The Peel Police annual report shows the severity of crime is increasing in the fast-growing region, continuing a pattern begun in 2014 and paralleling the urban experience across Canada.
However, Mississauga and Brampton remain safer than many other cities, with a violent crime rate well below the provincial average.
And with increases to the police budget, the number of officers per capita is going up in keeping with the region’s population boom.
On Monday, Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath tabled a bill that would shrink the province’s ability to act unilaterally on municipal issues.
The bill would ensure that the province do proper consultations and receive approval from municipalities before making changes to boundaries or council composition.
While unlikely to go anywhere, the bill’s intent likely has support in Brampton, where Ford is wreaking havoc on the city’s future.
Peel Regional Police are in the hot seat again at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, in a case where a mother claims the fact her daughter is Black prompted an “excessive level of police force and brutality” that included restraints on her wrists and ankles.
Police say the 2016 incident at a Mississauga public school involved “out of control” behaviour, so the girl was handcuffed to keep her and others safe. The force is still reeling from a scathing equity-diversity audit that painted a disturbing picture of a predominantly white police department out of step with the diverse community it serves.
From the $205 million Brampton City Hall extension to land deals involving the Ontario PCs and his run for a seat in the Italian Senate, Mario Cortellucci has been a part of a string of controversies. The multi-millionaire developer doesn’t do many interviews in the mainstream media, but his name is often involved in questionable real estate transactions that usually involve municipal and provincial politicians.
Ontario cities got a break from some of the Ford government’s draconian cuts this week, but Bill 108 looms large as a fresh threat.
Changes to development charges could mean homeowner tax increases, less green space and more concrete for big developments, and a return to less local control over planning decisions.
Those were some of the potential effects outlined for city council by Brampton staff, who are worried about the Ford government’s impact on the city’s future.
Facing a widespread backlash across Ontario, the Doug Ford PC government has stepped back from a suite of cuts to the municipal sector that would have left Peel $40 million short, compared to previous funding levels for a range of crucial services.
The turn-around means that public health, policing, early childcare and other areas of core service delivery in Peel will not be hit as hard as once thought.
Under the Doug Ford PC government, land-use policy in Brampton and across Southern Ontario has become a critical issue. As our population continues to explode, will the rest of the region be given over to developers for more sprawl, which causes immense economic and social problems?
Developer Mario Cortellucci’s story, with his relationship to the PC government, is a cautionary tale that shows how the construction industry usually gets what it wants.
Brampton didn’t have a very good showing in the recent debate over its future. Is community and political involvement near impossible in our ‘me’ era of hyper-consumerism, with its slavish drive to replace citizenship with a different type of desire?
Provincial cuts to Peel Regional Police are expected to be as high as $2.6 million. The changes to funding come at a time when violent crime is on the rise and could limit the organization’s agility in responding to the alarming wave of crime over the past year.
The police service does not yet know how the cuts will impact service delivery.
Peel Council joins other municipal governments across Ontario set to launch publicity campaigns to draw attention to the sweeping cuts being made by Premier Doug Ford and his PC government. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and other politicians have highlighted the impact the province’s moves will have on flood prevention, vaccinations, dental screening for children, early childcare and many other programs that will either lose funding or have to be protected by municipal taxpayers who will suffer most as a result of Ford’s recent cuts. He has said they are a necessity if Ontario’s out-of-control debt is to be reined in.
A tug of war over Ernst and Young’s $600,000 report on the financial outcomes of different governance models for Peel Region highlights the uncertain future for more than 1.5 million residents. Another tense council meeting Thursday, with Brampton and Mississauga members interpreting the report’s findings differently and once again unable to come to any common ground on the region’s future, likely marks the end of the local debate. It’s now up to Premier Doug Ford and his PC colleagues at Queen’s Park to decide what type of municipal structure Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon residents will be governed by in the future.
