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Dear Mayor John Tory
We wanted to share a Montreal City Council resolution that was passed unanimously this week, on October 19, 2020, and ask for your support to echo its contents.
Due to the ongoing growth in injuries and deaths due to guns, in our city and in others, and in light of announcements in the press that the federal government intends to proceed with a municipally determined ban on handguns, please act and support what Montreal has declared.
In the past, you have personally called on the Federal government to make this country safer for all of its citizens. In light of our Montreal colleagues’ initiative, we ask that you table and support the same motion at the next Toronto City Council meeting.
The official minutes from Montreal are in this link, containing the resolution which is on page 413:
To show support for the Montreal resolution, we hope that the City of Toronto could use the wording that our fellow Montreal citizens used, which would translate as follows:
“Be it resolved:
That the City of Toronto congratulate the federal government on last May’s the OICs that prohibit some 1,500 models of assault weapons in Canada,
That the City of Toronto support the federal government's commitment to complete and make permanent the ban on assault weapons by adopting a bill to this effect in the near future,
That the City of Toronto express its disappointment with the intention, reiterated in the Speech from the Throne, to transfer the responsibility for banning handguns to municipalities - despite the opposition expressed by many Canadian cities and provinces,
That the City of Toronto reiterate the urgency for the federal government to ban, on a national scale, the private possession of handguns,
That the City of Toronto urge the federal government to take the necessary measures to, at the very least, immediately cease all importation and manufacture of handguns in Canada.”
Yesterday, marked the second annual Day of Action from the Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns. The Doctors gathered a wide range of medical professionals, representing views from across the country. A video that captures their key message is on their web site at https://www.doctorsforprotectionfromguns.ca, and we encourage you and all Councillors to review it.
At the video’s conclusion is a powerful statement from Danielle Kane, one of the survivors of the Danforth shooting. Her statement, and that of the others on this video show that the medical community and indeed the vast majority of Canadians are urging all levels of government to take action and do what we can to make this country and all of its cities, safer. Not in spite of these challenging times, but because of them.
Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.
Claire Smith and Ken Price
Danforth Families for Safe Communities
danforthfamiliessc@gmail.com