You missed my point. I'm not talking about the loyalists who moved. I'm talking about the people who stayed. The settlement along the great lakes was already here before the American revolution, both in English/French settlements, and the natives who were here in high concentrations before that.
Modern day settlement along the border reflects a continuation of patterns that were already here.
Though Toronto being a huge population centre instead of Hamilton or Niagara area apparently has to do with the need to be some distance from the border with the expansionist militaristic 19th century Americans.
