By Daniel Opasinis
International students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) travel from all over the globe to pursue their education, many of them experiencing culture shocks or needing time to get used to new surroundings. For some, the city of Toronto’s diversity helps ease them into a new, fast-moving environment.
In 2016, a report by BBC Radio 4 declared Toronto to be “the world’s most diverse city.” More recently, Statistics Canada’s 2021 census found that racialized people make up 55.7 per cent of Toronto’s total population.
According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, 997,820 international students were studying in Canada at the end of 2024 with 49 per cent of those students choosing to study in Ontario.
Gabby Look Tong, a second-year environment and urban sustainability student, spent most of her childhood living in her home country of Trinidad and Tobago, before coming to TMU.
At five years old, Look Tong’s family moved to Houston, Texas, for better employment opportunities.
“Toronto has, I would say, even a larger mix of cultures, languages and lifestyles”
“I feel like it was a bigger adjustment for [my parents],” she said. “I know my mom in particular had a little bit more trouble integrating herself into American culture…I remember she’d always say it was very different from how she grew up.”
Look Tong’s family made the decision to move back to Trinidad and Tobago just before she started high school. “Living in so many other places for the early years of my life, it was also quite a shock for me to go back to Trinidad,” she said.
She made the decision to study in Canada because she imagined the city’s diverse demographic would feel “more like home,” and travelled to Toronto to start her first year in 2023.
“It was such a culture shock walking in and then coming straight into downtown. I feel like this is probably how my parents felt when they first went to America,” she explained.
When she travelled to Canada for the first time with her father in 2023, Look Tong described feeling lost in the city’s atmosphere.
With just over a million people in their total population, Trinidad and Tobago is home to various ethnic groups and religions from East Indians to those of African descent and more, according to the Central Intelligence Agency. Look Tong described a sense of familiarity with Toronto’s multicultural population—something she had thought she left back home.
“Trinidad, in general, is a pretty diverse country…there are tons of people of different races and then a ton of mixed people as well,” she said.
This feeling of comfort and home is shared by third-year fashion student Prishni Rawoteea, who came to study at TMU from her home country, Mauritius.
“Mauritius is actually very diverse. We are a multicultural country,” she said.
Rawoteea explained how her country’s colonial history has contributed to its linguistic diversity, with some speaking English, French and local Creole.
“Toronto has, I would say, even a larger mix of cultures, languages and lifestyles. I was very open-minded and I actually participate in the various cultural festivals,” she said, referring to cultural events held at Nathan Phillips Square and more.
“I can see that I feel more welcome, because obviously other people from other places have also come here”
Despite settling into what the city has to offer, she said since she hasn’t found a large community of Mauritians in Toronto, there are elements that she misses.
“I really like discovering new food here, and the food is definitely very tasty, but I do miss homemade food back home,” she admitted.
Second-year environment and urban sustainability student Anna Spencer also finds comfort in the city’s food culture. When thinking about what her favourite spots to eat would be in the city, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh. Wait…This is serious for me.”
Spencer shared that her home country of Jamaica and the city of Toronto share similarities in their diverse community makeup. According to the University of the West Indies, Jamaica comprises roughly 76 per cent of people of African descent, 15 per cent Afro-European and just over 3 per cent East Indian and Afro-East Indian backgrounds.
“Although [Jamaica] is a predominantly Black country, it’s still ethnically quite diverse because of colonialism…it’s in our food and our dress, even our accents,” she said.
When it came to her decision-making process for going to university, Spencer said she thought she’d be more comfortable in Canada than in the United States or England. Since moving to Toronto, she’s been able to connect with the greater Caribbean community in the city, making it all feel less foreign.
“I can see that I feel more welcome, because obviously other people from other places have also come here, and it’s been fine,” said Spencer. “I feel so much more comfortable in the city, where it’s very diverse, where there’s a bunch of different people who are from all over.”
When Spencer first came to Canada, her mother came with her to help get her settled in. She shared that her mother had spent time in Toronto 30 years prior and was shocked by how much had changed. “She was like, ‘It’s so different, it’s so much cooler now, it feels less stressful to be here now,’” Spencer said.
Spencer shared that the piece of Jamaica that she brought to Canada is her humour. “I feel like I’m a very chill person…a lot of Jamaican people value humour. They like being charismatic,” she said.
Spencer described Jamaica’s multiculturalism as more “integrated and mushed together” having her first reaction to Toronto being overwhelming — but in a positive light.
“Here, I could see different cultures. Obviously, I don’t say ‘separate’ as in divided, I mean separate, like they still have their own spaces,” she said.
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