Ontario could mandate putting police officers in some schools. These parents are pushing back

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 26, 2025 7:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

A radical of parents and teachers gathered successful the rainfall extracurricular the Ontario legislature connected Thursday to protestation a measure that could bring constabulary officers backmost to nationalist schools.

Bill 33, Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025, would necessitate schoolhouse boards to instrumentality a School Resource Officer programme (SRO) "where specified programs are available." The legislation, which would besides springiness the acquisition curate powerfulness to enactment schoolhouse boards nether supervision much easily, precocious passed 2nd reading. 

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) cancelled its SRO program successful 2017 after staff found that the beingness of uniformed police officers stationed successful schools caused immoderate students to consciousness uncomfortable and intimidated. The TDSB declined to remark connected the measure connected Thursday.

CBC reached retired to the Ministry of Education for much details, but did not person a response. 

Police successful schools makes children little safe, prof says

Bringing constabulary officers backmost to schools is regressive and what schools request is amended backing not police, speakers told the crowd.

"Police successful schoolhouse programs marque our children little harmless and not much safe," Robyn Maynard, a genitor of a kid successful a TDSB schoolhouse and an adjunct prof astatine University of Toronto, said.

Maynard said studies of schoolhouse assets serviceman programs person recovered that children, peculiarly Black and Indigenous children, are criminalized for things that would usually beryllium dealt with through mundane discipline. 

Since the SRO programme ended successful Toronto schools, arrests of person gone down, peculiarly arrests of young Black people, Maynard said.

"Removing constabulary from schools was a important beforehand of radical advancement that helped support our children, that helped support Black, Indigenous and racialized students, students surviving with disabilities, students surviving with intelligence wellness issues, and LGBTQI students from harm and from being stopped, searched, targeted and criminalized for mundane instances of young radical being young people," Maynard said.

"Police successful schoolhouse programs marque our children little harmless and not much safe."

Maynard said the authorities "will criminalize children portion undermining the antiauthoritarian determination making of schoolhouse boards. It's unsafe to Black, Indigenous and each children. Black students' lives matter, Indigenous students' lives matter. Students request enactment and not policing successful their spot of learning. And we are present to accidental that we volition not spell back." 

Sabreina Dahab, a trustee for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, said the authorities is not astir information but astir control, surveillance and militarization of schools. In 2020, the committee voted to revoke support for Hamilton constabulary to run its SRO programme successful its nationalist schools. 

"We tin combat for and physique an acquisition strategy that is rooted successful care, successful equity and successful dignity for each those and that does not impact cops with guns successful our hallways," Dahab said.

Reinstating programme would impact review, constabulary say

Toronto constabulary accidental determination are presently nary schoolhouse assets serviceman programs moving successful immoderate schools successful the city.

"We bash not presently person SROs successful schools, and immoderate alteration to that presumption would necessitate a broad reappraisal of needs and resources arsenic portion of our regular, yearly fund discussions," Stephanie Sayer, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, said successful a connection connected Thursday.

"That said, meaningful younker engagement continues, and we stay committed to moving collaboratively with our metropolis and provincial partners to enactment schoolhouse information successful Toronto. Many of our divisional and Neighbourhood Community Officers support beardown relationships with schools crossed the city."

The measure itself reads: "A request is added for boards to enactment with section constabulary services to supply them with entree to schoolhouse premises, licence them to enactment successful schoolhouse programs and instrumentality schoolhouse assets serviceman programs."

Supporters of the authorities said the measure volition heighten safety.

Clayton Campbell, president of the Toronto Police Association, said the enactment afloat supports the reintroduction of constabulary successful Toronto schools.

"The TPS School Resource Officer Program was a occurrence successful its time and the determination to cancel it was short-sighted and wholly influenced by a precise large and vocal radical of advocates. We had overwhelmingly affirmative feedback from teachers, students, and parents due to the fact that our officers were invaluable members of the schoolhouse community," Campbell said. 

"They took a enactment relation successful moving programs specified arsenic anti-bullying, music, sports, assemblage outreach initiatives, restorative justness circles, tutoring, and meal clubs. Every time we spot younger and younger radical getting progressive successful precise convulsive crimes, if thing tin beryllium done to place and redirect children and younker to amended pathways, the safer everyone volition be."

But Alex Da Costa, a prof successful the module of acquisition astatine the University of Alberta, said extended studies question the effectiveness of constabulary successful schools.

"Especially successful the United States, putting SROs successful schools increases punitive forms of discipline, wherever principles and teachers volition crook to the constabulary serviceman successful their school to assistance them with things that they mightiness not person turned to them for successful the past," Da Costa said.

Da Costa said the legislation, on with criminalizing children for mundane conflicts, whitethorn punctual galore students to halt coming to schoolhouse entirely.