Protesters gathered outside city hall calling for city to defund the police

Jan 25, 2023 | Canadian News, News

Community organizers and advocates gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday to protest the proposed Toronto Police Budget increase.

The protest, organized by Another Toronto, is part of a month of action demonstrations taking place across the city to denounce the proposed $48.3 million increase.

Toronto’s budget plan proposes an increase to hire 200 officers and 90 special constables for the front lines and an additional 20 emergency call takers.

Steps outside of City Hall, where a budget committee meeting actively took place, organizers read a list of demands which includes reallocating 50 per cent of the proposed budget to community and social services.

Suzanne Naraine, a member of the Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty, told demonstrators the budget increase will mostly affect people of color and at-risk communities.

“Let it be known that if this police budget passes it’ll mean more police violence (against) Black, Indigenous and homeless folks,” Naraine said. “It’ll mean more homelessness and more suffering to those who live in Jane and Finch.”

A woman holds a sign at a protest to defund the police.

A protestor holds up a sign outside Toronto City Hall on Tuesday calling for the city to abolish the police. Councillors are debating whether to add millions more to policing and emergency services. Photo credit: Tyreike Reid

Although advocates believe more officers will lead to police violence, supporters of the increase have pointed towards recent attacks across the city, including on the TTC, as justification for the increase.

Toronto police said a woman was stabbed multiple times Tuesday while in a streetcar on Spadina Avenue at Sussex Avenue in what appears to be a random attack.

Another incident took place a day earlier which involved two TTC employees being swarmed by a group of boys onboard a bus in Scarborough.

A woman was fatally stabbed on a subway train at High Park station in December and police said this was also a random attack.

Chief Myron Demkiw told a committee meeting on Jan. 13 that the increase will help officers respond faster to incidents taking place across the city.

“The focus on improving response times is in response to various types of calls, including those calls where there is the greatest concern for community safety,” he said.

Mayor John Tory released a statement further defending the need for a budget increase after an elderly woman was killed in another random attack on Yonge Street near King Street East on Jan. 20.

“We need to continue to support our police service,” he said. “I support that in our city’s budget because I know we need more officers downtown and across the city.”

TTC Riders spokesperson Shelagh Pizey-Allen told demonstrators an increase in Toronto police officers was not the solution to ending violence on the TTC.

“If we need a safer TTC then why is the mayor cutting service at night?” she asked. “If we need a safer TTC then why is there zero funding going towards mental health support?”

Community organizer Javier Davila and three others disrupted the budget meeting and were removed by security before joining the outdoor protest.

In a video posted to Twitter, Davila can be seen addressing the committee and demanding that they speak directly with community members impacted by policing.

“We stood up and asked the city counsellors to come out and face our beloved families who have been impacted by police violence,” he told protestors. “Who have had their children, their brothers, their sisters, their siblings killed by Toronto police.”

Davila closed his remarks by reading the names of people who lost their lives during incidents involving police.

“We protest for every person killed by police and for survivors of police violence,” Davila said. “It is time to disrupt.”