Calls for inclusivity spark city decision to erect Chinese-language development sign
The city is taking a small step toward making Toronto a more inclusive place.
For what's believed to be the first time, a sign informing residents of a new development application in Chinatown is going up not in English, but instead in the language commonly used by the people who live there: Chinese.
"This is trying to provide a lower barrier for access to the decision-making that's going on at the city," said Mike Layton, the city councillor for the area.
"It's not intended to exclude anyone, it's actually just to try to be more inclusive of the process that we undertake on a very regular basis."
It all started when a group called Friends of Chinatown noticed an English-language sign about a zoning amendment application in front of the buildings at 315-325 Spadina Avenue.
Toronto-based architecture firm Montgomery Sisam wants to build a 13-storey mixed-use building on the site that would house 239 residential rental units. Most of them would be studio apartments, although there would also be one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.
"We were very concerned as a group because this is a large proposed change to what is essentially the heart of Toronto's Chinatown community," said Shellie Zhang, a member of the group.
However, many people in the community do not speak English, she said.
Lack of meaningful engagement, says group
"Chinatown first and foremost is a racialized community," she said. "This was really not acknowledged from the developer's standpoint … and to actually not acknowledge that right at the beginning is a refusal to engage meaningfully in consultation with the community there."
Zhang said when Friends of Chinatown started speaking with residents about the proposed development, the group discovered that many of the people directly affected by the project were in the dark about it.
So the group decided to make its own sign in traditional Chinese, which is the written form for Cantonese speakers, Zhang said.
"As a result of it, so many more people came to the community consultation meeting," she said. "So just the fact that we knew of that meeting, and we spread word of it, the room where it happened, it was entirely packed of people who wanted to express concerns, questions."
Layton expressed his appreciation for the group's work, saying they "rightly" criticized the city for not taking a more inclusive approach to engaging the community in the development plans.
He said he heard the same message from community members at a public meeting on the project, that it needed to be more inclusive.
"We took that as very constructive feedback," Layton said.
He said the city plans to erect another sign for Chinese-language speakers next week.
As for whether you'll see more signs popping up in different languages across the city, Layton is open to the idea.
"I don't think it's too much for the city to do to try to lower that barrier for participation — and in what is a civic process and one that really does impact people's daily lives when they live next to a proposal like this," he said.
