Municipal Community Safety and Wellbeing plans required in Ontario

Every municipality shall prepare and, by resolution, adopt a community safety and well-being plan.

Every community safety and well-being plan prepared and adopted under the Police Services Act before it was repealed shall be deemed to have been prepared and adopted under this Act.

The Minister may deem a community safety and well-being plan to have met all of the requirements in section 250 if,

consultations to develop the plan were completed before January 1, 2019; and

in the Minister’s opinion, the consultations substantially complied with the obligations set out in section 250.

Section 248 of the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019

The Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 as established by Bill 68, Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019 to replace the Police Services Act, 1990 came into effect on April 1, 2024.

Contents

Community Safety and Well-Being Plan advisory committee must include members representing, health care, youth, social services

The advisory committee must, at a minimum, consist of the following members:

A person who represents,

Ontario Health, or

an entity that provides services to improve the physical or mental health of individuals in the community or communities.

A person who represents an entity that provides educational services in the municipality.

A person who represents an entity that provides community or social services in the municipality, if there is such an entity.

A person who represents an entity that provides community or social services to children or youth in the municipality, if there is such an entity.

A person who represents an entity that provides custodial services to children or youth in the municipality, if there is such an entity.

An employee of the municipality or a member of the municipal council.

A person who represents the police service board or, if there is no police service board, the commander of the detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police that provides policing in the area or his or her delegate.

A chief of police of a police service that provides policing in the area or his or her delegate.

Any other person prescribed by the Minister.

Section 250 of the Community Safety and Policing Act

What a Community Safety and Well-Being Plan must include

A community safety and well-being plan shall,

identify risk factors in the municipality or First Nation, including, without limitation, systemic discrimination and other social factors that contribute to crime, victimization, addiction, drug overdose and suicide and any other risk factors prescribed by the Minister;

identify which risk factors the municipality or First Nation will treat as a priority to reduce;

identify strategies to reduce the prioritized risk factors, including providing new services, changing existing services, improving the integration of existing services or coordinating existing services in a different way;

set out measurable outcomes that the strategies are intended to produce;

address any other issues that may be prescribed by the Minister; and

contain any other information that may be prescribed by the Minister.

Section 251 of the Community Safety and Policing Act

Community Safety and Well-Being Plan must be publicly available online

A municipality that has adopted a community safety and well-being plan shall publish it on the Internet in accordance with the regulations made by the Minister, if any.
Section 252 of the Community Safety and Policing Act