Community Safety and Well-Being Plan
Everyone has a role to play in the Safety and Well-being of a community, and for the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry the safety and
well-being of our residents is the highest priority. This Community Safety and Well-Being Plan will provide us with a roadmap for how to approach some of the tough issues that our residents face.
In 2019, Morris-Turnberry and the eight other lower-tier municipalities in Huron County joined forces with representatives from various sectors such as police, education, health, child welfare, social services, community organizations, and other committees to initiate the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan planning process. At the June 15, 2021 Regular Council Meeting the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry Council adopted the final Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. The adopted Community Safety and Well-Being Plan can be viewed here.
Developing The Plan
Phase One: Working Group
Phase One of plan development involved establishing a Working Group of representatives from the nine member municipalities. The Working Group was tasked to then establish an organizing structure, gather community resources, and develop a residential survey with the Canadian Municipal Network on Crime Prevention.
Phase Two: Subcommittees
During Phase Two, several Subcommittees were struck and tasked with taking a deep dive into specific risk areas of focus. These Subcommittees/risk areas included:
• Education
• Seniors/Adults with Disabilities
• Poverty and Housing
• Crime
• Medical and Physical Health
• Children and Youth
• Mental Health
• Addictions
Phase Three: Advisory Committee
The Huron CSWB Advisory Committee had a broad mandate to apply a cross-sector, interdisciplinary lens to known, emergent, and anticipated community and system-level issues. This diverse Advisory Committee came together with cross-sector representation to identify and reduce risk factors that can contribute to individuals engaging in or becoming victims of crime. Working together is not a new approach for the nine municipalities in Huron; however, the
CSWB planning process expanded on collective impact, cross-sector structures, and processes in place to leverage the best possible outcomes in improving safety and well-being of all residents.
Phase Four: Public Consultations and Stakeholder Interviews
To help identify local risks, partners involved in the development of the CSWB Plan in Huron conducted wide-ranging public consultations seeking perspectives on experiences, priority areas, challenges, and strategies for solutions. Service providers, youth, families, and other stakeholders were engaged through this process. In total, more than 1,500 survey responses, consultations, and discussions were analyzed to identify perceptions and feelings of community safety and well-being in Huron. Consultation work also sought to identify work already underway in Huron to address specific issues, to avoid duplication, identify strengths, resources, best practices, and capture opportunities
for future action.
What is in the Plan?
To advance Community Safety and Well-Being in Huron County, this Plan:
• Examines population data and other statistics for municipalities in Huron County to understand the context within which we are working, where resources are distributed and to identify potential risks and challenges to be addressed;
• Provides an overview of the legislative framework guiding the development of this Plan and the process taken by the nine Huron County municipalities to understand risk and needs;
• Establishes an approach to community safety and well-being in Huron based on collective impact, equity, and social determinants of health to ensure risk and needs are understood holistically;
• Identifies Priority Areas for action to be addressed through this plan;
• Presents an Evaluation Matrix to help us measure progress; and,
• Discusses next steps for Plan implementation.
Priority Areas for Action
Utilizing survey and consultation findings to identify key themes, supplemented by a review of the literature and focus group discussions, four Priority Areas have been established to address community safety and well-being in Huron County:
- Mental Health and Addictions
- Housing and Homelessness
- Domestic and Family Violence
- Community Safety and Security
An Implementation Plan is in the process of development to address the four priority areas for action.
Oversight Committee
An oversight committee with multi-sectoral representation and reflective of the community has been formed in Huron County to guide initiatives and address the four priority areas of action.
The oversight committee has identified a Chair: Deputy Mayor Marg Anderson (Central Huron Council) and Co-Chair: Councillor Anita Snobelen (ACW Council).
For more information about the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan Oversight Committee, please contact Michaela Johnston, CEMC, Accessibility and Health & Safety Manager, Town of Goderich at 519-524-8344 x212 or mjohnston@goderich.ca
For any questions, please speak with Kim Johnston at 519-887-6137 Ext. 224 or kjohnston@morristurnberry.ca