2021–2024 Community Safety & Well-Being Plan

Topic(s)
Community
Status
Adopted or Endorsed
Adopted or Endorsed
2021

Our shared plan for a safer Barrie involves 15 actions, endorsed by City Council and led by a variety of local organizations.

Community safety and well-being (CSWB) plans are what result when municipal governments, police, local organizations and residents discuss local issues and then commit to working together in new ways to create a safer, healthier city. The Ontario Government now requires municipalities to prepare and adopt these plans.

A safe community is one where harms to its members are prevented whenever possible, and where harms that cannot be prevented are reduced and healed as effectively as possible. Safety and well-being are interlinked. When people are well, they are more able to prevent, reduce, and heal from harms. And when communities are safe, it is easier for people to thrive.

Community Input

In December 2022, the City launched a survey to gain feedback on how residents feel about safety and well-being in Barrie. 431 responses were received. See Community Safety & Well-being Plan Survey Results. 

A partner survey was also sent to each of the organizations that had committed to leading or helping to implement one or more of the 15 Action Items in the Plan. The intent of this survey was to determine each organization’s view of progress on the action items they were leading or helping to implement. Status updates were provided by the partner organizations and compiled in a June 2024 Status Update.

On January 23, 2025, the City launched a survey to gain feedback on how residents feel about safety and well-being in Barrie. The survey closed on February 5, and information gathered will guide discussions and planning efforts aimed at enhancing safety and well-being across the city and contribute a revised Community Safety and Well-Being Plan.

Addressing the Issues Downtown

City Council identified Community Safety and a Thriving Downtown as two key strategic priorities. The City is committed to working with our partners at the County of Simcoe as the service provider for social services and homelessness support; the Barrie Police Service, and the Downtown BIA to address the issues downtown.

Read the Info Pamphlet

CSWB Plan Areas of Focus & Action Items

Barrie's Community Safety and Well-Being Plan was developed by a committee, with significant input from a public survey and focus group meetings. The Plan has four areas of focus that cover 15 action items, which will be implemented by the partners working with the community.

The Community Safety & Well-Being Plan Committee's mandate is to review the 2021–2024 CSWB Plan and provide advice to City Council on any potential revisions to the Plan as well as reporting on the Plan.  

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Action Area 1 | A Safer Barrie by Working Together

Full details about the action items below are outlined in the CSWB Plan, pages 34 to 49.

  1. The City of Barrie and the Barrie Police Service will work with partners to launch an Annual Community Safety and,
    Well-Being Forum to review our progress and strengthen working relationships.
  2. The signatories of the new Barrie Health Accord will undertake a communitywide planning process that will lead to coordinated and sustainable investments in improving determinants of health.
  3. The Barrie Police Service and partners will strengthen the ‘Collaborate Barrie’ Situation Table as a way to improve responses to situations where an individual is at significant risk of harm.
  4. The Barrie Police Service will work with partners to develop a proposal and build community support for a community justice centre in Barrie.
  5. The Barrie Police Service and partners will work towards creating a community service campus where individuals can access a range of health and social services from multiple providers.
  6. The Canadian Mental Health Association Simcoe County and Barrie Police Service  will work together to identify and implement actions that increase access to the mental health services that have the greatest impact on community safety.
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Action Area 2 | Connected Communities are Safe Communities

Full details about the action items below are outlined in the CSWB Plan, pages 51 to 57.

  1. The Barrie Public Library and partners will strengthen community by spearheading a coordinated effort to increase the number of active volunteers in Barrie.
  2. Georgian College and partners will launch a Barrie Inclusion Network that helps coordinate efforts to involve every resident in creating a safe and welcoming Barrie.
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Action Area 3  |Safety is for Everyone

Full details about the action items below are outlined in the CSWB Plan, pages 58 to 75.

  1. The Mayor’s Office and the Barrie Police Service will convene the Barrie Anti-Racism Task Force, which will help guide anti-racism action throughout Barrie.
  2. Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit will work with partners in Barrie to reduce harms from drug use by increasing access to naloxone, advancing plans for other harm reduction services, and creating an updated Simcoe Muskoka Drug Strategy.
  3. The Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie, Barrie Public Library, and partners will expand training about how to provide trauma-informed services.
  4. The City of Barrie will consult CSWB Plan partners about how to best improve community safety when the City updates its 10-year Affordable Housing Strategy.
  5. The County of Simcoe will continue to collaborate with the City of Barrie and local stakeholders in efforts to reduce and ultimately end homelessness in Barrie and surrounding areas.
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Action Area 4 | Prepared and Protected

Full details about the action items below are outlined in the CSWB Plan, pages 76 to 81.

  1. The Barrie Police Service and partners will work to protect residents vulnerable to online threats and phone scams.
  2. The City of Barrie and partners will develop an updated City of Barrie Pandemic Plan so that organizations in Barrie build off work done together during the current pandemic in order to be ready for potential future pandemics.

Action Partners

15 organizations have committed to help implement one or more of the Plan’s 15 actions:

Others are welcome and encouraged to get involved — implementing this the CSWB Plan will require many hands. Interested in supporting one or more of the Plan’s 15 Actions. Please contact the lead organization for more information.

Background

Barrie’s population more than doubled from nearly 65,000 in the early 1990s to approximately 150,000 people in 2021. However, crime in Barrie remains low. Since 2012, Barrie has been the safest major metropolitan area in Ontario, and in 2019 was ranked fifth safest in Canada.

Despite Barrie’s many successes, there are conditions in our city that can contribute to poorer community safety and well-being. Addressing the most serious of these risk factors is the focus of Barrie’s Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. The partners in the Plan will work together to implement our shared plan for a safer Barrie. 

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