The federal government announced Tuesday it will top up funding for Toronto programs intended to prevent gun and gang violence among young people.
The announcement came on the same day that federal funding was set to end for two of the city’s key sources for running the programs: the Crime Prevention Action Fund (CPAF) and the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF).
“In order to address the root causes of youth violence … we cannot do it by arresting people to submission,” said Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree at the Rouge Valley Recreation Centre in Scarborough on Tuesday, alongside Mayor Olivia Chow and Ruby Sahota, the secretary of state for combating crime.
“We know that our work is far from finished,” Anandasangaree said. “So we’re not just extending a program, we’re doubling down on a proven model of success.”
The BSCF, which helps fund programs in Toronto that prevent gun and gang violence, as well as youth crime in high-risk communities by supporting young people and families, is getting $157.5 million over the next three years.
The CPAF, which helped support research that tracked the progress made by city staff and front-line workers but also to collaborate with other agencies such as public health, will not be renewed which left staff uncertain how to fill that gap.
“We’ll have to figure that out,” said Scott McKean, the city’s director of community safety and well-being, in an interview.
“All that said, today is a tremendous step of goodwill and it responds to calls from the community,” added McKean, referring to the multiple youth and workers who pleaded with city council during the budget process to advocate to the federal government.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Chow introduced a front-line worker who, as a teen, had turned his life around with the help of the city programs.
“Have you ever held a friend in your arms as he bled out from a gunshot wound at a party?” said Chow. “Soul-R Damon Maraj has. He was 19. His friend was also 19. He was learning how to survive in a world where his friends were dying, going to jail, getting lost, getting in trouble.”
Maraj said in an interview that Tuesday’s announcement allows him to “take a breath” and “get back to the work” instead of worrying about tomorrow.
However, he noted funding for these programs should be reliable and consistent instead of time-limited.
“The work that we’re doing is essential and it doesn’t need a lot,” said Maraj, pointing to the $6.2 million the city needed this year compared to the police’s $1.43-billion budget.
When asked if Tuesday’s announcement meant that the $6.2 million council approved in February to save the Scarborough programs was now fully covered by the federal government, Chow said: “Yes, it does.”
The federal funding helps to cover and staff initiatives such as Toronto’s $485,000 program that trains youth to become peers and connect other at-risk youth with support services, a $425,000 training hub for hundreds of front-line workers and an $865,000 program to give financial assistance to youth receiving case management.
In total, the city has received $16.6 million from both funds since 2023, with the lion’s share from the BSCF at $12.3 million.
As the Star previously reported, the programs getting the most are the city’s Family Well-being Program and TO Wards Peace expansions into Scarborough — both of which were introduced in recent years to rebuild the east-end borough after another federal grant for crime prevention ended after 2018 and youth violence went up.
According to budget documents, the CPAF and the BSCF helped reduce that uptick: as of last year, Toronto saw a 43 per cent decrease in shootings and firearm-related incidents, and a 35 per cent reduction in youth shootings and firearm-related violence.