A recent exchange of letters between members of the PC government and Peel educators reveals the candid disagreement over the way proposed cuts to education are being handled. The provincial government says many in the education system are fear mongering, creating anxiety about teacher losses and sweeping classroom changes that are being exaggerated. Educators have fired back against Peel PC MPPs, saying that teacher layoffs will be a reality while students will lose key educational options as certain classes will have to be cut.
By the end of the workday Tuesday, a finalized consultant’s report commissioned by Peel Region to provide crucial feedback about its future to the province still wasn’t ready.
The entire handling of the region’s position regarding the possibility of its dissolution has been poorly managed since the Doug Ford government’s surprise launch of the potentially game-changing regional review in January.
It’s unlikely councillors and the public will get to even see the consultant’s work before it goes to the province, if it’s ready ahead of the midnight deadline.
Anti-Muslim agitator Kevin Johnston has been ordered to pay $2.5 million in damages regarding derogatory remarks against restaurant owner and philanthropist Mohamad Fakih.
The “hateful Islamophobic remarks” in a 2017 video outside a Paramount restaurant in Mississauga were only the latest in a series of anti-Muslim activities by Johnston.
Death and perseverance.
They’re part of the story of Brampton Centre MPP Sara Singh’s election victory.
But there’s an even deeper story to what drew her into politics, and what fires her up at Queen’s Park when it’s time to speak for the Opposition as the NDP Deputy Leader.
A $1.8-million Peel Region program will provide a one-stop hub for services for victims of human trafficking, plus emergency shelter and long-term transitional housing spaces to help them get back to a normal life.
Providing these supports is especially critical in Peel, which for reasons of geography has become a hotbed of sex trafficking in Canada.
The region hopes to get some financial support from Queen’s Park, but it’s uncertain if the current government is likely to provide it.
The Michael Fenn-Ken Seiling travelling road show criss-crossing the province and discussing possible changes to the regional governance model, touched down in Brampton this past week. Is it simply window-dressing for the Ford government or will municipalities that hold the lion’s share of political leverage with the PCs (86 percent of the party’s seats are outside Toronto) stand up to the Premier on a range of issues such as allowing development in The Greenbelt, environmental protection and others that will impact our province for decades?
After much doubt about the quality of a $325,000 Deloitte report, it appears that Ernst & Young’s council-mandated follow-up work on the cost of potential changes to regional government is likely to miss the province’s May 21 deadline for submissions on the regional review. Peel Chair Nando Iannicca was once again on the hot seat, as councillors voiced frustration over the bungling of the outside consulting work.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown suggested that the controversial Deloitte report be the submission if Ernst & Young’s comes in too late. Mississauga councillors were having none of that idea.
The British writer and director best known for Bend it like Beckham has focused her career on exploring the dualities of identity experienced by the South Asian diaspora in Britain and, by extension, around the world.
Her latest film, Blinded by the Light, kicked off the International Film Festival of South Asia Thursday. It tells the story of a Pakistani-British high school boy in the ‘80s, frustrated by forces looking to define him, who finds salvation in the music of Bruce Springsteen.
The movie’s message finds an audience in Brampton where a huge South Asian diaspora can identify with the struggles of her main character, Javed.
Decreased funding for important services such as public health and early years childcare could cost Peel Region residents $45 million.
Peel’s director of business and financial planning says that amount alone amounts to a 4.1 percent hike, on top of current tax projections, just to keep services at current levels.
After a radical suggestion from Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown to suspend prisoner transport to grab public attention, Peel council took a milder approach: an advocacy campaign to inform the public about the effects of the province’s actions.
The International Film Festival of South Asia, the largest of its kind in North America, is set to kick-off this Thursday. Sir, a film that challenges entrenched attitudes about women in India and the staggering treatment of its underclass, set the tone for this year’s event when it pre-launched the festival.
It’s about a maid, or servant, in India and her place within the rigidly regimented caste system that girds the world’s largest democracy, where about 900-million residents are members of historically marginalized groups.
