Petition: End Project Resolute

Petition

Oct 31, 2026 | By Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng., Founder, Be The Change Movement

End Project Resolute. Bring a motion to the Police Board to wind it down, with a full public accounting.

Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam. Project Resolute has run for three years, has cost Toronto more than $42 million by the Police Board’s own count, and has never had a full public accounting. I am asking you to sign so the Toronto Police Service Board, Mayor Olivia Chow and the new City Council have to answer. Read the petition | Read the proposed motion

Sign the Petition

To: the Toronto Police Service Board
And to: Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto City Council

This petition asks the Toronto Police Service Board to wind down Project Resolute and to publish a full public accounting of it. It is open to everyone, in Toronto, across Canada or anywhere in the world. If you live in Toronto, please include your ward.

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The Petition

To: the Toronto Police Service Board
And to: Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto City Council

Project Resolute is the Toronto Police Service operation that was put in place in the fall of 2023 to police protests and demonstrations connected to the conflict in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza, and to increase police presence in Jewish and Muslim communities (Toronto Police Service, December 10, 2025; Toronto Police Service Board, April 10, 2025). Three years later it is still running, it has grown, and the public still does not have a full accounting of what it costs or what it has achieved.

What the police’s own reports say

On December 10, 2025, Toronto Police told the Police Service Board that 788 protests and demonstrations related to Project Resolute had resulted in 169 arrests and 309 charges. Of these, 10 people were arrested in relation to 16 hate motivated charges (Toronto Police Service, December 10, 2025). The Service also reported more than 1,608 events related to Project Resolute in 2025 alone, up 26 percent (Toronto Police Service 2026 budget presentation, page 6).

In 2025, the Service kept Project Resolute deployed seven days a week, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. (2025 Toronto Police Service Annual Report, in the Board agenda of July 23, 2026). In a 2026 budget report to the Board, the Service wrote that Project Resolute “has expanded its scope in 2026, to include all international conflicts as well as Canadian-based movements like Canada First, from a level 1 deployment to level 3 which is a significant increase in resources and coordination” (Board agenda, July 23, 2026). New units created in March 2026 do not replace it (Toronto Police Service, March 24, 2026).

What it costs

A report from the Chief to the Board put Project Resolute costs at $19.5 million as of December 31, 2024, including $8.0 million in direct premium pay (Board agenda, April 10, 2025; CBC News; CityNews). For January 1 to December 31, 2025, the Service reported $15.0 million, including $5.4 million in direct premium pay (Board agenda, April 13, 2026). On January 13, 2026, the Board itself asked the Solicitor General of Ontario for funding for Project Resolute costs that it said “are currently over $42 million and for which no funds have been provided to date” (Board minutes extract, January 13, 2026, in the Board agenda of March 4, 2026). Toronto taxpayers are carrying that bill.

Why a full public accounting matters

Arrests and charges are not convictions. In one high profile case, charges were dropped for seven of the 11 people first charged (CBC News). In September 2026, the Chief gave reporters one combined figure of 573 arrests and 1,398 charges “in connection with demonstrations, protests, and hate-motivated offences” since October 7, 2023 (The CJN, September 8, 2026). Numbers that mix protest policing with hate crime enforcement cannot tell the public what Project Resolute has actually done. Residents deserve to know how many charges were withdrawn, stayed or dismissed, and how many ended in a finding of guilt.

There are Charter questions too. In March 2026, police banned demonstrations on residential streets near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the ban “creates protest-free zones on specific public streets,” where a pro-Palestinian protester can be arrested “regardless of how peacefully they express their message” (CBC News, March 24, 2026).

Safety for everyone, under laws we already have

No one should fear going to a synagogue, a mosque, a church, a temple, a school or a child care centre. In March 2026, three synagogues in the Greater Toronto Area were hit by gunfire (CBC News). Attacks like that must be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and so must every attack on any community. The Criminal Code already makes harassment, threats, intimidation, mischief and violence crimes, as the CCLA has pointed out (CBC News). Ending Project Resolute does not mean ending protection. It means protecting every community through regular policing, the Hate Crime Unit and the law, instead of an open ended special operation built around one protest movement.

Who has the power to act

Project Resolute is a Toronto Police Service operation, so this petition is addressed first to the Toronto Police Service Board, not to a City Council committee. Under the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019, the Board may give directions to the Chief of Police and sets policing policy, but it may not direct the Chief on specific investigations or the conduct of specific operations (section 40). That is why the motion below asks the Chief for a wind down plan and timeline, directs a full public report, and uses the Board’s budget authority.

