When times are dark, cities sometimes provide the light.

In 1847, when its population was just 20,000, Toronto mounted a herculean effort to take in 38,560 Irish famine refugees. That would still be herculean today, in a city of nearly 3 million, and puts the Canada-wide target of taking in 25,000 Syrian refugees last year in perspective.

Ireland Park, at the foot of Bathurst St., is a memorial to that civic effort. There are sites all around downtown that have famine significance, like Metro Hall, at the corner of King and John Sts., site of fever sheds and a temporary immigrant hospital, and many of the dead are buried underneath the asphalt playground of St. Paul’s Catholic School at Queen and Sackville Sts.Toronto’s early response to the Irish famine is part of a long tradition of municipal mobilization.

There’s a saying in urban studies that goes something like this: if the federal government ceased operation, we wouldn’t notice for a few weeks; if the province closed up shop it might take a few days to notice; but if a city ceased functioning we’d know in a matter of minutes. The water wouldn’t run. Lights would flicker. Police wouldn’t arrive. Garbage would pile up.

While the saying is not entirely true, it alludes to how close to the ground city governments and civic-minded organizations are: they keep the city running from day to day and also see what’s happening first and can respond quickly.

Toronto has shown leadership many times since the famine. During the early years of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, when federal governments in Canada and the United States were still dithering on admitting to the seriousness and even existence of the disease, the Aids Committee of Toronto along with Toronto’s Public Health department were in the streets doing prevention work.

On the northeast corner of Queens Park Crescent E. and Grosvenor St. there’s a tree with a subtle memorial stone by it dedicated to one woman’s civic leadership during another public health crisis two decades later. In 2003, when SARS hit Toronto and the city was in a panic, Dr. Sheela Basrur, the city’s then Medical Officer of Health, held near-daily news conferences calming and reassuring Toronto that everything possible was being done to contain the outbreak.

Less dramatically she, along with Toronto Public Health, initiated the Dine Safe program where health inspections are publically posted and led the city’s ban on indoor smoking before the Ontario government mandated it province-wide.

At a policy level cities take the lead like this all the time. In 2015 at a summit of world mayors, New York City’s Bill de Blasio said “We are the template for our national governments that so often hesitate” and cities the “spark of change” on issues such as climate change and poverty.

Of late, mayors have been stepping up to reassure their people when political events are troubling. In the days after the Brexit vote in the U.K., Mayor Sadiq Khan repeatedly said, “London is Open.” It was an economic message, but also one for the multicultural population who live and work in London who felt nervous by the Brexit campaign’s anti-immigrant sentiment. During last year’s federal election Edmonton’s Mayor Don Iveson and Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi both spoke out against the Harper government’s proposed niqab ban.

More recently mayors across the United States have made public statements meant to push back against the boiling hate that the Trump victory has taken the lid off. Mayor de Blasio, along with mayors in cities such as Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco have reaffirmed their municipality’s “sanctuary city” commitment, providing a safe place for immigrants even though they risk losing billions in funding when Trump assumes office. Toronto declared itself a sanctuary city in 2014.

Even more direct was a video message from Denver’s mayor Michael Hancock addressing fear and anxiety regarding the “unwelcoming and dangerous rhetoric” around immigration, women’s rights, discrimination and gay rights issues. “You can count on me, you can count on your city. We’ve got your back,” he said.

Your city has your back. It’s a powerful message. Cities react fast, but they’re also the place where change can come the quickest. When national and international events are daunting, focusing locally can assuage some of the feelings of helplessness we might have.

Canada has not been immune to dangerous rhetoric and there’s been a spike in pubic acts of hate and racism, including swastikas and racial slurs painted on Ottawa synagogues and a Parkdale church.

At the national level, MP Kellie Leitch is continuing to run a dog whistle campaign for Conservative leadership based on “Canadian values,” even congratulating Trump and his “exciting message” on the night of his victory. It’s an environment that breeds fear and uncertainty.

Does your city have your back right now? Does your mayor?

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If not, ask why not.

Shawn Micallef writes every Saturday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef

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