Peel Public Health is already trying to do more with less, receiving lower per-capita provincial funding than many other public health units even before the PCs’ recently announced budget changes.
But its record of accomplishment during 2018 — thousands of vaccinations, inspections to prevent water-and foodborne illness, dental screening for children, addiction mitigation programs and much more — could be threatened by a $20-million loss of support under the Doug Ford government.
Inevitably, the burden for continuing these essential services for the public good will fall back on the municipal taxpayer.
Peel Police have failed to win their bid for $3.72 million from the National Crime Prevention Strategy, money intended to pay for a program to divert at-risk youth away from violent crime.
All five of Brampton’s MPs had signed on to the proposal with a letter of support, given the rise in violent crimes by young offenders over the past several years.
The reasons for the denial by Ottawa — and the details of the plan itself — remain murky.
The provincial housing plan has preserved development charges for water infrastructure, maintaining the long-standing principle that “growth pays for growth.”
That was one piece of good news last week for Peel Region, where leaders feared the provincial PCs were looking at making ratepayers cover the cost of new infrastructure in their water bills, rather than the development industry.
That would have cost the typical homeowner more than $500 a year.
Emily Brown came into some notoriety when she vented her frustrations with the provincial government on Facebook.
Her post, now shared over 4,000 times, talks about how she was one of 193 high school teachers in the PDSB to be declared surplus, meaning she may not have a job in the next school year.
The recent news came while she’s on maternity leave and was looking forward to going back to work in the fall.
Ontario’s second-largest school board, the Peel public board, expects per-pupil funding next year to come in at nearly $1,000 less than the provincial average.
While it’s tricky to compare apples and oranges among the province’s widely varying school districts, that still astounds PDSB chair Stan Cameron, who points out that with rapid growth, “We need every penny we can get.”
After decades of seeing problems with the school funding formula go uncorrected, educators’ woes are only growing under the Doug Ford government’s cost-cutting and teacher-slashing budget.
A third-party legal opinion obtained by the City of Mississauga contends that Peel Region staff and Chair Nando Iannicca violated the region’s own bylaws by hiring two companies to review the financial implications of changes to regional government.
Splitting the work kept the cost of each bill to less than the $250,000 threshold over which any procurements need council approval.
But Peel’s chair and CFO say the scope of the work was different and insist that the controversial Deloitte report — which argues the region is better off financially staying as-is — was properly commissioned at the staff level.
The Peel Police Services Board has approved $24,000 to hire five more youth as part of a summer program aimed at turning at-risk young people toward a more positive path in life.
The eight-week Youth in Policing Initiative will give 25 teens a chance to get mentoring and encouragement to think about policing as a career choice.
It’s the second year the board has topped up funding for the provincial program, following a rise in violent crime perpetrated by young offenders.
Mayors Patrick Brown and Bonnie Crombie have weighed in on a statement made by the chair of the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario, that argued looming provincial cuts are “downloading by stealth.”
The Peel mayors highlighted the burdens being placed on property taxpayers as a result of reduced provincial funding for local services such as public health, policing, libraries, childcare and more.
The provincial budget deepened the pain by reneging on the previous government’s promise to double the cities’ cut of the provincial gas tax.
It appears that the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board will be having its overall funding allocation reduced by the province for the coming school year.
The Peel District School Board, with its growing student population, will be seeing a slight increase in overall grants but is not immune from cuts, either.
Meanwhile, the first salvo in what might be the most contentious round of bargaining in decades, has been issued by the union that represents high school teachers.
Announced changes to healthcare and social services have cast a cloud of uncertainty over Peel Region’s public health and human services programs. At last Thursday’s regional council meeting, CFO Stephen VanOfwegan delivered his interpretation of the provincial budget and its local financial implications.
According to VanOfwegan, Peel could lose as much as $20 million for its social safety net, public health unit and affordable housing. One small gain might come through provincial funding for dental care for low-income seniors.
