Confronting Anti-Black Racism: From Plans to Results

In 2017 Toronto adopted its Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism, and the City reports that 96% of its 80 actions have been delivered. Yet 58% of people surveyed while homeless in Toronto identify as Black, and one in five Black Torontonians lives in core housing need. Delivering actions is not the same as changing outcomes. A renewed 10-year plan goes to Council in 2027, and the next mayor decides whether it has teeth.

What I will do as Mayor

1. Lead the renewed plan, with Black communities. Bring the 10-year plan to Council on time, co-designed with Black-led organizations, with targets for outcomes, not just actions.
2. Give the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit real authority. Today it coordinates but can’t require divisions to act. I will tie each division’s equity plan to its budget and to senior managers’ performance reviews.
3. Report it publicly. Publish every action and outcome online, so anyone can see what’s done and what isn’t.
4. Fair City jobs. Set hiring and promotion targets for each division, publish the data, and pilot name-blind résumé screening. Your name should never decide whether your résumé gets read.
5. Fair City contracts. Grow the share of City procurement going to Black-owned businesses.
6. Stable funding for Black-led organizations. Multi-year funding instead of year-to-year grants, so proven programs aren’t cut off just as they start working.
7. Prevent homelessness upstream. Target eviction prevention and affordable housing where Black residents are most at risk, and measure how many people stay housed.
8. Accountable policing. Use the mayor’s seat on the Toronto Police Service Board to push implementation of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s racial-profiling recommendations, and report progress publicly.
9. Youth jobs. Expand paid City placements and apprenticeships for Black youth on City projects.

Honest about power: City Hall controls its own hiring, contracts, funding and services, so I will act on those directly. Wages in the private sector and schools sit with Queen’s Park and Ottawa, and on those I’ll push openly and tell you the difference.

Measure it. Fund it. Publish it. Deliver it.

Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng., Independent candidate for Mayor of Toronto

Related reading: Toronto Cannot Afford Racism: The Economic Case for Equality