Who Are We ?
Who are we? Its an important question and sometimes a political question. There is no doubt that JT is undergoing a very large change. How could it not; it is the last "affordable" area in West End Old Toronto. Last year my Ukrainian born neighbor entered a nursing home, the last of her family that populated Perth after the war. Many of our Italian and Portuguese residents are passing on, retiring to their homeland, or moving in with their children in other areas. We see not only new faces from other parts of the city (like myself from Parkdale 9 years ago) but also people from all over including Ecuador, Viet Nam, Mexico, and Ireland on my block alone. And the tone has changed too with a new sense of community involvement and some very large initiatives that are already bearing fruit. 9 years ago one was hard pressed to see a bicycle around here and now one sees hundreds up and down Perth on a weekend and many commuters during the week. It is just amazing how far things have come.
What got me thinking about this was a story in the Star a few weeks ago relating to the census and how there is a statistical systems used by Environics Analytics called PrizmC2. It uses 1800 variables to profile areas by area code so that researchers and companies and government can serve areas with some greater degree of accuracy. This is also tied into web based analytics but that is another story.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/842471--who-are-you-th...
You can look up your "lifestyle" using your postal code here:
http://www.environicsanalytics.ca
So here is what my postal code M6P 3X7 brings up:
Postal Profile
Although based on 2006 info I have to admit I found this profile a bit out of date or somewhat inaccurate. I would say that this portrait does not reflect the large influx of younger residents that would fall into the "young family" demo that is fueling changes at Perth Public. I honestly dont think that people would say that this reflects how we see ourselves. Nonetheless what IS important is that this is how OTHERS who use databases like this see us.
In a way this goes to the argument that WE must define ourselves using things like Fuzzy and Railpath and Boys and Girls and Library or we will be fated to be described, possibly inaccurately, by others. If there is any take away from this news story then let it be that we all take a few minutes to at least think about who we are and be aware that it changes and evolves AND that by being involved in the community, being FOR something in the community we can shape the way the world sees us.