Toronto mayoral candidate Anthony Furey says he would bring cops back into select schools if he’s elected for the top job.
On Wednesday, Furey tweeted that as mayor he would “stand up to the radical activists who told lies about the School Resource Officer program” and work to bring back officers in some schools.
Furey made the remarks in response to news earlier this week about an east-end school taking down a Mother’s Day sign after receiving complaints.
The sign read, “Life Does Not Come with a Manual. It Comes with a Mom.”
“Yesterday’s decision to remove a sign supporting mothers outside Kew Beach Public School is just more evidence that the TDSB is in thrall to political correctness and is in urgent need of reform,” Furey said in a news release on Wednesday.
“Time and again now we’ve seen how its far-left administrators are creating a culture of intolerance and left-wing zealotry in our schools. It’s bad for our kids’ education and it has got to stop,” he added.
The former Toronto Sun columnist said he would call for the reinstatement of the controversial School Resource Officer program to help ensure children and teachers “have a safe place to learn and work.”
The program started in 2008 with uniformed officers assigned to select Toronto high schools to help improve safety in and around public schools and the relationship between students and police.
The program received criticism from activist groups such as Black Lives Matter Toronto, which made demands to cancel it as one measure to address anti-Black racism in Toronto schools.
In 2017, the Toronto District School Board voted to dismantle the program after some students reported feeling intimidated and uncomfortable with it.
