Support for Establishing a combined Federal, Provincial and Municipal Law Enforcement Task Force to Combat Antisemitic Acts of Hate and Terror - by Councillor Mike Colle, seconded by Councillor James Pasternak

In May of this year, the City of Toronto passed the Safe Access to Social Infrastructure (bubble-zone) by-law to keep places of worship, schools and daycares safer. Earlier this month, the City of Toronto also created a $2.5 million program to support vulnerable institutions with a Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Grant. Ongoing acts of antisemitism continue at Toronto's places of worship, schools, businesses, and neighbourhoods despite the best efforts of our Toronto Police Services but it is imperative that all levels of government publicly acknowledge not only the domestic incidents of hate, vandalism and violence, but the borderless, international threat that antisemitic hate and violence pose for the safety of all Toronto residents and demonstrate this publicly in a show of clear leadership to send a clear message to those who pose a threat. Toronto's Jewish community continues to experience not just a perceived, but a real and heightened sense of danger and insecurity as evidenced by the persistent, often physical incidents motivated by hate. These deep concerns have further been exacerbated by the events at Bondi Beach, demonstrating that even public celebrations of religious holidays have become targets of greater risk. Given the international scope and scale of premeditated antisemitic hate, violence and acts of terror, it is necessary that all three levels of government deploy their police and intelligence resources to combat this ongoing threat directed at Jewish Canadians and all other vulnerable communities. This motion should be deemed urgent due to the need for urgent action at all levels of government to immediately address the rising threat of physical harm.

2. City Council request the Federal and Provincial governments to immediately take action to fund not only this task force but provide urgently needed financial support to the City of Toronto and other municipalities to adequately address the financial pressure due to the unprecedented rise in hate and violence directed at the Jewish and other vulnerable communities. 3. City Council forward this request to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, federal Minister of Public Safety, the Solicitor General and Attorney General of Ontario, and the Toronto Police Services Board.