City Hall Takes Action on Anti Black Racism in Toronto

By -

 In a major step toward addressing systemic anti-Black racism, the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee has adopted a motion introduced by Walied Khogali Ali, a Regent Park resident and committee member. The motion urges the City to implement key recommendations from the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) From Impact to Action report, which examines the prevalence of anti-Black racism within both the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC).

Dawar Naeem – Local Journalism Initiative

This motion called on the City to invite the OHRC to present its findings, providing valuable insights into how Black Torontonians, particularly those in diverse and mixed-income neighbourhoods like Regent Park, are disproportionately affected by systemic racism. Regent Park, one of Toronto’s most diverse and historically under-resourced communities, is home to a significant number of Black residents who have long faced systemic challenges in public housing and interactions with law enforcement.

The motion also demanded that the Toronto Police and TCHC, along with other City agencies, present their existing anti-Black racism initiatives, with a focus on adopting the OHRC’s recommendations for deeper reform. The goal of the motion is to ensure these institutions take active and well informed steps to address the issues raised in the report, which highlighted ongoing discrimination against Black residents, especially those living in public housing or involved with police.

At its core, this initiative aims to hold City agencies accountable for implementing meaningful change. After the Motion was passed by the  Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee, it was recommended to the Economic and Community Development Committee (ECDC).

At the ECDC meeting, Chair of the committee, Councillor Alejandra Bravo, amended the motion. The motion Adopted at the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee meeting and recommended to the Economic and Community Development Committee was

1.  1.    Request the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, Social Development, Finance and Administration to invite the Ontario Human Rights Commission to present on the From Impact to Action: Final report on anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service, to share key findings and recommendations from the report.

1.  2.    Request the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, Social Development, Finance and Administration to invite relevant City divisions and agencies, including the Toronto Police Service and Toronto Community Housing Corporation to present their existing anti-Black racism initiatives and work to consider and adopt findings in the From Impact to Action: Final report on anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service.

And the Amended motion by the Economic and Community Development Committee is:

1.  1.     Requested the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, Social Development, Finance and Administration to invite the Ontario Human Rights Commission to present on the From Impact to Action: Final report on anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service, to share key findings and recommendations from the report.

1.  2.     Requested the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, Social Development, Finance and Administration to invite the Chair, Toronto Police Service Board to present their existing anti-Black racism initiatives and work to consider and adopt findings in the From Impact to Action: Final report on anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service.

For Black Torontonians, particularly those in Regent Park, this action signifies a crucial step toward reforming the systems that continue to marginalize them, offering hope for lasting change.

 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Regent Park Portrayed in Film and Television

By -
Image
Toronto has a rich history of being a go-to shooting location for many television and film production companies. Some notable films shot here over the years include Good Will Hunting (1997), Billy Madison (1998), American Psycho (2000), and X-Men (2000). Regent Park has also had its share of showcases in film. This article aims to review the general content of movie dramas and televisions shows shot in Regent and explore their relationship to the community. Clement Virgo is a director, producer, and writer from Montego Bay, Jamaica. He was born in 1966 and moved to the Regent Park area in Toronto in 1977. During this time Regent Park was generally populated by low-income families and as a hot spot for drugs. Virgo is most recently known for his roles in Greenleaf (2016-2018), The Book of Negroes (2015), and The Wire (2002) as Director and/or Producer. His first feature-length film, however, was Rude (1995), which was filmed almost entirely in the old Regent Park. “The film told
Read more

What Social Inclusion Means to Me

By -
I had moved into Regent Park only a few days before I saw the pink, fuchsia, strawberry, indigo, yellow, green, neck streamers and sparkling robes worn by children, parents, aunts, uncles, and elders as they marched passed my kitchen door. Soon, the nearby Athletic Grounds was blazing with colour. Although it was the first time I heard them, the intonations on the microphone were recognizable, even to me, as prayers. It was Eid, the concluding celebration after Ramadan. It was a beautiful sight. I am a White Jewish senior and I hunted for a stairless condo for years before I chose to live in Regent Park and then only because a relative did business with the new seniors’ building there. “Regent Park?” a friend exclaimed. “You are going to have ethnic problems.”  “Not I.  I come from a long line of fiery leftie activists.” I replied. Stage four and five of revitalizing this post-war subsidized development into a multi-income community was just beginning and I jumped in w
Read more

Meet Your Neighbourhood Police Officers – PC Mircea Biga and PC Farzad Ghotbi

By -
Image
Community-based policing is a proactive law enforcement strategy that focuses on building ties and working closely with a community’s members to create partnerships and plans for preventing and reducing crime. While community policing will look differently depending on the community it serves, a central feature is that the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a permanent basis. Currently there are 17 community-based police programs in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), but what most people don’t know is that Toronto’s community policing started in Regent Park in May of 2017. We know this because the original officers involved in setting up the Regent Park community policing program continue to work here today. The officers are PC Mircea Biga, PC Farzad Ghotbi, and PC Edward Parks; the newest officer assigned to the Regent Park community is PC Nigel Thomas (who is replacing PC Melissa Huntley while she is on maternity leave). Symptomatic of the increasing diversity of
Read more