Setting the stage

The ministry has been working with multi-sectoral government partners and local community and policing stakeholders to develop the Provincial Approach to Community Safety and Well-being.

As ministry staff travelled across our diverse province throughout 2013 to 2016, we listened closely to local voices that spoke about the need to change the way we look at service delivery in all sectors. The common goal for Ontarians is to get the services they need, when they need them, in an effective and efficient way. Police are often called upon to respond to complex situations that are non-criminal in nature as they operate on a 24/7 basis. We also know that many of these situations, such as an individual experiencing a mental health crisis, would be more appropriately managed through a collaborative service delivery model that leverages the strengths of partners in the community. After engaging Ontario communities on our way forward, we have affirmed that all sectors have a role in developing and implementing local community safety and well-being plans. By working collaboratively at the local level to address priority risks and needs of the community through strategic and holistic planning, we will be better prepared to meet current and future expectations of Ontarians.

This type of planning requires less dependance on reactionary, incident-driven responses and re-focusing efforts and investments towards the long-term benefits of social development, prevention, and in the short-term, mitigating acutely elevated risk. It necessitates local government leadership, meaningful multi-sectoral collaboration, and must include responses that are centred on the community, focused on outcomes and evidence-based (i.e., derived from or informed by the most current and valid empirical research or practice). It is important to note that although there is a need to rely less on reactionary, incident-driven responses, there continues to be a strong role for the police, including police services boards, in all parts of the planning process.

The ultimate goal of this type of community safety and well-being planning is to achieve sustainable communities where everyone is safe, has a sense of belonging, opportunities to participate, and where individuals and families are able to meet their needs for education, health care, food, housing, income, and social and cultural expression. The success of society is linked to the well-being of each and every individual.

Purpose

Community Safety and Well-being Planning Framework: A Shared Commitment in Ontario is the third booklet in the series that outlines the Provincial Approach to Community Safety and Well-being. It is a follow-up to community feedback highlighted in the Community Safety and Well-being in Ontario: A Snapshot of Local Voices, released in 2014, and is grounded in research outlined in the first booklet, Crime Prevention in Ontario: A Framework for Action, released in 2012.

Communities across the province are at varying levels of readiness to develop and implement a community safety and well-being plan. As such, this booklet is intended to act as a resource to assist municipalities, First Nations and their partners at different stages of the planning process, with a focus on getting started. More specifically, it highlights the benefits of developing a plan, the community safety and well-being planning framework that supports a plan, critical success factors, and connects the framework to practice with a toolkit of practical guidance documents to assist in the development and implementation of a plan. It also incorporates advice from Ontario communities that have started the process of developing a plan that reflects their unique local needs, capacity and governance structures. Planning partners in Bancroft, Brantford, Chatham-Kent, Kenora, Rama, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and Waterloo tested aspects of the community safety and well-being planning framework and the toolkit to ensure that they are as practical and helpful as possible.

Phase 1 - Framework for action

Phase 2 - Snapshot of local voices

Phase 3 - A shared commitment in Ontario

Legislative mandate

This booklet supports the legislative requirements related to mandating community safety and well-being planning under the Police Services Act (effective January 1, 2019). As part of legislation, municipalities are required to develop and adopt community safety and well-being plans working in partnership with a multi-sectoral advisory committee comprised of representation from the police service board and other local service providers in health/mental health, education, community/social services and children/youth services. Additional requirements are also outlined in legislation pertaining to conducting consultations, contents of the plan, and monitoring, evaluating, reporting and publishing the plan. This approach allows municipalities to take a leadership role in defining and addressing priority risks in the community through proactive, integrated strategies that ensure vulnerable populations receive the help they need from the providers best suited to support them.

Municipalities have the flexibility to engage in community safety and well-being planning individually, or in partnership with neighbouring municipalities and/or First Nation communities to develop a joint plan. When determining whether to develop an individual or joint plan, municipalities may wish to consider various factors, such as  existing resources and boundaries for local service delivery.  It is important to note that First Nation communities are also encouraged to undertake this type of planning, however, they are not required to do so by legislation.

Benefits

Through the ministry’s engagement with communities that are developing a plan, local partners identified the benefits they are seeing, or expect to see, as a result of their work. The following benefits are wide-ranging, and impact individuals, the broader community, and participating partner agencies and organizations:

  • enhanced communication and collaboration among sectors, agencies and organizations
  • stronger families and improved opportunities for healthy child development
  • healthier, more productive individuals that positively contribute to the community
  • increased understanding of and focus on priority risks, vulnerable groups and neighbourhoods
  • transformation of service delivery, including realignment of resources and responsibilities to better respond to priority risks and needs
  • increased engagement of community groups, residents and the private sector in local initiatives and networks
  • enhanced feelings of safety and being cared for, creating an environment that will encourage newcomers to the community
  • increased awareness, coordination of and access to services for community members and vulnerable groups
  • more effective, seamless service delivery for individuals with complex needs
  • new opportunities to share multi-sectoral data and evidence to better understand the community through identifying trends, gaps, priorities and successes
  • reduced investment in and reliance on incident response.

I believe that community safety and well-being planning situates itself perfectly with many other strategic initiatives that the City is currently pursuing. It has allowed us to consider programs and activities that will produce synergistic impacts across various areas of strategic priority in our community such as poverty reduction, educational attainment and building stronger families. Planning for simultaneous wins is efficient public policy.
Susan Evenden, City of Brantford