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←Toronto City Council · 2020-06-29 · 2020.CC22.2

The filed record

Changes to Policing in Toronto

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The decision

2020-06-29 · Toronto City Council · amended

As filed

City Council on June 29 and 30, 2020 adopted the following: 1. City Council direct the City Manager, in consultation with the Toronto Police Services Board, community-based organizations, social services agencies and mental health support organizations to develop alternative models of community safety response that would: a. Involve the creation of non-police led response to calls involving individuals in crisis, and others as deemed appropriate through consultation; b.

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reflect the City's commitment to reconciliation; c. involve extensive community consultation on a proposed response model; and d. detail the likely reductions to the Toronto Police Services budget that would result from these changes, for Report to the Executive Committee by January 2021. 2. City Council commit that its first funding priority for future budgets is centred on a robust system of social supports and services, including ongoing investments in Indigenous, Black and marginalized communities, with rigorous accountability mechanisms to measure performance. 3. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Chief of Police to annually provide a line-by-line breakdown of the Toronto Police Service's existing budget at the outset of the Board's annual budget process, and this breakdown should be made publicly available; this line-by-line breakdown should be organized by the Toronto Police Service's individual program areas, functions or services delivered so as to provide maximum transparency to the public as to how public dollars are allocated currently (while not revealing investigative techniques or operations). 4. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Chief of Police to immediately provide the line-by-line breakdown of the Toronto Police Service's 2020 Budget and to make the breakdown publicly available by July 2020. 5. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to implement a 24-hour/7-days-a-week program across Toronto for its Mobile Crisis Intervention Team Program. 6. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to post its Use of Force Policy on its public website. 7. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to post its annual Budget Summary and Uniform/Civilian Staffing Summary per Command with Approved, Proposed and Actuals/ similar to the Excel information provided during the 2018 budget cycle, as the example they should follow starting retroactively for the last 5 years of machine-readable Open datasets to both theirs, and the City of Toronto Open Data Portal. 8..To assist in identifying areas of financial and operational improvement within the Toronto Police Service, City Council request the City Manager to seek an amendment to the City of Toronto Act to expand the City of Toronto's Auditor General's jurisdiction to include auditing the Toronto Police Service. 9. City Council request the Toronto Police Service Board to consider a motion supporting City Council's request in Part 8 above and to communicate its position to the Province. 10. Until the legislative change to the City of Toronto Act requested in Part 8 above is in place, City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to invite the City's Auditor General to independently develop a work plan and conduct audits, which would include an examination of systemic issues, and to provide the Auditor General with the same level of co-operation and access to information as if this was required by the City of Toronto Act. 11. City Council request the Auditor General to report to City Council in the fourth quarter of 2020 on the status of the work plan set out in Part 10 above and the level of co-operation the Auditor General is receiving from the Toronto Police Services Board. 12. City Council direct the City Manager to develop plans to invest in critical community and social services that better address the root causes of safety and security, and ensure any savings identified from policing reforms are allocated to the following areas: a. investment in initiatives identified from the Combatting Anti-Black Racism Strategy, and those in Appendix A to the report (June 23, 2020) from Mayor John Tory; b. investment in the Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence Plan to fulfil the City's outstanding requests to Public Safety Canada for the enhancement of violence prevention and intervention programs; c. investment in the City's Poverty Reduction Strategy and Indigenous-led Poverty Reduction Strategy; d. investment in Indigenous-led initiatives related to community safety and wellbeing; and e. investment in initiatives to support people experiencing mental health crisis. 