WARMINGTON: Toronto ushering in cops in tactical gear with rifles

· Toronto Sun

Toronto will soon be a city that will see police in key locations wearing tactical gear and carrying semi-automatic rifles.

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With the creation of a new “standalone” counter-terrorism security unit, Toronto Police are not going to just sit around and wait for the city to fall victim to a Bondi Beach-style attack that saw 15 shot to death in Australia in an Islamic State-inspired antisemitic terror attack during a Hannukkah celebration.

Toronto Police are arming and deploying officers to be ready to respond appropriately in case something similar happens here.

“As part of Task Force Guardian, Torontonians can expect to see Toronto Police officers deployed with tactical capabilities, including patrol rifles,” Chief Myron Demkiw said during a news conference on Tuesday.

That is definitely something new for Toronto. But so is having three synagogues shot up i n the Greater Toronto Area in less than a week. So is seeing the U.S. Consulate riddled with bullets. And seeing local Jewish and Iranian businesses targeted with bullets. Police are not going to idly wait for people to be murdered in a mass-shooting event. They have decided to get ahead of where this could be going.

It’s a ‘hostile’ world now

“Tensions around the world are extremely high right now,” Demkiw said. “As the biggest municipal police service in Canada, we are operating within an increasingly volatile national security environment. Global conflicts, extremist ideologies, online radicalization, hostile foreign actors and heightened polarization are realities that impact both our work and the sense of safety in our communities.”

Toronto may not be a police state but in and around the tourist centres, which includes the installations and hotels set up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it will look more like one than it does now.

Police with rifles is not something people are accustomed to seeing here. What they may see, said Deputy Chief Frank Barredo, are police-issued C8 carbine rifles, carried by officers dressed in Emergency Task Force-style attire.

“You will be seeing not only C8s, but protective gear, protective helmets, protective body armour and things along that line,” he said, adding, “we want to deter attacks, strengthen public confidence and reassure our communities through this highly visible policing model” and “be strategically deployed proactively to be able to respond as fast as possible to any threat or violent incident.”

Barredo added the “semi-automatic” long guns “provide a much better response to deal with threats and neutralize those threats as quickly as possible and as effectively as possible.”

But Demkiw doesn’t want to see Torontonians panic or be scared.

“If you see these officers, whether around places of worship or tourist hubs, it does not mean there is an imminent threat,” the chief said. “What it means is that we are strategically positioning resources to protect our communities and respond quickly if necessary.”

This is no longer Toronto the Good

Yikes. This is not the Toronto we grew up in. This is, however, the Toronto of 2026 that we live in. While this may look to visiting Americans here for the Blue Jays’ opening night, or for the upcoming soccer event, like an ICE ( Immigration and Customs Enforcement) unit, it is not that. It’s a Toronto counter-terrorism unit.

But the message being sent may be to foreign actors who dare to try to harm Canada.

“We know that visible police presence matters when it comes to deterring violence and reassuring our communities,” Demkiw said.

Certainly after 911, guns in the streets was commonplace in New York City and even this year there are armed National Guard patrols all over Washington D.C..

“They have to respond to the security threat they could potentially have to deal with,” said crime specialist Ross McLean, a former Toronto Police officer who said the chief and deputy chief are merely meeting the moment and challenges that the city they protect could face.

On March 1, McLean called out for the long guns to be deployed in the city in response to ongoing antisemitic attacks and the war in Iran.

It’s a better-safe-than-sorry scenario. Councillor Mike Colle agreed with that call then and agrees with it now.

“I am glad they are doing something,” Colle said. “The world has changed and you can’t be complacent.”

Colle and Councillor James Pasternak has been calling for more help from the OPP, RCMP and CSIS to assist Toronto Police with potential terror threats — something Toronto Police Chief Superintendent Katherine Stephenson said will still happen on the national scale.

The TPS counter-terror unit is a Toronto-based initiative.

“This will be a new standalone unit,” said the chief, who said “with this unit, we will substantially increase the resources dedicated to countering terrorism and violent extremism, supported by robust analytical capacity and dedicated leadership.”

Toronto Police have made this assessment and are taking preventative action.

And you will soon notice that when going to a Blue Jays, Leafs, Raptors, or TFC game, concerts, or World Cup soccer games.

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