OPENING REMARKS – 9:00 to 9:05 a.m.
Land Acknowledgement and Welcome
• Andrew Scavarelli, Director, Ontario Works, County of Simcoe, and OMSSA Board Member

PLENARY – 9:05 to 10:45AM

Many CSWB plans include some form of performance measures and indicators to assess programs and initiatives. Some programs have easily attainable quantitative and qualitative data to demonstrate if conditions are improving, which can offer strong cases for funding. However, there are other upstream initiatives that cannot be measured immediately because they relate to certain intangible aspects of health, vitality, and belonging. These outcomes can take sometimes take years or generations to physically see, and making the case for investment can be challenging.

In this session we will hear from experts in the rural and urban contexts who will share practical knowledge and tools to for measuring, monitoring, and evaluating both short-term and longitudinal initiatives that improve community safety and well-being in urban and rural contexts. Experts and practitioners will also share a nuanced understanding of the complexities and challenges of data collection and how communities can leverage existing information to identify priorities and trends.

Areas of Focus: Evaluation; Metrics; Indicators.

Across Ontario and Canada, Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people have faced, and continue to face, higher rates of violence, as reflected by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Almost six in ten (56%) Indigenous women have experienced physical assault while almost half (46%) of Indigenous women have experienced sexual assault. In comparison, about a third of non-Indigenous women have experienced physical assault (34%) or sexual assault (33%) in their lifetime. Additionally, more than six in ten (63%) Indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual violence committed by an intimate partner or a non-intimate partner in their lifetime, such as an acquaintance, colleague or stranger (Source: Statistics Canada). Indigenous women and girls are strong and resilient, despite the systemic, physical, and emotional violence that they have been subjected to and the multiple barriers they experience when seeking help.

With over 88% of Indigenous women and girls living off-reserve, and as municipalities work to meaningfully address the gender-based violence/intimate partner violence epidemic more broadly, it is crucial to include actions to specifically address violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people who also have a right to feel the same sense of belonging and well-being as other community members.
In this session we will hear from experts from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, Ontario Native Women’s Association, and Métis Nation of Ontario. Collectively they will explore different measures of indigenous safety, the importance of collaboration and partnerships, and will provide practical guidance on what actions municipalities can include in their CSWB Plans.

Areas of Focus: Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People; MMIWG Calls for Justice; Indigenous Safety.

Many municipalities in Ontario have learned that one of the most effective tools for community safety and well-being (CSWB) is a well-resourced and supported situation table. Situation tables enhance the work of CSWB by bringing together social services, public health, police and emergency services, and community organizations as a means of prioritizing proactive rather than reactive community interventions. By looking at the social origins of risk, they anticipate the supports required by people with acute needs and connect them to the services of table collaborators before more harmful incidences can occur.

In this session, four OMSSA members organizations—the City of Greater Sudbury, Bruce County, the City of Toronto, and York Region—will provide insights into the work that they have carried out to build their situation tables and will highlight the specific needs and risks that they address. The speakers will discuss the challenges they have overcome in order to sustain the work of their tables, from maintaining momentum and engagement amongst the collaborators to ensuring political and financial support.

Among the issues to be considered in this session are: How do you build effective partnerships and collaborations? How do you ensure buy-in from situation table partners? Are there benefits to having a dedicated champion for the table who can rally the partners and advocate for continued support? How do you effectively resource a situation table? What data should be highlighted to demonstrate both the need for and success of a situation table?

Areas of Focus: Situation Tables; Proactive Interventions; Children and Youth; Partnership Building; Privacy.

There are approximately 4 million young people between 10 and 29 years living in Ontario, representing 25.6% of the overall population (Source: Statistics Canada, 2023). This demographic is at a critical juncture of adolescence and young adulthood where they are coping with different social, economic, environmental, and societal pressures. It is during this period that many young people will experiment with substance use whether through curiosity, peer pressure, or to cope with abuse and other forms of trauma. Understanding this context and engaging youth to discern what factors are at play for substance use and misuse can help to develop supportive interventions at the community level. These interventions can also help bring together sectors such as social services, education, and public health to implement coordinated policies and programs.

Planet Youth, a prevention approach gaining traction in Ontario, is working to achieve these outcomes. Also referred to as the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program, it is based on the Icelandic Prevention Model (IPM) which is recognized internationally for its collaborative approach to preventing substance use harms among youth. Developed by the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA), it applies a community-driven approach to influence the risk and protective factors associated with substance use.

In this session we will explore the collaborative approach taken by communities in Northeastern Ontario to launch Planet Youth. We will hear from public health, social services staff, and community safety and well-being practitioners to learn more about how this program takes an upstream approach to address substance use and misuse among youth, including fostering integration among health and social services, and providing key metrics to support data-driven community safety and wellbeing priorities.

Areas of Focus: Youth Intervention; Substance Use and Misuse; Integration; Data.