Toronto transit self-defence classes sell out

People enter a subway train inside a Toronto Transit Commission station in downtown Toronto, Saturday, April 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

The TTC can be a stressful place at the best of times.

Pair that with a number of violent -- and sometimes random -- attacks in the last 12 months, some riders who rely on Toronto’s transit system may feel helpless.

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Now, a new seminar in the city is promising to teach riders a set of self-defence skills to bring with them on their next journey and keep them safe.

“It's tough to function under stress. Your motor skills deteriorate your awareness, you develop tunnel vision,” Chris Gagne, head instructor at the Toronto Krav Maga Academy, told NEWSTALK 1010’s Moore in the Morning on Wednesday.

“We want people to be able to function even in those circumstances when they're under duress. And that's not easy.”

Gagne and Joey De Los Reyes, co-owner of Kombat Arts Training Academy, co-founded the Civilian Self-Defence Academy in response to how unsafe the TTC appears to have become over the past year.

Even before they launched the 90-minute workshops, Gagne said there was significant interest in the program.

“There was a huge demand leading up to us organizing and designing the courses,” Gagne said.

“We had set up one, and with all the events that are happening…plus, you know, the media coverage as well, that people are really concerned and they sold out really quickly.”

The seminars take place at FIIT Co. in Leslieville and are rooted in the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga, which is described on the class website as, “fast and efficient techniques to survive and escape worst-case scenarios.”

Unfortunately, those worst-case scenarios have become all too common on the TTC.

Last month, a teenager died in what police called an “unprovoked” stabbing at Keele Station, which marked the latest in a string of violence incidents on the transit.

Gagne acknowledged that the success of his program is bittersweet, but that the interest speaks to the desire for self-protection.

“It's too bad that this is happening. We'll do our best to try to prepare people to make sure they're safe.”