Public Safety

Background

In 2008, the Halifax Regional Municipality made a commitment to developing a more holistic understanding of, and approach to, the root causes of crime and victimization in Halifax, by convening a Mayor's Roundtable on Violence, resulting in the 2008 publication of the Clairemont Report, formally titled: "Violence and Public Safety in the Halifax Regional Municipality: A report to the Mayor as a result of the Roundtable. Acting on a key recommendation of the report, the municipality established a Public Safety Office (PSO) in 2009. 

In 2014 the Mayor requested a report on progress made since the 2008 Clairemont Report, resulting in 2014 Roundtable Review volume 1 and volume II.

The research and community engagement from this report formed the basis for the municipality’s inaugural Public Safety Strategy, unanimously approved by Regional Council on October 31, 2017. 

Public Safety Strategy

An updated Halifax Public Safety Strategy has been approved for 2023-24 to 2025-26.

The Halifax Public Safety Strategy is a strategic framework for guiding all municipal decision-making, regarding public safety.

The Halifax Public Safety Strategy adheres to the municipality’s mandate to sustain safe and viable communities and is built on an understanding that partnerships with the province and other stakeholders are vital to moving this work forward in a meaningful and sustained way.

Throughout the development of the updated Halifax Public Safety Strategy, consultations occurred both internally with business units and Regional Council, and externally with community stakeholders and service providers.

Additional external engagement with service providers, community organizations, and communities will continue as the actions within the Strategy are advanced, including the establishment of a community voice and advisory structure.

Reporting

With four priority areas, 16 objectives and 76 actions, the Public Safety Strategy pushes the municipality and its partners to think and act upstream, or systemically and holistically about the complex, multiple, and interconnected roots of crime, victimization, safety and wellbeing. The Public Safety Advisor oversees the implementation of the actions in the strategy through collaboration and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and provides advice on locally informed, evidence-based approaches to community safety and wellbeing to further advance the strategy’s goals. Each year, the office provides a report to Regional Council on progress to date:

Public Safety Strategy Annual Report 2018 

Public Safety Strategy Annual Report 2019 

Public Safety Strategy Annual Report 2021

Public Safety Office

The Public Safety Office provides leadership and backbone support to two community-based initiatives - Community Mobilization Teams and the Safe City and Safe Public Spaces Program.

Community Mobilization Teams

For more information about Community Mobilization Teams, contact Raven Glasgow, Manager, Programs and Engagement, raven.glasgow@halifax.ca

Safe City and Safe Public Spaces Program 

In August of 2019, Halifax joined a growing number of cities across the globe committed to doing more to address sexual and other forms of gender-based violence in public spaces through its acceptance into the UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Flagship Program. 

In joining this program with Nova Scotia’s Status of Women as a supporting partner, Halifax is committed to identifying locally relevant and owned solutions, strengthening laws and policies, investing in the safety and economic viability of public spaces, and fostering transformative social norms that promote women’s, girls’, and non-binary people’s rights to use public spaces free from sexual and other forms of gender-based violence.

Where we are

• In January of 2020, the Public Safety Office hosted a train-the-trainer session during which Kathryn Travers, a global consultant on issues of gender, safety and urban development and governance, taught a group of about 20 women how to use the Women’s Safety Assessment (WSA) tool. We continue to facilitate WSAs alongside community partners and residents.
• In 2021, we completed the scoping study—one of the first recommended outputs of local Safe City and Safe Public Spaces programs.
• In October 2022, we completed a staff report regarding the collection of race and gender based data and resources to support the safety of Asian women and non-binary people in public spaces Halifax.
• We continue to work alongside various Business Units to apply an intersectional, gender safety lens to municipal programs, initiatives and polices.
• We are currently working alongside community partners to host community conversations regarding the safety of Muslim women and non-binary people in public spaces, which will inform a report to Council.
• In 2023, we will work towards actions that address key issues highlighted in our work so far, including implementing actions from the report regarding safety for Asian women and non-binary people and initiatives that make public spaces safer for Indigenous women, non-binary and two-spirit people and African Nova Scotian women and non-binary people.

What is a Women’s Safety Assessment?

The Women’s Safety Assessment (WSA) is a participatory tool used to build safer neighbourhoods, schools, campuses, workplaces, transit systems and other public spaces. It brings together community members and other important partners to assess and make safety recommendations, grounded in people’s expertise from their daily lived experience of using, or choosing not to use, the space.

