Triogenius: What Do You Know About...Toronto?

If someone asked you what Canadian province(s) are to the direct north of Minnesota, would you know?

They are Ontario and Manitoba.

The largest city (in population) of Ontario is Toronto. Toronto sits on the northern edge of Lake Ontario. Look at this map: The province of Ontario is very large, spanning an area from the northern edges of Minnesota and Wisconsin eastward to New York. It is 929 miles from Minneapolis to Toronto if you go by car, which would take about 13 hours.

The pale yellow area covered by the largest arrow is all Ontario.

Toronto Skyline

Although Canada covers a huge amount of land, which includes six time zones and people who speak more than 100 languages, it has only 27 million people, which is close to the population of Texas. Minnesota, by comparison, has just under 6 million residents (about 500,000 in the City of Minneapolis).

Toronto is home to 2.6 million people.
Their 'official' language is English.
If you plan to travel to Toronto or anywhere in Canada, you need a passport but not a visa.
Canadians use the metric system.
If you drive to Toronto, or anywhere else in Canada, keep driving on the righthand side just as if you were still in the U.S.

Toronto has cold winters and warm, humid summers. Lake Toronto keeps the temperature lower and can cause a chilly breeze at times, plus lake-effect snow in the winter. Annual precipitation is about 32" and annual snowfall, 48".

What about school in Canada?

Children attend school much like they do in the United States. Most schools run from September to the end of June, and students generally go up to Grade 12. It is compulsory (required) until the age of 16, like it is here in the States.

The word "college" in Canada usually refers to a technical school, while "university" refers to an institution of higher learning where you would obtain a 3 or 4 year degree similar to our Bachelor's Degree. People say, "She's attending university now" to indicate the person has moved on to the next level of education. Sometimes what we call high school is called a "collegiate institute."

The exception to these rules is the province of Quebec, which handles school somewhat differently.

One in seven adults in Canada has obtained a university degree.

Here are some institutes of higher education around the Toronto area:

University of Toronto http://www.utoronto.com/
Ryerson University http://www.ryerson.ca/index.html
York University http://www.yorku.ca/web/index.htm

These offer a range from what we would call a technical certificate all the way up to a baccalaureate degree:

Ontario College of Art & Design
Centennial College
George Brown College
Humber College
Seneca College

Here are some interesting things to check out in Toronto:

The CN Needle, 1815' tall:

Notice the huge domed structure to the left of the CN Needle?

That's the Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Learn more about the Rogers Centre at: http://www.rogerscentre.com/about/history.jsp

The Toronto Zoo

The Hockey Hall of Fame

Centreville Amusement Park

The Royal Ontario Museum

and another view of the museum:

Eaton Centre Mall

Most people who live in Toronto are of these backgrounds:

English 12..9%
Chinese 12. %
Canadian 11.3%
Irish 9.7%
Scottish 9.5%
East Indian 7.6
French 4.5%

The most common religion is some form of Christianity, and of those people there are more Catholics than Protestants. 24% of the people say they have no religion.

Here is Toronto's city website:

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=3a7132d0b6d1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

Free things to do in Toronto: http://www.ydsquare.ca/

The Toronto Farmers Market: http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/

You can visit a labyrinth in Toronto: