Toronto Police Service places more than 200 members on unpaid leaves as vaccine mandate goes into effect

The Toronto Police Service has placed more than 200 employees on unpaid leaves after they failed to comply with the terms of its vaccine mandate.

In a news release issued on Tuesday afternoon, the TPS confirmed that it has placed 205 of its members, accounting for 2.7 per cent of its entire workforce, on “indefinite” leaves for either refusing to disclose their vaccine status or for being unvaccinated.

The affected employees include 117 uniformed officers and 88 civilian employees.

The TPS says that “if and when” the affected employees become fully vaccinated and disclose their updated status, they will be able to return to work.

“Our objective remains ensuring the health and safety of our members, our workplaces, and the public we serve,” interim Chief James Ramer said in the release. “As we do every day, the service is prioritizing frontline and priority response to ensure public safety is not impacted during this period. I want to assure the public that the service is doing its part to protect the communities we serve and thank our members who have been vaccinated.”