Yes.

Our Toronto police have this to say about the model: “The neighbourhood community policing models consist of small teams of officers who are dedicated to serving one particular neighbourhood.” They’re embedded in those neighbourhoods for a period of four years. They’re able to build those relationships with community members. They participate fully in all our events and festivals, and when they do that, they are welcome. They are part of our community, and we do the work together by ensuring that people are taken care of and that there is mental health and well-being for all.

Once again, this project that was first introduced in 2013—and it came across the city in small quantums—quickly became a favourite of our communities. I’m so proud that my riding is the only riding in Toronto—and I suspect it’s probably the only one in Canada—that has neighbourhood community officers covering every single one of our neighbourhoods. That was because we, as a local community, working together, said, “Yes, this model works. Let’s expand it and export it.” I have colleagues, when I left city council, who are asking how we did it. We did it because the 51 division officers were listening to our community and we worked hand in hand in making sure that those lobbying efforts, those advocacy efforts could go forward together. I’m so proud of that work. It’s one of the biggest legacies we have in ensuring that we can scale up community safety efforts in the city of Toronto. Acting as ambassadors, the Toronto Police Service work collaboratively with residents, and they do so in partnership with community agencies. That’s how they build sustainable solutions.

I’ve seen this program expand significantly—and yet, every single year, we’re always asking for that program, but we get something different. It’s not just about more officers; it’s about making sure that we have the right type of community safety policing model. Speaker, I want to be able to share with you how important it is, especially in my patch of the city. I represent Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town, some of the poorest neighbourhoods in all of Toronto. And yet, I know that in our neighbourhoods that don’t have a heck of a lot, what we do have is community, heart and resilience. I’m so incredibly proud that we’re able to come together to take care of each other despite the fact that we don’t have all the resources in the world. But if you gave us more, if more was available—not just around policing, but around mental health supports, around affordable housing—I guarantee you, our communities would be even safer.

A neighbourhood officer undergoes special training, and they work with other officers who have already done the job. That’s why Bill 102, which actually reduces training, is of such concern. I understand that there are some people who feel that the current requirements have nothing to do with policing. I’ve heard this from the Solicitor General—that you don’t need to have an arts degree to become a police officer. Yes, that may be the case, but we want to have more training and, I would even argue, more education. I think it’s absolutely critical that people who go into policing as a career first should somehow be pursuing higher, higher levels of training. I’ll just give you an example. Not everybody goes into policing as their first career option out of high school; we know that, but reducing those requirements means that you’re inviting more young people into policing, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But listen to this: For most people entering policing, it happens to be their second career choice and sometimes third; what they’ve done first is generally some education. What we have in the city of Toronto—and I’m very proud of this, because I know I’ve spoken to various police chiefs who have talked about this next generation of policing that is oftentimes who we want to recruit in Toronto Police Service. This is what they do: They pursue post-secondary, in criminology, psychology, social work, community organizing, pre-law, mental health and addictions treatment, child and youth care, and so many other disciplines that then prepare them to be even better police officers. That’s how we know they are going to be ready to do the deeply emotional, complex work of dealing with people who are in crisis or having psychosis—not necessarily recruiting someone right out of high school who is then being asked to attend to a very complicated situation that could be very deeply steeped in trauma. I don’t know about you, Speaker, but I certainly know that is difficult work, and you don’t necessarily want just 18-year-olds to do that.

These programs that our graduates that we recruit from the Toronto police—we seriously want these graduates. They are more thoughtful, more curious, more understanding of people’s struggles because they have some of those skills based on the programs and the education that they came up through that explicitly teach it to them. That’s why the next generation of officers is going to be better than the previous generation of officers, and that’s why the Toronto police chiefs in the past have always championed more education and more training.

Even if future officers entering training have some post-secondary experience—it’s still vastly different than some of the skills that a high-quality police officer may need. So we want to be able to mash it up, and I think that this is where we start to look for skills such as communication, problem-solving, social skills, which are things that colleges and universities teach right in their classroom. That’s why through formal instruction and through life experience these students gain through their studies, they become better at their job, regardless of what it is. And I would say that if it’s good for nursing and if it’s good for education workers, it’s probably good for policing as well. These are skills that take them time to build. Some of the most recent high school graduates have them, for sure, but imagine if they had more time getting more education, getting more training; imagine how much better equipped they would be to enter policing as a career.

