Item - 2017.EX26.5

The Executive Committee: 

1.  Requested the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration to work with relevant Division Heads to convene five Expert Working Groups to:
 

a.  develop focused multi-year work plans for the following five intervention strategies:

1.  Staff Training;

2.  Staff Recruitment;

3.  Race-based Data;

4.  Youth Mentorship and Employment; and

5.  Public Education
 

b.  identify corresponding resource implications for the plans;
 

c.  develop a model for an effective Partnership Table to oversee the implementation of the Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism;
 

d.  consist of relevant City division and agency staff and Black community leaders with expertise in the specific area of intervention; and
 

e.  report back to Executive Committee in the fourth quarter of 2017 with the results of this work.

2.  Directed the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration to engage a resource group of Black Subject Matter Experts to assist relevant Division Heads to develop multi-year plans and identify any resource implications related to the staff recommended intervention strategies:

a.  Collaborative Service Planning;

b.  Community Investment; and

c.  Policy Development

and report to the Executive Committee in the fourth quarter of 2017 on the results of this work.

3.  Directed the City Manager and the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration to report on the possibility of working with the African Canadian community to establish a diverse, representative City Council advisory body, the African Canadian Affairs Oversight and Collaboration Committee, to advise City Council and promote on-going engagement with the African Canadian community.

Toronto is the most diverse city in the world. However, studies continue to show that anti-Black racism still exists in this city, affecting the life chances of more than 200,000 Black people who call Toronto home.  

Anti-Black racism is beliefs, attitudes, prejudice, stereotyping and/or discrimination that is directed at people of African descent and is rooted in their unique history and experience of enslavement and colonization here in Canada.

The legacy of anti-Black racism lies in the current social, economic, and political marginalization of Black Torontonians. It is experienced as a lack of opportunity, poor health and mental health outcomes, poor education outcomes, higher rates of precarious employment and unemployment, significant poverty, and overrepresentation in the criminal justice, mental health, and child welfare systems. 

To begin confronting anti-Black racism in Toronto, the City of Toronto partnered with Black leaders and organizations to create and implement a three-phase process. Phase one was the development and launch of the Toronto For All public education campaign in November 2016, naming and challenging anti-Black racism. Phase two was the review of 41 years' worth of research and recommendations about addressing anti-Black racism in Toronto. This review created the foundation for 41 Community Conversations in phase three to determine how best to take meaningful action going forward. Conversations ran from January to March 2017. Black Torontonians reviewed a draft action plan at a citywide workshop in May 2017 and provided feedback. 

The Interim Toronto Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism is the result of this collaborative effort between the City of Toronto and Black Torontonians to take corrective action. 

This interim five-year plan leverages the talents, knowledge, and experiences of Black residents and Black organizations as partners in making municipal services, spaces and policies fully inclusive and accessible to Black Torontonians in both intent and in practice. The Action Plan includes 22 recommendations and 80 actions to address five issue areas: children and youth development; health and community services; job and income supports; policing and the justice system; and community engagement and Black leadership. The recommended next steps include further collaborative development of multi-year work plans and a partnership model for implementation oversight, and identification of related costs required to initiate appropriate action with a report back from staff in the Fall 2017.