Why are so many Black boys going missing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and what’s being done about it?
Those questions were at the heart of a virtual town hall meeting hosted by Brampton’s Black Empowerment Unit last Friday that was attended by representatives of several GTA police forces, as well as community leaders and dignitaries.
The meeting was prompted by viral social media posts highlighting the cases of several Black boys who remain missing.
Over 500 people joined the online meeting, with another 400 sitting in the virtual waiting room.
Those in attendance expressed anger, fear and hope that things can get better.
“The voices of the community spoke loud, which compelled us to create an atmosphere and a platform to bring the community together,” Gwyneth Chapman, Senior Advisor, Black Empowerment Unit, said of the social media posts that prompted the meeting.
The comment sections on the posts show the fear and confusion surrounding the issue.
“Many young Black people are missing and no one’s doing anything about it,” one person said, while another asked: “What are the police doing? Where are these young boys and why are they all missing?”
According to statistics shared by Toronto police detective, Shona Patterson, more than half (110) of the 200 youth between the ages of 12 and 17 that were reported missing in the City of Toronto in 2024 were Black.
Most of them were found. To date, four remain outstanding.
David Mitchell, Senior Advisor for the Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (Yaaace), said the reasons they go missing can be troubling and complex.
“One of the things we know in the space of missing young people is that young people are running to something or running away from something, or it could be a mental health crisis,” he said.
During the meeting, Mitchell also cited abuse, neglect, bullying and cultural and lifestyle conflicts at home as other contributing factors.
He also said there’s another insidious issue playing a part.
“And that’s young people being corrupted by older people, to go to different parts of this province to sell drugs where they’re paying them,” he said, noting Sudbury and North Bay as locations they sometimes end up in.
And it’s not just Black boys.
“On a yearly basis we have several women, and a significant portion are Black women, who go missing and are ending up in human trafficking,” he said.
Psychotherapist Marci Gray says there’s more to the story.
She says our systems are failing Black youth — whether it’s the mental health, healthcare, criminal justice, or the education system.
“We have these statistics that tell us that they are having all these challenges (in all) these systems. And so now it’s a matter of looking at each of these systems and figuring out how do we now make things better for them?”
Brampton mayor Patrick Brown attended and spoke briefly at the meeting, saying it starts with shining a light on the issue.
“The fact that this was happening, and you didn’t see it in any newspaper, or any TV station, and yet it was terrifying the community.”
