This project assesses the process of integration as determined by the type and level of participation in various domains or areas of activity in the Greater Toronto metropolitan area (GTA). The subject areas or domains include economy, housing and neighbourhoods, education, health, and community. While these domains are not exhaustive, they represent principal areas of social activity. They point to activity that leads to integration and also to spheres or areas of activity where integration does not seem to appear.

The study begins with two chapters surveying immigration and ethnic groups in the Toronto metropolis before the discussion turns in each successive chapter to ways in which the process of integrating diversity takes form in a particular domain.

Harold Troper provides a historical overview of immigration to Toronto since the Second World War with the focus being on the manner in which immigrants have been envisioned as fitting into Canadian cities. The emphasis is on the Greater Toronto Area, but comparisons are drawn to both Montréal and Winnipeg. Troper explores the history of immigration and significant development in immigration policy since 1945 and pays close attention to various issues of settlement and integration including, but not limited to, employment, housing, education, family, multiculturalism, and social services.

Clifford Jansen and Lawrence Lam in the following chapter examine the same post-war period as Troper, but focus their survey more on the changing nature of immigrant settlement in the GTA through a socio-demographic analysis of those individuals and groups who chose to make the city their home.

Each domain chapter treats the concept of integrating diversity from the point of view of its own subject matter. Edward Harvey, Lucia Lo, Valerie Preston, Katherine Reil, Bobby Siu, and Suguang Wang investigate the economic domain in an overview of the ethno-cultural composition of Toronto and the federal legislative and policy changes that resulted in their increasing numbers, particularly during the 1970s to the present. The analysis of a number of pertinent issues, such as unemployment and poverty rates, the period of immigration, and socio-economic status, provide insight into immigrant participation in the labour market and their economic performance.

The following chapter considers the domain of housing and neighbourhoods and examines a series of issues related to the housing market in the post-war period and the residential patterns of immigrant groups in the GTA. Robert A. Murdie and Carlos Teixeira investigate such topics as suburban settlement and social mobility, the inner-city as a focal point for immigrant settlement, living arrangements and housing status of immigrants, and the barriers faced by the immigrant population and the types of assistance and/or strategies developed to overcome these difficulties.

Barbara Burnaby, Carl James, and Sheri Regier survey the domain of education with the focus being on the Education Act and policies on adult and non-formal education. The subjects of particular importance in her account are English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, school and community relations, institutional adaptation, and the impact of racial and/or ethnic differences in educational attainment.

This is followed by the approach of Samuel Noh and Laura Simich to the health domain where he explores the accommodation of the health care needs of immigrants. The health of immigrants is assessed before an examination of post-migration determinants of immigrant health and their experiences in health care systems.

The next chapter by Myer Siemiatycki provides an analysis of the metropolis under the community domain. It identifies the dominant themes of inclusion and exclusion, unmet needs, and proposed new directions of research, service and policy in order to discuss community institutional development and capacity, and local policy responses related to diversity. Each of these chapters contains a profile of how the process of integrating diversity transpires in a particular domain.

The final chapter by Paul Anisef and Michael Lanphier gathers the observations and conclusions made by the authors of the preceding sections in order to point to new directions in the formulation of research and policy. Some findings may suggest the need for greater attention to be paid to specific areas while other findings may converge into a more general issue.

This project is designed to be an initial overview or introductory volume to the study of integrating diversity in the Toronto metropolis and it is hoped that successive publications in this series will be directed to specific questions and additional concerns in each domain. This study represents the first effort towards the portrayal of Toronto as a complex metropolis during this critical time as we approach the new millennium. The research initiative is designed to extract the main lessons of the experiences of the Greater Toronto Area with respect to immigration and settlement and to present them in a series of monographs. It provides a multi-disciplinary perspective on the dynamics of the civic culture of Toronto as a metropolis.

The researchers address the reciprocal impact of successive waves of immigration from diverse origins since 1960 on the development of Toronto as a metropolis and correspondingly, the effects of metropolis as a social form on the collective lives of those newly arrived and their descendants. Some of the major themes discussed in each domain are institutional transformation in the domain, peak moments in various immigrant groups, adaptational problems, segregation, institutional completeness, integration, interdependency, systematic discrimination, and future trends, challenges and policy implications. Toronto is being viewed at the turn of the millennium, and while the volume makes an attempt to collapse three decades of immigration into the composite, it can only speculate about ways in which future immigration and future policy will alter social arrangements.

One can only hypothesise about what the effect of increased population intake from diverse origins will have in each of the domains covered in our chapters or estimate the effect larger developments may have on the local organisation of the GTA as Canada pursues a role in global affairs. New types of occupations may arise while others may wither. Certain newcomers may be fortunate in finding a new niche while others may find their jobs disappearing because of structural changes or adjustments in society.

It is important to note that only present conditions and their history are available for inferences to be made regarding future directions. One hesitates to predict outcomes, but alternative possible changes will be presented. The clarity of these assessments is dependent on the adequacy of research. While the chapters which follow leave no doubt in many areas about the extensiveness of our findings to date, there are others that leave some questions unexplored or unanswered and await further contributions from researchers and members of the many diverse groups constituting the greater Toronto community.

The book, tentatively entitled, Integrating Diversity: Metropolitan Toronto at the 21^st Century, co-edited by Paul Anisef and Michael Lanphier, will be published in early 2001.

Acknowledgment:This work has been funded as part of the CERIS Major Research Initiatives. Additional funding has been received through Heritage Canada of the Government of Canada.

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