The front window of the Livelihood Café, which is located in the heart of Toronto’s bustling Kensington Market, is decorated with a phrase that might feel vaguely familiar: “Toronto Is For Everybody.”
It’s a clever riff on the popular “Toronto vs. Everybody” design popularized by the Peace Collective, and the Livelihood Café, in an effort to make it inclusive, decided to make t-shirts featuring its own corrective adjustment.
“The slogan is in response to a lot of things happening these days in North America, and a lot of what you see on the news,” says Parin Kothari, the founder of the café. “It’s a lot of anti-immigration rhetoric.”
To fight this rhetoric, the café — which is registered as a nonprofit — has a mission of employing newcomers, and Kothari says the staff comprises about 80 per cent refugees.
“At Livelihood Café, every one of us are from different countries,” says Binal Wala, a manager at the café. “But when we are here, it’s like, who cares? Who even remembers where you’re from?”
Watch the video above to learn more about the Livelihood Café’s mission from the people who work there.
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