Community Safety & Well-Being Plan

Community Safety & Well-Being is about the conditions that allow people and communities to be safe, healthy, connected, and supported.

It looks beyond emergency response to understand why people reach crisis in the first place. Housing, income, food, mental health, racism, belonging, public spaces, climate, and access to services all shape safety and well-being.

The goal is to work together earlier, address root causes, improve coordination, and build a community where people can live with dignity, support, and belonging.

Why does this Plan exist?
Ontario requires municipalities to have a Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. The purpose is to help communities move beyond reacting to crisis and work together earlier across four areas: social development, prevention, risk intervention, and incident response

When people do not have the supports they need early enough, the impacts are felt across the community.

For individuals and families:
More stress, instability, isolation, poor health, unsafe situations, and barriers to getting help.

For neighbourhoods and public spaces:
More visible distress, conflict, fear, stigma, and pressure on shared spaces.

For community services:
Higher demand for shelters, outreach, food programs, crisis supports, navigation, and frontline staff.

For emergency services:
Higher call volumes and more complex situations can place pressure on police, fire, paramedics, by-law, and emergency response. This can affect service levels, response capacity, staff well-being, and the ability to focus on prevention.

For health and wellness systems:
When people cannot access support early, health needs can become more urgent and complex. This increases pressure on emergency departments, hospitals, mental health and substance use services, primary care, public health, and community-based supports.

For municipalities:
More pressure on infrastructure, public spaces, staff, budgets, service coordination, and public trust.

Community Safety & Well-Being issues are connected.

Housing affects health.

Health affects income.

Income affects food security.

Food security affects stress.

Stress affects family well-being.

Racism affects belonging and access to services.

Public spaces affect how safe and connected people feel.

Climate and infrastructure affect long-term community resilience.

Housing, health, income, food security, belonging, transportation, education, and access to services influence one another. Changes in one area can affect many others.

Community Safety & Well-Being uses a balanced approach across four areas:

Social Development
Building the conditions for people to thrive.

Prevention
Addressing risks before harm or crisis happens.

Risk Intervention
Coordinated support when someone or a situation is becoming more vulnerable or unsafe.

Incident Response
Responding when immediate safety concerns or emergencies happen.

Key message:
The goal is not to eliminate emergency response. The goal is to strengthen what happens earlier so fewer people, families, and systems are pushed into crisis.

Community Safety & Well-Being belongs to all of us.

Community Safety and Well-Being is a shared responsibility. Governments, community organizations, institutions, businesses, service providers and community members all play a role in shaping the conditions that influence community well-being.

A safer community is not the work of one service, one plan, or one response. It is the result of collective impact — people, organizations, and systems working together through relationships, trust, prevention, equity, and coordinated action.