The Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) is the non-police

crisis intervention Crisis intervention is a time-limited intervention with a specific psychotherapeutic approach to immediately stabilize those in crisis. Implementation A crisis can have physical or psychological effects. Usually significant and more widespre ...

pilot program operated by the City of Toronto. The program runs in four areas of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and partners with local community health agencies, which provides crisis workers. The program is integrated with the local

2-1-1 2-1-1 is a special abbreviated telephone number reserved in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) as an easy-to-remember three-digit code to reach information and referral services to health, human, and social service organizations. Like the ...

and 9-1-1 call centres.

History

In 2020, in response to calls for police reform following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

in the United States and a series of similar incidents in Toronto such as the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet,

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The c ...

considered a series of motions aimed at reforming policing and crisis response in the city. Mayor

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...

tabled a motion to "detask" the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

. The city would explore how duties currently assigned to sworn officers would be assumed by "alternative models of community safety response" to incidents where neither violence nor weapons are at issue. Tory's motion passed unanimously on June 29. City staff presented a report to the Executive Committee on January 27, 2021, which recommended the creation of a community crisis support service pilot program. The Executive Committee endorsed the report and it was later adopted by Toronto City Council on February 2. City council gave the Social Development, Finance and Administration Division (SDFA) the remainder of the year ot develop the non-police crisis response pilot. Denise Campbell, the division's executive director indicated in April that some issues her team were considering included integration with 9-1-1 and 2-1-1 call centres, consultation with community and police, and the mandate of the program itself. A point of contention was the language of the program, whether it is non-emergency of crisis. According to Campbell, despite the word non-emergency, the goal is that the program would be able to respond to calls as fast as an ambulance. As a pilot project, the division aimed to target specific communities most at need. Three of the services areas were divided geographically, another pilot program was creating a team aimed at serving Indigenous communities. The program was projected to cost the city between $7.2 million to $7.9 million to operate each year. On January 26, 2022, the Executive Committee approved SDFA's report outlining an implementation plan for the pilot program. It was subsequently adopted by city council on February 2. The first pilot was set to begin operating in the downtown east and northeast areas by March. Another pilot in the northwest as well as the Indigenous initiative in the downtown west was planned to begin operating in June. The community agencies chosen by the city were TAIBU Community Health Centre, the Gerstein Crisis Centre, the

Canadian Mental Health Association The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is a Canadian non-profit mental health organization that focusing on resources, programs and advocacy. It was founded on April 22, 1918, by Dr. Clarence M. Hincks and Clifford W. Beers. Originally nam ...

, ENAGB Indigenous Youth Agency and the 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations. According to Mayor Tory, "the pilots will allow the city to test and to evaluate and to revise this model before we implement it on a larger scale but make no mistake it is our intention to implement it on a larger scale and to have it city-wide by 2025 at the latest". The first pilot in the downtown east launched on March 31, 2022, the northeast pilot launched on April 4, and the northwest and downtown west pilots launched in July.

Program areas and agencies

Downtown East

The downtown east pilot includes TPS 51 and 52 divisions. Its boundaries are: * North:

Bloor Street Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Park ...

to the

Prince Edward Viaduct The Prince Edward Viaduct System, commonly referred to as the Bloor Viaduct, is the name of a truss arch bridge system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, connecting Bloor Street East, on the west side of the system, with Danforth Avenue on the east. The ...

* East:

Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...

Lake Shore Boulevard Lake Shore Boulevard (often incorrectly compounded as Lakeshore Boulevard) is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore ...

to the Don Roadway * South:

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

* West:

Spadina Avenue Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods. Spadina Avenue runs south ...

The agency responsible for this pilot area is the Gerstein Crisis Centre.{{Cite web , date=March 29, 2022 , title=Toronto Community Crisis Service , url=https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/public-safety-alerts/community-safety-programs/toronto-community-crisis-service/ , access-date=2022-11-04 , website=City of Toronto , language=en-CA

Downtown West

The downtown west pilot overlaps with TPS 14 division. Its boundaries are: * North: Canadian Pacific Railway line * East: Spadina Avenue and Lower Spadina Avenue * South: Lake Ontario * West:

Dufferin Street Dufferin Street is a major north–south street in Toronto, Vaughan and King, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions (4 km) west of Yonge Street. The street starts at Exhibition Place, continues north to Toronto's northe ...

south to Queen Street, west to

Roncesvalles Avenue Roncesvalles Avenue is a north–south minor arterial street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at the intersection of Queen Street West, King Street, Toronto, King Street West and the Queensway running north to Dundas Street, Dundas Street ...

, south from Roncesvalles Avenue to Lake Ontario The agency responsible is 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations and ENAGB Indigenous Youth Agency. This pilot area focuses on the Indigenous community.

Northeast

The northeast pilot encompasses most of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

, and TPS 41, 42 and 42 divisions. Its boundaries are: * North:

Steeles Avenue Steeles Avenue is an east–west street that forms the northern city limit of Toronto and the southern limit of York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches across the western and central Greater Toronto Area from Appleby Line in Milton in th ...

* East: City of Pickering border Little Rouge River, Rouge River * South:

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provinc ...

west to Brimley Road, south from Brimley Road to Lake Ontario * West:

Victoria Park Avenue Victoria Park Avenue is a major north-south route in eastern Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the western border of Scarborough, separating it from Old Toronto, East York, and North York. The common nickname for it is VP or Vic Park. History Vi ...

The agency responsible for the pilot area is the TAIBU Community Health Centre.

Northwest

The northwest pilot encompasses TPS 23 and 31 divisions. Its boundaries are: * North:

* East: Canadian National Railway Line south to Highway 401, east to the Humber River * South: Highway 401 east to the Humber River and south to

Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as ...

* West: Highway 427 The agency responsible is the Canadian Mental Health Association.

References

Crisis hotlines Mental health organizations in Canada Municipal government of Toronto 2022 establishments in Ontario