Atsede Tadesse and Drexler Ogbeifun

Toronto's Mosaic: Voices of the Future

Stroll through almost any neighbourhood and it's obvious: Toronto is one of the world's most culturally diverse cities. Half of the city's population was born outside Canada... a statistic that supports Toronto's motto, "Diversity Our Strength".

Last year, we put that motto to the test. "Toronto's Mosaic: A Reality Check" looked at the state of Toronto's cultural mosaic and the role it plays in both bringing us together and pulling us apart.

This year, we decided to hand the storytelling over to the voices of the future: Toronto's youth. In cooperation with the YMCA of Toronto, we brought together a group of students from across the city to learn how to gather information, take pictures and tell their stories.

Audio: Producer Laura Carlin talks to Andy Barrie about the project.
Listen | Runs 6:05

Armed with reporters' notebooks and digital cameras donated by Sony Canada, the students searched for stories that reflect this city's mosaic in their daily lives and in the experiences of people around them.

Watch Debbie Lightle-Quan's report

(runs 2:17)

Video: Debbie Lightle-Quan interviewed the students and CBC's Joan Melanson about the project.
Watch | Runs 2:17

Diversity means something different to each of us and to each of the students we sent out as journalists.

They came back with a wide range of stories... From a Chinese-speaking student struggling to adjust to his new Scarborough high school, to a woman working to make Rexdale a safer neighborhood to live in, and a young man who uses his music to connect with others.

Here we present the stories of the English-speaking students. Check out the Radio-Canada site for the stories told by Toronto's French-speaking youth.

Related Websites

Meet the Participants

Bilingual Participants

Three of our French-speaking students also prepared English versions of their reports. More reports in French are available at http://www.radio-canada.ca