Toronto is receiving an additional $600,000 from the federal government to boost the Canada Summer Jobs program and create opportunities for troubled youth as a short-term solution to combat a spate of gun violence in the city.
The announcement was made following a meeting with Mayor John Tory and a group of Toronto-area Liberal federal MPs at city hall on Monday.
“I’ve been to more funerals for young people in this city than for members of my own family,” said Toronto MP Adam Vaughan on the death toll caused by gun violence in the city.
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Tory said funding additional employment opportunities for young people will help keep them off the street and away from a life of crime.
“There is no magic wand that is going to be waved by anybody, by any government, even by all governments working together that is going to solve this overnight,” said Tory.
“But that we can do certain kinds of things like this and like this additional measure that has been undertaken by the Government of Canada to help in the short-term.”
WATCH: Federal Liberals add $600k in summer job positions for at risk youth in Toronto
Officials say the funds will be directed to the city’s northwest area after a number of high profile shootings.
“It’s already started. The money is coming out the door this weekend,” Vaughan said.
READ MORE: Deadly shooting in Toronto’s Yonge and Eglinton neighbourhood, police seek 2 suspects
The call for action comes two weeks after a man was gunned down in broad daylight in the popular midtown neighbourhood of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.
With a sleeping 10-year-old boy injured in one incident and a pregnant mother and her baby killed in another, the firearm violence is beginning to evoke concerns not seen since 2005’s so-called “Summer of the Gun.”
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Vaughan said this most recent measure is about “getting smart on crime, not just tough on crime.”
Officials said they plan on convening a second meeting at the end of next month to announce further anti-violence measures.
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