Toronto has seen an increase in visible police presence in public institutions and spaces, including on public transit, since last week’s shooting in Ottawa.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair said the city would be increasing its security presence as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, security at the university has been business as usual, despite political presence on the St. George campus.
Queen’s Park, the seat of Ontario’s legislature, has stood on the north end of University Avenue for 121 years. The building sits on land leased from the University of Toronto. The university’s Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Management Plan lays out procedures to ensure consistency in emergency planning and response across all three campuses and the many faculties, departments, and institutions that make up the university.
Following the report of a campus emergency, campus police contacts the On Call Executive, a position that is rotated weekly amongst senior leadership of the university’s campuses. The On Call Executive decides whether an emergency is best handled locally, or if it constitutes a university-wide crisis.
The university defines a “crisis” as “a situation that may significantly affect the University’s ability to carry out its academic and business activities or damage its reputation.” If a crisis is declared, the On Call Executive activates the Crisis Management Team (CMT), which is composed of the same members as the On Call Executive Team, to assume control of the response to the crisis.
The Crisis Management Team has at its disposal three campus-specific Emergency Response Teams (ERTs), a Community Support Team, and Specialized Support Teams.
Althea Blackburn-Evans, director of media relations, said that the university has a variety of specialized personnel at its disposal. “At the University of Toronto, we have many skilled employees and specialized services that can provide particular expertise in the event of a crisis or critical incident. These employees regularly undertake professional development to ensure that their skill set is current and they are able to utilize proven best practice,” she said.
Blackburn-Evans added that the university also works with municipal emergency responders in the event of a crisis. “In a situation such as that which occurred in Ottawa, the relevant Municipal Emergency Service Providers would attend and direct University services to assist if needed,” she said.
The University also maintains a comprehensive communications plan that utilizes multiple communications tools. “The University has available a variety of tools to disseminate messages including but not limited to social media tools, websites, landline messaging, emails, text and SMS messages, desktop messaging, and display screens across campus,” Blackburn-Evans added.
