“Police west of Toronto say a second-degree murder charge has been charged in an alleged hit-and-run on Christmas …”

“Police in the Greater Toronto Area are searching for a man accused in two separate assaults …”

These are the opening lines of two different Canadian Press stories about crime in Brampton and Mississauga over the past few days.  Know what’s missing?  A reference to Brampton or Mississauga!

I’m not writing to belittle – or shine a light – on the crimes being reported here.  They are serious and I hope police quickly apprehend the culprits and the victims and their families receive the support they need.

No, my focus is, again, on the fact that Brampton and Mississauga are ignored and insulted communities when it comes to Canada’s media and I think its high-time we demand better.

In no other part of the country are cities as large as Mississauga (population 830,000 and Canada’s 6th largest city) and Brampton (population 610,000 and 8th largest) referred to by referencing its neighbouring city instead.  When you Google “largest cities in Canada”, an article from the World Atlas – a resource used by high school geographers worldwide – doesn’t even list Mississauga or Brampton. We are just lumped into the “GTA” (yet Oshawa, oddly, gets its own stand-alone billing as a city of 310,000).

Even more frustrating is that neighbourhoods within the city of Toronto are referenced without regard to their neighbours.  When a story references Etobicoke, the story just says “Etobicoke” – without referencing its proximity within the city of Toronto or the fact that Etobicoke no longer, in fact, exists as a stand-alone political entity.

So, what’s the big deal? 

Well, for one, I think it diminishes the sense of community that we have in our own cities. If the rest of Canada and media just treats us as a neighbourhood stuck to the side of the big shiny metropolis of Toronto, why should we feel any great sense of pride in our own community? Why should we care about what’s going on in our city?  Why should we get involved in city affairs? After all, “Toronto” is where the action is!  

For another, I think this lack of attention and respect has a political impact insofar as funding for major initiatives in Peel, such as guns and gangs enforcement, or social services that tends to be an afterthought and we have to fight harder for a proportional share. The now defunct Fair Share for Peel campaign fought for years to highlight that in terms of social services funding, the federal and provincial government were shortchanging Peel communities on a per capita basis, compared to Toronto. I think this is a direct result of media attention on the very real social problems happening in Toronto and the fact that same media is largely ignoring the issues across the municipal boundary.

Mayors Crombie and Brown have had to make the obvious statement that guns don’t recognize postal codes in their efforts to ensure provincial and federal funding to combat gun violence is focused where the violence is occurring, instead of all going to the city of Toronto. 

There are times when it makes sense to tell the world that we are one big region. Where would you rather invest or build a new plant?  A city of 610,000 or a market of 7 million?  But there are times when our cities need to stand up and claim our own distinctive sense of place and this is one small way we can do that.

It’s not the only solution to these problems, but those of us who are proud of our communities should be petitioning the Canadian Press to change their style guide and point out to them that it’s absurd to continue referencing a city of 610,000 as “north west” of Toronto – or, especially as one recent article does, wrongly refers to Brampton as “north east of Toronto”. 

I’m pretty sure Canadian Press readers are smart enough to find Brampton and Mississauga on a map without having to tell them we’re next door to Toronto.