The Peel Autism Collaborative (PAC) began following a well-publicized encounter with police and a young nonverbal autistic man.
While the incident, he says, served as a catalyst, explains John Versluis Manager, Community Safety and Well-Being Services, Peel Regional Police, there was also a wider recognition of the disproportionate number of interactions between police and the autistic community. “There was the recognition that in some respects it was overdue in relation to how we better work with and support the autistic community.”
Fortunately, says Joy Brown, much of the groundwork had been successfully laid through Peel Police’s previous outreach efforts with the wider community. Joy recently retired from the Peel Regional Police as a police constable but remains as a civilian consultant to Peel Police. “There are a lot of cases that Community Mobilization is involved in; we have those community partners that we've been able to reach out to on a regular basis, come together, and do that wraparound, which is important. PAC is rooted in that.”
The Peel Autism Collaborative emerged as a positive partnership among Peel Regional Police, Autism Ontario, and other community groups, including Peel Crisis Capacity Network, SAAAC Autism Centre, ErinoakKids, the Peel District School Board, and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. Autism Ontario’s continued participation in the PAC demonstrates its ongoing commitment to advocacy in action.
“It's about building trust and relationships,” says John. “Coming together in this way sends a message to the broader community, the autistic community, that we recognize we can do better in this space and we want to do better in this space.”
A large part of this connection-building is having Peel Police members attend events organized by the PAC members to develop a sense of familiarity and comfort. Joy cites regular visits to ErinoakKids by Peel constables as an example of that process. “This is a great program in the sense that it really gives young people or kids an opportunity to interact with police and get used to police. And as they grow, it won't be a far stretch to have that interaction with police. So, that’s really important, too.”
As part of the strategy behind PAC, more than 450 occurrences were reviewed between January and August 2025, resulting in 82 families being contacted for an offer of referral to community partners. The review process remains ongoing, says Joy and the police service has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Peel Crisis Capacity Network, a local support agency, to provide system navigation.
Each call that Peel Police receives that is even remotely connected to autism is reviewed by their staff to see if there is an opportunity to connect and offer support, says John. “We have a tremendous relationship with Peel Crisis Capacity Network so we have one referral pathway to connect individuals and families instead of multiple.”
The job is never done, he says. New initiatives are constantly emerging and the PAC is always looking for ways it can improve, he says. “We're not looking at each other saying, we've completed the work. That’s the benefit of partnerships.”
“It’s not about each individual organization,” says Joy. It's more about us as a collaborative, as a collective.”
A sign of PAC’s success is the fact that other jurisdictions are paying attention to what is happening in Peel Region. “People are taking notice of the work,” says John. “I think they recognize the need. It's planting a seed, and it certainly has stimulated some thinking about the importance of being in the space.”