{"id":611515,"date":"2026-04-18T02:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611515\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T02:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:48:14","slug":"toronto-using-world-cup-to-pitch-itself-as-inclusive-alternative-to-anti-immigrant-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/611515\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto using World Cup to pitch itself as inclusive alternative to anti-immigrant U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mayor Olivia Chow sports shin pads at a funding announcement for Toronto’s FIFA World Cup hosting effort in May, 2024.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The words seem as if they\u2019re from a different era. In 2018, when the soccer federations of Canada, the United States and Mexico united to propose they co-host this year\u2019s World Cup, the Bid Book they submitted to FIFA included sunny vision statements from potential U.S. host cities that boasted of diversity, equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia said it would prove to be \u201ca city that is open, friendly and welcoming to visitors, immigrants and people of all backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles pledged to show off its \u201cdiverse neighbourhoods and the city\u2019s welcoming disposition,\u201d and promised \u201cthe multicultural L.A. population will come alive with the sounds of various voices, languages and dialects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston noted that more than 25 per cent of its population is foreign-born and said it wanted to unite the city\u2019s \u201cinternational citizens around building an inclusive \u2026 experience for our visitors.\u201d <\/p>\n

Over the past year, though, the Trump administration has undermined those cheery aspirations with a brutal anti-immigrant crackdown and restrictions on international travellers. Immigrant communities \u2013 the ones organizers had envisioned would play central roles in welcoming fans from across the globe \u2013 are on edge. <\/p>\n

But while that has left some U.S. host cities\u2019 plans in disarray, senior leaders of Toronto\u2019s hosting efforts seem to believe they have been gifted a unique opportunity: To use the World Cup to market the city as an increasingly rare model of diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

In early March, thousands of soccer fans packed the downtown Toronto nightclub Rebel for a whistle-stop tour of world culture. They swayed to the rhythmic bop of Senegalese talking drums and Ghanaian Afrobeats; munched on Panamanian empanadas, Croatian pljeskavica burgers and classic Canadian poutine and butter tarts; and nodded along to German fitness instructors performing calisthenics to a cover of Neil Diamond\u2019s Sweet Caroline.<\/p>\n

The event, organized by the city to mark 100 days until the soccer tournament kick-off, was a celebration of the seven countries that had, by that point, secured a berth to play in Toronto: Canada, Panama, Germany, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Croatia. (Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina qualified late last month.) Members of each country\u2019s expat community who live in Toronto waved mini flags \u2013 of their homelands and the other nations \u2013 as local politicians paid tribute to the various heritages on display.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than half of our residents were born outside Canada,\u201d Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow told the crowd. \u201cOver 200 languages are spoken across our neighbourhoods \u2013 and yes, this summer, the world will come to Toronto. But for us, the world has always been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a sentiment that Ms. Chow and other civic leaders have emphasized since unveiling Toronto\u2019s positioning for the tournament last year as \u201cthe world in a city.\u201d That echoes the city\u2019s motto on its Coat of Arms: \u201cDiversity Our Strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presenting a welcoming face to the world has become harder for many U.S. host cities after the Trump administration threw up a series of hurdles for international fans, including a partial or total ban on travel from 19 countries instituted last year. <\/p>\n

On April 2, the State Department introduced a program under which travellers from a number of nations in the World Cup, including Senegal, Cape Verde, Algeria, Tunisia and C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, would be required to post bonds of up to US$15,000 to secure U.S. visas.<\/p>\n

In January, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA, endorsed the comments of a Swiss anti-corruption lawyer and FIFA critic who counselled fans to \u201cstay away from the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA redraws the map on top-tier World Cup seating<\/a><\/p>\n

Royce Chwin, the president and CEO of Destination Vancouver, said he and his team, who are in regular contact with the 15 other host cities, have been hearing concerns about ICE from their U.S. counterparts. <\/p>\n

In Los Angeles and other cities, locals are apprehensive over the prospect of ICE agents prowling World Cup stadiums and festivities. Earlier this month, Unite Here Local 11, a union representing about 2,000 food service workers at LA\u2019s SoFi Stadium, which is scheduled to host eight matches, threatened to strike unless it received assurances from FIFA and Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, the venue\u2019s owner, that ICE would stay away. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a conversation we\u2019re having here in Vancouver,\u201d said Mr. Chwin. <\/p>\n

As in Toronto, Vancouver is using the World Cup to tout its diversity and inclusivity, showing itself off as a city of reconciliation and working to incorporate the three host nations \u2013 the Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation \u2013 in tournament planning.<\/p>\n

Andrew Weir, the president and CEO of Destination Toronto, said during a phone interview that he had observed \u201ca shift in the last year, where a lot of our competitive cities [in the U.S.] have changed their messaging\u201d and de-emphasized previous claims of inclusivity.<\/p>\n

He recalled being in a bar on Dundas Street West early one morning in June, 2002, watching the World Cup final from Japan. When Brazil won, the patrons spilled out into the street and joined the celebrations erupting across the neighbourhood. <\/p>\n

\u201cDundas was madness. This is a city where that happens, and it speaks to who we are, so there\u2019s a genuineness,\u201d he said, in positioning Toronto as \u201ca world in a city.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing I think is really important to not lose sight of is how poignant that is right now,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a moment when other parts of the world are vacating that space.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what made us the elite global city that Toronto has become, and it will always be our strength, and we\u2019re going to lean into it aggressively. If others have opened up that space \u2013 then fine, let them. We\u2019ll walk through that door, gladly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mayor Olivia Chow sports shin pads at a funding announcement for Toronto’s FIFA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,3302,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-611515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-toronto","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}