby Football League's League One competition in 2017.

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53.

Toronto is home to the Toronto Rush, a semi-professional ultimate team that competes in the American Ultimate Disc League.

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54.

Many post-secondary institutions in Toronto are members of U Sports or the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association, the former for universities and the latter for colleges.

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55.

Toronto was home to the International Bowl, an NCAA sanctioned post-season college football game that pitted a Mid-American Conference team against a Big East Conference team.

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56.

Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan American Games in July 2015, and the 2015 Parapan American Games in August 2015.

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57.

Toronto was a candidate city for the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Atlanta and Beijing respectively.

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58.

Toronto is among various cities in North America to host matches during soccer's 2026 FIFA World Cup.

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59.

The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprising 25 councillors, since the 2018 municipal election, representing geographical wards throughout the city.

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60.

Toronto has a comparable rate of car theft to various U S cities, although it is not among the highest in Canada.

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61.

In 2005, Toronto media coined the term "Year of the Gun", because of a record number of gun-related homicides, 52, out of 80 homicides in total.

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62.

The total number of homicides dropped to 70 in 2006; that year, nearly 2, 000 people in Toronto were victims of a violent gun-related crime, about one-quarter of the national total.

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63.

Total number of homicides in Toronto reached a record 96 in 2018; the number included fatalities from the Toronto van attack and the Danforth shooting.

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64.

In 2007, Toronto was reported as having some of the longer average emergency room waiting times in Ontario.

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65.

Toronto's Discovery District is a centre of research in biomedicine.

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66.

Toronto is host to a wide variety of health-focused non-profit organizations that work to address specific illnesses for Toronto, Ontario and Canadian residents.

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67.

Toronto is a central transportation hub for road, rail and air networks in Southern Ontario.

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68.

Toronto has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.

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69.

The main municipal expressways in Toronto include the Gardiner Expressway, the Don Valley Parkway, and to some extent, Allen Road.

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70.

TDSB operates the most schools among the four Toronto-based school boards, with 451 elementary schools, 105 secondary schools, and five adult learning centres.

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71.

The University of Toronto operates two satellite campuses, one of which is in the city's eastern district of Scarborough, while the other is in the neighbouring city of Mississauga.

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72.

Toronto contains the headquarters of the major English-language Canadian television networks CBC, CTV, Citytv, Global, The Sports Network and Sportsnet.

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