13. City Council direct the City Manager to work with the Toronto Police Services Board in the development of a rigorous community consultation process to inform the criteria for the selection of the next Chief of Police. 14. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board in the recruitment for Toronto's new Chief of Police, to ensure that the successful candidate: a. has a proven track record of deep and successful reform of policing including: 1. proven ability to ensure that non-violent de-escalation strategies and techniques are employed at all times by police officers, particularly in relation to engagement with people from racialized communities and with residents with mental health issues; and 2. demonstrated experience in "modern policing" including building strong, lasting and sustainable bridges and relationships with racialized and marginalized communities and willingness to consider other models for first responder calls for non-violent incidents; and b. understands and values: 1. the importance of diversity in the City and in the Toronto Police Service itself; 2. acceptance and tolerance of all people and a recognition that Toronto is home to the most culturally diverse population in the world which gives our City its strength in times of crisis all around the world; and 3. the strategies and actions required to ensure that Toronto remains a place of tolerance, diversity and respect for all. 15. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to work in consultation with the City Manager to engage the City of Toronto's Anti-Black Racism Unit and Indigenous Affairs Office to assist in the community consultations about the new Chief of Police. 16. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to share regularly updated datasets from their Open Data Portal to the City of Toronto Open Data Portal, taking into consideration for any issues around personal data privacy; data sets to also include: a. Toronto Police Services Board annual reports in the proper digital format; and b. converting files currently provided in a .pdf format on the Toronto Police Service Open Data Portal to the proper digital format. 17. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to post all relevant open data with regards to its Races Based Data Strategy following all the provincially mandated guidelines to protect personal privacy, to both the Toronto Police Service Open Data Portal and the City of Toronto Open Data Portal. 18. City Council request the City Manager to report on the implementation of a City of Toronto Mobile Crisis Assistance Intervention Service that would deploy unarmed, medically trained crisis intervention assistance personnel, based on the "CAHOOTS" model from Eugene, Oregon; such report should include: a. description of how these specially trained first responders would deal with a range of community challenges including: homelessness, intoxication, substance abuse, mental illness, dispute resolution, and basic medical emergency care; and b. a process whereby when Crisis Assistance Intervention Service is established, that the City would subtract the cost of this new service from future Police budgets. 19. City Council request the Province to immediately review and overhaul the Equipment and Use of Force Regulation, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 926, so as to: a. emphasize de-escalation; and b. incorporate further modifications based on alternative models and best practices in peer jurisdictions, which address the use of deadly force. 20. City Council request the Province of Ontario to amend the Police Services Act and the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 (which received Royal Assent but has not yet come into force) to significantly expand the instances in which suspension without pay and revocation of a police officer's appointment as a police officer is available where serious misconduct is alleged or ultimately established; these amendments should, at a minimum, implement the relevant elements of the Police Services Act, 2018 that addressed suspension without pay and the relevant elements of the Policing Oversight Act, 2018 that created the ability to revoke a police officer's appointment as a police officer in Ontario. 21. City Council request the Province of Ontario to amend the Police Services Act and the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 (which received Royal Assent but has not yet come into force) to require that complaints made about a police officer's public conduct that alleges serious misconduct be investigated by the Province's independent police complaints agency (currently, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director) and not any police service's professional standards unit. 22. City Council request the Government of Ontario to eliminate any and all appeal powers for the Toronto Police Services Board as set out in the Police Services Act, 1990 for the Ontario Civilian Police Commission to overturn Toronto City Council decisions pertaining to Police Budget matters including requests for reduction, abolition, creation or amalgamation of police services. 