Toronto Pearson International Airport: Canada

Canada Dept: Pier 21 in Halifax is a museum to Canada s immigrant past but as the country s busiest airport serving the GTA the whole region doesn t get enough credit for bulking up the city s famous motto Toronto Pearson International Airport is a living monument to Canada s multicultural mix. Few arrive in Canada by boat these days; only the airport matters. Flights are expensive, but some people spend years saving for the big trip back to the old country or to fly in a relative, so the economic range of people who travel these runways shouldn t be underestimated, according to The Star. Visit in the middle of the night these days and you ll find Canadians in summer shorts and sandals checking in for their pre-dawn flights to some sunny winter escape. You ll know where they re from because Canadians seem to emblazon themselves with anything that says CANADA when heading out of the country, as if on a mission for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Others will be asleep in the Q Zone, the yet-unused end of Terminal One, camped in the dark children s play area or snoring in unison on benches while Call Me Maybe echoes over the PA system and the airport, like public transit, is where Toronto s motto, Diversity our Strength, can be seen in action. It s one of the few places we mix together effortlessly. Intimate moments are made public, as people hug or cry their hellos and goodbyes. YYZ, the international code for our airport, has become a short form for here, and hometown rock band Rush even named a song after it. Though the planes don t fly in and out all night long they take some time off to give nearby residents a rest the buildings themselves are 24-hour operations. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.