The model of a crisis response, where there's a uniformed officer and a crisis professional, is absolutely a successful model. Every municipality that has employed it has seen upwards of 50% of their mental health apprehensions averted. The reason is that, if you send two officers, their only tool available is to transport the individual to a hospital. If you send a crisis worker or mental health professional, they have the ability to not only diagnose but speak the language, discern who's an appropriate person to go to an emergency room and/or even directly connect that individual to services. What you end up having is the right people at the right time in the emergency room and more people getting a direct connection to services. In fact, they have a better ability to understand the nuances of people's behaviour and to de-escalate them.
The model itself is remarkable. However, I would say that every police agency in Ontario almost self-funds their efforts. They are pleased to see agencies such as CMHA receive a one-time or sustainable grant funding, but I think from the perspective of what it could be, this certainly is a model that should be available to everybody. However, we recognize that the availability of funding to support the not-for-profits or the mental health agencies is quite restricted across geography.