23. City Council request the Province of Ontario to amend the Police Services Act to allow the City of Toronto to have direct oversight over the Toronto Police Services Budget and exempt Toronto City Council from the provisions of subsection 39(4) of the Act by removing the word "not" from the provisions of the subsection, as it pertains to the City of Toronto, as follows: In establishing an overall budget for the board, the Toronto City council does not have the authority to approve or disapprove specific items in the estimates. 24. City Council commit to eradicating racial profiling in policing and request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Toronto Police Service to immediately adopt the recommendations from the Ontario Human Rights Commission on race-based data and report back on the implementation status by January 1, 2021. 25. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Toronto Police Service to adopt all recommendations in Justice Iacobucci's report entitled Police Encounters with People in Crisis (2014), with a particular emphasis on Recommendation 3, which requires the Toronto Police Service to notify crisis intervention units for every call involving a person experiencing a mental health crisis and Recommendations 43 thru 54 pertaining to Mobile Crisis Intervention Team response. 26. City Council request, in the strongest possible terms, that the Province immediately reinstate the Police Services Act reforms recommended by Justice Tulloch, particularly those reforms focused on enhancing the independence and notifications requirements of the Special Investigations Unit (Recommendation 5.7). 27. City Council request the Chief of Police adopt all of the recommendations directed to the Toronto Police Service from the 2017 Andrew Loku Inquest. 28. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to ensure policies are enacted requiring all instances of alleged racial profiling and bias to be investigated under the Police Services Act. 29. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Toronto Police Service to implement a plan to equip all police officers with Body-Worn Cameras by January 1, 2021 and enact policies that ensure consequences for unauthorized de-activation or covering of the cameras. 30. City Council direct the City Manager and request the Toronto Police Services Board and City Divisions to consolidate and expedite data sharing to advise on violence prevention approaches. 31. City Council direct the City Manager to work with the Toronto Police Services Board to establish an accountability office and agency, independent of government and the Toronto Police, empowered through ongoing access to police personnel, facilities and records to conduct self-generated audits of police practices and policies, and to report annually to the Toronto Police Services Board and City Council with its audited findings and recommendations. 32. City Council direct the City Manager to establish and resource an Accountability Table with annual reporting, similar to that established for the Toronto Seniors Strategy, by September 2020, composed of representatives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour, mental health and addictions experts, homeless advocates, and other equity-seeking groups to monitor the implementation including budgetary impacts of all recommendations pertaining to City Council's decision. 33. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to report on outcomes associated with how diversity in human resources is being prioritized and achieved by the Toronto Police Service, including with respect to recruitment, hiring and promotion for both civilian and uniform positions, at all ranks and classifications. 34. City Council, building on the mandate and membership of the Partnership and Accountability Circle, establish a Confronting Anti-Black Racism Council Advisory Body, and direct the City Manager to report to the Executive Committee on recommended Terms of Reference for the Advisory Body to be approved by City Council in September 2020. 35. City Council direct the City Manager to determine and fill the necessary staffing requirements within the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit and the Indigenous Affairs Office to deliver on a mandate focused solely on advancing the implementation of the above recommendations and those Recommendations and Actions concerning Policing and the Justice System, as outlined in the Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism. 36. City Council direct the City Manager to provide an update by January 1, 2021 on the implementation status of City Council's decision.

