Toronto unveils ‘summer safety plan’ aimed at tackling youth violence

The city of Toronto has unveiled the summer community safety plan. Natalie Johnson has more on what the mayor and police are saying.

The City of Toronto unveiled a plan Tuesday to bolster programming for young people in the wake of a rise in gun violence last year.

Mayor Olivia Chow and Police Chief Myron Demkiw unveiled Toronto’s “Summer Safety Plan” at a news conference Tuesday.

“Our goal is simple, to connect Toronto’s young people and their families to opportunities to make sure summer is a safe, vibrant, positive experience for everyone, no matter where they are from,” Chow said.

She said the best way to do that is by boosting support to existing programs.

The plan was developed amid a rise in gun violence, much of it involving and impacting young people.

Gun violence in Toronto was up 34 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year, although there had been a decline in gun violence for the previous three years, according to the city.

“This increase has had a serious impact on young people between the ages of 12 and 29, who were involved in more than half of all firearm-related incidents— even though they make up less than a quarter of the city’s population,” the city said in its safety plan.

Much of the plan involves providing more programming spaces for youth around the city, particularly in the neighbourhoods that were disproportionately affected by the increase in violence.

“The city’s plan supports a place-based safety approach to help provide more structure and spaces for youth during the summer months to help prevent violence before it happens, when they are out of school and fewer structured activities are available,” the city said in a release. “The plan emphasizes the need to expand access to safe spaces, support more community events, and increase youth engagement programs in identified communities and neighbourhoods.”

Making use of $5 million allocated to youth violence prevention programs in the city budget this year, the plan will support dozens of programs that provide summer programming for youth; support violence prevention programs and workshops for families, parents and caregivers; and increase city-run youth drop-in programming by 50 per cent through the summer.

The city hopes the plan will actively engage some 3,000 youth in “summer safety programming.”

Speaking alongside Chow, Demkiw said neighbourhood officers with the Toronto Police Service will also be engaged in a series of recreation and community-building activities, such as soccer, movie nights and tutoring sessions.

“It’s a plan tailored to the different needs of our neighborhoods to build strong relationships and empower families, provide structured activities to help kids connect and stay engaged, and take a collaborative, active approach to crime,” Demkiw said.

He called it a “great opportunity” for young people and Toronto police to learn from each other.