Scarborough Denounces Reputation As ‘Scarred Borough’
Posted January 15, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “Scarborough”?
That, according to the politicians who govern the old city and the people who live there, is exactly the problem. Both Scarborough and Jane and Finch have been the whipping boy for criticism from the media and other residents in this city for years, saddled with tales of crime, gangs, drugs and unsafe living conditions.
So when local magazine Toronto Life came out with an article on the old borough with the moniker “Scarlem” – a take-off on New York City’s Harlem – it was too much for the powers-that-be. Read the article here. Community Council in the area called the publishers on the carpet Tuesday and demanded that others start giving the much maligned Rodney Dangerfield of Toronto more respect.
They’re especially incensed because many media outlets will report a shooting – like the weekend one at Yonge and Bloor – as an intersection, but will lump one closer to home as simply “Scarborough,” tainting the entire place.
“It’s just Scarborough, the word comes into play, they have a preconceived vision of Scarborough that does not reflect the reality of Scarborough,” insists Councillor Norm Kelly. “People’s behaviour and attitude is shaped by the information that they receive. And information they receive portrays Scarborough if a negative way.”
But article author Don Gillmor defends his work, noting it wasn’t meant to specifically target anyone. “The piece was really … because Scarborough has the highest number of foreign-born immigrants, and is this going to be a kind of harbinger of what we’re going to be looking at in all of Canada or in all of Toronto?” he explains.
During the hearing, two university students presented a report pointing out that Scarborough actually has one of the lowest crime rates in the city. But the report also works against assumptions that the area gets short changed on city services. In fact, the research shows that statistically, it gets about the same attention as any other spot in Toronto.
Kelly hopes that will at least put that complaint to bed. “I think a lot of people out there in Scarborough have that feeling, but what I want to tell them is that they are getting their fair share,” he assures.
To read the university report called “Fair Share Scarborough,” click here.
