Report of the RPNA Safety Forum

RPNA holds a community meeting on safety to discuss a Ding Dong Pitch (Prank)

Regent parkers have continuously come together over many challenging issues including housing, redevelopment, immigration, access to adequate medical health and mental resources, and racism, but if there one issue that has repeatedly galvanized the community, it has been the issue of its youth, and its relationship with the Toronto Police Service - the latest incident of which came to a head at a community meeting on safety, organized by the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association on December 20, 2021.

At approximately 4:45 pm, on Sunday November 21, 2021, Toronto Metropolitan Police officers from 51 Division, stormed a community youth event been held at 50 Regent Park Blvd. The youth event was organized by TCHC and Tridel, in partnership with Healing As One and other youth groups in the community, as a way of consulting with youth around phase 4 & 5 of the Regent Park Redevelopment.

According to witnesses, 5 – 6 officers arrived in police cruisers, including an officer carrying an assault rifle and holding it in a manner deemed menacing to the 50 or so youth who were present. It was also reported that police began aggressively questioning the youth about a knife, before staff and youth leaders intervene to calm the situation. No one was arrested or charged, and no knife was found.

In the aftermath of this incident and the tensions that it once again rekindled, the Regent Park Neighbourhood Association (RPNA) organized a virtual Safety Forum that took place on Dec 20 2021. Moderated by Walied Khogali Ali and Leah Woldegiorgis, the aim of the meeting was to piece together the many questions that still remained unanswered, to give grievance to the traumas that ensued, and to examine how and what can be done to prevent future such occurrences.

For Regent Park residents the issue of community safety is entangled in whether or not there is enough police presence – as in do people feel in the neighbourhood? And whether not there is too much police presence – as in are residents, especially youth being targeted by police because of their race or ethnicity? And in the case of this incident, does the prankish behaviour of a group teenagers warrant a police response that included an officer armed with an assault rifle?

Approximately 50 people attended the forum with moderators presenting questions raised by the audience while other participants joined into comment, agreeing, or disagreeing with the various points. Many aspects of the incident however could not be evenly resolved, there was the 911 calls that described a rampaging group of youths kicking on doors, the mention of knives, residents cowering behinds closed doors, the aggression of the police, the helpless of bystanders, and the “assault rifle.”

With many of these arguments couched in the notion that there had to be a reason for what happened, and that there was somebody was to blame for these outrages, it was difficult to find resolutions.

Was it the fault of Toronto Community Housing Staff who failed to inform their own TCHC security that their event would be bringing 80 to 100 youths together? Was it the fault of residents who over reacted and called TCHC security and 911 on youth who were banging and kicking at their doors? Was it the fault of police who during their investigation could not determine that this was a youthful prank and not a gang incident? Or was it the youth themselves who had acted badly, irresponsibly, or even dangerous?

As more and more aspects of the incident were revealed, and as an example of just how polarizing the interpretations of what happened were - a critical moment arose when Mark Tenaglia, the Civilian Co-chair of the Community Police Liaison Committee attempted to frame the actions of the police as “the police did nothing wrong, they did what they were trained for, to make sure that everyone is safe.” He went on to say, “A rifle is a tool, just as a handgun! The police did what they had to do, and everyone went home safe. What if there was a legit call and there was a gun? Do you want the police come, or not? Don’t you want them not come armed so that they can protect the community?” Finally, Mark suggested, “that it was the kids that caused the trauma to the community, and that maybe the community as a whole needed to take responsibility for the actions of these youth?”

His comments sparked an immediate response by another resident who said, “I don’t think that the youth are the issue here! I think that you are hearing a lot opinions that are actually discriminatory. The fault lies with TCH who organized the even and invited so many youth and did not have the proper activities for them, didn’t have them activated to participate in way that was properly designed and organized. Your comments were racist, because we don’t cops to show up in our neighbourhood with rifles pointed at our youth for any reason. It is absolutely unacceptable!”

Ultimately, there was no consensus as to who was to blame, misinterpreted 911 calls, aggressive policing targeting racialized communities, unpreparedness by the TCH, or youthful pranks gone wrong? The whole incident was perhaps best summarized by one community member who highlighted that the 911 call was a false call, there was no knife, no violence…it was a Ding Dong Ditch (prank).

Unfortunately, noticeably absent in the meeting was any discussions related to the real issues of guns and gang violence in the community – the most recent of which resulted in the September shooting death of one man and injuries to two others.

This begs the "elephant in the room" question....what was the point of RPNA organising a community meeting about safety, in which police response to a youth prank is at its focus and the real issues of violence are largely ignored?  

The second half of the forum was dedicated to a presentation by Noa Mendelsohn, Director, Equality Program, Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), who introduced the recently launched informational website Know Your Rights (https://policestops-yourrights.ccla.org/), that includes a guide on what are Police Powers, My Rights, and What Can I Do if My Rights Were Violated? The site offers a huge array of information to assist people in understanding how the law works, what the police may or may not do, and what recourse citizen have in situations where they have been stopped by the police.

Written by
Dimitrije Martinovic

Journalist
FOCUS Media Arts Centre