Under section 31 of the Act, the Mayor is entitled to a seat on the Board, or Council can appoint another member of Council in the Mayor’s place. Mayor Chow is not currently a member of the Board. Council’s current appointees, Councillors Shelley Carroll (Chair), Lily Cheng and Amber Morley and citizen member Chris Brillinger, serve until November 14, 2026 and until successors are appointed (Toronto Police Service Board members). The new Council will choose who represents it on the Board. That is the moment for Mayor Chow and Council to make ending Project Resolute part of their mandate.

We, the undersigned, call on:

The Toronto Police Service Board to pass a motion to wind down Project Resolute: asking the Chief of Police to report, at a public meeting within 90 days, with a plan and timeline to end it and return its work to regular policing, and using the Board’s budget authority so that no dedicated funding for Project Resolute continues beyond that plan.
The Toronto Police Service Board to direct the Chief of Police to publish a full public accounting of Project Resolute from October 2023 to today, by year: total cost, premium pay and overtime, on duty officer hours, the number of protests and events policed, arrests, charges by type, hate motivated charges, and how many charges were withdrawn, stayed, dismissed, or ended in a finding of guilt, plus the number and outcome of public complaints about officer conduct during Project Resolute deployments.
The Toronto Police Service Board to commission an independent review, by a reviewer independent of the Toronto Police Service and with public input, of how Project Resolute and related protest restrictions, including the March 2026 ban on demonstrations on residential streets near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West, have affected the Charter rights of peaceful protesters, and to publish the findings.
The Toronto Police Service Board to make sure places of worship, schools, child care centres and community centres of every faith and community continue to be protected through regular policing, the Hate Crime Unit and full enforcement of the Criminal Code.
Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto City Council to formally request these actions of the Toronto Police Service Board, and to ask the members of Council they appoint to the Board for the new term to move them.
The Toronto Police Service Board, Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto City Council to reaffirm that every resident deserves equal protection from hate, threats and violence, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, through the full and fair enforcement of the laws we already have.

Individual Endorsements

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Organization Endorsements

Community groups, unions, faith organizations, student associations, legal clinics and advocacy organizations are invited to endorse this petition. Endorsing organizations will be listed here and included in the official submission to the Toronto Police Service Board, Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto City Council.

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Proposed Motion

Proposed Motion to the Toronto Police Service Board: Wind Down Project Resolute, with a Full Public Accounting

Summary

This motion asks the Board to request a plan and timeline from the Chief of Police to wind down Project Resolute, to direct a full public accounting of it since October 2023, to stop dedicated funding beyond the wind down plan, to commission an independent Charter review, and to keep every community protected through regular policing and the Criminal Code.

Proposed by: Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng., Founder, Be The Change Movement
To be moved by: [Member of the Toronto Police Service Board]
Seconded by: [Member of the Toronto Police Service Board]
Body: Toronto Police Service Board, at a public meeting
Only a member of the Board can place this motion before the Board. Members of the public can speak to it as a deputation once it is on a public agenda (TPSB Procedural By-law; Making a Deputation).

Whereas

WHEREAS the Toronto Police Service put Project Resolute in place in the fall of 2023 to police protests and demonstrations connected to the conflict in the Middle East and to increase police presence in Jewish and Muslim communities.

WHEREAS the Service reported on December 10, 2025 that 788 protests and demonstrations related to Project Resolute had resulted in 169 arrests and 309 charges, of which 16 charges against 10 people were hate motivated, and reported more than 1,608 events related to Project Resolute in 2025.

WHEREAS the Service reported Project Resolute costs of $19.5 million as of December 31, 2024, including $8.0 million in direct premium pay, and $15.0 million for 2025, including $5.4 million in direct premium pay, and on January 13, 2026 the Board stated that the costs were over $42 million with no provincial funding provided.

WHEREAS the Service reported in 2026 that Project Resolute had expanded its scope to all international conflicts and to Canadian based movements, from a level 1 to a level 3 deployment.

WHEREAS no public report has set out, in one place, Project Resolute’s full cost by year, officer hours, and the outcome of the charges laid.

WHEREAS freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly are guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has raised Charter concerns about protest restrictions connected to this policing.

WHEREAS the Criminal Code already prohibits harassment, threats, intimidation, mischief and violence, including at places of worship, schools and child care centres, and every community in Toronto deserves equal protection from hate.

