Community & Stakeholder Engagements

Town Halls in 2022-2023

Between October 2022 and April 2023, there were six Community Town Halls throughout Toronto hosted by community agencies in partnership with the Toronto Police Service.

These Town Halls are a forum for community members to share their perspectives and experiences, as well as give feedback on the proposed 38 action items to address the outcomes of the 2020 Use of Force and Strip Search report. 

Each Town Hall was an interactive hybrid-model with the opportunity to share and ask questions, either in-person or virtually. We heard from community leaders and the larger community about the need to rebuild trust. Community members had the opportunity to share their experiences in a Brave Space with culturally appropriate therapists and local community resources on-site. 

See below to watch the recordings:

• Toronto Public Library - Albion Branch
  1515 Albion Rd, Etobicoke, ON M9V 1B2
  October 27, 2022, 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  Watch Recording

• Jamaican Canadian Association
  Hosted by Caribbean African Canadian Social Services: CAFCAN
  995 Arrow Road, North York, ON
  November 16 2022, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
  Watch Recording

• Malvern Public Library
  30 Sewells Rd, Scarborough, ON M1B 3G5
  November 23 2022, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Watch Recording
   
• Youth Focus Town Hall
  Malvern Family Resource Centre
  90 Littles Rd, Scarborough, ON M1B 5E2
  November 29, 2022, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Watch Recording
   
• Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities Health Centre
  2660 Eglinton Ave E, Scarborough, ON M1K 2S3
  November 30, 2022, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Watch Recording 
   
• Lawrence Height Community Centre
  5 Replin Rd, North York, ON M6A 2N3
  NEW DATE: March 8, 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
  Watch Recording

Starting in 2019, the Service conducted its largest engagement endeavour to raise awareness and gather public feedback about how diverse communities would like to be involved throughout the implementation process.[1]

We held 8 town halls and had 9 meetings with the Chief’s Community Consultative Committees, as well as provided quarterly updates to the Board and the Anti-Racism Advisory Panel (A.R.A.P.) responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Strategy.

Town Halls in 2020

Between November 25 and Dec 5, 2020, the Service hosted 4 virtual town halls so that we can continue to engage with members of the public on this important topic despite a city-wide lockdown due to the COVID pandemic.

At these town halls, the Service shared back what they heard from town halls held in 2019 and the 69 focus groups that were conducted between October 2019 and February 2020 (see next tabs). Communities were invited to share their perspectives on how the Service should protect and manage the data collected and what principles should guide analyses. The Service also shared information about training provided to officers and civilian staff so they understand the importance and purpose of the RBDC Strategy.

The four town halls were livestreamed and can be viewed using the links below:

• Nov 25, 2020: https://youtu.be/npdQhVk4L_A
• Nov 26, 2020: https://youtu.be/5y-rSA5aXNo
• Dec 1, 2020: https://youtu.be/wEZmDFDuLrU
• Dec 3, 2020: https://youtu.be/uGloZslTsw0

Town Halls in 2019

At the Scadding Court Community Centre on Wednesday, December 4, 2019, Deputy Chief Peter Yuen kicked off a series of community conversations about the Race and Identity-based Data Collection Strategy.  The Toronto Police Service asked the public to share its thoughts on race-based data collection.

Members of the community had the opportunity to hear about why police officers will be collecting race-based data on January 1, 2020 as mandated by the Ontario government to address systemic racial bias.

Attendees were asked key questions that helped to inform how the officers are trained and how best they can serve the public going forward. 

The conversation was available on social media and could be followed via #TPSRaceData on Twitter.  The meeting was live-streamed on Facebook.

Following this, there three additional town halls that took place:

• December 9, 6:30 p.m., Royal Canadian Legion, 1050 Weston Road
• December 17, Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, 5183 Sheppard Ave E
• December 19, 6:30 p.m., Regent Park Community Centre, 402 Shuter Street

What We Heard

The Service commissioned Dr. Lorne Foster and Dr. Les Jacobs from July 9, 2021 to June 30, 2022 to undertake an assessment of the Race and Identity-based Data Collection (RBDC) Strategy Phase 1 data. Dr. Foster, the Director of the Institute for Social Research at York University, and Dr. Jacobs, Professor and Vice-President of Research and Innovation at Ontario Tech University.

Both Dr. Foster and Dr. Jacobs have led major race data collection and analysis projects with other police services in Ontario, including Ottawa, Windsor and Peel. They also have extensive experience in areas of race data collection and human rights, focusing in particular on human rights projects engaging racialized communities.

Under this partnership, they conducted an independent academic peer review of our data practices, methodologies, and analyses, and make recommendations to the Board. The submitted their independent review to the Board in June 2022.

The key assessments in this report include:

• The TPS RBDC strategy reflects the best practices for race data collection from a human rights perspective and is a model for other police services in Canada;
• The comprehensive approach to race-based data collection taken by the TPS is especially valuable because it lays the groundwork for undertaking analysis and reporting that examines issues of systemic racism across TPS;
• The principled approach to race-based data analysis exemplifies the best practice standards of international human rights organizations;
• The employment of multiple benchmarks in race data analysis has great promise for uncovering any potential racial incongruities;
• The strength of the Use of Force (UoF) and Strip Search (SS) analysis plans is the commitment to in-depth, multi-faceted analysis that links race data from UoF and SS incidents to other sources of data;
• The 2020 TPS. findings on UoF and SS demonstrate an advanced level of objectivity and measurability through careful statistical applications and an appropriate multiple benchmarking approach, which inform the findings about racial disparities;
• The 2020 TPS. findings on UoF and SS. reveal concerning levels of racial disparities; and,
• A major weakness in the RBDC stakeholder engagement is that there has not been sufficient consultation with Indigenous communities (e.g., specific to issues of Indigenous data sovereignty, data governance and data sharing agreements).

Read the Drs. Independent Expert Assessment Report submitted to the Toronto Police Services Board

First ever partnership in TPS history with Wellesley Institute, thought leader in equity research and community well-being.

From March 2020 to 2022, the Service partnered with the Wellesley Institute, a distinct charity organization which has an excellent research group with deep international experience in socio-demographic data collection, race-based analysis, and the development of equitable services.

Wellesley Institute is unique for its reputation and non-partisan experience in the field of equity, links to community agencies, and expertise in developing social policy by building the Service’s capacity to improve wellness and reduce inequities by driving change through applied knowledge mobilization and innovation.