I am just as concerned that we are not setting up young people for success. We want the officers to be able to build those skills. We have yet to hear a single community advocate—I have not heard one—who says, “We want the police officers to have less education and less training.” Even police officers on the front lines have been saying they need more training. Rarely do I go into a community meeting that we don’t talk about training—and it’s not just training for a day or two, but it’s about training and education, making sure that the comprehensive learning environment is there, even in formal classroom environments.

Community organizations in my riding, as well as constituents, are calling for more training. I don’t know about you, but I know for sure that when I go into a community four months from now as a police officer—if I was going into the college, I’d want to make sure I have as much training as possible. The job is incredibly difficult, and I talked about why it has become more difficult: the lack of resources, the lack of government investment, the breaking down of the social safety net. All of that makes the policing work more complicated, more emotional. In some ways, we’re setting them up for failure—asking them to be everything to everyone, when we need to invest in the social determinants of health, which happen to be exactly the same as the social determinants of safety. If you want to build safer communities, you’ve got to invest in those things.

I understand that there’s a considerable degree of mentorship that a young officer receives from senior officers when they begin their career, and I’m still concerned that what we see from policing culture coming up over and over again sometimes is the fact that—we may have conversations or it’s alluded to that it’s simply just a few bad apples. But inherently, if the culture does not put community first—is not steeped in proper training and education—then they’re not putting community first. They’re barely putting themselves first because they’re just not equipped to do that job.

I know for sure that each and every single one of us would benefit from more training.

Think about what it would take for them to address unconscious bias and understand how systemic oppression actually impacts communities. You’re not going to be able to do that just out of high school; I don’t think so. This takes time, and it takes proper review and skill development.

We can interrogate ourselves and ask ourselves honestly—you don’t have to answer it here, but ask yourselves honestly: How much do you know about policing, mental health and the judicial system? How much do you really know about unpacking colonial concepts and anti-Black racism? How much do you really know about gender oppression and all the facts that bring about situations that create unsafe conditions? How much do you really know if you don’t have a little bit of life experience? Bring yourself back to age 18. How much did you know then—based on how much you know now? It takes time. There is no shortcut to it. There are no Coles Notes to it.

In 2021, it was widely reported that white supremacists and other organizations are actively recruiting within the police and military ranks. It’s hard to hear; I get that. I certainly don’t want to hear that. But it’s horrifyingly true. The report also talks about how members of groups are emboldened—groups that are supposed to keep us safe sometimes don’t, especially when they’re being targeted. We’ve all heard about the radicalization of young men. It also can happen when they aren’t properly educated or trained. That’s why we want to be able to train and adequately provide people the resources so they can deal with those challenges. I recognize that this bill is lowering the barriers for entry, and that means that you’re also putting less-educated and less-trained people into a pool of individuals where there is active, targeted recruitment. We have to be able to connect the dots.

I am very aware that we want to do everything we can to combat radicalization; we have to. We’re seeing it. We hear the government talking about giving religious organizations a few thousand dollars to put locks on doors, get more CCTV cameras, and hire a private security guard while the religious ceremony is on, when worshippers are in the house. That’s not going to address hate crimes—not structurally or systematically. That’s not going to reduce hate incidents and violence in Ontario. No way. You’re kidding yourselves if you think simply putting a lock on a door is going to address the rising, rampant hate and Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and anti-2SLGBT hate in Ontario.

We have to invest to make sure that we are able to bring people together and to talk about how we prevent radicalization. We do this by giving them information that’s real; by countering it with a strategy that’s specifically dealing with anti-hate. Then you fund it, and then you benchmark it with annual reports. You work with law enforcement, you work with community organizations that are affected, and you continue to keep your foot on the gas—it cannot be eased up.

More and more recruits are talking about the need for training because they have gone into a situation where they felt untrained, not ready. We cannot expect 18-year-olds to graduate from high school, go through police college and then be given the uniform and then throw them into some of the most complicated situations. It’s not fair to them. You’re setting them up for failure.

If we’re going to build the modern policing outfits that we deserve in Ontario, then we’re going to need to properly train, educate and resource them. Currently, 33% of OPP vacancies—it’s a number that is real. It’s very expensive keeping a position open while somebody is on PTSD leave. These vacancies are due to officers being on long-term leave, so they’re still on the payroll. Then, you have to go bring in new officers, and then you’re going to not equip them for the complications of that work. Guess what’s going to happen? You’re probably going to have additional vacancies that will then eventually go on leave because you haven’t dealt with the issues structurally.