An extra $378,000 from Ottawa, on top of $1.4 million already committed for housing support in Peel, is sorely needed in a region with a serious shortage of shelter beds and an ambitious but underfunded plan to build more affordable, rental and higher-density housing.
Peel will receive $10.5 million in homelessness funding from the federal government’s Reaching Home plan over the next five years.
Love & Courage: My Story of Family, Resilience, and Overcoming the Unexpected is Jagmeet Singh’s new book. While it reveals some deeply personal and dark secrets, it leaves readers wondering why he wants to be our leader and how his life’s experience might make him the right person for the job.
Thursday’s Peel Region council meeting continued the debate over a controversial report commissioned by Peel chair Nando Iannicca that suggested keeping the region together would be much cheaper than splitting up.
Mississauga councillors questioned the credibility of the report after it became clear the auditors had not been given access to the cities’ own figures, suggesting that consultant Deloitte was working with incomplete numbers.
A $1.6-billion “attrition allocation” may temporarily ease the transition to much higher class sizes in high schools and the loss of thousands of teaching positions.
The extra money, announced by Education Minister Lisa Thompson on Friday, could save the Peel school boards from laying off some teachers this year if there aren’t enough retirements.
But it won’t ease the pain of losing electives for Peel students, some of whom have already been told some courses they picked for next year are no longer being offered.
21-year-old Navindra Sookramsingh’s heartbreaking plea to find the driver who struck him in the wee hours of St. Patrick’s Day marks an unusual outreach for Peel police for community help.
The Brampton man had been walking home and was in the southbound lane of West Drive when struck by a cream-colored Toyota Corolla.
Sookramsingh, who suffered numerous internal injuries and is unable to walk or move his hands, begged the driver to come forward to show “mercy” and accept responsibility for the accident.
The region’s only provincially designated Sexual Assault Centre is the second-lowest funded centre in the province, despite its success in helping more than 22,000 victims of sexual assault and related crimes, such as human trafficking, recover.
A 21 percent cut in provincial funding last July, only partially restored this month, has made Hope 24/7’s work all the more difficult in the #MeToo era, where more victims are feeling empowered to come forward. Mayors Patrick Brown and Bonnie Crombie are appealing to the province to restore full funding.
An internal email obtained by The Pointer shows that Peel Region staff are warning council members of funding cuts to Human Services, the department responsible for administering the provincial social safety net, which is overseen by Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.
This comes on the heels of an announcement by the Ford government that it will cut $1 billion in provincial funding over three years from social services and potentially download more of these costs to municipalities.
Brampton North MPP Kevin Yarde is part of the first organization of its kind at Queen’s Park.
The five-member group hopes to shed light on issues that particularly affect Black residents and other communities that have been negatively impacted by outdated, narrow-minded policies in Ontario, especially in areas such as policing and education.
The benefits of their perspectives, Yarde says, extend to all residents in the province.
Today is Earth Day, an odd concept to many. Is there any day or minute or second that isn’t entirely hinged on the existence of our planet? The clock is ticking on how we will respond to the ever-increasing challenges facing a 4.5-billion-year-old creation that has been ravaged by the excesses of man.
It’s been 49 years since the first Earth Day and 49 years since Joni Mitchell’s song was released.
Unless we make clear choices and insist on leaders who face up to the challenges now at our doorstep, our legacy will be mud with future generations. It’s past time we re-created a “clean and green” model – for government, business and day-to-day life – moving forward.
The forces behind a new clean and green economic model for living are all around us. This movement may be unstoppable, as reminders of climate change – devastating storms, rising temperatures and sea levels, the extinction of species – grip our consciousness. We are now at a planetary crossroad. For those concerned about the earth’s future, there is hope. The movement is gaining momentum. And the profit motive for a green economy is quickly gaining traction around the world.
A report by Grosso McCarthy Inc. and Bob DeShane & Associates for the province appears to be providing a blueprint for how the governing PCs will transition to a privatized, for-profit model of delivering ambulance services.
