All posts by James W. Breckenridge

Issues, Provincial

BC Legislation to Violate the Homeless

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Everyone is treated the same by the BC government – except for those who aren’t.

Rich Coleman speaks of passing legislation stripping the homeless of their Charter rights by permitting police to use force to drag the homeless to the door of a shelter. Not in, just to the door.

In response Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer tweeted “Thinking about introducing a motion requiring police to pick up Minister Coleman next time he’s in Vancouver and drop him off at Jenny Craig,” which resulted in Councillor Reimer being assailed by the press.

Unfortunately Councillor Reimer opted for political expediency over character and conviction and retracted her statement and apologized.

Unfortunate because Reimer’s tweet was a most apt and penetrating critique of the liberal government’s ‘Assistance to Shelter Act’.

Although it is hardly surprising that the insight of Reimer’s comments should go unperceived and unremarked by a press corps that gave rise to the Victoria Times Colonist inaccurate headline “Law would force homeless inside”.

Coleman said the proposed law gives police authority to take people to shelters, even if it requires them to use force and that the government is doing it because they need to protect people who won’t help themselves.

Now, we know that being overweight raises the likelihood of dying from a heart attack or other health related complications.

Given that Mr. Coleman’s decision not to lose the excess weight puts his life at risk and in light of the BC Liberal government having adopted a policy of intervention in order “to protect people who won’t help themselves” does it not follow that Mr. Coleman must be taken, by force if necessary, to a weight loss clinic “for his own good” whether he wants to go or not?

If we are going to start having special rules and treatment for one classification or sub-group of citizens for what we deem to be “their own good”, should this principle not apply to all deemed “who won’t help themselves”?

A rather steep, slippery and treacherous slope to step onto.

Or will the BC government be limiting protecting “people who won’t help themselves” to the homeless to avoid those who are not powerless to defend themselves from this type of assault on their rights and freedoms?

The government claims that this course of action is in the best interest of the homeless; choosing to ignore that those who know and interact with the homeless on a daily basis believe this course of action is likely to cost, not save, lives

Moreover the government has chosen to wilfully ignore the wildcard Mother Nature has added into the mix this winter of 2009/10 – H1N1

Consider that the homeless are an at risk population with numerous health related issues and challenges; this is the first wave of H1N1; a second wave is expected in the New Year; all the schools in Kitimat are closed because of a H1N1 outbreak, as other schools have been forced to close by H1N1.

Picture a crowded homeless shelter full of people. Is not a crowded shelter an even better place for the transmission of H1N1 than a school? Are not the homeless, an at risk population, “ripe for the infecting” by H1N1? How many will die as a result of the H1N1 virus if forced to shelters?

Given the H1N1 pandemic sweeping the globe, forcing the homeless to shelters will condemn some to their death.

Hmmmm. Government rounds up what is considered a problem population and sends them off to locations where they die…. Sounds familiar…

Municipal, Snafu

Mayor warns of ‘serious’ financial issues in 2010.

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Mayor Peary is right that Abbotsford faces ‘serious’ financial issues; he is however totally wrong that these ‘serious’ financial issues are limited to 2010 or that these “serious’ financial issues are about revenue and expenditure and completely in error that a gas tax is either necessary or would address these ‘serious’ financial issues.

At its core it is not a matter of dollars and cents that has put the city in its current state of financial and infrastructure problems.

An examination of the evidence makes it clear that Abbotsford has nine serious financial issues.

If you have driven by the Abbotsford Recreation Centre you will have seen council’s latest flashy new toy, the multicoloured new electronic billboard that replaced the old, serviceable plain manual sign at a cost of many tens of thousands of taxpayer’s dollars.

I suppose that after they spent thousands of dollars for four flat, big screen televisions to display the admission rates it was simply to unsophisticated to have the old serviceable, plain manual outdoor billboard clashing with the fancy new big flat-screen TV’s.

Personally I preferred the old wall signs as it made changing admission fees more noticeable; which probably goes a long way to explaining the need to spend thousands of dollars on the televisions.

Obviously with all this flashy, costly new display hardware they had to spend the hundreds of dollars they did on replacing the perfectly serviceable old lane/lesson pool deck signs for signs with better graphics.

After all ARC is part of Parks and Recreation, a department that felt the need to spend over a hundred thousand dollars to purchase a used jungle gym. As a kids structure it is undoubtedly brightly coloured and so impossible for council or management to resist.

After council and management felt the need to splurge for ARC’s expensive but colourful and flashy new billboard it is hardly surprising council felt the needs to spend $1.2 million more than necessary for a score clock.

