Education
Saunders has a bachelor of applied arts in justice studies from the University of Guelph-Humber (completed in 2015).
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Mark Saunders
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He was chosen on April 17, 2015 to succeed Bill Blair following Blair"s retirement the following week. Saunders is the first Black Canadian to lead Toronto"s police service and reportedly beat out deputy chief Peter Sloly for the position. He is only the second Black Canadian to head a police force in Canada, having been preceded by Devon Clunis of the Winnipeg Police Service in 2012.
Saunders was born in England to Jamaican parents.
His family moved from England to Quebec, and in 1969, moved to Milton, Ontario. He was a student council president while attending Milton District High School, and also attended West.I. Dick Middle School.
Saunders began his policing career after graduating from high school and has served with the Toronto Police for 32 years, rising to the position of deputy chief in charge of specialized operations command, before being appointed chief in 2015. During his career, he has had assignments with professional standards, urban street gang unit, intelligence division, drug squad, community safety command, emergency task force and served as the unit commander of the homicide squad.
