Advocates say more consultation, focus needed on police mental health programs

As groups across North America call for police services to be defunded in favour of more mental health supports and community-lead programming, the Government of Saskatchewan has increased its funding to police in the province by roughly two per cent.

Funding distributed through the province's municipal police grants increased by $335,000 year-over-year to roughly $15.455 million, from $15.120 million last year. The money is slated for police services in Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw.

The province said in news releases that the funding will be used to renew Police and Crisis Teams (PACT) in these cities.  PACT units pair a police officer with a mental health professional to help people with mental health issues find  appropriate services.

Only one new PACT member — in Moose Jaw — was added in the province as a result of the funding, with roughly $110,000 being used for that position. 

Saskatchewan's Minister of Policing and Corrections Christine Tell said in a release that the funding "reinforces our government's commitment to ensuring communities are safe and police are supported."

Some critics say the increased funding is disappointing.

"It's frustrating to me as a citizen of the inner city in Saskatoon to see yet more funding going to the police, when we still don't have basic services in our community," said Erica Violet Lee, a community organizer with the Indigenous Joint Action Coalition.

The group has been calling for police in Saskatoon to be defunded. Lee said that while police budgets grow, many in Saskatoon's inner-city still don't have access to things like a community grocery store, or adequate support through programs like social assistance and disability. 

"All of these things that could be improved, but people are choosing — deliberately — to put more funding into the over-inflated police budget," she said. 

She said that although the Saskatoon Police Service is working to improve its mental health programming, there needs to be an alternative, community-lead service for people who don't feel comfortable calling the police. She said it is critical community organizers are at the table during conversations around where funding is best directed.

"It's the people on the streets, and people who work in these organizations every single day, who know exactly where the funding shortfalls are," she said. 

CBC News requested an interview with Minister Tell. The Ministry of Policing and Corrections said Tell was not available.

A statement from the ministry said that alongside PACT programs, funding from the province is used to support domestic violence, mental health and drug treatment courts, victim-offender mediation, community justice conferences, and interpersonal and sexual violence services. 

The statement did not address CBC's question about only one PACT member being added across the four largest urban centres.

Mark Fisher, commanding officer with RCMP F division and the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police, said the PACT program has proven successful in the province. He said he's happy that Saskatchewan's commitment to the programs has not wavered in the face of budget pressures. 

"It just provides a better level of service, I would argue, to people in crisis. We're much better equipped having access to that type of expertise when we attend to some of those calls and deal with people in crisis." 

He said the other advantage of the PACT program is it allows for more follow-up between trained professionals and those who need help long after officers are off scene, as crisis workers can help connect people to long-term services and support. 

He said the conversation around funding being diverted from police services is complex and will continue for years to come. 

"For the time being, we're in a situation where, particularly in some of our RCMP jurisdictions and some of the smaller police services, where we are the first line of response at three in the morning to some of these calls," he said.

"So, the more access we have to service and mental health workers, and people that do have more extensive training in response to these types of issues, the better equipped we are to respond to them." 

The province also said that the Ministry of Health will be providing RCMP $437,000 in 2020-21 for a pilot program that will see nurses working with RCMP members to support mental health needs in rural areas.

Rita Field, executive director of Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Services (SCIS), said any investment that will see co-response programs like PACT expand in the province is welcome. She said the fact it's been renewed by the province speaks to the effectiveness of the program. 

"We have some very good data that shows us that — and also stories — where people feel it's quite effective to have a crisis worker and a police officer co-responding," she said. "In Saskatoon, that's only 10 to 12 hours a day, somewhere in there, 365 days of the year, so it'd be good to expand that." 

Field said she'd like to see the program undergo close examination to determine how it could be expanded even further. 

She said Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Services (SCIS) regularly reports to the Ministry of Social Services, but also has the ear of the Ministries of Justice and Health. She said it's important for both established organizations like SCIS and grassroots movements to be part of the conversation. 

"We can't go wrong with listening to the grassroots," she said. "Day-to-day, we're providing direct service and yes, we need resources, but we also need to be able to — very effectively and quickly — state what the needs are." 

Margaret Kisikaw Piyesis is the CEO of the All Nations Hope Network Saskatchewan, which helps support Indigenous people living with or affected by HIV. She said her organization has a good relationship with the Regina Police Service.

"As we hear there is more funding being released for the police services in Saskatchewan, we would hope that they would have a look at what is happening among Indigenous people and injection drug use and what we're seeing in terms of overdoses and the deaths related to actively using," said Kisikaw Piyesis. 

She said injection drug use is a health problem as opposed to a criminal problem and needs to be treated as such. She said there needs to be a greater focus on spiritual and emotional well-being in policing, alongside physical health. 

"If they're just focusing on one area, it's definitely not going to work," she said. 

Kisikaw Piyesis said a partnership between police and frontline organizations based on a holistic response is more effective at addressing the root causes of mental health crisis, like trauma caused by colonialism ranging from Canada's residential schools to the hundreds of Indigenous women and girls that have gone missing or been murdered in Canada.

"Those are solutions that are deep-rooted in our ways of knowing as indigenous people," she said, adding police services have to let Indigenous leaders in the community take the lead.

RCMP F Division Commender Fisher said that over the past six months, public scrutiny of police has changed dramatically and that police leaders across the province are ready and willing to work with community members.

"Part of evolving is staying up to date with training, being alive to discussions so you're aware of what the public feels about the service you're providing and that you're being responsive and they're being heard," he said. 

"A big part of that is taking the time to listen and to listen actively and I think the value of that has been shown over and over again."

In total, the province will provide $15.455 million to the municipalities in 2020-21 to fund 129 municipal police positions and targeted policing initiatives. That's an increase of $335,000, or two per cent, when compared to the $15.120 million allocated to municipalities in 2019-20.