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Your safety and the safety of our customers remains my top priority. This week, the City committed to providing additional safety measures to support the TTC, including security guards who have specialized training and access to Community Safety Teams. Community Safety Teams work directly with people experiencing homelessness and liaise with the City’s Streets to Home workers to provide outreach services. This is on top of the additional 80 police officers that were announced last week to support the TTC.
I’m grateful to all our employees for the work you do. We know there are a lot of complex issues facing the TTC and the City of Toronto – only by working together will we be able to find solutions to these complex societal challenges. These challenges are not part of our core business. They require creative, comprehensive and outside-the-box solutions.
Together, we will get through this. Do not hesitate to reach out to your manager or supervisor and let them know if there’s anything further that the TTC can be doing.
Recognizing Black History Month this February
For the third year, the TTC is recognizing Black History Month this February with customer and employee campaigns throughout the system and in workplaces. The theme for this year’s campaign is “Moving legacies: Celebrating Black innovation and resistance in Ontario.”
The TTC has partnered with AstroSankofa Arts Initiatives, a not-for-profit organization which brings forward opportunities for Black artists and youth to be more visible through public art projects. Artists have reimagined Black leaders in politics, education and transit among others – these images will appear on several buses, streetcars and a Wheel-Trans vehicle for the month.
A digital ‘Ride and Find Guide’ is also available and people can visit the locations across the city to learn more about these important figures and their contributions. Some of the people we are featuring – like Frederick Hubbard who was the first Black general manager at the Toronto Street Railway – are also part of our history here at the TTC.
It is important to me that our employees also have the chance to see these vehicles. Throughout the month, one of our wrapped vehicles will make its way across the Commission so everyone will have a chance to see it. A poster with the schedule of dates can be found below so you can find out when one of the vehicles is coming to your work location.
As we have in previous years, we are also highlighting some of our own employees through a poster and video campaign that will run throughout the month. This campaign allows employees to share their personal thoughts on what Black History Month means to them. We have been working closely with a number of groups over the past year and we have a stakeholder bus tour where we will share some of the sites in the ‘Ride and Find Guide’ with these partners.
Recognizing Black History Month is an important part of our broader commitment to build a more inclusive transit system for everyone. And I can tell you, this commitment extends beyond February.
I am proud we are able to play a role in celebrating the many people and cultures that make up our great City and Region. We have done a lot of good work but we all know there is still work to do as we continue to develop important programs and initiatives to address racism and discrimination.
Together, we will build a more inclusive TTC for everyone.
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