The vote

Adopt Item as Amended · Carried, 17-7

For (17)Ana Bailão, Anthony Perruzza, Brad Bradford, Cynthia Lai, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Frances Nunziata, Gary Crawford, James Pasternak, Jennifer McKelvie, John Filion, John Tory, Mark Grimes, Michael Ford, Michael Thompson, Mike Colle, Shelley Carroll, Stephen Holyday
Against (7)Gord Perks, Joe Cressy, Josh Matlow, Kristyn Wong-Tam, Mike Layton, Paul Ainslie, Paula Fletcher
Absent (1)Jaye Robinson
The whole record, all 25 members

Every name opens that member’s record.

On the agenda

As the city filed it

In recent weeks, here in Toronto and around the world, people have been raising their voices and calling for an end to racism generally, to anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism, and to racism against marginalized communities. As Mayor, I acknowledge that, despite our City being one of the world's most diverse, systemic racism continues to be a real issue here in Toronto and there is much more all of us can do to confront it and to eliminate it.

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We must do more, because systemic racism threatens the equal rights, justice and well-being of Indigenous, Black and marginalized communities. It leaves communities disengaged, poorly served, or alienated from services in their neighbourhoods and the city as a whole. Together, we must confront and overcome these barriers by eliminating systemic racism and providing opportunities for all Torontonians. As Mayor, I am committed to listening, to learning, and to taking concrete actions that will improve the day-to-day lives of Indigenous, Black and other marginalized Torontonians. To the tens of thousands of Torontonians who have called and e-mailed my office and the offices of my Council colleagues over the past few weeks, and to those who have peacefully taken to the streets to march and protest: I want you to know that I see you, I hear you, and I am listening. Many of you have raised the issue of policing, and there have been calls to de-fund the police. These calls stem from real concerns that the model of policing today does not best serve marginalized individuals and communities, and that we must fix that model by changing the way policing is done, in order to stamp out systemic racism within our police service, and to re-think, in some cases, whether police are the right community response at all. This motion proposes the development of alternative service delivery models for community safety response, particularly for individuals experiencing mental health crises, which would not involve police officers attending the scene. This would ensure that police are doing police work, and communities are receiving the right response for the issues they are facing. As we improve the service delivered by the Toronto Police, this will involve a re-allocation of resources, either within the Toronto Police Service budget, or to other budgets in the City government or the community at large. Second, this motion proposes a fundamental re-alignment of the City's budget priorities that focuses on the most marginalized in our community, to ensure they have the supports they require to address the root causes of crime and provide opportunities for all Torontonians. In the past five years, we have developed concrete plans to address these very issues, namely the Combatting Anti-Black Racism Strategy, including the creation of the first Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit in North America; the City's Poverty Reduction Strategy and Indigenous-led Poverty Reduction Strategy; and the Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence Plan. We have also created an Indigenous Affairs Office to lead the City's work on Reconciliation. It is proposed that, in addition to further prioritizing and wherever possible accelerating these investments in future budgets, any savings or re-allocations realized through a review of Toronto Police service functions, will be invested back into these Council-endorsed programs. Finally, calls for greater accountability on the part of the Toronto Police Service are well-founded. Greater scrutiny of the budget of the Toronto Police Service, and over how the Police deliver their services, is required if we are to ensure they are on the path that Council sets out. Over the years, a number of important reports have been written, outlining the steps needed to stamp out discrimination in policing and improve response to people in crises. These should be implemented in full, and with accountability to ensure that their recommendations have been enacted. As well, the City should have the ability to review the Toronto Police Budget, line by line, and to ask our Auditor General to review the Police Service's budget to identify savings and efficiencies. In the past few years, the Toronto Police Service has taken steps toward change, and is no longer providing service in some non-police functions, such as noise by-law violations. During that same period, the number of uniformed officers has gone from 5,270 at the end of 2015 to a projected number of 5,025 by the end of June 2020; the average annual budget increase over that period has been held to 1.8%, which is below the rate of inflation in the fastest growing city in North America; and Toronto's number of police officers per population continues to be lower than many other large Canadian and US cities. Efforts have been made to reduce the Police budget and focus it on core policing roles, just as the service has stepped up efforts to address racial and other forms of discrimination within the service. But it is clear to all involved that, while reform efforts have been underway by the Toronto Police Service Board and the Toronto Police Service, it is not enough. Change is needed, and it is needed now. As a result of the changes proposed, I expect we will see an improvement in how community safety is provided to Torontonians, particularly to Indigenous, Black and marginalized communities. And I am confident it will lead to a reduction in the Toronto Police Service budget- a reduction that will be based on actual change and careful calculation and a reduction that will enable us to reinvest in critical community and social services to provide people with opportunities, keep them safe, and rebuild trust which has been eroded. We want a safe city, but we also want everyone to feel safe in our city. We must demonstrate as a City Council that we are absolutely committed to confronting systemic racism, to listening to people, and to making meaningful changes in how policing is done and our communities are kept safe. Through this motion, we are accelerating the pace of that change in Toronto and committing to address the questions of what police do, what they should do going forward, and how they do it, among many others. Sensible, meaningful change in policing must happen and we have begun to lay out the steps to ensure it does happen, together with a robust engagement of the public on these issues.

Staff recommended

Mayor John Tory recommends that: 1. City Council direct the City Manager, in consultation with the Toronto Police Services Board, to develop alternative models of community safety response that would: a. Involve the creation of non-police led response to calls which do not involve weapons or violence, such as those involving individuals experiencing mental health crises and where a police response is not necessary; b.

