I am freaking out about the continuous attacks against women on transit at my city (Toronto)

Hi, I live in Toronto and had the same thoughts. FYI. The attack today (streetcar stabbing) was woman on woman. They did not know each other. But the majority of attacks seem to have been perpetrated against women by men. I have reduced my transit usage, walk most places if possible, carry pepper spray and a personal alarm. I am planning a move out of the city, and a big deciding factor (besides the ridiculous cost of living and subpar transit) is that it is no longer safe. Mentally ill, angry, violent people roam the streets everywhere and the city and our healthcare system have no capacity to deal with it and no plan to address it.

It's very angering that no mainstream media have pointed out that in the last year we have had women stabbed with ice picks, shot, lit on fire, pushed in front of trains and otherwise assaulted all on our transit system.

It is disgusting, it is absolutely compounded by misogyny, and I for one am out of here.

I'd take it you're a student at either U of T or TMU? It's always been rough, particularly around TMU but it is worse than ever now. I truly feel for you having to navigate that as you try and complete your studies.

I'd argue Toronto was never a truly great city -- only pretending. As one episode of 30 Rock once put it. "Toronto: Like New York but without all the stuff."

I'd amend that to: "Toronto: rapidly on its way to having the same levels of crime as New York, with lower salaries, higher cost of living, shittier public transit. And without the stuff."

I lived in Toronto in my early 20s because a lot of my family lives there, but I only lasted a year before I ran away. I called it the ”black sucking hole of evil”. I never met anyone happy except the extreme wealthy. When people found out I wasn’t from there they’d shout at me “what are you doing here then, you can leave?!” I’ve lived in almost every major city in Canada and I was never so accosted as a woman or genuinely feared for my safety on public transit as I did in Toronto. It’s bad everywhere, but Toronto’s population makes it doubly so. I see things have not gotten better as Ford and the Conservatives have defunded any and every social program and resource. It happened before during Harper and they literally put mental patients and developmentally challenged adults out on the street within a day by removing government funding for their housing.

I searched “Toronto TTC” in google news and the entire first page of results was assaults on passengers and employees.

This article from the Toronto Sun is especially apt:

“It’s time to call it for what it is: Toronto’s transit system has spun off the rails when it comes to protecting people. It’s not safe, and the brass have no answers. Tough questions should also go to Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who collectively bear responsibility for the transit system becoming a de facto homeless shelter and drug enablement centre.”

Source:

torontosun.com

Even worse, in Ontario you can’t fight back in any way when assaulted or your attacker can legally press charges —especially if they are injured and you are not. If you use a spray, a taser, or something stabby —you are the one getting charge with assault with a weapon —even if you’re a petite woman or a targeted minority. You pretty much have to either run away or let yourself be stabbed. Such a great system *not*.

The trend in statistics for the past three years of the pandemic, and even 5 years before the pandemic, is a mass migration from Canada’s major cities to smaller cities, small towns, and rural areas. That is why the gov encouraged so many foreign immigrants —to make it look like the cities are still experiencing growth when they are actually hemorrhaging people as they flee.

First they left because of fear of covid:

Now they are leaving due to the insane cost of housing that is still rising:

financialpost.com

Broke people are desperate people. Unhoused people are desperate people. Desperate people turn to drugs, crime, and violence —especially because broke people can’t afford to move down the street let alone out of town. Too many provincial and federal politicians and different levels of government are corrupt and have their finances tangled with real estate (ex: Ford’s green belt project). They don’t want the money train to stop. They won’t put a cap on real estate and rental prices. Rural areas now have the same rents as major cities and the average cost of a house has risen by 300% in some regions. It’s unheard of.

People are being squeezed and rinsed worse than people during the French Revolution. It’s not inflation —it’s intentional greed. I keep waiting for the mobs to form, but apparently Canadians only do that when their hockey team loses.

I hear you! I moved out of the city about 5 years ago and it's so awful hearing what is happening there. The mental health/housing/moral decay crisis is getting real with the innocent and vulnerable paying for it as usual.

I wish I had more to offer than platitudes and internet support but I can just say be aware of your surroundings and travel with others if possible.

Call on your local transit authority to remedy this immediately. They are responsible for the safety of their passengers. Try to start momentum to get woman only cars since it’s clearly targeted violence against women. I’m so sorry you’re considering giving up something you love because of violent men. It’s completely unacceptable and your city owes you better than that.

Also it’s complete bullshit that they aren’t acknowledging the genders of the victims or perpetrators. Let’s call this what it is, a goddamn hate crime!

The Spadina streetcar is one I regularly take - it’s terrifying to think how unsafe our normal routines are starting to feel.

Worst of all, I just know past

the incidents being reported there are double the amount flying under the radar.

Yesterday I walked by a retail establishment further south on Spadina and there were several cop cars outside, and a huge mess of powder and other debris on the sidewalk. Clearly some incident had taken place, but I checked later and it didn’t even end up on the news. I was also assaulted on the TTC this past summer on the same 510 streetcar by a mentally ill woman. I didn’t end up reporting (no physical harm came to me thank goodness) but now I anxiously await any photos coming out about this attacker to see if this was the same woman - absolutely sick to my stomach.

I am a fit and tall woman, I normally feel very secure in my surroundings physically, but mentally it’s wearing on my nerves to know that there’s so many violent + unhinged people (mostly men, and clearly some women too). I know many other girlfriends have a growing sense of uneasiness that’s only getting worse the more the city does nothing in response.

I used to live in NYC, and I always had a folding knife tied to my wrist with a loop of 550 cord so that nobody could take it away from me and use it on me. It's better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6 in your coffin. Ladies must protect themselves and demand access to weapons. Women must support legislation to allow us to protect ourselves from men using guns, knives, pepper spray, mace, etc. For far too long women have voted in such a way as to disarm themselves in the erroneous thought that it would disarm the men who'd hard us. Men cannot be trusted not to harm us and the children, and we must demand legislation be changed.

I took public transportation for 7 years, and finally broke down and got a car 1 year ago, because of how many times I was almost assaulted.