Toronto is facing a troubling surge in youth-related violence, prompting urgent calls for action from police, city officials, and community advocates. The issue drew citywide attention following the fatal shooting of eight-year-old Jahvai Roy, who was struck by a stray bullet in August. Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, speaking at multiple events in recent weeks, warned of a “dramatic rise” in the number of young people arrested with illegal firearms and noted that more than a dozen youths have been charged in murder cases in 2025 alone.
The alarm deepened after murder charges were laid against a 12-year-old boy accused of fatally attacking a homeless man in Nathan Phillips Square — part of a series of “unprovoked” assaults on vulnerable residents. Demkiw described the trend as a wake-up call, stressing that gun violence among youth requires a united effort from police, governments, schools, and communities.
Toronto Police data shows that youth firearm arrests nearly doubled between 2020 and 2024, peaking at 128 last year before dipping slightly to 102 so far in 2025. Insp. Paul Krawczyk of the Guns and Gangs Task Force noted that while court leniency under the Youth Criminal Justice Act is a factor exploited by gangs, social media is also luring youth with images of money and status — without showing the consequences.
Police say enforcement is only part of the solution. Programs such as FOCUS, which links more than 190 community agencies, aim to intervene early and provide mentorship, counseling, and positive activities like sports and robotics to steer kids away from gang life.
Community advocates argue that poverty and joblessness are key drivers of the crisis. Youth advocate Stephen Mensah stressed that “the best antidote to crime is a good job,” urging governments to expand employment and skill-building programs for youth. He warned that the city is seeing “more brazen violence, and it’s just getting younger and younger,” pointing to the recent arrests of children as young as 11.
Mensah called for long-term solutions instead of reactive policing: “We cannot be quick to arrest our way out of this. We haven’t even done the common-sense things upstream to improve young people’s conditions.”