WHEREAS under section 40 of the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019, the Board may give directions to the Chief of Police but may not direct the Chief with respect to specific investigations or the conduct of specific operations.

Therefore, the Toronto Police Service Board

Requests the Chief of Police to report to the Board at a public meeting within 90 days with a plan and timeline to wind down Project Resolute and return its functions to regular policing, the Hate Crime Unit and existing community safety programs.
Directs the Chief of Police to report publicly, at the same meeting, on Project Resolute from October 2023 to date, by year: total cost, premium pay and overtime, on duty officer hours, the number of protests and events policed, arrests, charges by type, hate motivated charges, the number of charges withdrawn, stayed, dismissed, or ending in a finding of guilt, and the number and outcome of public complaints about officer conduct during Project Resolute deployments, with personal information protected.
Will not approve dedicated funding for Project Resolute in the 2027 operating budget beyond what the wind down plan requires.
Directs the Executive Director to bring forward terms of reference for an independent review, by a reviewer independent of the Toronto Police Service and with public input, of the effect of Project Resolute and related protest restrictions, including the March 2026 restriction on demonstrations on residential streets near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West, on the Charter rights of peaceful protesters, with the findings to be made public.
Affirms that places of worship, schools, child care centres and community centres of every faith and community will continue to be protected through regular policing and full enforcement of the Criminal Code, and that antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism will be met with equal resolve.
Forwards this decision to Toronto City Council for information.

Companion request to Toronto City Council

To be moved by: [Councillor]
Seconded by: [Councillor]
Referral: Executive Committee
A member of Council must move this item and another must second it under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 27 (Council Procedures).

City Council request the Toronto Police Service Board to adopt the motion above to wind down Project Resolute, with a full public accounting and an independent Charter review.
City Council request the Mayor and the Members of Council appointed to the Toronto Police Service Board for the 2026 to 2030 term to move that motion at the Board.
City Council reaffirm its commitment to protecting every resident from hate, threats and violence, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, through the full and fair enforcement of existing law.

Notes before tabling

The Board’s Executive Director and legal counsel should confirm the final wording, so that the motion stays within the Board’s powers under section 40 of the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019. Recommendation 1 is a request for a plan, not a direction on a specific operation.
City Council cannot direct police operations. The companion items are requests to the Board, which has authority over policing policy and the police budget.
The 90 day timeline and the 2027 budget recommendation are proposals and can be adjusted.
Nothing in this motion limits the investigation or prosecution of any hate crime, threat or act of violence against any community.

How to Be Heard at the Police Board

The Board’s remaining 2026 meetings are scheduled for Thursday, November 12 and Tuesday, December 15, and dates can change. Meetings usually start at 9:00 a.m. at police headquarters, 40 College Street, and are live streamed on YouTube (TPSB meeting schedule).

Anyone can ask to make a deputation, on their own behalf or for a group, on an item that is on the public agenda. Send the request to board@tpsb.ca by noon on the business day before the meeting, with your name, phone number and email and a copy of any materials you will present (Making a Deputation).
Deputations are generally limited to five minutes. Written submissions are shared with Board members and become part of the Board’s official record.
The Board says instructions for the November 12, 2026 meeting will be posted on November 4, 2026.
Because deputations must relate to an agenda item, the first step is for a Board member to place this motion on a public agenda. You can also write to the Board and to your City Councillor and ask them to support it.

Read the Full Statement

I ran for Mayor of Toronto in 2026. I did not win, but the questions I raised do not go away because the election is over.

Project Resolute began as an emergency response. Three years and more than $42 million later, it has become a standing operation, and in 2026 it grew again. By the police’s own December 2025 figures, 16 of the 309 charges laid in connection with Project Resolute protests were hate motivated. We still do not know how many of the rest were withdrawn or ended in a conviction. Torontonians are paying for this operation, and they are entitled to that accounting.

Safety and freedom are not opposites. I stand against antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, and against violence at any place of worship. I also stand for the right of every resident to protest peacefully without being treated as a suspect. Please sign, share, and ask the Police Service Board and your Councillor to move this motion.

Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Founder, Be The Change Movement

Petition: Keep Party Machines Out of City Hall (no use of police to intimidate political opponents, volunteers or voters)

References

Featured image: Toronto City Hall at Nathan Phillips Square. Photo by Bernard Spragg, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (public domain).

Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.
Founder, Be The Change Movement
bahira.ca

Volunteer with us → | (647) 785-3729 | bethechangeno1@gmail.com

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