Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 6, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Please help support Rossbrook House programs today. rossbrookhouse.ca/donate-today Did You Know? Rossbrook House has been a SAFE PLACE for CHILDREN and YOUTH since 1976. TOP NEWS A3 MONDAY JANUARY 6, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Advocates argue need for mental-health emergency service ‘Support better care’ K HALIL Dorival knows what it’s like to feel lonely. The Toronto-based men- tal-health advocate has struggled with social anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. “I really suffered in silence, and I used many ways to cope in unhealthy and toxic ways,” he says, adding he turned his life around and uses his story to try to help others. Dorival is a crisis worker with To- ronto Community Crisis Service, a pro- ject launched in 2022 that responds to mental health crisis calls and wellness checks. The service has been dubbed the city’s fourth emergency response ser- vice — after police, paramedics and fire services. Other major cities are examining the benefits of an alternative model as they investigate police wellness checks that have led to fatalities. Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham has asked for the creation of an emer- gency service dedicated to mental health calls. “There is an understanding across our nation and within Winnipeg that ad- dictions are on the rise, mental-health crises are on the rise, homelessness is on the rise,” he said in an interview. “We’re in a time right now when the need, it seems, has never been greater.” Winnipeg police data from 2023 shows there were more than 21,000 calls for well-being checks, making it the top request for service for the fourth year in a row. “When someone calls 911, we need to make sure we’re sending them the right agency to respond to their need,” said Gillingham. Requests for a new way to handle mental-health calls in the city were re- newed last year after deaths while in police custody. In January, a man died after police used force to subdue and arrest him. The man was reported to have been act- ing erratically. He became unrespon- sive during the interaction and was later taken to hospital, where he died. In February, officers fatally shot a man while carrying out an order under the provincial Mental Health Act. Those two cases are being investi- gated by Manitoba’s police watchdog. Indigenous and other racialized com- munities have long asked for options for crisis care that divert police response. Toronto city council was prompted to approve its community crisis service after the 2020 racial justice movement stemming from the deaths of George Floyd in the United States and Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto. The Afro-Indigenous woman fell from an apartment balcony. The crisis service sees two men- tal-health clinicians respond to well-be- ing checks without police. Calls are re- ceived through 211 or 911, and workers are dispatched if there aren’t immedi- ate public safety or medical concerns. The teams are employed and man- aged by four community partners. “Right off the hop, the teams work to try and understand the individual,” said Mohamed Shuriye, the city’s dir- ector of community safety and well-be- ing. “Sometimes the presence of a uniformed officer, paramedic or fire- fighter can sometimes escalate people.” Data from its first year shows the service took 6,827 calls, with less than two per cent requiring additional as- sistance from police, said Shuriye. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has said the service saves lives. City council made the pilot project permanent and expanded the service across the city. A similar model is offered in parts of B.C. The program uses teams of two work- ers to respond to mental-health crisis calls in North Vancouver, Victoria, New Westminster, Prince George and Comox Valley. They are trained in de-escalation strategies, scene safety and situational awareness. The program receives much of its funding from the British Columbia gov- ernment. “It’s ingrained that people in crisis need a police response,” said Jonny Morris of the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, which oversees the program. “But jurisdictions, I think, are waking up to approaches that destigmatize and ac- tually support better care.” Since it started, the program has taken thousands of calls, with police in- volved in about one per cent, said Mor- ris. It has a 48-hour followup require- ment with clients, something also im- plemented in Toronto, to ensure indi- viduals are provided with the correct resources and supports. Morris said more than 70 per cent of people in the provincial justice system have a mental illness or substance use disorder. “It’s arguably an incredibly vulner- able experience to be in crisis,” said Morris. “The more that we can do for people to have crisis-care experiences that don’t retraumatize them, don’t cause them to never want to go near the sys- tem, means that we’ll hopefully see re- duced crises in the future.” While these initiatives are fairly new in Canada, a city in the United States has had one for decades. Mental-health workers in Eugene, Ore., saw the need to help the police department with social service calls. In 1989, Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, or CAHOOTS, was born. Staff with the mobile crisis-inter- vention program respond to a range of calls relating to welfare