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Community Safety and Well-Being

Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) in Simcoe County


Community Safety and Well-Being is the ideal state of a sustainable community where everyone is safe, has a sense of belonging, opportunities to participate, and where individuals and families can meet their needs for education, health care, food, housing, income, social and cultural expression.

CSWB Plans are Provincially mandated under Bill 175, Safer Ontario Act, 2018. Bill 175 required all municipalities to develop a Community Safety and Well-Being Plan for their local municipality.



How will these plans help residents and communities?

Through the engagement with communities, local partners identified the benefits they are seeing, or expect to see, because of this work. The following benefits are wide-ranging, and impact individuals, the broader community, participating partner agencies, and organizations:

  • enhanced communication and collaboration among sectors, agencies, and organizations
  • stronger families and improved opportunities for healthy child development
  • healthier, more productive individuals that positively contribute to the community
  • increased understanding of and focus on priority risks, vulnerable groups, and neighbourhoods
  • transformation of service delivery, including realignment of resources and responsibilities to better respond to priority risks and needs
  • increased engagement of community groups, residents and the private sector in local initiatives and networks
  • enhanced feelings of safety and being cared for, creating an environment that will encourage newcomers to the community
  • increased awareness, coordination of and access to services for community members and vulnerable
  • groups
  • more effective, seamless service delivery for individuals with complex needs
  • new opportunities to share multi-sectoral data and evidence to better understand the community through identifying trends, gaps, priorities, and successes
  • reduced investment in and reliance on incident response.

Identified Areas of Risks for Simcoe County


  • Mental Health and addictions

    We are committed to improving equity, access and quality of mental health and addiction (MHA) services across the continuum for all residents in Simcoe County

  • Income

    We are committed to advancing income stability for our residents by addressing urgent needs in a dignified way while striving towards more sustainable solutions that focus on social inclusion and life stabilization support.

  • Housing

    We are committed to addressing the need for housing that is affordable and attainable and to support people so that they remain housed.

  • Access To Services

    We are committed to identifying ways to improve access to services in our community by focusing on availability, accommodation, accessibility, and acceptability across organizations.

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  • Preventable Mortality

    We are committed to improving health by nurturing social connectedness through opportunities to enhance social engagement and strengthen social relationships in our community.

  • Education

    We are committed to ensuring everyone in our community has a clear pathway to education regardless of their age, with a focus on futureproofing our local skilled trades and health care sectors.

  • Employment

    We are committed to putting a plan in place to improve equity,access and quality of services that support employability and employment outcomes of our residents.

  • Job Creation

    We are committed to being a preferred destination for new business development as we continue to celebrate what we do best, while being open to new possibilities, new industries and new partners.

Through extensive review of available data and community consultation, eight areas of risk were identified. These are Mental Health and Addictions, Education, Income, Employment, Social Connection, Access to Services, and Housing. Each plan in the County is committed to working on their top 3 to 4 areas of risk.

Formal Partners

We want to thank the following municipal partners for their commitment to building these plans:

  • Township of Adjala-Tosorontio
  • Town of Bradford West-Gwillimbury
  • Township of Clearview
  • Town of Collingwood
  • Township of Essa
  • Town of Innisfil
  • Town of Midland
  • Town of New Tecumseth
  • City of Orillia
  • Township of Oro-Medonte
  • Town of Penetanguishene
  • Township of Ramara
  • Township of Severn
  • Township of Springwater
  • Township of Tay
  • Township of Tiny
  • Town of Wasaga Beach


Ways to Participate

It is critical to engage local community residents and supporting organizations in the implementation of these plans. We will continue to consult throughout the life of the plan, and are always looking for participation in our local tables or consultation.


Thank you for your interest in CSWB.

For further information on CSWB Planning across the County of Simcoe, please contact:

Rob Heffernan, CEMC
Manager, 911 & Emergency Planning (A)
County of Simcoe, Emergency Management
1110 Highway 26, Midhurst, Ontario L9X 1N6
Phone: 705-726-9300, Ext. 1071
Email: Rob.Heffernan@simcoe.ca


For information about one of the communities listed as partners, please click on their respective CSWB Plan