Advertisement

Member of Toronto police board wants better system to respond to those in crisis

Click to play video: 'Questions surrounding death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet'
Questions surrounding death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet
WATCH ABOVE - (MAY 2020) In Toronto, thousands rallied to honour 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet, an Indigenous-black woman who fell to her death off her apartment's 24th floor balcony. It happened while police were inside, after the victim's mother called 911 to help her distressed daughter. As Morganne Campbell reports. – May 30, 2020

TORONTO – A Toronto police board member says the community needs better options than calling officers for those in mental health crises.

Uppala Chandrasekera, who’s also co-chair of the city’s mental-health advisory committee, says people need community-based options that include social workers, peer workers and mental health and addictions workers.

Chandrasekera says she lives two blocks from where Regis Korchinski-Paquet lived. Korchinski-Paquet died in late May after falling from her high-rise balcony while police were in her home.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Her family says they wanted her to go to a mental health hospital, and they question the role of police in her death.

Story continues below advertisement

The province’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, is investigating Korchinski-Paquet’s death.

Sponsored content

AdChoices