A proposal to provide home security coverage for Windsor councillors and the mayor was moved behind closed doors during Monday’s city council meeting.
The recommendation would direct administration to bring forward a budget item as part of the 2027 budget process, although details on what type of security measures could be covered have not been publicly outlined.
Mayor Drew Dilkens said several councillors have raised concerns about safety at home during the current term and believes the city has a responsibility to help protect elected officials and their families.
“They need to have the sense of safety. We need to provide the tools that give them that sense of safety so that they can do their job effectively, but know that when they’re home they’re safe, and when they’re not home that their property and their families are safe as well,” said Dilkens.
He said there have been “many examples” of security issues arising during the current term that have been handled on a case-by-case basis by the city’s director of corporate security.
“Some people are crazy out there. Let’s just admit it. They’ll go to a counsellor’s home with a cell phone in their hand and knock on their door or ring their bell, and the councillor opens the door doesn’t know who’s there, and all of a sudden they’re having to deal with someone on their front porch in a very uncomfortable situation,” said Dilkens.
He says political discourse has become less civil in recent years and concerns about personal safety have affected his own family.
“I’ll be honest with you, there was a time where my wife’s got a knife in every room hidden somewhere, that if something happened, she has the ability to respond,” Dilkens said.
“It’s crazy. It’s crazy that I have to stand here and say that to you. But that’s my own home. What she had to do because I’m out so often, she wanted her own security.”
Dilkens has faced security threats himself in the past.
In 2022, Windsor police charged a woman after a bomb threat targeting the mayor’s residence was posted on social media.
A 68-year-old Windsor man was charged in 2024 with uttering death threats after police said the mayor’s office received a threatening phone call.