Matthew Torigian
Distinguished Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
Biography
Matt Torigian is an international leader in policing and criminal justice reform with a 35-year career involving all aspects of community safety, having served as Ontario’s Deputy Solicitor General and as chief of police for a large police service. As a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Matt provides advice and assistance to government officials in the United States; South, Central, and Latin America; Europe, Africa and the Caribbean on a range of challenging issues in criminal justice. Matt is a highly sought-after speaker at global conferences and events on contemporary matters of community safety and police reform. Matt is also designated as a Subject Matter Expert in policing by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and provides strategic advice and independent reviews for governments, police services, and private technology-based companies worldwide.
Matt served as the Deputy Minister of Community Safety from 2014–2018 with a portfolio that included the Ontario Provincial Police; public safety, including police education and training; the monitoring and inspections of police services and boards; the provincial security advisor; criminal intelligence services of Ontario; the death investigations system; and the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management. Additionally, for a time, he was responsible for overseeing Ontario’s correctional system.
Prior to his appointment to the Ontario Public Service, Matt served 29 years with the Waterloo Regional Police Service and was appointed Waterloo Region’s fifth chief of police on December 12, 2007, a role he held for seven years. Matt is a past president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and served as a member of the board of directors with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
Matt has a Master of Public Administration degree from Western University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and was invested as an Officer of the Order of Merit of Police Forces in 2012.