checks, public intoxication, ride requests and environ- mental concerns, such as drug para- phernalia. The program operates 24 hours a day in Eugene and its sister city, Spring- field. A mental-health worker and a medical professional respond to the calls. “There are situations where our training is just so different, and the way we think about these scenarios are so different,” said program co-ordinator Justin Madeira. “So, our interactions are just innately different.” Advocates say the biggest challen- ges these services face aren’t safety but precarious funding, a small pool of mental-health workers to choose from and a lack of upstream support. “There’s just not enough crisis beds and shelter beds,” said Shuriye. Back in Winnipeg, Gillingham said provincial government support is need- ed to get a fourth emergency service in the city. It would require changes to the Mental Health Act, which is currently being reviewed by the government. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said there are government initiatives to bol- ster mental health supports, including a partnership with a downtown Winni- peg foot patrol and funding for 25 men- tal-health staff to work with police. Kinew said he expects more positions will be added in this year’s budget, but he stopped short of committing to fund- ing a fourth emergency service. “There is a readiness there, but the how to me is a big question.” — The Canadian Press BRITTANY HOBSON MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham has asked for the creation of an emergency service dedicated to mental-health calls. Israel helps ex-soldier leave Brazil over probe into alleged war crimes in Gaza JERUSALEM — Israel has helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip based in part on sol- diers’ social media posts. Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it had helped the former soldier safely leave Brazil on a commercial flight after what it described as “an- ti-Israel elements” sought an inves- tigation last week. It warned Israelis against posting on social media about their military service. The Hind Rajab Foundation, named for a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, said Brazilian author- ities had launched an investigation into the soldier after it filed a complaint based on video footage, geolocation data and photographs showing him tak- ing part in the demolition of civilian homes. The foundation described the move as a “pivotal step toward accountability for crimes committed in Gaza” during nearly 15 months of war. There was no immediate comment from Brazilian authorities. Brazilian media reported Saturday that the in- vestigation was ordered by an on-call federal judge in Brazil’s Federal Dis- trict. The decision was issued on Dec. 30 but first reported over the weekend. Israel has faced heavy international criticism over its war against Hamas in Gaza, with the International Crim- inal Court issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister. The International Court of Justice is sep- arately investigating genocide allega- tions. The Brazil case raised the prospect that rank-and-file Israeli troops could also face prosecution while abroad. Israel rejects the international al- legations, saying its forces in Gaza are acting in accordance with international law and that any violations are pun- ished within its judicial systems. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths, say- ing the militant group conceals tunnels and other infrastructure in residential buildings, necessitating their demoli- tion. Throughout the war, Israeli soldiers have posted numerous videos from Gaza that appear to show them rumma- ging through homes and blowing up or burning residential buildings. In some, they chant racist slogans or boast about destroying the Palestinian territory. Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed five people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, four in the south- ern city of Khan Younis and three in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to health workers. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 88 people had been killed in the past 24 hours. Israel’s military in a statement said it struck a Hamas command centre in Khan Younis and an Islamic Jihad mil- itant in Deir al-Balah. The war has caused widespread de- struction in Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of the population of 2.3 mil- lion people, with many forced to flee multiple times. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Is- raeli forces killed a member of the Pal- estinian security services, calling him a wanted militant. Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said Sunday they carried out an oper- ation in Meithaloun village overnight to arrest Hassan Rabaiya. They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape. Israeli authorities released helmet-cam footage that showed police blowing up what they called an explo- sives lab in his home. The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his na- tional duty.” Meithaloun is near the West Bank city of Jenin, an epicentre of Israeli-Pal- estinian violence. The Palestinian Au- thority has been waging a rare crack- down on militants in Jenin, angering many Palestinians. Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said a 17-year-old boy was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus. It gave no further details. — The Associated Press SAM MEDNICK AND WAFAA SHURAFA ;