Police correspondence about trespass orders

From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 1:07 PM Subject: Confusion about trespass orders on city property To: john.elvidge@toronto.ca <john.elvidge@toronto.ca>, Clerk <clerk@toronto.ca> Cc: Councillor Bravo <Councillor_Bravo@toronto.ca>

Dear Mr.Elvidge,

Please let me see the current city form and policy for issuing a trespass order applying to parks and rec facilities in Toronto. I assume that this form and underlying policy are public and therefore not available through FOI.

Context:
There seems to be confusion about who can issue a trespass order for parks and rec centres (TPS? City?) and what the rules are. Some relevant documents:

1. Ombudsman's report on parks and rec trespass orders Ombud's recommendations (accepted by the city in 2005):

Properly document incidents that occur, ensure the documentation is factual and objective, and ensure all records are properly maintained.
Provide clear rationale for its decision to impose a ban, and only issue bans for finite amounts of time.
Develop a system whereby suspensions, bans, and trespass notices issued can be accurately monitored and evaluated.

2. City Councillor Bravo's recent letter referencing the current trespass rules in city parks (presumably provided by P&R staff):

"Regarding the involvement of Toronto Police in this matter, City of Toronto staff, including Parks and Recreation staff, and City Councillors and their offices, do not have any authority to request or order Toronto Police to issue a trespass order, or take other actions. A firewall against political interference is in place. If there is an incident that is reported to Toronto Police by any party involved, the Police alone determine their investigation and response. Anyone can make a complaint about service of the Toronto Police, and information on how to do so is available here: https://www.tps.ca/services/complaints/"

3. My blog entry about a Feb.12, 2025 TPS trespass order

4. Attached: the 2005 Parks and Rec form for a trespass order.

If you are not the right person for this issue, I would appreciate a suggestion about where to direct my question.

Thank you, Jutta Mason

---

On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 2:54 PM Clerk <clerk@toronto.ca> wrote:

Hello Jutta,

Thanks for your email to the City Clerk’s Office. The City’s Parks & Recreation division (copied on this response) can advise regarding which City policies and forms are applicable for this purpose.

Thanks,

Kate

City Clerk’s Office

---

From: Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy <Wyndham.Bettencourt-McCarthy4@toronto.ca> Sent:Tuesday April 1, 2025 12:40 To: 'Erella' <wow@erella.com>; Izzy Bernardo <Izzy.Bernardo@tps.ca> Cc: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com>; Suhaib Abdillahi <Suhaib.Abdillahi@toronto.ca>; Nicole Gliwinski <Nicole.Gliwinski@toronto.ca>; Alejandra Bravo <Alejandra.Bravo@toronto.ca> Subject: RE: Re: Confusion about trespass orders on city property

Hello Erella,

Thank you for the message. I can confirm that our office asked senior staff at the Parks & Recreation Division the following question, both verbally and in writing, asking specifically if staff can request or order Toronto Police to issue a trespass order. Here is the response we received (response in red from senior staff):

-Can you provide confirmation that City staff, including P&R staff, do not have any authority to request or order Toronto Police to issues a trespass order

Correct and confirmed. City staff do not direct police nor do we have the authority to do so.

This is the information we were provided with.

As the information from Sergeant Bernardo below suggests this may not always be the case (particularly if the City’s Corporate Security is involved), Councillor Bravo will be convening a meeting with the head of the Parks & Recreation Division and the head of 14 Division to better understand exactly what the process is.

Thank you for flagging this.

---

On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 12:48 PM Izzy Bernardo <Izzy.Bernardo@tps.ca> wrote:

Good Afternoon,

To be clear, the TPS does NOT issue the trespass notice, we are available to support Corporate Security when they serve a notice.

After notice is given written and or verbally, the Toronto Police can enforce the order.

We retain a copy of the notice for our files that can be revoked at any time by the Serving Agent.

---

Forwarded message ---------

From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 3:47PM Subject: Confusion about trespass orders on city property To: Parks <parks@toronto.ca> Cc: Councillor Bravo <Councillor_Bravo@toronto.ca>, John Elvidge <John.Elvidge@toronto.ca>, Jane Price <bjaneprice@gmail.com>, <Izzy.Bernardo@tps.ca>

Dear Parks general number,

This address was suggested by the city clerk's office, for me to seek clarification about the City of Toronto's policy and current forms re trespass orders applying to parks and rec property.

City Councillor Bravo sent an email about this matter, which included this statement:

City of Toronto staff, including Parks and Recreation staff, and City Councillors and their offices, do not have any authority to request or order Toronto Police to issue a trespass order.

That appears to be an error. TPS Staff Sergeant Izzy Bernardo (copied here) sent this comment:

City Staff can through the proper channels within City Departments including the Director of City Parks through corporate security can obtain a trespass notices that once served can be enforced by the TPS with their consent.

Also, could you let me know whether the city's acceptance of the report linked below has been superceded by a different policy:

Ombudsman's report on parks and rec trespass orders

Ombud's recommendations (accepted by the city in 2005):

· Properly document incidents that occur, ensure the documentation is factual and objective, and ensure all records are properly maintained.

· Provide clear rationale for its decision to impose a ban, and only issue bans for finite amounts of time.

· Develop a system whereby suspensions, bans, and trespass notices issued can be accurately monitored and evaluated.

The attached form was the one in use after the Ombudsman's recommendations. Could you send me the revised form, if any, that is now in use by Parks and Rec?

Any information is much appreciated.

---

---

Forwarded message ---------

From: Jutta Mason <juttamason@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 4:28 PM Subject: Re: Re: Confusion about trespass orders on city property To: Israel Bernardo <israel.bernardo@torontopolice.on.ca> Cc: Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy <Wyndham.Bettencourt-McCarthy4@toronto.ca>, Erella <wow@erella.com>, Suhaib Abdillahi <Suhaib.Abdillahi@toronto.ca>, Nicole Gliwinski <Nicole.Gliwinski@toronto.ca>, Alejandra Bravo <Alejandra.Bravo@toronto.ca>, Jane Price <bjaneprice@gmail.com>

Dear Sgt. Bernardo,

Responding to your email: City staff wrote to me that they did not ask TPS to come to my house and serve me with a trespass order.
When Jane Price and I went to Fourteen Division to find out more, staff there looked up the report number from Feb.12 2025 and said that the police can verbally issue a trespass order if they have a reasonable grounds to believe an assault occurred.

Jane Price wrote afterwards:

"My understanding is that Jutta is asserting that this allegation of harassment is entirely specious, and that the conduct of the police -- banning her from the park and not inquiring in any way as to her experience of the incident in question, and the other related details of staff misconduct at the park -- all point toward significant mis-steps by Park staff, by the police and by our city counsellor who doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to what’s going on here."

Sgt. Bernardo, if the city did not in fact ask the TPS to trespass me, but since the three TPS officers did come to my house and caution me and tell me I was not to enter the Dufferin Grove rink building nor communicate with city staff,

1. could you let me know how the confusion can be cleared up here?

2. It seems now like some city rink guards were involved in activities that were against their training or even illegal, during the recent rink season. When your officers responded to a staff call on Feb.12, they had no way of knowing this. If the officers were misled by the rink guard who said I had physically attacked him, and if one or several other rink guards falsely claimed that they had witnessed this event -- will TPS follow up on this?

Clarification would be very welcome to me, and also to the many people who wrote to the councillor after this event, as you can imagine.

Thank you.

Jutta Mason

---

---

Content last modified on April 02, 2025, at 02:28 AM EST