Accessing Health Care

The first point of contact for most health concerns (except for emergencies) will be your family doctor and there are family doctors taking new patients in Niagara.  Basic medical services in Ontario are paid for by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) if you have been in Ontario for three months. Healthcare in Niagara is also provided by the Niagara Health System, a publicly funded system that includes six hospitals and many other medical facilities.

Safety and Emergencies

The Niagara Regional Police Service works to keep Niagara residents and visitors safe. Niagara Canada is in the top 10 for the lowest crime rate of Canada’s metropolitan areas.

Learn more about policing in Ontario by watching these videos provided in English and Arabic.

Call 9-1-1 immediately for an emergency. An emergency is any situation that requires immediate assistance from the police. fire department or paramedics. Examples include:

  • A fire
  • A crime, especially if in progress
  • A car crash, especially if someone is injured
  • A medical emergency, such as someone who is unconscious, gasping for air or not breathing, experiencing an allergic reaction, having chest pain, having uncontrollable bleeding, or any other symptoms that require immediate medical attention

Seniors Services

In Niagara Canada, seniors can obtain assisted living support or access long-term care facilities in their own town and city. Respite care, convalescent care, dementia services and community programs are also offered in the region.

Mental Health & Wellbeing 

Resettling in Canada as a refugee can be full of anticipation, hope and challenges. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) provides an overview of what to expect in this video, including services and supports that will be provided to help get settled in Canada. The video is available in multiple languages such as French, Arabic, Farsi, Somali, Swahili and Tigrinya.

Your mental health is important. Learn about some common symptoms of emotional struggles, activities that can contribute to positive mental health and where you can get help as a newcomer. This video Your Mental Health and Well-being is also available in Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, Korean, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish and Tagalog.

Remote Interpretation Ontario’s Multilingual Information eXchange (Riomix) offers a collaborative, centralized and accessible repository of translated materials and multilingual websites relating to health and community care and support. Visit their website for more information.

Gender Based Violence

Key Facts:

  • Intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as spousal or domestic violence, is a prevalent form of gender-based violence (GBV). It refers to multiple forms of harm caused by a current or former intimate partner or spouse.
  • IPV impacts people of all genders, ages, socioeconomic, racial, educational, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.
  • In Canada in 2019, of the 107,810 people aged 15 and over who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), 79% were women.
  • Among young women (aged 15 to 24 years) who reported ever being in an intimate partner relationship, almost three in ten (29%) of those aged 15-24 years experienced some form of IPV in the 12 months preceding the survey.
  • Indigenous women (61%) in Canada were more likely to have ever experienced IPV in their lifetime (since the age of 15) when compared with non-Indigenous women (44%).
  • Overall, 67% of LGB+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual and people of a sexual orientation that is not heterosexual) women who had ever been in an intimate partner relationship had experienced at least one type of IPV since the age of 15, compared to 44% among heterosexual women.
  • Among people who had ever been in an intimate partner relationship, more than half (55%) of women with disabilities reported experiencing some form of IPV in their lifetime (since the age of 15), compared to 37% of women without disabilities.
  • Among those who had ever been in an intimate partner relationship, 29% of women belonging to an ethno-cultural group designated as a visible minority reported experiencing some kind of psychological, physical, or sexual violence committed by an intimate partner in their lifetime (since the age of 15).
  • Visible minority women and non-visible minority women were equally likely to have experienced intimate partner violence in the form of physical abuse (both 2%) or sexual abuse (both 1%) in the past 12 months.
  • One-quarter (25%) of visible minority women between the ages of 15 and 24 experienced IPV in the past 12 months.

IRCC funded – GBV Partnership | Partenariat contre la VFS – https://www.ngbv.ca/

OCASI resources about GBV (available in English) –  https://ocasi.org/gender-based-violence

Department of Justice | Le ministère de la Justice Canada  :

Department of Women and Gender Equality |  Femmes et Égalité des genres Canada:

Updated key statistics on GBV in Canada by population, through police-reported and self-reported data | Mise à jour des statistiques clés sur la VFS au Canada par populations en lien avec les données déclarées par la police et les données autodéclarées.

Updated statistics on intimate partner violence |Mise à jour des statistiques sur la violence entre partenaires intimes.

Updated statistics on family violence | Mise à jour des statistiques sur la violence familiale

Information Helpline

Call or search 211 to access information and referrals for community, social and health services in Ontario. Call  or search 211 for:

  • Non-emergency police number
  • Food banks
  • Walk in clinics
  • Alzheimer support
  • Mental health help
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Emergency shelters for homeless
  • Services for domestic violence victims
  • Public health
  • Telehealth Ontario Crisis services
  • Provincial and local helpline phone numbers
  • Settlement help for newcomers
  • Housing help centres
  • Youth drop in programs
  • Child, youth and family counseling
  • Emergency utility assistance
  • Understanding which government service might help or assistance
  • Disability support programs
  • Parenting programs