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Please log in to listen to this story. These political choices have only pumped air into the ballooning costs of police services. 351 King Street East, Suite 1600, Toronto, ON Canada, M5A 0N1, Due to technical reasons, we have temporarily removed commenting from our articles. Approach them to call and email their Councillor using this page. Approach them to call and email their Councillor using this page. If you are looking to give feedback on our new site, please send it along to, To view this site properly, enable cookies in your browser. Josh Matlow (Toronto-St. Paul’s) Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre) Gord Perks (Parkdale-High Park) Joe Cressy (Spadina-Fort York) Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) Mike Layton (University-Rosedale)Anthony Perruzza (Humber River-Black Creek)Brad Bradford (Beaches-East York), Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Scarborough-Rouge Park) Councillor James Pasternak (York Centre) Councillor Frances Nunziata (York South-Weston) Councillor Michael Ford (Etobicoke North) Councillor Mark Grimes (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) Councillor Stephen Holyday (Etobicoke Centre)Councillor Gary Crawford (Scarborough Southwest), Councillor John Filion (Willowdale) Councillor Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence)Councillor Shelley Carroll (Don Valley North)Councillor Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre)Councillor Ana Bailão (Davenport)Councillor Paul Ainslie (Scarborough-Guildwood). If you receive a callback, let it go to message if you don’t wish to talk to a live person. Defund12.org opens an email template addressed to all of your city's elected officials, to demand they vote to defund the police. The best example of the failures of this approach can be seen in how mental-health crises are handled. SURJ Toronto. Toronto, for instance, is hiring hundreds of police officers every year, and the police service is more militarized than before. [Your personal arguments/anecdotes for defunding the police here. Many police boards and commissions across Canada began their own reforms, adding more civilian participation and oversight as well as technology. It opens the door to a serious, urgently needed conversation about alternative models of community safety and well-being. Readers can also interact with The Globe on Facebook and Twitter . My number is [PHONE] and my email is [EMAIL], respond to me at once. Taxpayers spend over $41 million per day collectively on police services across the country.

Meanwhile, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent data on police expenditures, Canada spent $15.1-billion on policing in 2017-18, part of a trend that has “generally been on the increase” over the previous two decades. Keep your Opinions sharp and informed. If it is your first time calling a Councillor and you are very anxious, mention it: this seems to place a priority on your call. The year before, in 2016-17 – the last time spending breakdowns by jurisdiction were published – approximately 53 per cent of the $14.7-billion annual operating expenditures were devoted to municipal policing, while the rest went to the RCMP and the provincial police forces. Governments and organizations undertook efforts to find alternative, more community-responsive approaches to public safety. Alok Mukherjee was chair of the Toronto Police Services Board from 2005 to 2015.

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© Copyright 2020 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved. YOUR OWN WORDS ARE STRONGEST.]. 65 Interested. We WILL spent $50 million over ten years to get body cameras. Event Transparency. Due to COVID-19, most council offices work remotely and you will 99% get an answering machine.

The years since have marked a return to business as usual. However, as dramatic as the call for defunding is, there are statutory and political barriers to doing so in Canada. Hello Councillor, my name is [NAME] and I live at [ADDRESS] in your ward. Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. Rarely does the city demand a reduction in police budget. Thank you for your patience. We demand acknowledgement and accountability for our pain and injustice 2.

[ October 19, 2020 ] Defund the Police Photo Campaign Event [ October 3, 2020 ] One Day Left to Bid on Books That Help Prisoners Campaign [ September 23, 2020 ] Defund the Ottawa Police … As proof of their concern for public safety, federal and provincial politicians have, from time to time, funded the addition of thousands of police officers to municipal police forces, with no demonstrated need. In 2013, Ottawa convened a national summit on the economics of policing. Provincial police-services acts require municipalities to have “adequate and effective policing” and pay for it. There has been a long-standing demand to control, if not reverse, this escalating cost of policing to ensure the proper funding of child care, recreation, social and public-health programs, housing and so on. If you have the ability and confidence, deviate from the script with personal anecdotes, statistics or a different script altogether.

Get the Opinion newsletter. Hosted by. This is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and Globe staff. In Ontario, failure or refusal to do so can result in the province deploying the provincial police and recovering the cost. EXAMPLE 2: Grow a spine and climb out of the Mayor’s pocket for once in your career. Post all relevant open data with regards to Race Based Data Stratagy to the open data portal. Then there is the wider pro-police political culture. If you would like to write a letter to the editor, please forward it to letters@globeandmail.com. I called it the “budget dance.” It’s an annual ritual that plays out yearly between municipalities and police across Canada: City hall sets the year’s target and timetable for its budget process, and the police service submits a budget request to its board or commission, invariably asking for a substantial increase usually in excess of the city’s target. 1. _____ Further resources: Critical Resistance Chart: Reformist Reforms vs abolitionist steps in policing Report: Freedom to Thrive: Reimagining Safety & Security in Our Communities The New Republic: The Pandemic Is the Right Time to Defund the P About a decade ago, in response to growing public concern, a national consensus appeared to emerge among police boards and commissions and their respective municipalities – that the current model of using a highly paid, uniformed and armed police officer for all functions was obsolete, expensive and too often produced dire consequences. We demand investment in the health and prosperity of our communities We need to #DefundThePolice. Expand the Mobile Crisis Intervention Team program to a 24 hour and 7 days a week. That means: Comments that violate our community guidelines will be removed. Give the City of Toronto authority over the Toronto Police Budget. Read our. We WON'T disarm or demilitarize the police in using deadly force against civilians. However, even this limited promise of change proved to be short-lived. Ask them to recruit 5 more people.

Message every single person who likes, comments, or shares your post and remind them to make a call. The call for defunding is a worthy one, even if it’s not new. And as Statistics Canada has found, these budgets have grown year after year across Canada. Routinely, they enact legislation but leave the responsibility for its implementation to the police. by Samantha Cole June 4, 2020, 5:21pm This is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and Globe staff. It has been argued that investment in these areas would reduce the need for expensive reactive policing – which too often produces severe consequences for marginalized and vulnerable populations – while fostering true community safety and well-being.

Outrage over the first has recently been brought to a boiling point by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer while three of his colleagues stood by.