None of 151 Missing and Missed recommendations implemented by police: Ramer

Toronto police have yet to implement any of the 151 recommendations from the Missing and Missed report that was handed down more than a year ago.

In a presentation scheduled to be made before the Toronto Police Services Board on Monday, Chief James Ramer says 60 recommendations are “in-progress” while the remaining 91 have been assessed but “work to complete them has not yet started.”

“The Missing and Missed Report did not suggest that any recommendations needed to be implemented by the one-year anniversary,” Ramer says in the report to the Board. “However, there was a requirement for the Implementation Plan, including established goals, timelines, and outcomes, to be posted to the Service’s website by December 31, 2021; this has been achieved. At the same time, work to implement some of the recommendations has begun.”

Monday’s update is expected to include details of the work of the Missing and Missed Implementation Team (MMIT), which is comprised of both community and police representatives. To date, four working groups have been established to ensure community members are engaged in the implementation of the identified recommendations.

RELATED: Report finds ‘serious flaws’ in how Toronto police investigated missing-persons cases

On April 13, 2021, the Missing and Missed report – an independent review into how missing persons cases were handled by police – found that systemic discrimination contributed to “serious flaws” in a number of investigations conducted by Toronto police in recent years, including the case of serial killer Bruce McArthur who preyed on men in the city’s gay village for close to a decade.

The report made 151 recommendations aimed at overhauling how missing-persons cases are handled, calling for a more “holistic approach” to these types of investigations that would see greater reliance on civilians and social services rather than just law enforcement.

At the time, Ramer said the force was “committed” to the recommendations noting that the work needed to implement the report would be “ongoing and dynamic.”

Ramer is also expected to update the Board on hate crime statistics for 2021, which shows a 22 per cent increase in hate-motivated occurrences reported in 2020. The Jewish community, followed by the Black community, the East and Southeast Asian communities, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+) community were the most frequently victimized groups.