I refer to Norman Faria’s lovely article “Sparing a thought for the lowly newspaper vendor” in the Sunday Chronicle of January 31. Like the postman, the newspaper vendor performs an important role without discrimination in the community. I remember how indispensable such working-class people were to my life before I migrated from Guyana nearly 14 years ago.

In Toronto where I, along with thousands of Guyanese, live and where Norman Faria lived in the 1970s, newspaper vendors are important elements of the social landscape too.

According to the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA), there are 97 “general interest paid circulation” daily newspapers in Canada. There are also about 37 free daily newspapers. “Each day,” says the CNA, “about one in five Canadians above the age of 18 buys a daily newspaper, one of the highest ratios in the world.”

Toronto, a multi-cultural city, boasts a variety of weekly and fortnightly ethnic papers like the CARIBBEAN CAMERA and the INDO-CARIBBEAN WORLD besides national dailies like the TORONTO STAR and the NATIONAL POST. Ethnic papers are available for free at West Indian shops and flea markets.

Most papers regularly carry “Vendors Wanted” advertisements for house-to-house delivery. Students and senior citizens earn a tidy sum delivering papers to homes and offices. Generally, though, Toronto workers like myself obtain their newspapers outside subway stations from vending boxes and inside the stations from newsstands. Nine years ago, the Toronto Transit Commission banned newspaper vendors from standing in front of subway station entrances.
It’s rare these days to hear a vendor trumpet: “Read all about it!” But, aren’t the times changing?