Sunday September 15, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
On this last Sunday ahead of the official 2024 BC election campaign period, Premier David Eby delivered details about the province’s supports for people with long-term concurrent mental-health and addiction challenges.
The full campaign begins when the writ drops on Saturday September 21.
Legislation for details in today’s announcement would be brought forward after the election, said Eby today in a news conference in Vancouver [watch the livestream].
Dignified care:
“The Province is taking action to make sure people with long-term concurrent mental-health and addiction challenges get secure and dignified care by opening highly secure facilities for people under the Mental Health Act throughout the province, as well as secure treatment within BC Corrections,” it was stated in today’s news release.
Opposition comment:
- “For years, the NDP ignored the calls for involuntary care, leaving families helpless and those suffering on the streets. Now after our party clearly outlined a plan to bring compassion and accountability to addiction treatment, Eby is suddenly pretending to be on board,” said John Rustad, Leader, Conservative Party of BC.
- “Of course we all want communities that are safe for everyone, but we don’t achieve this without investments in affordable housing, health and mental health care, and programs proven to deliver successful outcomes. Instead David Eby follows John Rustad off every reactionary cliff.” says BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.
Background:
- The first correctional centre will be at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre.
- The first secure housing and care facility will be on the grounds of the Alouette Correctional Centre (Monarch Homes) in Maple Ridge, which only requires minor renovations to meet the security requirements for residents and the community.
All of the facilities will provide involuntary care under the B.C. Mental Health Act for people certified as requiring that care.
“People with addiction challenges, brain injuries and mental-health issues need compassionate care and direct and assertive intervention to help them stabilize and rebuild a meaningful life,” said Premier Eby.
“This announcement is the beginning of a new phase of our response to the addiction crisis. We’re going to respond to people struggling like any family member would. We are taking action to get them the care they need to keep them safe, and in doing so, keep our communities safe, too,” said Eby, who was accompanied at today’s announcement by Dr Vigo, a medical specialist hired this year to head up the necessary changes in how the province deals with mental-health and addictions care.
Dr. Daniel Vigo is BC’s first chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders.
In summer 2024, the Province appointed Dr. Daniel Vigo as BC’s first chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders. He is working with partners to find better ways to support the growing population of people with severe addictions, brain injuries from repeated drug poisonings, combined with mental-health disorders and psychosis. Often, these people are in and out of the correctional and health-care system without getting the care they need.
Election season analysis:
It could be said that it was government ideology rather than scientific expertise that was guiding BC’s public health response for a long time. A smart move for Eby to bring in a specialist, even at the 11th hour before the upcoming election.
Jennifer Whiteside has held the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions file in Eby’s cabinet, but her progress seems to have been mostly around announcing ‘beds’ and programs. She is now running in New Westminster-Coquitlam (she is currently the MLA for New Westmister).
Locally, an Island Health mental health same-day facility was opened just last month in Colwood — one of Mitzi Dean’s last local MLA announcements before Dean stepped down from seeking re-election in Esquimalt-Colwood; now the BC NDP are running a mental health and addictions worker (and Esquimalt city councillor) Darlene Rotchford in that riding.
Mental-health beds & expanded hospitals:
The Province is also building more than 400 mental-health beds at new and expanded hospitals in BC by modernizing approximately 280 outdated beds and adding more than 140 new mental-health beds, with more to come. All of these facilities will also provide involuntary care under the act.
“The toxic-drug crisis of today is not what it was 10 or even five years ago,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.
“We are now facing a rising number of people who are living with the lasting effects of multiple overdoses and complex mental-health challenges, tied to social factors like poverty and trauma. It’s clear we must do more to provide effective care, while continuing to work with our partners to tackle the deadly poisoned-drug supply and bring an end to this suffering.”
