Toronto Police say they will not be bringing back school resource officers, despite the Ford government’s Bill 33 which would allow them to do so. The decision comes on the heels of a rally at Queen’s Park against cops in the classroom.
Also known as the Supporting Children and Students Act, the bill – when its passed in the fall – would make various amendments to the Education Act, including a requirement for “boards to work with local police services to provide them with access to school premises, permit them to participate in school programs and implement school resource officer programs.”
Organizers with Policing-Free Schools, who staged a rally at Queen’s Park on Thursday, say the move will only harm students.
“Especially Black African diasporic, Indigenous, Black-Afro Indigenous, racialized Two-Spirited LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, undocumented students and those with precarious immigration status, students impacted by poverty and across intersecting identities,” said Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, the Director & Principal Consultant with Policing-Free Schools.
In 2017, the Toronto District School Board voted to end the School Resource Officer program after a survey found that some teens felt intimidated, watched or targeted. Toronto police say they respect the Board’s decision and the program no longer exists, adding that officers currently engage with schools only when invited for presentations, or when responding to calls for service.
The province says the education minister will be meeting with Police Chief Myron Demkiw to discuss how the Toronto Police Service can help support student safety in Toronto schools.
Grade 12 Student Raheem White fears bringing police back into schools will lead to more violence.
“If two teenagers, for instance, are fighting and a police officer intervenes and it gets violent, or even unfortunately lethal, I just can’t imagine what that day would look like in Ontario,” said White.
CityNews reached out to the Ministry of Education for a comment but did not receive a response.
Cyrielle Ngeleka with the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario has a different idea.
“We need to be relying on peer-led initiatives in order to make sure that all of the efforts we’re putting together are actually informed by the people who need it the most,” she said.
However, the Toronto Police Association is backing the province, telling CityNews in a statement, “Every day we see younger people getting involved in very violent crimes, if anything can be done to identify and redirect children and youth to better pathways, the safer everyone will be… To suggest the work done by SROs can be done by our Neighbourhood Community Officers, members who are already tasked to the limit with existing responsibilities, is not practical.”
Policing-Free Schools is planning another rally at Queen’s Park before the new school year.
