On Boxing Day in 2005, mere hours after 15-year-old Jane Creba was killed in a shooting spree on Yonge St., Toronto police Chief Bill Blair stood at the scene and said:

“A young woman in our city was down here doing very normal things on Boxing Day … I think everybody in the city of Toronto will be angry about what has taken place here.”

Two years later, on May 23, 2007, Blair addressed reporters outside C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute where 15-year-old Jordan Manners was gunned down and said:

“A young man lost his life, a young student lost his life in the school. . . Students have a right to a safe school environment. It is shocking that such a crime could take place in our schools.”

On Oct. 6, 2014, two high school students, 15-year-old Michael Menjivar and 17-year-old Zaid Athir Youssef, were fatally shot in broad daylight on a school day near Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School.

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Blair has so far said nothing.

The silence of the city’s top brass, including Blair and Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly (open Norm Kelly's poilcard), on the deaths of two students has baffled elected officials and advocates working to prevent youth violence, who say that at the very least the pair should publicly offer their condolences and comment on the safety of youths in the city’s schools.

“It’s very difficult for me to understand why there isn’t an outcry in the city’s leadership,” said Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (open Kristyn Wong-Tam's poilcard). “Strong, effective leadership means we take to the podium, condemn the violence and say we will work with the community to bring back a sense of safety to the schools and communities.”

Blair was not made available for an interview on Tuesday or on Wednesday, the same day police confirmed that a third teenager, 18-year-old Yusuf Ali, was killed in an unrelated Monday shooting at Shuter and Trefann Sts.

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Kelly did not return multiple requests for comment.

Staff Insp. Gregory McLane, head of Toronto police’s homicide squad, told the Star he agreed that Monday’s shooting was a “very special and tragic event” because of the age of the victims and the fact it happened near a school, but said Blair doesn’t typically address reporters “in relation to operational homicide investigations.”

He noted Blair was not available on Monday but “had great confidence in Supt. Ron Taverner to attend the scene and ensure that public confidence was raised.”

Blair has spoken at the scene of other high-profile, deadly shootings in the past, including at the Eaton Centre in June 2012 and on Danzig St. the following month.

Amiga Taylor, who has been active in initiatives that empower youth after her 11-year-old brother Ephraim Brown was fatally shot in 2007 while attending a cousin’s birthday, said there’s no question that leaders such as Blair and Kelly have a responsibility to address Monday’s shooting.

“They need to speak with the same amount of passion that they would if this was a shooting on Wellington St. downtown,” she said. “By addressing it, they’re telling the public that it’s important to care.”

Lekan Olawoye, executive director of For Youth Initiative and the first-ever chair of the Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities, who is running for city council in Ward 12, described the silence from high-ranking officials as “an absolute slap in the face.”

“When young people are dying in our streets and schools, we need to be very, very clear about being firm and standing up for these young people. We need to make a bold statement,” he said.

Olawoye, who lost friends to violence while growing up in Rexdale, stressed that the city’s top officials need to go beyond just talk, and commit to understanding the root causes of youth violence as well as implement measures to improve education and job opportunities for young people.

Mayoral candidates weighed in Wednesday night on the issue of whether leaders should be speaking out.

“I think you have to be careful in terms of the timing not to politicize these things,” John Tory said. “But I think at the same time, there's a very, very important role for the leaders to play starting with the mayor and the deputy mayor and others to comfort people, to reassure people — starting with comforting the families and the neighbours that were involved.

“It's a terrible trauma that has gone on in the city, three in one day,” Tory added. “I think there's a job for the mayor to play in bringing the city together and offering on behalf of all the people, comfort to all of those people.”

“I remember how shocked we were when Jordan Manners was shot,” said Olivia Chow. “We need to remember these are young lives and they have a whole future in front of them and yet they are now gone. So we have to react, we have to invest in young people."

The Toronto Catholic District School Board released statements from its director of education, Angela Gauthier, and chair, Jo-Ann Davis, expressing condolences to the families and saying that support staff would be present in the schools to help students. Gauthier also addressed the media at the two schools on Tuesday.

With files from Wendy Gillis and Jennifer Pagliaro

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