South Huron collaborates to produce Huron County Community Safety and Well-Being Plan

After several months of consultation with community stakeholder groups, municipalities across Huron County have jointly developed the Huron County Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. The plan establishes a roadmap outlining how partners can collaborate across sectors to make communities safer, more inclusive and resilient.  

“I’m very proud of the work put into this project by all the partners and especially by local community groups,” said Deputy Mayor Jim Dietrich, South Huron’s representative on the CSWBP Working Group. “The next step is to begin implementing plan items, where communities pool resources to address shared problems.” 

Under the direction of the Ontario Police Services Act, 2019, all nine municipalities of Huron County have worked together to build the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. It identifies the root causes of crime and other complex social issues by looking at them holistically instead of in isolation, taking into account factors such as social development and prevention. 

Surveys, working group meetings, interviews, virtual public consultations and a youth advisory committee were used to census local issues affecting safety and well-being. In June 2021, South Huron Council formally adopted the plan. 

The plan's implementation will be done by a multi-sectoral Partnership Council. This approach to community safety and well-being recognizes that complex social problems cannot be addressed by the police alone. Local service providers working in areas such as health, mental health and addictions, education, community and social services, and children and youth services play an integral role.