To:
Gord Tanner, General Manager, Toronto Shelter and Support Services
Carleton Grant, General Manager, Municipal, Licensing & Standards

Dear Mr. Tanner and Mr. Grant,

The City of Toronto’s ongoing appeasement of activist demands regarding the Dufferin Grove Park encampment is unacceptable. Honest and law-abiding Dufferin Grove residents have had their park hijacked for 85 weeks now and counting, since the park was first occupied by radical activists in February 2024. Taxpayers are outraged that the 85-week Dufferin Grove encampment has already cost them $1.4 million as per the EOM. Allowing this situation to persist is gross mismanagement. The encampment should have been removed months ago.

By tolerating unlawful occupations of public land, the City has undermined the rule of law, eroded the integrity of its own bylaws, and set a dangerous precedent that compliance is optional. This cannot continue.

Municipal laws exist to protect order and fairness. Selective or delayed enforcement signals weakness, emboldens radicals, and invites further defiance – not only on encampments, but across zoning, property standards, taxation, and other core functions of governance. It is also a slap in the face to those who play by the rules and follow the process for affordable social housing. Each day the City fails to act, it diminishes its own legitimacy.

We demand that TSSS abandon appeasement and negotiation strategies and enforce the law without exception. Trespassers must not be permitted to dictate City policy. If they refuse to vacate, Toronto Police must be called in immediately to clear the site and return the park to Dufferin Grove residents.

The time for hesitation is over. Anything less than swift and decisive enforcement is a betrayal of the public trust.

Respectfully.

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