Police, fire or ambulance? Winnipeg launching 4th option for 911 mental health calls

The City of Winnipeg is taking the next steps on a fourth emergency response pathway, after the model was approved by city council.

“Presently, when someone calls 911, the dispatcher only has three choices,” Mayor Scott Gillingham told Winnipeg city council Thursday.

“They can send police officers, firefighters or paramedics — but not every call requires one of those, or a combination of those three responses.”

To that end, city council unanimously agreed to adopt and begin the development of the Winnipeg Community Crisis Response (WCCR) Model at their final meeting before the October municipal election.

The WCCR is a fourth crisis response pathway which handles 911 calls that don’t require first responders’ services.

When the caller, or subject of an emergency services call, is struggling with mental health or addiction — and does not pose a risk to themselves or the public — the WCCR can respond.

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Gillingham leads the executive policy committee, which submitted the motion to the council. The WCCR team will act as a fourth option, who can only be summoned after the individual is triaged by dispatch, he said.

“It would also, of course, free up our police officers, firefighters and paramedics. And our emergency services are under the strain of increasing call volumes,” Gillingham said, noting that an analysis estimated 10,000 calls could be diverted from first responders to the WCCR.

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The model remains under development and will likely be tweaked during a working table between the City of Winnipeg and Manitoba government, he continued.

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Miguel Betti, the director of operations at the Downtown Community Safety Partnership (DCSP), said the WCCR model is a good first step.

“New ideas are good,” Betti told Global News in an interview. “As we learn more about society and what people need in order to succeed in life, I think it’s crucial that we try new ideas out — especially if the ones that are being used aren’t working.”

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The DCSP was consulted by the City of Winnipeg while it was developing the model brought before the council. The DCSP was one of several community organizations the city spoke with.

For the fourth crisis response pathway to be successful, Betti said communication will be key as different agencies often all interact at some point with the same people.

“We all see a lot of the same folks, and it’s really important to communicate with each other (and) check in, to be able to then provide the best support we can to community members,” he said.

The idea has been tested in other Canadian cities already.

The City of Toronto launched its pilot of the Toronto Community Crisis Service in 2022. It became an official fourth emergency service two years later.

Michael Anhorn is CEO at the Canadian Mental Health Association Toronto — the group is one of five that helps the city operate its crisis program.

For Winnipeg’s program to work effectively, he said those struggling need their immediate needs met, as well as long-term support.

“Having mental health professionals go and respond to a mental health crisis is letting us both match crisis response with professional type — so serving them better — but also allowing us to connect people in crisis to longer-term supports, which then, tends to prevent the next crisis,” Anhorn said.

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He congratulated the City of Winnipeg for embarking on the journey to form a crisis response team that will support people struggling with mental health concerns and addictions.

“This is a brave thing to do, especially in the environment we’re in right now,” Anhorn said.

The City of Winnipeg’s current plan for the program includes the community organizations involved in the WCCR model, following up with people who required their assistance.