Running Time: 3 x 60 mins
Year: 2000

synopsis

Love it or hate it, Toronto is wedged like a thorn in the national psyche. Known as “Toronto the Good,” because of its Victorian morality and temperance, it was anything but. From the beginning, immigrants challenged the city’s dominant identity to force necessary tolerance and surprising contradiction.

From Lt. Governor Simcoe’s muddy little York to the sprawling megacity of today, Toronto: City of Dreams is a rollicking romp through three centuries of history to reveal “Toronto the Good” in all its contradictions.  From pioneer booziness to the Temperance League, or from the Orange Order to the most multicultural city in the world, this is where English Canada’s national identity is forged.  This is provocative, entertaining viewing starring the city we all love to hate.

Credits

A film by Lindalee Tracey


Produced by White Pine Pictures in association with CTV, with the assistance of The Government of Ontario, Bell Canada, Historica