Facts for Kids

Toronto is Canada’s largest city by number of people and a busy place for jobs, arts, sports, and movies. The city is home to about 2.8 million people and sits inside a bigger region where many people live and work together. Because so many kinds of people make Toronto their home, you can hear over 160 languages and taste foods from around the world in one day.

The city is led by a mayor and a City Council with 25 councillors who are chosen every four years. Toronto also has a big stock exchange and welcomes millions of visitors each year. What would you like to explore first in a city this full of stories?

Jobs in Toronto are different all across the city. The tall buildings on Bay Street are full of banks and finance offices, so people often compare it to Wall Street in New York. The Toronto Stock Exchange is where people buy and sell pieces of companies.

But money in Toronto comes from many places: technology, hospitals and life sciences, movie and TV studios, fashion and design, and lots of restaurants and tourism. That mix means kids in the city might grow up into many kinds of jobs, from computer creators to actors to scientists. Which job sounds fun to you?

Climate in Toronto changes a lot through the year because the city has four seasons: warm summers, colorful springs and autumns, and cold winters. Summers often climb above \\(20^\circ\text{C}\\) — that means twenty degrees Celsius, a warm day — and can sometimes reach \\(35^\circ\text{C}\\) on very hot days. Winters usually fall below \\(0^\circ\text{C}\\), and that number means freezing temperature where water turns to ice.

Because Lake Ontario sits next to the city, it brings cool breezes in summer and sometimes extra snow or fog in winter. Toronto’s deep ravines and river valleys make a green ribbon of parks and trails where people walk, bike, and watch birds close to downtown.

People in Toronto come from many places, so the city feels like a big world of foods, festivals, and stories. About half of the people belong to groups that come from outside Europe, and many neighbourhoods show this—places like Chinatown, Little Italy, Koreatown, and Little India have special shops and restaurants.

Languages are also many: most people can speak English, and many speak other tongues like Mandarin, Italian, Punjabi, or Spanish. Toronto’s emergency service can help callers in over 150 languages, which is handy when families speak different languages at home. What language would you like to hear in the city?

Toronto sits on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario, so water and beaches are an important part of the city. The land is mostly flat or gently sloping upward away from the lake. Along the eastern edge you can find the tall, sandy Scarborough Bluffs that look like cliffs above the water, and the Toronto Islands sit close to the harbour after a storm long ago changed the shoreline.

The city also has many deep green ravines cut by rivers such as the Humber, Don, and Rouge. These ravines make natural parks and trails for walking and biking, so nature lives close to busy neighborhoods. Have you seen a river that flows through a city?

Long ago, factories, mills, and stockyards clustered near the harbour and along the Don River to make goods and move them by ship and rail. Parts of the waterfront were filled in to make more land, forming areas called the Port Lands. Over time some industrial buildings were replaced by homes, shops, and galleries—places like the Distillery District and Liberty Village now mix old brick buildings with new uses.

Industry later moved to the city’s edges, and planned communities such as Don Mills combined houses and apartment buildings in the 1950s. Today, some older industrial areas are being planned again for parks, homes, and protection from flooding. Which old building would you give a new job?

Old Toronto is the downtown heart where streets are busy, tall office towers stand, and many older neighborhoods meet. Nearby you can find small, famous places like Kensington Market, Chinatown, and Little Italy where shops, cafes, and music make each street feel different. Some areas started as wealthy homes, and others grew with workers and small factories before becoming lively shopping and arts spots.

Outside the center, inner suburbs and outer suburbs grew as the city got larger. Places like North York and Scarborough developed their own smaller downtowns and skylines. Many neighborhoods changed in the last few decades as new families arrived and old buildings were refreshed. Which neighborhood sounds like the most fun to visit?

Arts live everywhere in Toronto, from big theatres and museums to street art and music in small neighbourhoods. The city makes lots of movies and TV shows, so you might see a film crew working near where you live. Neighbourhoods like Kensington Market and the Distillery District are full of galleries, shops, and cafes where artists work and people meet.

Old factory areas have become places for festivals, concerts, and galleries, so history and new ideas mix together. Many visitors come to see shows, exhibitions, and festivals — maybe you’ll find a new favourite performer or a cool workshop to try.