Meeting the City on Safety

Meeting 1: November 6, 2019

A group of concerned  neighbours gathered at our first meeting around safety which was set up as a “Town Hall” and was the jumping off point to forming CAN-Alliance. In attendance representatives from 20+ neighbour residents and businesses and from the City, Councillors Wong-Tam (and staff) & a representative from Councillor Layton’s office; Police officers from the Neighbourhood Officer Program; Representatives from Parks, Forestry & Recreation, Toronto Public Health, and Community Crisis Response.

Residents raised concerns about the operations of Sanctuary, citing drug trafficking, garbage dumping, random violence, theft, graffiti, escalating security costs and the associated impacts on the usability of the adjacent park and sidewalks. Numerous victim statements were presented and the main request from residents and business owners was for additional and accelerated police responses. There was also an expressed desire to see Sanctuary take more responsibility for the property standards of their building exterior and to see the City step up MLS by-law enforcement.