|
My Letter to Residents Regarding Necessary Action to Combat Antisemitism Throughout Our City
Dear residents,
The rise of antisemitism over the past few years has our city’s Jewish community feeling scared and vulnerable. Since October 7th, they’ve far too often been a target for anti-Jewish hate because of a war half a world away. Swastikas spray-painted on synagogues, some demonstration signs displaying hateful antisemitic tropes, and vandalism of Jewish businesses echo a history of religious persecution for many in Toronto’s Jewish community that are only a couple generations removed from the Holocaust.
The early morning shooting at Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School in North York over the weekend has further heightened the fear the community is feeling. Real and concrete action is needed to protect the Jewish community from hate and ensure that everyone feels safe in our city.
That’s why it’s critically important that my motion to develop a new action plan to protect targeted religious minorities and places of worship was supported at Council. The motion requests the City Manager, the City Solicitor, the Toronto Police Service and other relevant divisions to work together to ensure individuals and groups committing hate crimes are stopped.
There was another motion at Council that proposed creating “safety zones” around places of worship and other faith-based sites. As initially written, the motion was far too broad, as it would have restricted protest at museums and other institutions of a “cultural nature”. That could have impeded, for example, the rights of AGO workers to picket during their recent strike.
While I could not support the motion as written, I also recognized that it was not enough to simply vote against it without providing a path forward. I did strongly consider moving a pared-down version myself that would specifically create “safety zones” around places of worship. If there was a way that this initiative could protect faith-based institutions, it was worth exploring. Unfortunately, the details revealed that the promise didn’t stand up to scrutiny.
First, the motion regarding the suggested “safety zones” was just a request to the province. This motion did not demand any action on behalf of the City or our police. The Premier has shown no indication that he has any intention of moving forward with such a strategy despite the idea having been proposed months ago. It is important that the City and the police address these pressing issues quickly instead of shirking responsibility by simply writing letters to other levels of government.
Second, and most importantly, even if this measure was implemented by the province, it wouldn’t address the very real fears of the Jewish community and other targeted religious minorities. Some are absurdly suggesting that these “safety zones” would lead to something like a ring of cops around all places of worship and faith-based schools in our city. This is an obvious impossibility given the thousands of synagogues, mosques, churches, and temples in Toronto.
According to the Councillors proposing this idea, the “safety zones” would be modelled on an existing law protecting abortion clinics with “bubble zones”. A closer look at this legislation reveals that protests aren’t banned outside clinics - only speech that specifically discourages patients from entering the building and accessing healthcare. That is not a parallel to our concerns.
Extending this legislation to religious facilities would obviously have done nothing to stop the 5am shooting at Bais Chaya Mushka, and the hate speech and actions that we are all concerned about are already restricted and illegal.
Further, incidents of hate crimes have more often occurred away from specifically religious settings. Threatening and unsettling graffiti on buildings, targeted vandalism and slurs in our parks and streets are much more common. Jewish parents are also concerned about the increase in antisemitic slurs and bullying occurring in our public schools. While “safety zones” would not address these issues, I will be meeting with parents, Principals and school board officials to discuss how best to support and protect children.
Lastly, while the City Solicitor said that the motion itself did not pose any legal concerns as it was just a request to another level of government, she expressed serious doubt over whether implementing “safety zones” that restrict protest at religious institutions would stand up in court. For example, would restricting the rights of Indigenous Peoples to protest at a Catholic church over the abuses suffered at a residential school be allowable? What if a church similar to Westboro Baptist, that routinely preaches hate against LGBTQ+ communities, came to Canada? Would the courts allow an infringement on the right to protest in these cases?
In short, the advice I received from the City Solicitor, the Chief of Police and others, in addition to the evidence in front of me, led to the conclusion that the “safety zone” idea sounds good but would be ineffective, probably unconstitutional, and unlikely to ever be implemented.
Let’s not waste any more time pursuing metaphorical caution tape when there are real issues to be addressed. I have already moved forward on the Council direction stemming from my motion by arranging a roundtable meeting for next week to bring together senior City Officials, the Chief of Police and Jewish community leaders to ensure that our concerns are addressed. I will be sure to provide updates as this initiative progresses.
Supporting Traffic Safety in the Davisville Community
Earlier this month, a mother and child were hit by a car and seriously injured at the intersection of Davisville Avenue and Acacia Road. I am very hopeful that they will make a full recovery and, as a community, we will be there to support them.
While a long-term plan is already being developed for a new, safer design for Davisville Avenue, every substantive and immediate action possible is needed. I’m happy to say that with my colleagues’ support, my motion was approved to have a new crossing guard present at the Acacia Road crosswalk. I have also requested that the City install physical interventions at the crosswalks along Davisville, including lane restrictions approaching the crosswalks where necessary to support safe crossings. A full police investigation will help us better understand the root causes and inform us of other possible interventions.
As your city councillor, and as a Davisville parent myself, I want to express my heartfelt thank you to Trustee Shelley Laskin and Principal David Finkelstein for their support of the entire school community affected by this horrible incident. We will work together as a team to ensure the safety of our neighborhood. My office and I will continue to provide updates as they become available. In the meantime, please always feel welcome to contact my office at [email protected] or at 416-392-7906 if there is anything my team and I can do to support you and your family.
Holding the TTC to Account - Ongoing Delays and Safety Issues
On May 13th, a hydraulic fuel leak on Line 2 closed one of the city's busiest transportation lines for over twelve hours, stranding tens of thousands of Torontonians. In a presentation to the board later that week, senior TTC staff revealed that this was the seventh incident this year, and that the most recent leak resulted in serious safety issues including trains being unable to stop at station platforms.
The frequent delays and shutdowns on our subway are unacceptable. Torontonians should be able to rely on their transit system to get to their destination on time. And it certainly shouldn’t take the chaos we experienced this week to get the TTC to finally take action. At the TTC Board, I requested that the CEO provide regular updates regarding an investigation into the hydraulic fuel leaks, as well as efforts to ensure these incidents do not continue to occur. I also made clear to senior levels of management that there is an expectation of accountability and open communication with transit riders. I will continue working with my colleagues on the TTC board and City Council to ensure that the TTC is safe, affordable, and reliable for everybody in our city.
Providing Fare-Free Transit for Student Field Trips
Earlier this year, the TTC Board moved to explore providing free transit to public school students on school-sanctioned field trips. I'm happy to announce that a pilot project for this program was approved at the board this month. The pilot program will provide nearly 150,000 students access to school trips without having to pay an additional fare. Furthermore, the program will include educational opportunities to teach students about transit etiquette and encourage lifelong transit ridership. The pilot will apply to trips from Viamond, MonAvenir, TDSB and TCDSB schools.
|