If we have a new generation of young officers who have not had the life experience or have not been given the training or tools to handle very challenging jobs that we are seeing, then there’s probably a very good chance that you’re going to have higher vacancies due to additional PTSD leave. This is devastating for the individual officers, for their families and their teams that can be more overstretched. The communities that they serve will not be well served.

Robust mental health training as well as investments to make the job safer stand to benefit everyone. Ontarians interacting with police have better experiences with police officers with higher developed communication skills, problem solving skills and social skills if they have more training. Those officers are the ones who are most likely to be stepping up in a challenging situation when called upon. They will be the ones we want to dispatch to schools when called upon. They are less likely to face internal disciplinary action with more training, more support.

I want to share with this House the story of Constable Ken Lam, the Toronto police constable who very skillfully de-escalated and apprehended the Toronto van attacker without any violence. This is a story that really made us proud in the city, despite the fact that it was a very challenging day where hearts were broken. I remember where I was when we saw what happened on the screen.

“Experts say the powerful video of Alek Minassian’s arrest reveals a textbook case of an officer diffusing danger through a series of life-and-death choices based on training and a calm mind.

“The footage shows an officer who police sources identified as Constable Ken Lam standing up, turning off his siren and talking clearly to the suspect even as the dead and injured lay along Yonge Street after being struck down by a white rental van.

“‘This is exactly the type of de-escalation ... and response to these types of confrontations that we hope to see,’ said Ontario ombudsman Paul Dubé.

“Lam calmly holstered his service weapon, held up his baton and handcuffed Minassian as he lay on the sidewalk.

“‘He gave himself the space and time. He assessed the threat and realized he had options other than firing his weapon.’

“Dubé published a June 2016 report calling for increased police training on defusing dangerous situations after several high-profile deaths of people with mental illnesses who confronted officers.

“He said the constable’s actions are a sign that police are gaining from training that includes simulations of tense standoffs with people who are emotionally unstable.

“Sammy Yatim’s death in July 2013 in Toronto—where the mentally ill man was shot multiple times as officers surrounded an empty streetcar he was on—helped prompt reforms.

“In recent years at least one day has been added to Toronto police in-service training on de-escalation and ‘dealing with people in crisis,’ said Mike McCormack, president of the police union in Toronto.

“The program is part of a mandatory three-day training for all officers that incorporates crisis communication, de-escalation and containment measures.

“‘A major component of this training includes a variety of scenarios that are designed to evaluate” an “officer’s skills in effectively communicating with people in crisis and those who are suffering from a possible mental disorder,’ said an email from the union.

“Meanwhile, recruits at the Ontario Police College are now receiving more training, as are a number of police forces around” Ontario who are doing so, but it is not a province-wide standard.

“Mike Federico, a retired deputy chief of the Toronto police, said changes were brought in as part of a response in 2015 to the report by former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci on the Yatim incident.

“‘There’s a lot of emphasis now on communications and techniques that calm things down. The Toronto police has recognized there are techniques to be learned and opportunities to practise,’ he said in a telephone interview.

“‘I was proud to see the officer demonstrated ... a non-violent outcome.’

“Christian Leuprecht, a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, who studies policing and security issues, said Lam’s actions were ‘textbook’ examples of the latest approaches.

“The result is a suspect who is now in custody”—obviously, this is past sense, but it helps shed light on why the devastating incident occurred.

“Lam spoke loudly and calmly, even as the suspect encouraged the officer to shoot him. When he claimed to have a gun in his pocket, Lam replied, ‘I don’t care,’ and repeatedly instructed him to ‘Get down.’

“Leuprecht said Lam seemed to go further than some others might have when he decided to approach and arrest the suspect, rather than wait for backup.”

“‘There’s an impressive moment when he’”—this is Constable Lam—“‘takes his firearm, puts it in his holster, he goes over with his baton, and he handcuffs the individual,’ he said.

“‘I think that goes above and beyond the call of duty.’”

Interjections.

We’re not talking about all communities. Today, we’re talking about this community, the drag community, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Across Ontario, from Toronto to Thunder Bay, communities have been targeted. They are experiencing hate and violence on the very doorsteps of your business associations and on your small business storefronts, from Welland to Fort Erie to Guelph to Kingston, Kitchener, Gravenhurst, Brockville, Peel, Elora, Lambton, Sarnia, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay—and I could go on. The list is so long.

The private member’s bill—and this government will know it—will take years to pass. Will you expedite that process? Will you work with us to protect the community today?