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Reflect the City's commitment to reconciliation; c. Involve extensive community consultation on a proposed response model; and d. Detail the likely reductions to the Toronto Police Services budget that would result from these changes, For Report to the Executive Committee by January 2021. 2. City Council commit that its first funding priority for future budgets is centered on a robust system of social supports and services, including ongoing investments in Indigenous, Black and marginalized communities, with rigorous accountability mechanisms to measure performance. 3. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Chief to annually provide a line-by-line breakdown of the Toronto Police Service's existing budget at the outset of the Board's annual budget process, and this breakdown should be made publicly available. This line-by-line breakdown should be organized by the Toronto Police Service's individual program areas, functions or services delivered so as to provide maximum transparency to the public as to how public dollars are allocated currently (while not revealing investigative techniques or operations). 4. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to invite the Auditor General to review the budget of the Toronto Police Services Board and identify opportunities for savings and efficiencies. 5. City Council direct the City Manager to develop plans to invest in critical community and social services that better address the root causes of safety and security, and ensure any savings identified from policing reforms are allocated to the following areas: a. Investment in initiatives identified from the Combatting Anti-Black Racism Strategy, and those in Appendix A. b. Investment in the Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence Plan to fulfil the City's outstanding requests to Public Safety Canada for the enhancement of violence prevention and intervention programs. c. Investment in the City's Poverty Reduction Strategy and Indigenous-led Poverty Reduction Strategy. d. Investment in Indigenous-led initiatives related to community safety and wellbeing. e. Investment in initiatives to support people experiencing mental health crisis. 6. City Council direct the City Manager to work with the Toronto Police Services Board in the development of a rigorous community consultation process to inform the criteria for the selection of the next Chief of Police. 7. City Council request the Province immediately review and overhaul the Equipment and Use of Force Regulation, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 926, so as to: a. Emphasize de-escalation; and b. Incorporate further modifications based on alternative models and best practices in peer jurisdictions, which address the use of deadly force. 8. City Council commit to eradicating racial profiling in policing and request the Toronto Police Services Board direct the Toronto Police Service to immediately adopt the recommendations from the Ontario Human Rights Commission on race-based data and report back on the implementation status by January 1, 2021. 9. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board direct the Toronto Police Service to adopt all recommendations in Justice Iacobucci's report entitled Police Encounters with People in Crisis (2014), with a particular emphasis on Recommendation 3, which requires the Toronto Police Service to notify crisis intervention units for every call involving a person experiencing a mental health crisis and Recommendations 43 thru 54 pertaining to Mobile Crisis Intervention Team response. 10. City Council request, in the strongest possible terms, the Province immediately reinstate the Police Services Act reforms recommended by Justice Tulloch, particularly those reforms focused on enhancing the independence and notifications requirements of the Special Investigations Unit (Recommendation 5.7). 11. City Council request the Chief of Police adopt all of the recommendations directed to the Toronto Police Service from the 2017 Andrew Loku Inquest. 12. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to ensure policies are enacted requiring all instances of alleged racial profiling and bias to be investigated under the Police Services Act. 13. City Council request the Toronto Police Services Board to direct the Toronto Police Service to implement a plan to equip all police officers with Body-Worn Cameras by January 1, 2021 and enact policies that ensure consequences for unauthorized de-activation or covering of the cameras. 14. City Council direct the City Manager and request the Toronto Police Services Board and City Divisions to consolidate and expedite data sharing to advise on violence prevention approaches. 15. City Council request that the Toronto Police Services Board report on outcomes associated with how diversity in human resources is being prioritized and achieved by the Toronto Police Service, including with respect to recruitment, hiring and promotion for both civilian and uniform positions, at all ranks and classifications. 16. City Council, building on the mandate and membership of the Partnership and Accountability Circle, establish a Confronting Anti-Black Racism Council Advisory Body, and direct the City Manager to report to the Executive Committee on recommended Terms of Reference for the Advisory Body to be approved by City Council in September 2020. 17. City Council direct the City Manager to determine and fill the necessary staffing requirements within the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit and the Indigenous Affairs Office to deliver on a mandate focused solely on advancing the implementation of the above recommendations and those Recommendations and Actions concerning Policing & the Justice System, as outlined in the Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism. 18. City Council direct the City Manager to provide an update by January 1, 2021 on the implementation status of all the above recommendations.

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