A dumpling place on the corner. A bakery a few doors down. A Jamaican take-out restaurant across the street, flanked by a taco hut and a gourmet cheese shop. Down the street, Chilean empanadas, Portuguese cuisine, a cannabis store, a burger place, and at least two hipster coffee shops. If ever a neighborhood could represent what it means to be a society of immigrants, Toronto’s Kensington Market is it.

Located just west of Spadina Road, one of Toronto’s main north-south thoroughfares, and between College Street and Dundas Street, Kensington Market is one of the most diverse neighborhoods you’ll ever find. And that makes sense, given its history as a first stop for nearly every immigrant group that has come to Toronto in the past century. As each community has made a stop here, Kensington Market has changed, and as each group has moved on – as immigrant communities do when they assimilate over a generation or so – they have left some aspect of themselves behind. The result is a patchwork of restaurants, shops, and community centers that truly represents the Canadian immigrant experience.

Originally the estate of a British officer from the War of 1812, Kensington Market was subdivided as Toronto grew in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, the area was the center of Jewish immigration, fleeing persecution and pogroms of Eastern Europe. They added bottom-level storefronts to the Victorian homes of the neighborhood, creating what would be known for decades as the Jewish market. By the 1930s, roughly 60,000 Jewish immigrants called the neighborhood home, and while this community has mainly moved on to other parts of Toronto, the Kiever Shul, one of the oldest synagogues in the city, remains as a testament to the past, along with a history of some of the best baked goods in Toronto.

Subsequent waves of immigration brought Italian and Portuguese from Europe, and then huge communities from the Caribbean, Asia, and more recently, the Middle East and Latin America. All came through Kensington Market, and all have left remnants, especially as it pertains to food. That eclectic collection of traditional eats is what makes the neighborhood a tourist destination.

Of course, narrowing down where to get something to taste is a challenge, and I am here solo, so I don’t even have the ability to share things with a friend (or six). Being from Los Angeles, home of some of the world’s greatest Latin flavors, I choose a cuisine I don’t have often, and head into Golden Patty. This is basically just a bakery, without a single table or chair, but offers their traditional Caribbean coco bread with a “patty.” I order a spicy beef one, done on bread with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. The patty itself is almost a paste inside of puff pastry, very different than anything I’ve ever had before.

A day visiting Kensington Market will likely begin at the subway, and walking from there will take you through another of Toronto’s prime neighborhoods: Chinatown. There are actually four different Chinatown areas in Toronto, but this one, based at Dundas and Spadina, is the most historic (after the original was demolished in the 1950s to make room for a new City Hall and other such buildings) and most visited. I walk past countless dumpling shops, and finally give in and purchase a bbq pork steamed bun at Mashion Bakery, which is less than one dollar US with the exchange rate. I eat it as I cross over into Kensington Market. An immigrant area next to another immigrant area seems to sum up Toronto well.

Canada is a nation of immigrants, perhaps even more so than the United States. According to the 2021 census, Canada is 23% (8.3 million of around 38 million total residents) immigrant, meaning people who were not born here. (For purposes of defining the term, those born in Canada, even the children of two immigrants, are not considered immigrants.) Toronto is the largest recipient of newcomers, with roughly 100,000 per year on average in the last couple decades, and trending upward. I ponder this as I take the subway back to my lodging at the end of my day.

Sentiments here are largely pro-immigrant, both in Toronto in general and Canada as a whole. But feelings have seen some shifts, as the more recent waves of immigration have not been from primarily white countries. A 2020 study found that racially motivated hate crimes were up, and being anti-immigrant can be a dog whistle from the Canadian right wing for racist tendencies.

However, there is a conversation to be had around immigration, and it can be done by people without any racist motivation at all. It is just more nuanced, with the middle ground being what number is the right number. For instance, here in Canada, a country that accepts roughly 10% of all global refugee resettlements (props to Canada for this, by the way), the cost of housing and feeding refugees approaches a billion dollars a year. And in a country with such a small population, immigration can cause huge swings in demographics, as well as in economics. To say that one should have zero immigration is both morally and economically wrong (the majority of western countries need immigration to keep their economies growing in light of slowing birth rates), but it is also fair to question what a nation – or even a city – would look like with unchecked numbers allowed. (Note: I am not a Canadian citizen and therefore have no say in this. But for my nations of citizenship, the United States and Germany, I tend to fall on the side of welcoming more than less. But those arguing for less than more (not none) are not necessarily racist, and a conversation needs to start with that.)

When we talk about immigration, we tend to focus on racism. This is unfortunate, because racism – and pushback to it – removes the gray area that is where the conversation should focus. Racists want no immigration, at least from people who don’t look/speak like them. The anti-racist side to that sometimes seems to involve letting anyone who wants access. The true conversation should be between those. What number can a society handle, and how can the legitimate needs of people to move to a different country (for opportunity, to flee violence, or any other reason) be balanced with the strains that population increases put on existing systems?

I spend a couple hours walking around, between Kensington Market and Chinatown. I visit Blackbird Bakery for a loaf of flax seed rye, recharge with a macadamia latte from Ninetails, and check out both cheese shops (you know an area is becoming fairly hipster when there are two within a block), though I don’t buy anything there on a warm May day. I smell all the smells, watch the tourists taking photos, and am saddened by the number of homeless people here, seemingly higher than most other places I’ve seen in the city.

But mostly, I am grateful that Kensington Market, Toronto, and Canada have all welcomed immigrants, and encouraged them to bring pieces of their former homes to enrich the cultural fabric here. Despite the very real challenges immigration brings, those who visit this colorful and tasty neighborhood will leave seeing its incredible value, as well.

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