Montreal's alternative to policing most vulnerable gets boost after over 10,000 interventions
CBC
Mélissa loves helping people.
"I think it's within my nature to help people," she said. "I have been doing it since I was young."
CBC has agreed not to use Mélissa's last name as she is part of Montreal's Équipe mobile de médiation et d'intervention sociale (EMMIS) — a team of intervention workers who patrol the city's streets, responding to conflicts or other issues people in precarious living situations may experience.
It started as a pilot project in September 2021 with 12 civilian social workers who formed a "mobile mediation and social response team" that, along with patrolling on their own, can be called to action by Montreal police or community organizations.
The team offers a range of services, such as conflict resolution and referring people to community resources. They may, for example, help defuse a dispute between a merchant and people who are loitering out front.
They strive to de-escalate tense situations rather than relying on police intervention. They work with people struggling with mental illness, addiction or homelessness — establishing a strong presence in areas populated by the city's most vulnerable and helping everybody feel safer.
The intervention team is available 15 hours a day from 9 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. It has been operating in the boroughs of Ville-Marie and Sud-Ouest.
But Montreal officials are now increasing the program's reach to Plateau-Mont-Royal and Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
In less than a year and a half, the service has already carried out more than 10,000 interventions. Its success prompted the city to grant it $2.6 million — doubling its workforce to serve the two new boroughs.
"They do a lot of prevention," said Alain Vaillancourt, head of public security on Montreal's executive committee.
"They make regular rounds in Ville-Marie to visit people on the ground, which will avoid potential conflicts with citizens and businesses as well. Merchants love EMMIS because they are called upon to intervene with itinerant people on commercial streets to avoid problems with customers."
While city officials tout the program as a success, Mélissa gets to follow through with her own life mission.
"I think we all come from different paths of life, and mine brought me to where I am today," she said, while driving around downtown on patrol.
"I know people who have dealt with family issues, with drug issues, homelessness. And I think that I was put on earth to help these people."
The notion that home ownership guarantees financial security in old age is being challenged by a recent survey.
The family of Nash Prystie has identified him as the man who died in an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shooting earlier this month north of Kenora, and is calling for more and quicker help for people with mental health challenges.
Playoff action in the Ontario Hockey League gets underway Thursday night for Guelph and Friday in Kitchener.
UPEI wants its faculty to sign on to an updated version of its sexual assault and discrimination policy, but the union that represents the school's academic staff says it wants the policies to be part of its collective agreement.
In Texas this week for a global energy conference, the federal natural resources minister is proclaiming "Canada is back" and ready to bolster its energy sector and grow exports.
Members of Parliament last year went on the fewest sponsored international trips in the last 15 years, excluding the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ontario is running out of time to beef up rules that would crack down on negligent and misbehaving municipal politicians ahead of the next civic election, some experts and opposition critics warn.
Six London teens are each facing multiple charges following a break-and-enter spree at homes in the city's southwest end early Sunday, police said.
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is putting the finishing touches on completing the Team Gushue Highway, but it means drivers might have to change their routes until later this summer.
Passage of the Nova Scotia government's budget bill stalled late Tuesday night when a group of singing protesters shut down the final vote to approve the budget.
Health Minister John Dornan said Woodstock-based eVisitNB will continue to provide virtual health-care services to New Brunswickers for another 90 days after March 31.
The head of Canada's largest airline has been summoned to Ottawa to explain why he spoke only in English when he offered his condolences to the families of those killed or hurt in the collision between a plane and a fire truck at a New York City airport on Sunday.
Manitoba is bucking a national trend by promising to slash its deficit, while boosting health care spending by nearly $1 billion and delivering modest affordability measures, including a PST cut that will save you money next time you buy a soda and bag of chips.