On campus at York University, that is, and I don’t think it’s as dangerous as it’s played out to be. It’s a really diverse area, from Italian to Tamil to Punjabi to black and white communities and lots of stuff in between, there are good places to get a Salvadorean breakfast and very few grocery stores without curry and plantain. I volunteer at an elementary school here through a literacy program called Frontier College and the kids really are amazing. People do reach out to their community more than they do downtown, I find. Not so much from the university, though; it’s pretty set apart even from the immediate area.
Sure, there are shootings in some areas, and there is gang violence, definitely. How I had it explained to me by someone who grew up here was that it wasn’t something universal; it depends a lot on who you hang out with and where you are. That being said, earlier this year a student from York was caught in the crossfire of two guys shooting at each other in a mall parking lot. It’s not Woodbridge or Richmond Hill. But it’s not Soweto either.
over 7 years ago