Toronto tops ranking of cities Canadians feel are more unsafe than they are: survey

Toronto tops ranking of Canadian cities that are safer than respondents think: survey

'Toronto has a public safety reputation problem,' research firm says

Toronto has the largest gap between its official crime statistics and people's perception of its safety, according to a survey of 15 Canadian cities.

The survey by Liaison Strategies, a national public opinion research firm, found that Toronto had an 11 point gap between the city’s official crime-severity rank and how safe respondents think it is.

“Toronto has a public safety reputation problem,” said David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies.

About 57 per cent of survey respondents considered the city “somewhat” or “very” unsafe, an increase from 52 per cent when asked in 2017.

But data shows that the city has actually become safer since then.

Compared to 2017, total reports of serious crimes like homicide, as well as reports of assault and shootings, all decreased last year, according to data provided by Toronto Police Service (TPS). The number of reported homicides in Toronto last year was the lowest since 1986.

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But only 12 per cent of respondents said actual crime statistics affected their perceptions of how safe a city is, according to Liaison Strategies’ new survey.

“That tells us that the Toronto number is being driven by a broader mix of news coverage, personal experience, word of mouth, and national image,” Valentin said.

Liaison Strategies said they surveyed 1,500 Canadian adults over Aug. 30-31 using interactive voice response and random digit dialing for its results. The results are considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Ottawa was perceived as the safest city, with 75 per cent of respondents viewing it as safe.

Public safety an issue in mayoral race

Leading candidates in Toronto's upcoming mayoral election have responded to the survey findings.

The city has been investing in speeding up 911 call response times and hiring more first responders, Mayor Olivia Chow said in response to a question about the survey at an unrelated news conference Thursday.

“People in our city deserve to feel safe, and I understand that when you see and hear different messages, it can cause anxiety,” she said, pointing to a Destination Ontario survey of visitors to Toronto while it was hosting the FIFA World Cup.

Nine in ten visitors said they would return to visit Toronto within the next two years, according to the survey data.

Meanwhile, her chief rival Brad Bradford said the survey shows the city is “stuck."

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“That doesn’t happen by accident,” he said in a news release Thursday. “Toronto is stuck, and now every Canadian sees it.”

Bradford said he would hire 1,000 new front line officers should he be elected, as part of a larger community safety plan he said he will release through his campaign.

Kofi Hope, CEO of Monumental, a start-up helping organizations recover from COVID-19, said people’s perception of a city’s safety is something people need to take more seriously.

“We can’t just say that the statistics say otherwise,” Hope told CBC Toronto in an interview. “If people are feeling unsafe, that is an issue we have to respond to because that means there’s going to be a high level of dissatisfaction with the city and its elected leaders.”

Calls for more mental health support

High-profile shootings like the deadly Salsa on St. Clair shooting in July, though rare, can create the perception of an unsafe city when coupled with extensive media coverage, according to Hope.

The increasing number of social media content post-pandemic that shows narratives of a “dangerous Toronto” also shapes people’s perceptions, he said.

But the higher number of people in crisis on Toronto’s streets and public transport is both what increases people’s feelings of unsafety and points to a broader mental health crisis that the city needs to address better, according to Hope.

“People may not actually be harmed, but when you see open drug use or someone in crisis or being aggressive, this impacts people’s feelings of safety, ” Hope told CBC Toronto.

“Whether it’s on the street or on the TTC, that points to the fact that we do not have a mental healthcare system in Canada.”

Expanding people’s access to mental health services before it turns into a crisis, and investing more in having mental health workers respond to crises could allow police to focus on areas they are needed the most, he added.

For years, police have been on the front lines of mental health crisis calls in Toronto. Police Chief Myron Demkiw also proposed to change that in an interview with CBC Toronto last year, calling for the health sector to lead the response to mental health calls, while police would be present “to the extent that it’s necessary for safety.”

CBC Toronto asked TPS for an update on the proposal but did not immediately receive a response.

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There isn’t one quick solution to addressing the mental health crisis in the city or people’s perception of Toronto’s safety, Hope said.

“Just like it took years to build this perception, it will take years to build it back for people to see the city’s safety,” he said.

“There’s no short-term magic bullet to change this.”

Eleanor Yuneun Park is a journalist at CBC Toronto. She previously worked as a Content Editor at the Globe & Mail. She has an honours bachelor of arts in English and Religion from the University of Toronto. You can reach her at eleanor.yuneun.park@cbc.ca.