AP

Almost 30% of families in Toronto are living in poverty, according to a report by the United Way of Greater Toronto, a charity. The nationwide average is under 20%. The report defined as “poor” a two-adult, two-child family with an annual income after tax of less than C$27,500 ($27,490). And while the number of poor families across Canada has fallen since 2000, in Toronto, a city with a large immigrant population, it has increased by 9.7%. Toronto's median after-tax family income (C$41,500) is also lower than the Canadian average. The mayor of Toronto, David Miller, responded to the findings by calling for an increase in the minimum wage; the premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, promised to consider specific measures targeting poverty in the city.

A demographic survey of Toronto’s high-school students has drawn attention to their ethnic and cultural diversity. In grades nine to 12, just 33% of students define themselves as white, 20% are of East Asian ancestry, 19% are South Asian and 12% are black. A large majority of students are either immigrants or first-generation Canadians, with 71% reporting that both their parents were born outside Canada. The survey polled 105,000 students at 289 schools. Toronto's school board says it will use the results to address difficulties in the education system caused by students' failure to see their own culture reflected in the curriculum.

A public inquiry into the work of a discredited paediatric pathologist has put his former employers on the defensive. Dr Charles Smith has been blamed for mistaken prosecutions relating to the deaths of children. Top officials from the provincial coroner's office and Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have admitted that they did not closely supervise Dr Smith as he conducted autopsies and testified at coroner's inquests and criminal trials. The men also said Dr Smith's strong religious faith and his reputation as a children's champion made them discount complaints made by judges, lawyers and defendants. Dr Smith's testimony contributed to at least 13 criminal convictions, some of which have already been overturned.

American officials have arrested four people suspected of operating a human-smuggling ring in Toronto. The suspects allegedly charged about $10,000 per person and smuggled hundreds of Koreans and others into the United States. Clients entered Canada legally as visitors and were then taken to unmanned border crossings between Quebec and Vermont. A husband-and-wife team is among the suspects; as Canadian citizens, they have the right to fight extradition to America.

India’s Jet Airways has introduced daily flights between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Chennai. The airline has also increased the frequency of its Toronto-Delhi flights (which started in September) from five times a week to daily. Both journeys connect via Brussels. Toronto-Chennai is the third new international route added to Pearson this autumn: at the end of October, Emirates Airlines began offering three non-stop flights a week between Toronto and Dubai.