Month of Action

CALL TO ACTION: Take Immediate Action to provide community based housing and health supports and services to keep people out of jail

We are calling for more investment in community-based supportive alternatives to criminalization and policing responses to health and substance use problems.  

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Police should not be the default response to people seeking help for acute and chronic mental health, substance use, and social needs. It is imperative that we prioritize a health-first approach to crisis intervention, involving clinicians and peers, rather than relying solely on law enforcement. We urge evidence-based policy and law reform aimed at developing non-law enforcement administered crisis call centers and crisis response teams, including peer support specialists (El-Sabawi & Carroll, Defund and replace the police: A model act for a behavioral health crisis response team, 2020). Investing in alternative mental health and substance use crisis supports is an essential step in reducing inequitable vulnerabilities to ill-health as well as criminalization and incarceration of poor, racialized and disabled people.

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The Nova Scotia government must take immediate action, in collaboration with municipal governments, to address the lack of mental health and substance user supports in our communities and subsequent criminalization. We are calling for more investment in community-based supportive alternatives to criminalization and policing responses to health and substance use problems. This is not a novel call to action. Both the Province and the Halifax Regional Municipality have expressed an interest in civilian crisis response models. By prioritizing a health-first approach to crisis intervention, we can ensure that individuals receive the community-based support and care they need to thrive.