Real Canadian DNA

Downtown is not the most beautiful part of Toronto, but it’s certainly the most identifiable, a stretch of skyscrapers spanning the waterfront that you’re most likely to recognize from a postcard or as a cinematic ersatz Anycity, USA. Along the route to Toronto Stadium (formerly BMO Field), the crossing guards at some intersections have taken to wearing FIFA referee uniforms. Schooled in Canada’s national Just For Laughs Gags–style comedy, the refs hand out penalty cards for slight misdemeanors—a group of tourists laughing at their costumes get a yellow card, as does a car entering the crosswalk. Behind them, on the northeast corner of the intersection, is a Toronto Streets to Homes Assessment and Referral Centre where gathered outside, on most days, is a stooped crowd of people, some using, others occasionally wandering into oncoming traffic. Passing by, I think about one of the referee–crossing guards handing them red cards.