Here's How Mississauga Businesses Can Help the LGBTQ+ Community

Members of the LGBTQ+ community in Mississauga and Brampton now have a ‘safe place’ to go when they’re in public and become the target of a hate crime.

"Hate motivated incidents continue to occur and that is an unacceptable reality,” said Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans.

The Safe Place program, launched on July 5, partners with residents and businesses across both cities via the Brampton Board of Trade and Mississauga Board of Trade.

It’s aiming to assist victims of hate-motivated crime and incidents in the LGBTQ+ community by providing a secure location for victims to report a hate-motivated crime and to get the help they need, with compassion and dignity.

Here’s how it works.

Businesses wishing to sign-up for the Safe Place program can pledge their commitment online using the Safe Place pledge form.

Once the pledge is made, the business will receive a specially designed Safe Place sticker to be placed prominently on the front window of the business.

This sticker will serve to notify members of the LGBTQ+ community that this business is committed to providing safety to the victim by allowing them to enter their business, give them shelter and safety, and assisting the victim in contacting police to report hate-motivated crimes and incidents.

“It is therefore important that as a community, we work together to send a message of unity and support to all members of the LGBTQ+ community represented in the Region of Peel,” Evans said.

“I am happy to say that Peel Regional Police are working with local businesses to strengthen that unity.”

Photo courtesy of Peel Regional Police