‘It’s gonna take some time’: Minister dodges questions on review of Mental Health Act

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Peggy

Manitoba’s NDP government is conducting a long overdue review of the province’s Mental Health Act in the wake of calls to decentralize the role of police officers in the assessment and treatment of people experiencing a crisis.

“I can tell you that we’re doing a review. It’s gonna take some time. It hasn’t been done in 25 years,” Bernadette Smith, the minister responsible for housing, addictions and homelessness, said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference.

She refused to provide any details as to what the review entails, or when it is expected to be completed.

However, when pressed on whether peace officers could see their involvement in those calls curtailed, Smith said “we’re going to be talking with experts and that may come out of the review.”

“We’ve heard from police that sometimes they don’t need to be called in. And we know that police are stretched.”

Smith was attending an announcement about a new playground when asked about the review, which was first reported by the Winnipeg Free Press Tuesday morning.

A woman with long brown hair, and wearing a red blazer, stands outside at a podium. — Bernadette Smith, Manitoba’s housing, addictions and homelessness minister, responds to reporters’ questions about a review of the Mental Health Act as Premier Wab Kinew looks on. (Travis Golby/CBC)

As Kinew stood behind her, Smith repeated the same few lines to each question.

“It’s a review. It’s gonna take some time. We’ll have more details for you … but right now we’re here to talk about opening up a brand new playground,” she said.

There have been calls in recent years to remove police as first responders in mental health emergencies. Those calls grew louder after at least six cases since October 2023 where people died following encounters with Winnipeg police officers.

Alternatives without police needed: advocate

Under the Mental Health Act peace officers are the only authority invested with the power to take a person in crisis into involuntary custody and transport them to a facility for care.

The Coalition of Families Affected by Police Violence is hoping the review could lead to change in the system.

“There are alternative responses without police,” said Meaghan Daniel, a representative for the coalition. “Police can exacerbate the stress of those in crisis, especially if they have had previous negative interactions.”

The organization represents a group of families who have lost one of their members in a police-related death. The group came together following the death of James Woods in January after he was restrained by Winnipeg police officers.

Roses and candles sit front of a framed photo of a man with a beard and black baseball cap. — A coalition representing families who have lost a relative to police violence that came together after the death of James Wood is hoping the review could lead to changes in the system including alternative to responses crisis calls without police. (Submitted by Hilda Anderson-Pyrz)

Daniel said often police-related deaths have at its root a wellness check involving someone who “had finally broken down their coping mechanisms.”

“Instead of getting help, the response ended up escalating the situation so they lost their life rather than return to that state of wellness, which is what we hope for our family,” she said.

Manitoba has to look at “home-grown solutions” that can respond to the mental health landscape and incidents of police violence in the province, Daniel says, while adding the province should also focus in including community-led response teams without police involvement seen in other Canadian jurisdictions.

For example, the Toronto Community Crisis Service, a pilot project for a crisis response team with no police officers, diverted 78 per cent of 911 calls in a period of six months in 2022, Daniel said.

“That’s an enormous success … both in terms of the amount of the city’s budget that police often take, but also the protection of life.”

Insp. Helen Peters, health liaison for the Winnipeg Police Service, says officers shouldn’t be the only resource available.

“We’ve seen in the past where people with mental health issues are detained or restrained by police … and I think it sometimes creates a bigger issue because these folks are vulnerable and they feel maybe under pressure by police,” she said.

A blond woman looks at the camera. — Insp. Helen Peters, health liaison for the Winnipeg Police Service, said mental health calls to police has also ‘steadily climbed’ over the years, putting a strain on the force and its capability to respond promptly (CBC News)

Peters is calling for a “multilayered approach” that could involve mental health community partners and organizations for different kinds of needs.

From May to August police transported 330 people to a health facility, Peters says, but 49 per cent of these cases didn’t require a detention, and people were ultimately referred to resources available within the community, such as a crisis response centre.

She says different types of resources can be spread out so a group can be tailored to assist people who receive care voluntarily, while others take aim at people who present a safety risk.

“The hope is the addition of different types of responses to meet different needs,” Peters said. “Let community and health take the lead. Police will always have a role, especially when there’s behaviour that presents a danger.”

Number of mental health calls swelling: police

The number of mental health calls to police has also “steadily climbed” over the years, putting a strain on the force and its capability to respond promptly, Peters says.

Between May to August Winnipeg, Peter says, police received 234 Mental Health Act forms, but that high number of calls — paired with a system that prioritizes response when danger is involved — meant it sometimes took police “several days” before they might have a unit available to check on a person.

Earlier this year, then-Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth said his officers were responding to close to 21,000 mental health-related calls annually.

The police service does use the Alternative Response to Citizens in Crisis (ARCC) program, which pairs plainclothes police officers with mental health workers when responding to non-violent and non-emergent crisis situations.

However, ARCC only provides secondary responses once a situation is deemed safe. Uniformed police officers are typically the first responders, particularly when calls involve a weapon.

“I think the review is an opportunity to look at things through a different lens and think outside of the box as to what our traditional response is,” Peters said. “We need to to have that variety of options available.”