[esquire]

I agree that the boundaries of the North End are a matter of perception and depends on what a person is trying to accomplish.

For instance, if you're selling a house near Polson and McGregor you might try to pass it off as being in West Kildonan.

But if you're sitting around a pub table in Toronto regaling your buddies with how tough you had it growing up, you might try to claim North Ender status even if you grew up in the shadow of Northgate Mall.

Generally though, the box between the CP tracks, Main, Inkster and McPhillips is the North End. Enough people in the areas immediately to the west (Shaughnessy Park) and east (Point Douglas/Luxton) identify with the North End that they are pretty much lumped in with it too, even though no one would say it's the "true" North End. It's tough to define the area with precision since it never had a formal municipal boundary the way that West Kildonan or St. Vital once did.