Ontario’s 53 ambulance service centres will be consolidated to 10, a move that aligns with the report’s recommendations. The paramedics union is warning of dire consequences of a “Wild West” American-style paramedic service. Premier Doug Ford has stated EMS service will not be impacted and no paramedics will lose their jobs.
Months after a heated exchange between Peel Region councillors and staff over the slow pace of developing more affordable housing, as prices lock a growing number of families and young couples out of the market, committee members are pleased to see things moving in the right direction.
The region’s director of housing services, presented a needs assessment Thursday that will inform Peel’s Housing Master Plan, which shows that an increasing number of residents are living in precarious housing, while Peel has one of the longest affordable housing wait times in Ontario.
With sweeping and controversial reforms to Ontario healthcare hovering over the horizon, Bramptonians are growing nervous about what those changes will mean for a city that is already short on healthcare infrastructure.
At a town hall in Brampton Friday, the Ontario Health Coalition and Peel Poverty Action Group rallied support for an April 30 protest at Queen’s Park against changes widely viewed as a move towards privatizing healthcare.
It seems warnings of teacher cuts have come to pass. The Peel District School Board and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, Peel District, say hundreds of teaching jobs will be eliminated by the fall due to the Ford government's funding cuts to the public education system.
The 330 “surplus to board” notices sent to teachers in Peel aren’t part of an annual routine, as the Ford government has suggested, as there have been no layoffs in the PDSB for the past five years.
The loss of teachers, the OSSTF says, could lead to 1,200 fewer classes being offered in Peel high schools, reducing elective options for students.
The provincial budget is leaving a choppy wake, with far reaching ripples across Ontario. Brampton Centre MPP Sara Singh raised the alarm Monday about cuts in the provincial budget that would gut public health units across the province. The number of units would be reduced from 35 to 10, leaving Peel Public Health vulnerable.
In the era of vaccine skepticism and a raging opioid crisis, the units have a vital role to play, and cuts have the potential to exacerbate major public health issues.
The arrest of one suspected serial offender alleged to have committed 45 property crimes that targeted Muslims helped reduce reported hate crimes in the region last year, according to a report presented to Friday’s Peel Police Services Board meeting.
But the annual tally is still nearly double what it was prior to the 2016 U.S. election of Donald Trump and the subsequent emboldening of hate groups across North America.
Peel police detective Feras Ismail said race is the primary motivation for hate crimes and hate-related incidents in the region, followed by religion and sexual identity.
The controversial addition of “Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism” in an annual report on terrorism threats had riled Sikhs across Canada, who said they were unfairly tarred by the assessment.
The threat remains in the list under the title of “Extremists who Support Violent Means to Establish an Independent State Within India.” But just ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's attendance at Sikh celebrations in Vancouver this past weekend, marking a significant historical religious event, his government removed language in the report deemed by many Sikhs as too vague and over-reaching.
Questions remain about whether Ottawa has credible evidence to support the idea that a separatist movement whose heyday ended in the early 1990s, after the 1985 Air India bombing, continues to pose a threat.
Thursday’s raucous Peel Region council meeting was proof positive that this is a house divided. Mississauga is eager for independence, and said it has the numbers to prove it’s being ripped off by its partnership with Brampton and Caledon. They counter that the status quo is just fine – and they, too, have the numbers on their side. But all the positioning is really just posturing, as the decision on the future of Peel Region will be made by one man, while the political winds blow around him.
A furor in Peel Region council chambers on Thursday pitted pro-secession Mississauga councillors against a former colleague turned chair and defender of regional government.
Nando Iannicca argued, correctly, that he had a right under municipal bylaws to quietly authorize a consultant’s study that ultimately suggested Peel would be better off sticking with the status quo than breaking up.
But Iannicca admits the rollout of the Deloitte report, commissioned ahead of a provincial review of regional government, wasn’t handled well — particularly when it was handed to Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown (on Brown’s request) ahead of the Mississauga delegation.
