TORONTO — Hundreds of people are expected to speak at a series of town hall meetings on police reform that get underway today in Toronto.
The city’s police board says the meetings will be held over four days to accommodate everyone who has signed up to speak.
There have been calls from the public to change how society deals with those in mental health crises, confront anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in policing and even defund forces entirely.
The Toronto police board was set to discuss those issues in June, but set up the town hall events due to overwhelming public interest.
Late last month, city council voted against a cut to the force’s budget, but passed a motion proposing a suite of changes to policing that includes anti-racism measures, response to those in crises and the implementation of body-worn cameras.
The calls for police reform come in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis, and the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a Black woman who fell from her balcony while police were in her Toronto home.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 9, 2020.
The Canadian Press
