Mayor Tory pledges $6M in additional anti-violence funding

By News Staff

Mayor John Tory has pledged an additional $6 million in funding to support the city’s anti-violence programs and initiatives in the 2020 budget.

This new money would help support programs already in the existing budget that focus on poverty reduction and addressing the root cause of violence.

Those projects include, expansions to youth spaces in Toronto Public Library branches as well as in the city’s parks and recreation facilities, creating new Community Youth Violence Prevention grants, and funding a pilot project that focuses on hospital-based violence intervention.

Tory said this announcement is “substantial,” and called it the largest single investment of its kind in the city’s history.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders had repeatedly called for “pro-active” funding in communities while addressing gun violence in 2019.

Last month Tory sat down with other GTA mayors, along with police chiefs and representatives from other levels of government, to discuss ways to combat the city’s gun violence.

The announcement comes just days after a shooting at an Airbnb party at City Place over the weekend, which killed three people — including the suspect — and injured two others.

Currently the city annually invests $180 million in the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Tory said they will continue to advocate for more funding from the federal government for anti-violence initiatives.

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