Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan

The Waterloo Region Community Safety and Wellbeing Framework Building a safe and well community for all: A journey towards transformational change was approved by Regional Council on January 26, 2022. This emerging framework has been a collaborative process to listen to the voices of many across our community, and to use those voices to create a framework for action and change. Building on the good work already underway in our community, this framework supports the goal of enabling every person who calls Waterloo Region home to feel safe, to feel like they are cared for, and to have the opportunity to thrive.

Please stay tuned for updates, as while this framework serves as the foundation for the process, there will continual chances to include more voices and for the community to collaborate and work together to build a bright future. You can also sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on what’s happening with the plan and to get information on upcoming community events related to safety and wellbeing.  

Updates below include highlights and progress the community is making on actioning the Community Safety and Wellbeing Framework.

2024 and onwards

Developing a governance model to support implementation of the framework, including: 

  • Relaunching the Steering, Advisory and Youth committees 
  • Forming action tables based for the four priority areas: 
    • Combatting Hate – Launched April 2024 
    • Addressing Intimate Partner Violence, Gender Based Violence, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – Launched April 2024 
    • Addressing Mental Health Needs Together – coming soon
    • Creating Safe and Inclusive Spaces – coming soon   
  • Approved Code of use bylaw to deter hate and harassment on Regional property 
  • Continued outreach and engagement on the framework and priorities 
  • Continue to grow and offer more conversations and opportunities to connect 
  • Stay tuned for information on our 2024 fall Symposium 
 2023
  • Outreach and engagement across sectors and community organizations on the framework and priorities 

  • Completion of the Indigenous Space Needs Assessment 

  • Launch of the Upstream Fund 

  • Region of Waterloo funding for Anti-Hate Services (including hate reporting) offered by the Coalition of Muslim Women  

  • Symposium – co-designing actions to address key community priorities 

  • Identified four priority areas for addressing safety and wellbeing based on community need and input: 

  • Combatting hate 

  • Creating safe and inclusive spaces 

  • Addressing mental health needs, together  

  • Addressing Intimate Partner Violence, Gender Based Violence, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women 

The development of the framework   

 Community engagement and outreach

During the pandemic, unprecedented engagement with a diverse group of community partners, including the Region’s Anti-Racism Advisory Working Group, led to better vaccine outcomes in priority neighbourhoods. At the Region, we saw the impact of spending more time listening and making decisions with the community. This will be our way of working going forward.

Our vision for developing the framework was to hear from community leaders, organizations and groups and engage in greater collaboration to build the framework for a safe and well community. We wanted to engage in ways that are meaningful, including focus groups and one-on-one conversations.

The focus of this engagement was on equity and amplifying Black, Indigenous, racialized, and marginalized voices. This approach emphasized listening to the community's wisdom, experience, and suggestions as we had meaningful conversations on previous engagements, calls to action, reports, and data to inform priorities. The goal was to develop a common understanding of safety and wellbeing that incorporates all voices, and to create shared values and outcomes. 

 Committees

Three committees with diverse representation across the community oversaw the development of this plan. The makeup of the committees included local leaders, representatives from area municipalities, as well as representation from the Region's Anti-Racism Advisory Committee and Indigenous and community organizations that are focused on wellbeing.

 Steering Committee

The steering committee will guide the process and endorse the framework/plan before it goes to Regional Council and the Province for approval.

Abla Tsolu Director, Housing Services, YWCA

Bruce Lauckner, CAO, Region of Waterloo

Bryan Larkin, Chief, Waterloo Regional Police Service

Donna Dubie, Healing of the Seven Generations and Anti-Racism Advisory Working Group

Fauzia Mazhar, Coalition of Muslim Women and Anti-Racism Advisory Working Group

Karen Redman, Regional Chair & Chair WRPS Board (Chair)

Melissa Ireland, Indigenous Outreach and Initiatives, Qualia Counselling

Peter Sweeney, Executive Director, Grand River YMCAs

Sandy Shantz, Regional Councillor

Tony Giovinazzo, Waterloo Regional Police Services Board Representative 

Tracy Elop, Executive Director, Carizon

Wendi Campbell, Executive Director, The Foodbank of Waterloo Region

Connie MacDonald, Chief Strategy and Communications Officer, Region of Waterloo

Advisory Committee 

The advisory group helped identify priorities, actions and metrics.

Adele Parkinson, Region of Waterloo Public Health

Alison Pearson, Children and Youth Planning Table

Arran Rowles, Community Services Region of Waterloo

Bill Lemon, Waterloo Region District School Board

Dan Chapman, City of Kitchener

Deb Bergey, Waterloo Crime Prevention Council

Elizabeth Heald, Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation

Gloria Jordan, Inner City Health Alliance & KW4 OHT

Gloria Ringwood, Grand River Hospital Board

Hsiu-Li Wang, Region of Waterloo Public Health

Joan Fisk, United Way Waterloo Region Communities

Joe-AnnM, Kinbridge Community Association

John Shewchuk, Waterloo Region Catholic District School Board

John Goodman, WRPS

Kathy Payette, Community Mental Health Services

Laura Manning, Lyle S. Hallman Foundation

Emily Christofferson, Ontario Health West

Sonia Dennis, Family & Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region

Tara Bedard, Immigration Partnership

Tova Davidson, Sustainable Waterloo Region

Youth Advisory Committee 

Twenty youth with diverse perspectives identified key areas of safety and wellbeing that they wanted to focus on and outlined their main concerns and recommendations. This further informed the work on community safety and wellbeing planning. The youth voice was valued equally to the Steering Committee and Advisory Group.

We're looking for new members! The Region of Waterloo is looking for young people (ages 14 – 25) to join the Youth Advisory Council to have a say on Regional initiatives.  

Learn more about this opportunity and apply here. Applications are due by September 20, 2024 at 11:45pm.  

 

 Timeline

Image describes the process of completing the plan with a timeline that says: Creation of Advisory Grops and Development of process, the next bubble says Mapping Community Assets and Research and Data Collection, the Third bubble says Community Engagement and Outreach, the fourth bubble says Identificcation of outcomes and priorities, the 5th bubble says collaborative development of framework with focus on action the sixth bubble says ongoing collaboratibe engagemetn and action

 

 Reports

For more information contact:

Connie MacDonald
Chief Strategy and Communications Officer
ConMacDonald@regionofwaterloo.ca

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