Mayor looks to convene meeting on school violence following school stabbing

Mayor John Tory says that he will look to convene a meeting with various stakeholders, including police, after a student was stabbed in yet another violent incident at a Toronto school.

The latest incident happened at around 3 p.m. on Monday at Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute on Danforth Avenue just east of Birchmount Road.

The victim, a Grade 12 student, sustained critical injuries as a result. He remains in hospital in life-threatening condition.

The incident comes on the heels of a fatal shooting of an 18-year-old man outside Woburn Collegiate Institute just two weeks ago. A second teen was injured in that shooting.

There was also another stabbing outside Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute last spring, which left a teen seriously injured.

“I think we still have a relatively safe and in fact a very safe situation in our school system and elsewhere in the city. But this was enough of a repetitive situation that I asked for a meeting involving the school board and the police,” Tory told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I hope that that meeting can happen in the very near future to sort of look at what more could we do, collectively, together.”

A spokesperson for Tory has told CP24.com that the meeting will involve police, school trustees and officials from the Toronto District School Board.

The focus will be on addressing school violence generally and will not be specifically focussed on Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, the spokesperson said.

Speaking with reporters at an unrelated news conference in East York, Tory said that he appreciates that the stabbing at Birchmount "will be of deep concern” to both the victim’s family and the wider school community.

For that reason he said that he is making it a “high priority” to take a closer look at how similar incidents can be prevented in the future.

“I really am saying a prayer as many people are for the victim who's in the hospital in very poor shape and hope that that there's a complete recovery that happens there,” Tory said.

School reopens

Tory’s remarks on Tuesday morning came as Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute reopened.

Grief counsellors were present at the building and available to speak with students and staff.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the stabbing is continuing.

On Tuesday morning, Toronto police told CP24 that they have identified a person of interest, but have yet to make an arrest.