SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2023 09:00AM

Well, I can say two things about mental health. First is that this government has made a multi-million dollar commitment to assist police officers who are experiencing mental health issues, and, I believe, if I’ve not misspoken, that investment was approximately $12 million in a treatment centre which is well-known among police officers in the province of Ontario. They need and deserve our support when they experience mental health issues.

Secondly, on the topic of mental health, when a call comes into the call centre, the dispatch centre, and the dispatch officer on the phone is made aware that there might be a mental health issue that is perhaps presenting itself in a certain emergency situation, that dispatch officer does have the resources and the authority to call in other services who can attend along with the officer if that is deemed to be a safe thing to do.

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I want to thank the member from Kiiwetinoong for his insightful remarks. He’s a great educator for me on so many things in the community. He knows that our government fought very hard for pension equity. This is something that I was personally involved with. We corrected something that took decades to do.

We continue to advocate and speak with the chiefs of police in the First Nations communities, and I do so on a regular basis.

The member speaks about the urgency in getting the CSPA, the Community Safety and Policing Act, moving forward, and I absolutely agree with him. I have given this House an undertaking that we will move with dispatch to make sure that we proclaim it and enact it. My question to the member is, given the fact that we are moving the needle, will the member support this bill?

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