City councillor Josh Matlow says everything on table for street festival safety review

Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow says "everything is on the table" when reviewing street festival safety following Saturday's fatal shooting at the Salsa on St. Clair festival.

Matlow, who represents Ward 12 (Toronto–St. Paul's), called the incident "incredibly surreal" but acknowledged in a Monday interview that public safety at street festivals must be re-examined. He said the community has flooded his office with messages from frightened constituents and suggestions worth considering.

"Some have suggested shutting it down completely, some have suggested moving it to a more contained area like a park, where maybe there can be better screening," Matlow said. "Some have suggested limiting the hours to daytime because there has been a suggestion that more problems occur as we get into the evening hours."

Matlow also acknowledged the challenge of balancing public protection with preserving Toronto's free and open summer culture. "We need to make sure that people are as safe as possible and that public safety is always a top priority, but also ensure that we can still live in a free society where we can gather and come together to celebrate culture, sports and community."

He cited Vancouver's experience following a 2025 vehicle-ramming attack that killed 11, noting that incident led to safety measures to prevent similar attacks. "It is far more complex for security or police to be able to predict where somebody might have brought in a weapon, so that is going to be a challenge," he said.

Heather Hannah, co-chair of Salsa on St. Clair, acknowledged that open street festivals carry inherent risks. "What happened is one of the unpredictable parts of having an open street festival," she said.