Taste of the Danforth organizers believe event will be safe following deadly Salsa on St. Clair shooting

People walk on Danforth Avenue in the during the 24th annual Taste of the Danforth street festival on August 11-, 2017. (Photo by Anatoliy Cherkasov/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Organizers of one of the city’s biggest street festivals are maintaining their event will be safe, days after a deadly shooting at Salsa on St. Clair.

In a statement to CP24 on Tuesday, Tony Pethakas, chair of the GreekTown on the Danforth BIA, said the Taste of the Danforth has always been, “and will continue to be,” a safe, family-friendly community celebration.

“The safety and security of our visitors, volunteers, vendors and staff is as always, our highest priority,” he said.

The Salsa on St. Clair street festival, which was attended by some 13,000 people Saturday, descended into chaos that night after two groups exchanged gunfire, leaving two people dead and sending crowds scrambling for safety. Several others were also injured. No arrests have been made.

Questions about safety and security at other popular Toronto street festivals have arisen in the aftermath.

Speaking with reporters following an unrelated news conference on Tuesday morning, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw responded to concerns about festival safety.

“We are always working with organizers, no matter the event, to ensure we provide the sense of safety and security and resources available to the event, based on the information that’s available and based on the footprint and all the other factors that are considered,” he said.

“And that’s what we’ve done, time and time again, weekend after weekend. This year, last year, and years before, and that’s always a very active discussion, right down to the day of the event.”

Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents the area where the shooting took place, says he’s heard from his constituents, who have suggested moving the event or limiting its hours to reduce liability.

But Pethakas admits that any time large numbers of people gather, for street festivals or other events, violence can “sadly happen.”

“Eliminating the places where large groups gather to celebrate isn’t an effective prevention strategy,” he said.

To that end, he said the BIA has been working with Toronto police, the city, and its private security partners on a comprehensive security, crowd management and emergency management plan to keep festivalgoers safe.

“This includes a significant police presence throughout the festival, a Toronto Police mobile command centre, professional private security on site, medical personnel, and established contingency and emergency response procedures. We will continually monitor the event and adjust as needed,” he said.

Coun. Mike Colle tells CTV News Toronto more needs to be done to protect Torontonians at these festivals.

Last year, after 11 people were killed in a car ramming attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver, Colle said he convinced Mayor Olivia Chow to inject more funding for the city’s festivals to cover increased security costs. The city added $750,000 to its existing special events stabilization initiative.

“Under that we came up with the funding for the hostile vehicle barriers, which are now common,” Colle said. “Before we used to put trucks at the end, now we have those mobile barriers that are available.”

But the violent exchange of gunfire at last weekend’s event created a “guttural reaction” for Colle since it happened in his neighbourhood. He said the current laws surrounding gun violence are a “total” joke.

“The answer is dealing with the threat all of these events have to these gun gangsters,” Colle said. “We’ve got to essentially become, I think, adults about this thing and start to put in laws that are consequential.”

The Ward 8 councillor demands more change to Canada’s existing laws surrounding gun violence, calling on all higher levels of government to pass “some laws with consequences” to prevent more of this violence from happening.

“Recall Parliament, recall Queens Park,” Colle said. “They’ve got to get them, and don’t send us money for more fencing or something. We need laws.”

The Taste of the Danforth returns on Aug. 7 after a two-year hiatus.

Last month, the city and the province announced that they would each make a one-time investment of $200,000 to get the festival back on its feet.

Organizers had previously listed funding shortfalls as the reason for the 2024 cancellation. No official reason was given for last year’s cancellation.

With files from CP24’s Joanna Lavoie