Toronto Police Budget Won’t Be Cut Despite Weeks Of Protests

After facing weeks of calls for defunding the Toronto Police Services, the City Council has made its decision. A series of police reforms were approved on Monday evening in the hopes of curbing the issue of police violence in the 6ix. However, the City also announced that it would not be cutting the service's funding. 

Earlier this month, an effort was made by Councillor Josh Matlow to cut the city's police funding by 10%.

The motion was rejected by Tory, who assured his changes would help push back against racism within Toronto police.

"It is not the right way to go about getting real change, effective change, fair change, good change, I don't want us to be focused on a number; I want us to be focused on making a change that needs to be made," the Mayor said according to CBC.

However, the City did make some steps in improving the force. 

In a sweeping decision on June 29, the City Council approved Mayor John Tory's proposal requiring all officers to wear body-worn cameras by 2021.

According to CBC, the project could cost the city upwards of $50 million and "over 10 years to implement.

Councillors also approved the creation of a non-police task force to help handle mental health calls in the city.

The unit will act as a non-violent alternative and will be tasked with addressing incidents involving distressed individuals.

The changes come in reaction to the deaths of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and Ejaz Choudry, who were killed after police were called to assist them.

Protestors demanding justice for the two, who both suffered from mental health issues, have shut down parts of the city several times over the past two weeks.

Over a thousand Torontonians flooded to Nathan Phillips Square on June 28 for a rally and teach-in focused on abolishing the police.

The event, which purposely aligned with Global Pride Day, was hosted by No Pride In Policing Coalition, who took over the square on Sunday to demand a 50% cut to Toronto Police's budget.