Vote for party with best social justice plan: Weighill
SASKATOON — Canada’s top police chief says federal politicians should focus on investing in social programs aimed at reducing poverty and providing more treatment for people with mental health issues if they want to have a real impact on Canada’s crime rate.
Chief Clive Weighill, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, says stable funding for frontline officers is always welcome, but that more money is also badly needed in other areas like mental health, addictions and housing in order to reduce crime.
“I’m not after hard lawand-order crime things,” Weighill said. “I believe if we can fix some of these social contributors, we are going make a bigger dent in crime than we are by arresting people.”
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper have both made promises to increase cash for the RCMP and frontline officers, but weeks away from the Oct. 19 election Weighill says politicians should focus on social justice if they want Canada’s crime rate to continue falling.
Weighill wants more programs and rehabilitation centres for young people who are being diverted from criminal courts. He said while the Youth Criminal Justice Act keeps many young people out of prison, there is not enough help to keep them away from lives of crime.
“We don’t have the programming or addictions centres to give them the help they need,” Weighill said.
The federal government needs to play a key role in making sure people with mental illness can find adequate treatment, he added, noting at least a quarter of all the people police come in contact with daily are suffering from some kind of mental health or addictions issue and often it’s hard to find them the help they need.
He wants the government to invest in more treatment centres, psychologists and psychiatrists to help reduce the burden on police.
He said similar programs also need to be set up to deal with Canada’s homeless population, citing Saskatoon’s Housing First program as an example of how providing housing to people in need can reduce crime.
“When you put people in a stable environment, the number of times they interact with police decreases dramatically,” he said.
Lastly, Weighill said he wants to see a concrete action plan from the next federal government on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. The NDP and Liberals have both promised a full-scale inquiry into the issue, but Weighill said he favours an action plan to deal with the “social conditions” that lead to so many aboriginal woman and girls getting killed or going missing.
Weighill would not endorse any specific party platform but said social justice and crime issues should be top of mind for voters who want a safer Canada.
“I believe these are fundamental issues if we want to enhance public safety in Canada in the long term,” he said.
“WHEN YOU PUT PEOPLE IN A STABLE ENVIRONMENT, THE NUMBER OF TIMES THEY INTERACT WITH POLICE DECREASES DRAMATICALLY.” CLIVE WEIGHILL