'It's going to save lives and save a lot of agony in this city,' Toronto Coun. Mike Colle said after introducing a motion to create a service based on the CAHOOTS program.

Calls to defund police have grown in the wake of the police killing of a Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, as well as the death in Toronto of 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a Black woman who fell from her balcony while police were in her home.

'I think a lot of families wouldn't even be in the situation of having to call 911 if there were adequate mental health supports in our communities that they could access first.'