Work to develop a community safety and well-being plan for Lambton County is proving to be a long process but efforts continue.
A public survey to help develop a plan was launched earlier this year and ended on March 31. The ultimate goal for the plan was to create a safe community, which includes a sense of belonging for individuals and families.
County Warden Kevin Marriott said it has been a slow and tedious process. Delays are partially due to resources being used to help during the pandemic, noting the different areas of concern for rural areas as opposed to urban centres, and working with two different police forces.
"The pandemic made us realize that some of the problems that we knew we had are even bigger than we thought they were, [for example] drug addiction and homelessness," he said. "It's really hard to get a complete handle on knowing what we've come through the last year and a half, then we have to try and project [a plan] for the future as well."
The Oversight and Advisory committees developing the plan include stakeholders from municipalities, police services, First Nation communities, education, health services, and children and youth services. Ontario-wide legislation requires municipalities to develop and adopt a community safety and well-being plan.
Marriott said they're struggling to develop a plan, as are other communities. As such, the deadline to adopt and submit an approved plan to the Ministry of the Solicitor General was extended to March 2022.
"It's probably one of the hardest things I've had to deal with for the community as a whole," said Marriott. "The next four or five months are going to be just as difficult as the last few were."
A report was recently sent to the Solicitor General following a meeting held on October 25.
Over the next couple of months, committee members will analyze survey results and go over action priorities for the next four years to address areas of concern, such as housing and homelessness. Other priority areas, such as systemic racism and community safety, are in "formative stages".
"We're hoping that the provincial government will see that we need more resources to deal with homelessness and drug addiction," said Marriott. "Those are the two big ones that seem to have the biggest impact on our community's well-being and safety because there are so many implications of those two things."
In the new year, a plan is expected to be approved and sent to Lambton County Council before being submitted to the Ministry in March 2022.