A few hundred here, a few thousand on this and tens of thousands on that; a hundred thousand on this ‘deal’, a million plus on bells, whistles and flashy bright lights for a scoreboard…

After a while all this unnecessary spending adds up to millions of taxpayer dollars.

Council’s ‘need’ for a gas tax is no different that the ‘need’ for money any shopaholic, addict has.

I ‘need’ a new car, a new computer, a flat screen plasma television … but as a financially responsible person I budget and set priorities.

It is council that has taken the city from being debt free a short two and a half years ago to being burdened with debt, still facing the need for major spending investments in infrastructure and with the mayor and council mounting a campaign to convince taxpayers that there is no choice but to raise taxes by $10 million a year – or more.

No it is not revenue and expenses that are the ‘serious’ financial issues that the City of Abbotsford  must deal with. Prudent budgeting and spending will resolve the city’s budget challenges.

The nine ‘serious’ financial issues that threaten Abbotsford are the mayor and council. Taxpayers really cannot do much about whether this state of affairs is a result of the mayor and council only caring about re-election or lack the ability for budgeting and fiscal discipline.

What we can do is demand council do more than pay lip service to the budgeting process. It is time taxpayers and council took a hard look at what money truly needs to be spent on and items that can be postponed or even forgone.

Any reasonable, responsible and prudent person looking over the numbers published by the city as justification for the need for large revenue increases in 2010 can easily find millions of dollars that do not ‘have’ to be spent.

It is clear that as part of ‘encouraging’ council to discharge its fiduciary duties in a responsible manner it is necessary to cut off what council and city management consider a bottomless well of money.

Taxpayers need to make it clear to Gordon Campbell, Bill Bennett and our local MLA’s that it is unacceptable for them to encourage Abbotsford’s councils spendthrift ways by granting them a gas tax.

Taxpayers also need to make clear to council, via e-mail or attending the budget meetings, the need for council to stop spend, spend, spend and exercise fiscal discipline as do taxpayers and other municipalities.

 

Addiction, Issues, Municipal

I hope Kevin Falcon was …

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I sincerely hope that Health Minister Kevin Falcon was lying through his teeth in his recent response to questions about cuts to mental health and addiction services.

If he actually believes what he was saying reflects the state of mental health and/or addiction services in BC … … there are a lot of British Columbians in need of those services who are *bleeped*, myself included.

The heat this summer had a serious negative effect on my mental state, leaving me struggling to return to the state of Wellness I had attained. Unfortunately there is a 10 month waiting period to get to see a psychiatrist; after you spend 11/2 – 2 months working through the backlog at mental health services to get referred to see a psychiatrist.

I have a Wellness Plan, tools and have built a strong support system and so I have a reasonable chance of not falling into a downward spiral during what could be a year long wait for services … with luck.

What would it mean to you or someone you know who, facing a mental health crisis, seeks help and faces a year long wait to start to get the services you/they need? What level of worsening does this delay cause in someone’s mental state and what does this do to that individual?

I was not the only person the heat this summer caused mental challenges for. I have heard from numerous others who, finding their mental state causing them problems went to the hospital to get help in order not to relapse and were turned away. Our local hospital’s mental services are insufficient to meet the normal day-to-day demands for its services; the increase in demand caused by the weather overwhelmed these inadequate services.

I could go on for pages on the service cuts (or as the Health Minister calls it ‘reorganized delivery’), the services that are simply not provided or how overwhelmed the services and programs provided are.

Fraser Health is the fastest growing health region in terms of population growth and thus demand for services. Exacerbating matters is the fact that for those on the limited support provided for people disabled by mental health issues, rent costs are forcing patients out of Costal Health into Fraser Health in search of more affordable, or at least less unaffordable, housing.

The budget for mental health in our region has not reflected the increase in demand. This year’s budget is the same as last year. While on a strictly definitional basis this is not a budget cut, in the real world that those of us who are not politicians inhabit holding a budget at the same level is a budget cut.

In a sensible move addiction services were moved into mental health. I say sensible because the growing knowledge base on addiction and addiction recovery has shown this to be more of a mental health problem that a strictly simpler problem of ‘addiction’

While significantly (doubling? tripling?) increasing the responsibilities of mental health, there was no funding provided to pay for addiction services.

It needs to be noted that Minister Rich Coleman’s ministry plays a role in increasing the problems for those dealing with mental health and addiction challenges. The unrealistic levels of Income Assistance and the lack of safe, healthy affordable housing significantly increases the barriers to recovery for those with mental or addiction issues.

