Killion
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2010
- 36,763
- 3,215
I was working at a youth centre in downtown Toronto last year, and it was almost all first-generation kids we were working with (or kids who moved here very young). They were mainly from Asia, coming from poorer families, mostly associated within their own communities, and hockey wasn't even on their radar.
I wouldnt exactly call the in most cases very wealthy immigrants who came over from Hong Kong from the mid-80's & beyond "middle class" by Canadian standards or "A-Typical" immigrants to this country. That group was/is extremely well heeled. Richmond Hill, Bayview & York Mills, the West Side of Vancouver & Shaugnessy, Richmond & other areas completely transformed, housing prices going through the roof, creating artificially high prices that only their money created & sustains. The bulk of immigrants are much more like the ones you encountered downtown, assimilation a process that usually takes 2 generations to complete. "Back in the Day", it was no different in Toronto, as kids from Regent Park, Cabbagetown & Kensington etc generally only got to play hockey through Church or school programs, though Regent Park itself had a "Boys Club" with a House League program & teams entered in the then THL/MTHL in a few divisions. Almost all of those players however were not from immigrant families, they just werent very well off.
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