Niagara cannot tackle ‘wicked problems’ on its own: police chief
NRP call volumes in St. Catharines increased by 6,000 in past two years, MacCulloch says
As issues related to social disorder increase in St. Catharines, Niagara Regional Police Chief Bryan MacCulloch said Niagara cannot resolve the issues on its own.
After St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe listed numerous issues in his city at a Niagara Region committee meeting last week, MacCulloch said it will take multiple levels of government working together to develop a strategy.
“That’s the key thing, a strategic approach where all levels of government are working towards a solution,” MacCulloch said in an interview.
That solution, however, remains elusive.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer,” MacCulloch said. “It’s one of those wicked problems that is often referred to. … This is a complex problem and it deserves a complex solution.”
While MacCulloch as well as St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe have called on provincial and federal governments to help resolve the issues, St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens said the province has yet to provide any meaningful solutions.
Premier Doug Ford was asked about the issue and a request for emergency funding at a news conference last week.
“These people need to be in rehab,” Ford said.
“I know it. I’ve seen it. They have to go to rehab and then they can get homes. But in the meantime when they’re in rehab, we need to build more rehabilitation centres supporting them.”
He said the issues are “not only tough on communities, I’ll tell you it’s tough on families too — seeing a loved one go through their challenges. It goes back to making sure we build all types of homes, for the homeless and non-profit and just supporting that community.”
Stevens, however, said Niagara needs adequate social housing, in addition to mental health services.
“I feel strongly that the people who have fallen on hard times in our community need our support,” she said.
“Individuals cannot receive rehabilitation services unless they have a house first.”
Stevens teamed up with Ward 4 Couns. Robin McPherson and Caleb Ratzlaff as well as Silver Spire United Church and the Downtown St. Catharines business improvement area, to write a letter to Ford inviting him to visit the area to see firsthand how the region’s “vibrant community hub” is being tainted.
“Downtown St. Catharines is something that we need to celebrate,” she said.
“We need to take great pride in many of the shops and restaurants that we have downtown.”
Instead, she said the premier appears to be “losing sight of the larger issues — mental-health services and housing across Ontario need help.”
“There needs to be a clear plan from the Conservatives to create more affordable housing within our downtown and to come up with some solutions,” she said, adding she fully supports Siscoe’s call for emergency provincial funding.
St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle said staff at his Geneva Street constituency office see the same issues everyday.
“We need to do a lot more at all levels,” he said.
He said St. Catharines city council has done a really good job to “really improve housing” during the past two terms.
“That is one of the simple solutions to this — and that’s housing that’s needed at all levels to start getting the price down. We need to see those projects being built, because I think the city of St. Catharines has approved thousands of units of housing but we’re not necessarily seeing that construction.”
Although the issues at hand are typically under provincial jurisdiction, Bittle said, “Mayor Siscoe was right — every level of government has a part to play.”
“Unfortunately, it seems every problem that existed before COVID-19 was only made worse by the pandemic, and housing and opioids were two of those issues that we’ve seen.”
In the meantime, MacCulloch said responding to thousands of more calls in the area is “creating a challenging situation” for police.
Niagara police responded to 56,563 calls for service in St. Catharines and Thorold in 2022. A year earlier, there were 54,154 calls in the district, and police responded to 50,179 calls there in 2020.
“It’s not something we are going to address or resolve ourselves individually. It’s going to take a community approach,” MacCulloch said. “That’s what we’ve stressed all along, in working with our community partners. We are seeing an uptick in calls for service related to these issues of social disorder. When our officers go, we assess the situation and take appropriate action if there is any enforcement action to be taken. But often times, it’s more connecting the individuals to our community partners to get their assistance and get them involved, because of the complex issues they’re dealing with.”
MacCulloch said Niagara is not alone.
“Our region and municipalities all across the province are experiencing similar issues. They’re really complex social issues — homelessness, the lack of affordable housing, mental, addictions, poverty. All of those issues combined in the midst of an opioid crisis as well creates a really difficult and challenging problem for communities to solve on their own,” MacCulloch said.
“I think we would all benefit from a provincial and national strategy on how to address these complex issues.”
MacCulloch said that strategy needs to focus on prevention, harm reduction, treatment and the enforcement provided by police.
He said police will respond “empathetically and compassionately,” and the people involved get the care they need, but “if criminal charges are warranted based on the circumstances, we will take appropriate enforcement action.”