A few hundred protesters marched from Dundas Square to police headquarters on Tuesday to demand justice for Sammy Yatim, the 18-year-old shot dead by an officer on a Dundas streetcar last month.
Yatim’s family walked at the head of the crowd, while from the back of a pickup truck his sister Sarah shouted into a microphone, helping to lead marchers in chants of “Don’t let him die in vain!” and “Justice for Sammy! Justice for all!”
Relatives of other police shooting victims also took part in the protest, which was the latest action in a swelling movement pressing for changes to how the police deal with people in mental distress. Among them were Ruth Schaeffer, whose son Levi was killed by the OPP in 2009, and Tony Vega, whose father was shot dead by a Toronto officer in 1992.
When the protesters arrived at police headquarters, the Yatim family attended a meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board and met privately with Chief Bill Blair.
