New type of walking tour connects travellers and locals to ‘civic fabric’ beyond tourist stops | Canada Voices

Matthew Jordan’s walking tours of Toronto skip the popular tourist sights like the CN Tower, Kensington Market or Yonge-Dundas Square. Instead, they explore the city’s ravine systems, its changing waterfront, or new areas being developed, such as the Port Lands.

“It’s about being engaged in the civic fabric,” he says of his company Hidden River Tours, which he launched in 2023. Jordan illuminates the history of Toronto’s built environment, how it impacts surrounding nature, and whose interests are served by these decisions. “It’s part of your local understanding of your city, having a collective accountability over nature and understanding history.”

Ashley Kim, who lives in Toronto’s Casa Loma neighbourhood, went on one of Jordan’s tours last summer. “The tour was close to home for me and allowed me to explore areas and learn things that hadn’t even occurred to me before,” she says. “I think in a busy city like Toronto, it’s really special when we find opportunities to stop and really be here and connect with each other.”

Hidden Rivers Tours is a new type of walking tour that connects both travellers and locals to cities – and their issues – beyond the standard tourist attractions. It’s part of a broader movement of tourism for good, says Sonya Graci, an associate professor at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Travellers today seek purposeful experiences beyond finding their favourite restaurant, Graci says, citing the anti-tourism protests in Barcelona and Venice in response to overcrowding. “People are starting to understand that supporting tourism that is based on regenerative principles, that looks at sustainable livelihoods and focuses on benefitting local people and people that may be in need, is appealing because there is a focus on authenticity, but also contributing to a bigger purpose,” she explains.

Earlier this year, MTL Detours in Montreal launched its Sin City Golden Age Era and The Red Light District tours. Over two hours, guests learn about the history of the Quartier des Spectacles and bordering neighbourhoods that were considered the Vegas of the North during Prohibition, and how that legacy lingers today. “We really try to discuss the subject of sex work, past and present, in a sensitive manner, without sensationalism or glorification,” says MTL Detours’ founder Lesley Thompson of her unvarnished approach to discussing the area’s history of bootlegging, crime and sex work.

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales go to Stella Montreal, a community organization that works to improve the quality of life and work conditions for woman-identifying sex workers.

In the United Kingdom, Invisible Cities trains people who have experienced homelessness to be tour guides and helps them develop tour itineraries. It is an effort to offer employment opportunities as a complement to other organizations providing outreach and accommodations support to the unhoused community.

Since launching in Edinburgh, in 2016, Invisible Cities has expanded into six cities across Scotland, Northern England and Wales. Some tours include popular sites such as Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and Glasgow’s Riverside, while others explore the city through the lingering effects of the Great Depression (Manchester) or the impact of migration (Edinburgh).

The guides decide whether to share their experiences with homelessness, addiction, incarceration or discrimination, explains founder and CEO Zakia Maoulaoui Guery. Some “tend to add more and more details about their personal lives because they realize that people are quite nurturing and supportive, rather than being curious for the sake of it.”

This new approach to city discovery draws both visitors and residents. To date, Jordan’s tours have been filled almost exclusively with Torontonians wanting a deeper connection to the city. “There was an immediate hunger,” he says. “People are moving here constantly. They know where the restaurants are and that’s about it.”

MTL Detours and Invisible Cities see a mix as well. “It’s probably 70 per cent visitors and travellers, 30 per cent locals and residents,” says Maoulaoui Guery. “We have tours in areas that are lesser known and less touristic, and you have a lot of residents who want to learn about the story of their own neighbourhoods.”

This doesn’t surprise Graci. “A lot of people don’t really know the history of their own cities,” she says. “We hear that local is best, so locals are taking these tours because they want to not only support local but understand and feel some form of authenticity in their city. This is a really nice, small-scale way to participate in your community.”