Struck and chaired by Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane, the task force brought together the university, the City of Kingston, community partners, student leaders, as well as local enforcement and emergency response partners, examined the effectiveness of current approaches and learned from the best practices used in other jurisdictions. The task force invited input and ideas from the community and provided a forum to develop new and innovative approaches to address unsanctioned street parties.
Task Force Working Groups worked on a series of recommendations (below). Experts from different fields provided insights as to how to develop approaches to address unsanctioned street parties. The groups reviewed sector policies, practices, and social media evidence-based campaigns. Recommendations were developed through a collaborative process that included many campus partners, as well as community members.
Task Force on Street Parties Report
Task Force Structure and TOR
1. Scan of Other University/Sector Approaches
Recommendations
- Establish a public database
- Historical and future data should be collected on the number of alleged Liquor Licence Control Act and by-law offenses/charges, health-related statistics, charges and prosecutions, Queen's internal discipline proceedings, and any other pertinent topics. The database should be open to relevant community stakeholders to provide up-to-date statistics yearly, and ³ÉÈË´óƬ should monitor and maintain the database continuously.
- Acknowledge street party phenomenon as a cultural issue.
- The final report should address the effects of alcohol-related marketing and availability, as well as social media effects on culture.
- Advocate for less alcohol availability, alcohol marketing, and overall strengthening of both local and provincial alcohol policies.
- Work has been done to address street parties before and after events take place, but there should be a focus on the broader alcohol environment and its role in community-related issues.
- Potential development of a community partnership – benefits would be ongoing monitoring and shared vision.
- Acknowledge that street parties are not unexpected given the unique characteristics of the university district, geographical location, and abundance of young people.
- Focus on building new traditions that foster school spirit.
- Address accountability for street parties.
- Use the Postsecondary Education Partnership-Alcohol Harms Framework (PEP-AH Framework) more broadly and incorporate community actions and interventions to reduce alcohol harm.
- Support alcohol harm reduction campaigns (e.g. Before the Floor) by funding targeted messaging to Queen’s community.
- ³ÉÈË´óƬ to help expand the reach of these campaigns.
- Facilitate access to harm reduction measures.
- When street parties are expected to take place, ³ÉÈË´óƬ should facilitate access to food trucks, water trucks, washroom facilities, triage, and the Campus Observation Room (COR), alongside any additional harm reduction measures.
- Increase the funding for health promotion video production.
- Increase funding for evidence-informed health promotion campaigns and market research to inform and implement communications that would resonate with Queen's students.
- This would include focus groups.
- Engage with neighbourhood associations by including them in conversations surrounding street parties, enforcement, and sharing of resources.
- Begin communications regarding street parties/getting through the cultural shift of parties as soon as students arrive in Kingston (inherently including all community partners).
- Overall message about building a community together - create a sense of expectations, togetherness, and responsibility.
- Provide police and campus security with more facetime with students during orientation week and/or orientation training.
1. Explore more sanctioned events on campus in consultation with students to understand the types of events that would increase student participation (e.g., Events that provide food and non-alcoholic beverages). This could include more targeted events where students of all faculties have the chance to interact.
2. Bringing back subdivision of Town Gown Association of Ontario to Kingston.
3. Suggest an Ontario Universities roundtable, similar to 2019, bringing universities and city partners together to discuss approaches to street parties.
1. Community policing: continue moving towards a community policing model, incorporating Police Liaison Team methodology, using education and communication before, during, and after street party events.
- Kingston Police will identify opportunities for community officers to increase their involvement with the communities they serve.
- Queen’s University to explore developing a process to obtain student feedback, with respect to their experiences regarding enforcement initiatives after street parties.
2. Ticket sharing: Pursue the possibility of police to share ticketing information between police jurisdictions, to discourage party hoping.
The Enforcement and Policing Issues working group was not unanimous on its final recommendations. Some members put forward additional recommendations that are included here for full transparency. The Task Force as a whole did not endorse these additional recommendations as they present legal, jurisdictional and practical challenges for implementation. The work of the Task Force was to identify real, workable options for addressing the street party phenomenon. The additional recommendations are generally beyond the scope and/or capacity of the Task Force to implement.