The Spanish-Speaking
Latin American Community*
The Spanish-Speaking
Latin American Community*
By: Marcela S. Duran
From: Polyphony Vol.6, 1984 pp. 186-188
© 1984 Multicultural History Society of Ontario
From: Polyphony Vol.6, 1984 pp. 186-188
© 1984 Multicultural History Society of Ontario
*This article is based on an M.A. thesis written by the author
entitled, "Values and Education: a Study of the Spanish-Speaking
Latin American Children in the Junior Schools of Metropolitan
Toronto," University of Toronto,1975.
The Spanish Latin American community is perhaps one of the newest
groups of immigrants in Toronto. This group of immigrants has
increased, between 1968-75, to approximately 50,000 in Canada,
according to the estimates of community organizations, of whom the
majority reside in Toronto. The bigger groups come from Ecuador
and Colombia. There are also several groups of Uruguayans and
Argentinians and, recently, an increasing number of Chileans with
smaller groups from Central America, namely, Guatemala, El
Salvador and Honduras.
Their social origin, in general, also varies from that of some
other immigrant groups. They come from different sectors of the
Latin American middle class, ranging from highly qualified
professionals to owners of small shops and civil servants. Most of
them have left their country for economic reasons, with the
exception, perhaps, of the people from Uruguay and Chile, who have
also had political motivation (I am not speaking here of the
refugees, but of those who have come through regular immigration
procedures). Many of the immigrants have had previous experience
in the United States, working there illegally on tourist visas.
After returning to their home countries, they realise that the
immigration quotas of the United States are very low and that it
is easier to apply for a visa to Canada. This country presents an
"image of stability" in contrast with the United States, and many
times this is a main reason for choosing Canada instead.
For some reason they tend to settle during their first months in
downtown Toronto. This is the place of first settlement for the
Italians and Portuguese as well. Perhaps this is because it is
near the immigration offices, perhaps because public
transportation seems to be more available in those areas. They
live in flats or rooms, sharing accommodations with other Latin
American, Italian and Portuguese families. Because of the
similarities of languages, many learn Italian or Portuguese before
learning English and many times get their first jobs through
recommendations by members of these two older communities, who now
act as landlords to the newcomers. In this sense they also "share"
the experience of being immigrants with these other communities
and so create the first social links outside of their own
groups.
After a period of some months they realise that living in flats
downtown is very expensive, and they move to apartment buildings
in different parts of Toronto. When they move to their second
residence, they tend to live near their fellow-countrymen. For
example, many Ecuadorians live in the Weston Road, Finch and Keele
area, a considerable number of Chileans in Etobicoke and Don
Mills, etc.
Apart from the professionals, who try to qualify again in order to
work in their professions, most of them work in factories in the
city. The fact that they had not worked as labourers before made
their assimilation process more difficult. They tend to change
jobs very easily in search of something where they will feel more
at ease. Men working in factories without any experience at this
type of work are prone to have more accidents. I have encountered
many cases of these workers drawing
compensation, many of them with neurotic reactions to manual
labour (an example would be the case of a man with the loss of
movement in one of his legs, mainly because of nervous tension
although thinking it is because of the accident he had at his work
place). It is not that these people did not know they would be
doing such jobs in Canada. Rather, many of them, when they decided
to come, were so highly motivated by the better material
conditions that they did not think of the cost to them of their
decisions. Since they were not workers in their home countries
they feel very detached from the factory as a place of work. It is
interesting to note that they use direct translations from English
when they refer to the factory (e. g. factoria, instead of
the Spanish fabrica, usina, or industria).
This could be interpreted as a way of denying their present
reality.
Socially, Latin Americans here tend to organise themselves into
national groups, mainly sports organisations, and of these soccer
leagues in particular. This is very much what many of them would
have belonged to back in their homelands. Most of these sports
organisations are supported by the consulates of the individual
native countries. Women are often excluded from these clubs, which
makes social activities very much male dominated.
Their dress here is not particularly colourful, but the women do
not wear black as often as other immigrant women do, even if they
are widows. Many of them are people who come from urban
communities which, although not as developed as Toronto, would
share some of its characteristics. The Latin American community
has two centres which provide services to its members. The
Bloor-Bathurst Information Centre is mainly a centre that informs
and gives interpreting and counselling services for those members
of the community who require them, but also provides for the needs
of other immigrants living in the area. The second centre is the
Centre for Spanish Speaking People located on Dupont Street. This
centre has wider services than the Bloor-Bathurst one and is
intended to aid in fulfilling different needs of the community. It
carries a diversity of programs, ranging from counselling and
orientation services to handicraft workshops, English classes for
adults, Spanish classes for children and legal and medical aid
clinics.
Most of the families of Latin American origin living in Toronto
are young couples between twenty and forty years of age. Their
children are quite young. In many cases both parents work in
factories. The children either stay at home under the care of
another immigrant mother, or attend schools and take care of
themselves when they come home. Some parents work two shifts in
the factories in order to improve their economic situation
quicker. When the mother stays at home, she is very isolated
because she does not have the opportunity to learn the language as
quickly as her husband or children do. This creates a different
understanding of the realities that could be shared between the
various members of the family. Because generally speaking, the
Latin American family, as an institution, is a very important one
for the life of each individual, the mother who stays at home
misses the company of relatives (mainly her mother) very much with
whom to communicate. Neighbourhood life becomes very restricted
because of the language problem and because of the tendency of
Latin Americans to live in more dispersed numbers than other
immigrant groups. The reason for this could also be the fact that
they have not come in large groups at the same time, but have been
steadily arriving as families or as individuals.
