Ottawa’s city council has greenlit a plan to create a mental health emergency dispatch line and a mobile crisis response team that would be in operation 24-7.
A city memo said the emergency service is to launch in about a year after a consultation, hiring and training process.
The strategy approved Wednesday, which emphasizes that the team would be trauma-informed and culturally appropriate, will receive $2.5 million in one-time funding through a municipal tax reserve.
Ottawa follows Toronto as the second major Canadian city to adopt such a strategy.
The initiative comes amid a broader conversation in North America about diverting the emergency response to mental health and drug abuse-related incidents away from police.
Activists in Ottawa have been pushing for a shift after the deaths of Abdirahman Abdi, a Somali Canadian who died after a 2016 encounter with police, and Greg Ritchie, an Ojibwe man who was killed by police gunfire in 2019.
Both men were described by their families as struggling with mental health issues.
Police were called to a coffee shop where Abdi was reported to be causing a disturbance, according to testimony heard in court during the trial for Const. Daniel Montsion, who was acquitted of manslaughter and assault charges in connection with Abdi’s death.
By the time the first officer arrived, Abdi had been ejected from the coffee shop and was acting violently and groping women, the court heard.
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Abdi was pepper-sprayed and ran away, according to testimony, but the officer caught up with him outside his apartment building and Montsion arrived shortly afterwards. A police dispatcher had described Abdi as having potential mental health issues.
Abdi, who was unarmed, was brought to the ground after several punches, the court heard. He was dealt three blows to the thighs and three to his upper body, two of which landed on his head. He died in hospital the next day.
Ritchie was shot by a police officer outside the St. Laurent shopping mall after two police officers responded to a call that said he had a knife concealed under his coat, according to a report from the provincial Special Investigations Unit.
One of the officers approached Greg in an attempt to engage in conversation, but according to the report, he became frustrated, threatened the officer with an object in his hand and waved it in their direction.
One officer tried Tasering Ritchie but moments later he appeared to raise the object over his head and swing it, the report said. The two officers shot at Ritchie 11 times, and three of the bullets hit him. He later died in hospital.
The SIU determined that there were no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officers in relation to Ritchie’s death.
The families of both men launched lawsuits against the Ottawa Police Service. Both suits were settled outside of court.
The Ottawa Police Service agreed to initiate a mental health response strategy as part of the settlement reached with Abdi’s family.
Some city councillors are looking for the city to get mental health-related calls out of the police’s hands even sooner than the timeline set out in the city strategy that was agreed upon Wednesday.
Coun. Ariel Troster moved for city staff to “expedite and prioritize the launch of the alternate response pilot,” and the council passed the motion.
“What we’re seeing in the (downtown) core is that a significant number of people who are experiencing homelessness and experiencing the drug poisoning and addiction crisis in Ottawa — they’re displaying erratic behaviour,” said Troster.
“We desperately need an alternative mental health response, because in many cases the person you want to call is not police, because behaviour is not necessarily criminal.”
Coun. Laura Dudas said the new emergency service would also help free up police resources.
In Canada’s most populous and diverse city, residents can call 211 or 911 to dispatch community and social service professionals instead of police.
The Toronto Community Crisis Service, which handles such calls, was put in place in 2022 as a three-year pilot project.
“Our team looked at Toronto as one of the cities who have already launched a similar program,” Clara Freire, Ottawa’s interim general manager of community and social services, said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“We’re going to be leveraging not only what they’ve learned, but also some of the tools that they have in place.”
Freire said the city will “duplicate” some measures, such as call protocols and job descriptions.
She noted that uptake was slow at first in Toronto because of a lack of awareness of what the program offered. But as more people became aware of the service, it ticked up, and she said the service now receives about 80 calls a day.
It also took time, Freire said, for Toronto police to defer calls related to mental health.
“And that’s exactly what were learning for our program here in Ottawa. We’re working very closely with Ottawa Police Service.”
Freire said it’s early to estimate how many people will work for the Ottawa service, but it is expected to consist of mental health professionals, social service workers and peer supporters.
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