Toronto has been added to the list of cities selected for public consultations on police street checks after public outcry over the fact it had been left off. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services announced four consultation locations Friday morning.

Desmond Cole addresses the crowd gathered for the Black Lives Matter protest last month. ( Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star ) Mayor Tory expressed support after the province announced public consultations would be held in Toronto on "street checks." ( Steve Russell / Toronto Star )

Over the next two weeks, public meetings concerning carding were scheduled to take place in London, Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Brampton. Critics called the failure to include Toronto, which has a long history of public debate around carding, “cowardly.” “It’s clear they’re avoiding Toronto because they don’t want to come and face where the problem actually directly affects people,” said Tarisai Ngangura, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter Toronto before the list was updated.

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“I think it’s puzzling to say the least,” said Desmond Cole, a freelance journalist and activist. “I would have fully expected there to be one consultation in our city.” Late Friday afternoon, a single line was added to the end of the locations list. “A meeting will take place in Toronto on September 1, 2015. Time and location TBD. Details will be added as soon as possible,” it read. In a statement emailed shortly after the update, Jonathan Rose, spokesperson for Yasir Naqvi, the minister responsible for the consultations, said, “We felt it was important to hold a public consultation in Toronto.” Questions as to why, if it was important to hold a meeting in Toronto, the city wasn’t included in the original list of locations, went unanswered Friday afternoon.

Toronto Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) threw his support behind the announcement and said that he would be closely monitoring the consultations and their outcome. “Mayor Tory welcomes the Province of Ontario conducting public consultations on police streets checks,” a statement email from his office read.

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Despite the manner in which it came about, activists in Toronto said they were pleased with the government’s change of stance. “It makes it better, it’s their way of showing us that they’re in some way attempting to fix the problem,” said Ngangura after hearing the news. “It was very last minute and very clearly rushed,” she added. Cole laughed when he heard the news. He congratulated the community for speaking up when they felt something was wrong. “I’m happy that the government seems to have responded to the very obvious need for such a meeting in Toronto,” he said. “I’m sorry that they weren’t able to think of it on their own, but it sounds like people have expressed that concern and they’ve heard it.”

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