Suzanne Obiorah: Public Safety Should Include Everyone

Discussions around public safety tend to focus on questions of order and enforcement. In practice, however, public safety is also informed by our capacity to hold space for people in crisis instead of pushing them through it.Suzanne Obiorah, chief executive officer of Somerset West Community Health Centre, reflects on a growing fracture in Canada’s response to addiction and underscores the importance of building holistic support systems as provinces turn toward new models of care.Obiorah spoke at The Walrus Talks Opioids on March 24, 2026.To register for upcoming events happening online or in a city near you, and to catch up on our archive of The Walrus Talks, visit thewalrus.ca/events.And subscribe to The Walrus Events newsletter for updates and announcements, at thewalrus.ca/newsletters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.