Rally held at Queen’s Park to condemn gun violence as municipal election nears

Paul Evans knows first-hand the effects of gun violence.

He took four bullets six years ago and now he’s partially paralyzed from the waist down.

Now he uses a wheelchair to get around, and isn’t able to work as he once did.

Evans is worried the problem with gun violence isn’t being taken seriously.

“We have to try and put a stop to it because it’s overboard now,” Evans told Global News.

Today he’s part of a crowd at Queen’s Park showing their support for people affected by gun violence.

They say the problem has spiraled out of control and elected officials have let them down.

Brooklyn Watson was the organizer of the event.

“Everyone speaks about it, but they don’t act on it,” Watson said.

“They say that they are going to do something, but at the end of the day it’s our youth that are dying.”

Gun violence has been an issue front and centre on the municipal campaign trail.

According to Toronto Police there have been more than 320 shootings this year.

Citizens say they are hoping whoever ends up leading the city come Monday, that they will have the answers to get the problem under control.

As the clock winds down in the race for mayor, candidates want to be sure voters know where they stand.

If Jennifer Keesmaat gets the top job, she says she will build neighbourhood safety plans in every community and work to give young people more opportunities before they become criminalized.

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“My approach is a preventative one,” Keesmaat said.

Knia Singh is also running for mayor. He works as a criminal defence lawyer and has a front row seat to what’s happening in the judicial system. He says eliminating school suspensions and expulsions could make a big difference.

“Once they get kicked out of school, now they are left to their own devices, and they are going to hang out with other kids that have been kicked out as well,” Singh said. “Then they start with petty crimes and little robberies and it escalates up to violence and drug dealing.”

Incumbent John Tory says right now different levels of government are working well together to solve the problem.

“You’ve got Premier Ford and his provincial government working with us to help support the police and get them new technology and more police officers,” Tory told reporters at a campaign stop today. “Then you have us working really well with the federal government on programs to invest in kids and families are directed away from gun violence.”

However, for some the results of that work don’t feel like they are reaching kids directly just yet. They believe young people need to be more involved.

“If you want to become mayor or a councillor then I believe that you should go in and talk to the youth,” Watson said.

Today’s march had about 50 people in attendance including several community groups.

The group stopped at the downtown courthouse, the peace garden, city hall as well as Queen’s Park.