Mayor John Tory says a series of peaceful protest in the city over the weekend has motivated him and other city officials to “work harder” to eliminate systemic racism in Toronto.

“We know that anti-Black racism, and racism on a number of fronts, is still a significant issue here, as far as we've come…The message has been heard loud and clear,” Tory said of the protests.

Thousands of people gathered in downtown Toronto on Saturday for two separate peaceful demonstrations, where protesters called for an end to anti-Black racism.

Demonstrations have been held around the world following the death of George Floyd, who was killed in Minneapolis last week after a police officer placed his knee against Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, an incident that was caught on video.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders and other officers were seen taking a knee in solidarity with protesters during the weekend demonstrations.

“The last few days have been such a confirmation of sort of who we are and what we are as a city,” Tory said on Sunday.

“I thank everybody for the fact that it was so peaceful and (people were) so emphatic about (their) heartfelt feelings.”

Tory said the city is currently working toward making “tangible differences” to address the issues, including providing training to all city staff on anti-Black racism.

“When I sat down with some of our senior city staff, the people who have risen the highest who are Black in our city organization, and heard some of their stories of how their careers have been difficult for them get to the top, you sort of become less satisfied with the fact that they made it to the top and more concerned about the fact that there were so many obstacles in the way,” Tory said.

“We are going to try to reduce those. We are going to try to address the fact that a lot of young people in the Black communities across Toronto don't have the same access to job opportunities. That is something that automatically puts them behind the eight ball.”

Tory said the city is also speeding up the implementation of body-worn cameras for officers and Toronto police will now be undertaking race-based data collection, something that had been discussed for years but never approved.

The mayor said despite the measures that are currently underway, more work needs to be done.

“We are going to work harder to eradicate this kind of anti-Back and other kinds of racism in our city,” Tory said Sunday.

“We are going to set the standard in Toronto for making sure that racism becomes a thing of the past and that's a big challenge. But I think it is one we can take on and I think our values suggest we need to take it on even more aggressively and energetically than we have.”

The police chief took to social media on Sunday to thank protesters for marching together for peaceful demonstrations.

“Toronto proved again that we can march together in #PeacefulProtest for anti-Black racism and that we will move forward with change by pulling together, not apart,” he tweeted.

“Your message was powerful. We have the greatest city in the world. Next step: Action!”