Former Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke, with late son, Brendan.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has made an $11,300 donation to help purchase a new horse for the Toronto Police Mounted Unit.
The donation was considered by the Toronto Police Services Board at a meeting on January 11.
The donation “will allow the Service to replace retiring horses,” according to the Toronto Police Services Board agenda. “The Service expects two horses to retire within the near future, and the Mounted Unit requires a specified number of healthy horses to meet operational demands.”
Late Toronto Police Horse Picard who passed away days before Christmas.
The funds will ensure the continued viability of the unit while allowing for a donation that is purposeful and meaningful to the Service and donor, the board heard.
“This donor has previously donated a horse to the Service and wishes to do so again,” according to the agenda. “Both to help maintain a healthy complement for the Mounted Unit, and to continue the legacy of having a specified horse to represent and support the LGBTQ2S+ community.”
The horse Burke previously donated is named ‘Moose,’ the nickname of his late son, Brendan.
Member of Toronto Police Mounted Unit out on a job in the downtown area.
Brendan, 21, was Brian’s youngest son who died in 2010 following a car crash in Indiana.
He had just come out to the hockey world as a gay man and died in hospital from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle accident on treacherous, snowy roads. Another man in Burke’s vehicle also died.
Brendan wanted to have a career in hockey after college and had even talked of possibly working in a management role in the NHL.
“Gay rights have also been named a “priority” by the Toronto Police Service, and they want to use Moose to show support and inclusion,” Brian said.
Mounted Unit officers work on crowd control and lately are involved in fighting hate crime in Toronto.
Brendan had decided to come out to help end homophobia in hockey circles across North America.
The elder Burke said he would work to help his son bring awareness to the stigma so many gay hockey players face.
He was hired as the president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team in November 2008 and was let go in January 2013.
The Toronto Police Mounted Unit was established in 1886 and is one of the oldest in North America. It now consists of about 40 officers and 25 horses.
The mounted unit’s annual budget of $5.5 million is just a sliver of the services’ total 2020 budget of $1.076 billion. The overwhelming majority of the unit’s costs go to officers’ salaries.
A new horse paid for by former Leafs GM Brian Burke is expected to work on issues in the LGBTQ2S+ community
The horses live at the unit’s stables at Exhibition Place and are taken out every day for exercise.
Another police horse ‘Picard’ died days before Christmas after experiencing ‘serious’ complications during a surgical procedure.
“We are mourning the loss of Picard,” Chief Myron Demkiw told the board. “Picard was a kind, gentle horse that was well-loved.’
Police tweeted they were “very sad to share the news of the passing of Police Horse Picard,” who died last December 20.
Mounted officers are responsible for patrolling city streets in a crime prevention and enforcement role as well as responding for crowd management.