Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau said the force has poured "significant" resources into de-escalation training to ensure encounters between officers and mentally ill people don't turn fatal.

Bordeleau made the comments in in interview with CBC News on Wednesday, less than a week after the fatal shooting of Greg Ritchie during an encounter with police. According to relatives, the Indigenous man was dealing with mental health issues and was on his way to pick up medication from a pharmacy when he was killed outside Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre.

"The whole piece around de-escalation is an area where we have invested significant training," Bordeleau said. "[We are] ensuring that our officers are aware and have the knowledge when they are dealing with people in a mental health crisis."

Bordeleau said he's confident the training has been effective.

"I am confident that the officers that are out there are properly equipped."

Tragic exceptions

His comments also come as the manslaughter trial of Const. Daniel Montsion, accused in the death of Abdirahman Abdi, unfolds in an Ottawa courtroom. Abdi was also dealing with mental health issues at the time of his death in July 2016.

Bordeleau said those incidents were tragic, but characterized them as exceptions.

"One of the things that is not talked about is the dozens of incidents each day ... when our officers are dealing with people in crisis, whether it is mental health issues or other types of crisis, where our officers are actually successfully de-escalating."

Bordeleau said he has reached out to members of Ottawa's Indigenous community to explore the possibility of a meeting with Ritchie's family.