What to know
- A report by the Toronto Foundation found 37 per cent of Toronto residents felt lonely at least a few times a week, as of 2023.
- Residents like Coralie Rimaud are launching event series such as Recess by Coralie to help people connect through workshops and structured mingling.
- Organizers say post-pandemic social habits and being “chronically online” have made forming friendships more difficult.
- Groups like the Five Sixty Club are targeting specific demographics with curated, smaller events designed for connection.
- Early signs show success, with attendees forming genuine connections and even friendships beyond the events.
There’s no shortage of events and things to do in Toronto, but, for some reason, making real connections in the city can feel like a challenge for many.
Toronto is one of the loneliest cities in Canada, according to a report by the Toronto Foundation, with 37 per cent of residents saying they feel lonely at least a few times per week.
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In fact, it is not hard to find people in the city complaining about how hard it is to develop real friendships, or seeking advice on how to do so.
Workshops for connection
Not long ago, Coralie Rimaud was one of the city’s residents looking for friends.
After completing a four-year degree in Scarborough, she moved to downtown Toronto two years ago. Despite attending workshops, workout classes, and some of the city’s many events, she found making real connections difficult.
“It felt very intimidating to be downtown. And yes, there’s a lot of things to do, but it felt very scary to go into those spaces and have to be fresh in the city and be like, ‘Hey, I’m Coralie. Let’s be friends.’” Rimaud told Now Toronto.
“The first year and a half [living downtown], I was mainly spending my time by myself, or if my friends were commuting downtown, I would spend time with them. And then I would try to build friendships with people here and there downtown. But it felt like a lot of effort to have to reach out and plan something. Sometimes, it would fall through, and then it would be disappointing.”
According to her, although Toronto has an array of activities people can partake in, making connections has become harder since the COVID-19 pandemic, as many people forgot how to socialize. In addition, she says being chronically online might also have distracted people from making friends in person.
To foster connections in the city and help others also build their network of friends, Rimaud founded Recess by Coralie, a series of workshops that encourage attendees to learn new skills and interact with each other.
Since hosting her first public workshop in Jan. 28, Rimaud has led several workshops in the city, covering a series of different topics, from photography to personal finance to dating. At the end of each class, she offers a one-hour mingling session, which allows participants to connect.
As the workshops continue, she says she has already noticed some participants forming acquaintances. Besides being in an environment that fosters these connections, Rimaud says being constantly exposed to the same people also encourages friendships.
“Literally, for a few of my workshops, by the end of the workshop, I felt like I was friends with some of my guests. We [were] already hugging it out,” she said.
“It would be a bold statement to say that people have found a friend from just one workshop, but I did see that they had a genuine connection with other people, where their conversations were more on that friendship level [rather] than on an acquaintance level.”
Making friends in your 30s
Rimaud is not the only resident who decided to take Toronto’s loneliness epidemic into her own hands. The Five Sixty Club, a members-only social club for residents who are 30-plus and looking to connect, will be celebrating its first anniversary this spring.
Founders Sandra Lapin and Samantha James tell Now Toronto they’ve decided to create the club after feeling there was a gap in Toronto’s social life as they entered their 30s.
“We noticed there was a bit of a gap in people who were going out and not talking to each other, not feeling connected, maybe not feeling fulfilled. You go out to a nightclub or a bar, and you’re around all these people, and you’re still kind of feeling lonely or just feeling that you didn’t get that connection,” James said.
“I think that comes with being 30-plus. Your friends move out of the city and they’re in the suburbs. So, we just found there were a lot of people wanting to make new friends and make new connections.”
Lapin says she believes the loneliness issue exists in part because many residents just “stick to themselves,” whether they go out alone or in a group, and often don’t make any intentional efforts in making friends.
But the Five Sixty Club aims to change that by creating a space where people specifically go to make connections. As part of the membership process, interested residents need to submit a form which helps them determine whether they are 30-plus and actually interested in socializing.
“We even have so many people that come alone, and I find that when you see how many people come alone and they’re having conversations, [and] how easy it is, it’s almost like a domino effect. It’s like, ‘Well, if they can go up to this person that they don’t know and start talking about where they work out, or where they work and what they like to do for fun, I can do that too,’” Lapin said.
According to the organizers, since the beginning of the club, some members have not only been talking to each other during the events, but have also been hanging out together outside the events.
The Five Sixty Club offers events every month for its 300 members, with participation limited to about 20 to 50 people to keep their connection aspect intact. Their next event will be held March 28, and it will be an après ski-inspired day party.