The Province is announcing steps to put Dr Vigo’s recommendations into action and ensure severely ill people get the care they need, even when they are unable to seek it themselves. These steps are:
- establishing beds under the Mental Health Act at highly secure regional facilities, where people held under the Mental Health Act will receive long-term care and housing that is secure, safe and dignified. The first site will open in Maple Ridge in the coming months, with plans to expand throughout the province, scaled to meet the needs of communities. Other sites are being identified in northern B.C., the Interior, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Patients from each community will be prioritized for those locations.
- setting up a designated mental-health unit in a BC correctional centre to provide rapid treatment for people with mental-health and addiction challenges being held on remand or sentenced to custody by the courts, starting with a 10-bed facility at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre.
- in the short-term, releasing clarifications from Vigo on how the Mental Health Act can be used to provide voluntary and involuntary care when people have concurrent disorders with addiction.
- making changes to the law in the next legislative session to provide clarity and ensure that people, including youth, can and should receive care when they are unable to seek it themselves. These changes would be brought forward in consultation with First Nations and ensure culturally safe treatment programs and supports for First Nations youth.
The Province continues to increase the number of mental-health and psychiatric beds through province-wide capital health projects (hospital construction and expansion), along with the replacement of hundreds of older, inadequate beds.
Riverview:
The Province understands the interest in Riverview as a site for expanded health-care services, including mental-health treatment.
Riverview closed in July 2012. The location is on land that is subject to an ongoing title claim from Kwikwetlem First Nation.
The Province is in confidential discussions with the Nation to settle the claim, which includes a plan for the future development of the Riverview site.
Evidence-based recommendations in real-time:
“My office is analyzing all relevant provincial data to produce evidence-based recommendations to government in real time,” Vigo said. “This has already led to the creation of key services in corrections, secure treatment and housing for the patient population with the most severe behavioural challenges resulting from mental impairment. The whole system of care for mental health and addictions will be strategically integrated and scaled up based on local data and best practices.”
Since the federal government brought in Bill C-48, the Crown continues to see instances where detention is not granted in cases involving repeat violent offenders. In July 2024, Premier Eby led Canada’s premiers in calling on Ottawa to review the Criminal Code and bail system to ensure it is working to keep people and communities safe. In addition to calling for a review, the B.C. government is asking for Ottawa to amend the Criminal Code to deal explicitly with machetes, following recent violent incidents.
Seeking better border inspections:
In addition, Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, has written to Ottawa urging the federal government to staff up the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) and federal RCMP to address the illegal distribution of poisoned drugs from BC ports.
A 2023 City of Delta policing report by Peter German noted that it is believed that less than 2% of containers are imaged and less than 1% are physically searched.
Federal decisions are expected to exacerbate the issue, with more than $250 million in planned CBSA cuts over the next three years.
“Since 2020, BC has seen a surge in the illicit domestic production of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, largely due to the importation of chemical precursors from China, which are being smuggled through Canadian ports,” Farnworth said.
“Our ports should never be an enabling mechanism to move illegal cargo in and out of our province. It’s time the federal government increase funding, enforcement and investigations at Canadian ports because we are seeing, first-hand, the devastating impacts of organized-crime groups exploiting gaps in enforcement and federal legislation to facilitate the flow of precursor drugs into our province,” says Farnworth.
Safer Communities Action Plan:
The actions announced are part of the Province’s Safer Communities Action Plan and goal of creating safe, healthy communities for everyone. These actions also support the Province’s strategy to address the toxic-drug crisis and will build on the actions government is taking to expand access to mental-health and addictions care, including increasing early intervention and prevention, treatment and recovery services, supportive and complex-care housing, harm reduction and more.
===== Government Links:
- Letter from Minister Mike Farnworth, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/671065%20Minister%20Leblanc%20(003).pdf
- Letter from Niki Sharma, Attorney General, regarding machetes, visit: http://news.gov.bc.ca/files/AG%20Letter.pdf
- Dr. Daniel Vigo’s past research, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/conducting-health-research/exploring-care-options-for-individuals-with-severe-substance-use-disorders-in-british-columbia.pdf
- How government is working to keep people and communities safe, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/safer-communities/
- How B.C. is building better mental-health and addiction care, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/BetterCare