A Citywide Off-Leash Dog Strategy was unanimously passed by Toronto Council in April 2025. As part of that strategy, Council directed Parks and Recreation and Municipal Licensing and Standards to, among other things:

• review education and enforcement efforts and develop Key Performance Indicators to address the City’s dog off-leash problem

• provide reports related to the enforcement of the off-leash dog by-law to include the number of patrols/inspections, the number of charges laid, number of verbal warnings given or education provided and the number of people who refused to provide identification

• report to the Economic and Community Development Committee in the second quarter of 2026 with an update on enforcement.

This year, at the one year follow-up on the strategy, none of these directions had been completed nor even initiated. 

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In addition, Council requested that the Mayor include the necessary resources for ticketing and enforcement of dogs off-leash in the 2026 budget for MLS, yet no new resources were included in the 2026 budget. 

Questions to Ask Your Councillor and Mayoral Candidates

1. Will you support the 2025 Toronto Dog Off-Leash Strategy goals to build quality Off-Leash Areas (OLAs) where needed and maintain them to a high and consistent standard?

2. Will you advocate for City staff to fulfill the directions given by Council as part of the 2025 Off-Leash Strategy including those related to:

• the protection of Environmentally Significant Areas from the impacts of off-leash dogs

• the review of education and enforcement efforts by Parks and MLS and the delivery of Key Performance Indicators to address the impacts of off-leash dogs outside of OLAs.

• the inclusion of necessary resources to focus on ticketing and enforcement of dogs off-leash

• the collection and sharing of MLS data on education and enforcement of the off-leash dog by-law, including number of patrols, charges, warnings or education provided, and number of refusals to provide identification.

• the delivery by MLS of a report providing an update on enforcement efforts which was supposed to be delivered in the second quarter of 2026

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3. What are your solutions to off-leash dog activity outside of OLAs to ensure that our communities can comfortably use public green space and that our City ecosystems are protected?