The WSA is based on the belief that the design of physical environments affects our safety. Research shows that when a diversity of women and gender-diverse people, including 2SLGBTQIA+, Black, Indigenous, and racialized women and gender-diverse people, and women and gender-diverse people with disabilities, are involved in the process of identifying safety concerns in public spaces and developing potential solutions, these spaces are made safer for everyone. 

If you have any questions about the Safe City & Safe Public Spaces program, please contact Amy Brierley, Program Coordinator at amy.brierley@halifax.ca.

Public Washrooms

The municipality has prepared a map of washrooms open to the public. Find a washroom near you:

• Albro Lake - 1 Sea King Dr, Dartmouth (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)

• Alderney Gate Public Library -  60 Alderney Dr, Dartmouth (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Beazley Park - 50 Caledonia Rd, Dartmouth (gendered washrooms)

• Bedford Public Library - 15 Dartmouth Rd, Bedford (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Birch Cove Park Facility - 44 Oakdale Cres, Dartmouth (gendered washrooms)

• Captain William Spry Public Library - 16 Sussex St, Halifax (accessible stalls, universal washroom)

• Chocolate Lake - 3 Melwood Ave, Halifax (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)
• Cole Harbour All-Weather Field - 463 Auburn Dr, Cole Harbour (accessible stall, universal washroom)
• Cole Harbour Commons - 460 Auburn Dr, Cole Harbour (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)

• Cole Harbour Place - Public Library - 51 Forest Hills Pkwy, Cole Harbour (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Dartmouth Bridge Transit Terminal - 24 Nantucket Ave, Dartmouth (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)
• Dartmouth Ferry Terminal - 88 Alderney Dr, Dartmouth (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)

• Dartmouth North Public Library - 105 Highfield Park Dr, Dartmouth (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Dewolf Park - 150 Waterfront Dr, Bedford (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)
• Fairview Cemetery Workshop - 3720 Windsor St, Halifax (accessible stall, universal washroom)
• Eastern Passage Commons - 110 Oceanview School Rd, Eastern Passage (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)

• Halifax Central Library - 5440 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Halifax Ferry Terminal - 5077 George St, Halifax (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)
• Halifax North Memorial Public Library - 2285 Gottingen St, Halifax (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• J D Shatford Memorial Library - 10353 St Margarets Bay Rd, Hubbards (universal washroom)

• Keshen Goodman Public Library - 330 Lacewood Dr, Halifax (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Kiwanis Grahams Grove Park - 45 Grahams Grv, Dartmouth (gendered washrooms)
• Lacewood Terminal - 320 Lacewood Ave, Halifax (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)
• Maybank Field - 1088 Micmac Bvld, Dartmouth (gendered washrooms)

• Musquodoboit Public Library - 7900 Nova Scotia Trunk 7, Musquodoboit Harbour (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• North Commons Public Washroom Facility - 5816 Cunard St, Halifax (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)
• Point Pleasant Park Harbour Solutions Washroom - 5906 Chain Rock Dr, Halifax 
• Portland Hills Transit Terminal - 866 Portland St, Dartmouth (universal washroom)
• Public Gardens - 5771 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax (gendered washrooms)
• Ravenscraig Drive Park - 15 Ravenscraig Dr, Halifax 
• Sackville Public Library - 636 Sackville Dr, Lower Sackville (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)
• Sackville Transit Terminal - 7 Walker Ave, Lower Sackville (accessible stall, universal washroom)
• Sandy Lake Beach - 115 Smiths Rd, Bedford (gendered washrooms)
• Shakespeare By The Sea Box Office - 5480 Point Pleasant Dr, Halifax 

• Sheet Harbour Public Library - 22756 Nova Scotia Trunk 7, Sheet Harbour (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)

• Shubie Park - 54 Locks Rd, Dartmouth (gendered washrooms)
• Sir Sandford Fleming Park - 150 Dingle Rd, Halifax 

• Tantallon Public Library - 3646 Hammonds Plains Rd, Upper Tantallon (accessible stalls, gendered washrooms)

• Woodside Ferry Terminal - 9 Atlantic St, Dartmouth (gendered washrooms)

• Woodlawn Public Library - 31 Eisener Blvd, Dartmouth (accessible stalls, universal & gendered washrooms)