The mayor of Winnipeg has pitched a revamp of the city’s crisis response system that he says could divert 10,000 calls away from police, fire and paramedics every year.
The proposed “fourth crisis response pathway” would allow 911 calls that aren’t violent or criminal in nature to be transferred to citywide crisis response teams, staffed in part through current community resources, including the Downtown Community Safety Partnership and The Link’s mobile crisis teams.
A community crisis dispatch and co-ordination hub would receive triaged calls and match them with the teams, which would move them out of the Winnipeg Police Service and Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service calls for service.
Mikaela Mackenzie/Free Press files
Mayor Scott Gillingham
“Every day, our 911 dispatchers receive calls from Winnipeggers who are in distress, dealing with complex mental health struggles, addiction, or wellness concerns,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said after releasing a report on the proposal Tuesday.
“Right now, the system defaults to sending police, firefighters, or paramedics because, really, (those are) the only options that are available at this moment. But a police car, a fire truck, or an ambulance isn’t always the right tool for the job, nor the most appropriate response to every call.”
A third-party report led by Pensa Consulting Inc. found the city doesn’t struggle with the lack of services, but the “limited integration and formal pathways connecting existing services and systems.”
“The opportunity is to better connect these existing strengths through a co-ordinated system that delivers compassionate, culturally responsive, trauma-informed care, and connects people to the supports they need,” said Maria Cotroneo of Pensa Consulting.
After an analysis, the report concluded that 3,855 Winnipeg Police Service calls, or nearly 8,000 hours of officer time, and 6,356 Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service calls could be re-directed to a community response model annually.
The proposal suggests crisis response teams could respond to wellness checks, mental health crises and substance use, for example.
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City council’s executive policy committee voted in favour of contracting Pensa Consulting to build a proposal for a service that would direct non-emergency calls away from police, firefighters and paramedics in December.
Gillingham first suggested the idea of an additional emergency pathway in 2024. He said councillors will consider the proposal in September. He did not have a proposed start date, but said if it is approved, a pilot project would get the ball rolling before it could be expanded.
Another step, he said, is buy-in from the province.
“This model anticipates the city and the province are in partnership together, kind of co-own this … they have this (report) now, they need time to look at it, they need time to review it,” he said.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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