Item - 2020.HL18.5

The Board of Health:

1.  Requested the Medical Officer of Health to report in the fourth quarter of 2020 on advancing a public health approach to community violence in Toronto, including an update on the City Council and Board of Health decisions arising from Item HL11.1, Community Violence in Toronto - A Public Health Approach.

Community violence is a social determinant of health, with physical and mental health impacts for those who are victimized and those who commit acts of violence, as well as friends and family, and whole communities.

As the Medical Officer of Health reported to the Board in 2019, the root causes of community violence include: poverty, racism, racial/ethnic and gender inequities, discriminatory and stigmatizing educational practices such as zero tolerance, counterproductive criminal justice policies including over-incarceration, and a lack of economic opportunity.

It is no coincidence that the root causes of community violence have much in common with two other public health crises that our city is working to overcome today: anti-Black racism and COVID-19. Maps of COVID-19 incidence, neighbourhoods where Black Torontonians live, and community violence will reveal similar, all too familiar patterns.

The Board of Health and City Council endorsed numerous recommendations arising from Item HL11.1, Community Violence in Toronto - A Public Health Approach, this past year, with actions for all levels of government as well as the Medical Officer of Health.

I am writing to recommend that the Board of Health request a status update on this important work to advance a public health approach to community violence.