Dealing with housing, budgeting or income assistance is a major stressor for people whether challenged by mental issues or not.

If you need mental health services you are well aware of the limited services currently available, the limited numbers and access to those services, the gaping holes in services and the problem of the time it takes to get access to services.

The lack of services and capacity is denying access to Recovery to British Columbians. It is costing the taxpayers of BC more tax dollars to deal with the consequences of people denied mental health care than it would to provide the needed care.

Sadly, twistedly, the mental health system itself, due to a lack of funding, proper management and leadership has become a mental health issue.

Which is why, although I am not a fan of the propensity of politicians to lie, I am praying Kevin Falcon was lying through his teeth in his statements on the state of mental health services in BC. The alternative, he believes what he said, is disastrous for anyone with mental health or addiction issues in their lives.

Consider, Issues

Abbotsford Police Video

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It was not really surprising to view the video of the Abbotsford Police Department officers using excessive physical force in arresting two suspects.

When you have been homeless and/or advocate for the homeless one becomes familiar with the less that professional behaviour exhibited by some APD officers.

Given the treatment of the homeless and others perceived as powerless, seeing the video of the offices walking on, kicking, standing on the neck of and driving the face into the ground was not surprising at all.

Moreover, it was not the physical assault that was the most disturbing aspect of this incident.

No, what was most disturbing was the APD spokesperson’s repeatedly uttering of the reminder that the suspects were arrested on drug dealing charges – as if this fact made the use of excessive force acceptable.

The spokesperson’s statements suggest that the APD has a cultural attitude that it is acceptable behaviour to abuse people who belong to certain groups.

It is not. The APD needs to be told by city council and citizens that everyone officers deal with must be treated in a professional matter.

Issues, Municipal, Snafu

Bruce, Craig and Housing.

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Craig Holuboch and Bruce are why I was and am so disgusted by the behaviour of city council and the people of the neighbourhood about the lost supported, affordable housing project proposed for 2323 Emerson Street, Abbotsford.

The relapse rate for those in transition from treatment to the outside world is so high that treatment is referred to as “a relapse preparation program” by some.

It is a transition full of challenges that is made far more difficult by the lack of safe, healthy affordable housing. Particularly housing that comes with support for the rough patches; support geared to the individuals needs.

Having watched the toll (in the form of relapsing) the lack of affordable, safe, healthy supportive housing takes on those coming out of treatment, it would seem to be a no brainer to provide this needed housing. Apparently not to government, even though it has been demonstrated that providing this housing has a dramatic effect on the rate of success of those transitioning out of treatment.

It is expensive and costly to keep recycling people through the treatment/help/programs systems and industry, time after time after time. Not just in terms of the large expenditure of tax dollars spent, but also in terms of the human toll it takes on those being run through the system time after time.

The path to recovery and wellness is like building a car for a journey. Putting a powerful engine in won’t accomplish much without a transmission. Similarly treatment (the engine) doesn’t accomplish much without a successful way to transition (the transmission) out of treatment back into the world.

Making that transition is hard and stressful enough without the burden of less than supportive, healthy, safe and affordable housing.

Bruce is an interesting case and a person I have known going back to the time I was homeless.

People, who see him pushing his overflowing cart along the street, do not see the intelligent man that Bruce is. I always appreciate the opportunity to engage in discourse with him, an opportunity that occurs as we are both frequent visitors to the library.

If one takes the time to sit and talk to Bruce it is quickly apparent that he is aware of the fact his packrat ways are what prevent him from being housed. Having experienced it I empathize with being intellectually aware of what the problem is – but being powerless to do anything about it.

It is interesting that not many weeks ago that Bruce and I were sitting in the library lobby having a conversation as to what would be necessary for him to find – and stay in – housing. It was not really all that difficult to arrive at a conclusion. Since Bruce finds himself powerless over his packrat ways, what he needs is help to deal with this reality of his life.

What Bruce needs is housing that comes with support in the form of help to decide which of his finds he will keep and which will be removed from the premises. He needs someone to build a relationship and gently but firmly, on at least a weekly basis, invest the time to help Bruce sort and choose the ‘keepers’. Bruce did feel that shelving to organize and manage his finds would be quite helpful in managing his collection.

Safe affordable housing that provides the type of support an individual needs is part of the basic foundation needed to help Craig, Bruce and similar people thrive. Providing this type of housing is not only the ethical thing to do – it has the bonus of saving money.