Premier David Eby says a plan to implement involuntary care for those with severe mental health and addictions issues will be ready to launch soon, as his government faces rising criticism over street disorder in the wake of a spate of seemingly random, violent stranger attacks this week around Metro Vancouver.
Eby said an outside expert he hired to clarify when and how hospitals can detain people under the Mental Health Act is almost complete.
“That'll be out imminently,” the premier said Thursday, referencing the work of Dr. Daniel Vigo. “He's very close to a final version on that, working with addictions experts, psychiatrists and others.”
Eby appointed Dr. Vigo his “scientific advisor” in June, but was then shellacked down to within a seat of losing October's election by voters upset about affordability, health care, crime and disorder in municipal downtown cores.
“I think the Conservatives were very effective in speaking to British Columbians about concerns related to public safety, around disorder in downtown areas, around anxieties related to drug use and the toxic drug crisis, and government policy related to that,” Eby said.
The Opposition BC Conservatives, though, have simply had to sit back and watch the chaos unfold on Vancouver streets this week, no commentary needed, for political pressure to rise.
Police shot and killed a man who began attacking people with a knife, seemingly at random, inside a 7-Eleven at Robson and Hamilton streets on Wednesday. Downtown businesses, and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, blamed the provincial and federal governments for not doing enough to help those with addictions, prosecute those who commit crimes, and generally keep the public safe.
Just a few days earlier, police released video of a man sucker-punching a 28-year-old stranger at a bus stop outside the Hudson’s Bay store in downtown Vancouver, seemingly at random. Police arrested a suspect the next day, who was then charged with another earlier unsolved assault.
There was also a violent carjacking in Vancouver on Sunday, after a man reported being attacked by a stranger with a knife and broken glass bottle.
“When will enough be enough?” Conservative Leader John Rustad posted on social media. “We need emergency measures to stop violent attacks NOW — BC & Federal Governments must take IMMEDIATE and CONCRETE action. Stand up for victims — not offenders.”
The government has faced increasing criticism from business and municipal leaders for the better part of two years, who’ve cited open drug use, random assaults, repeated vandalism and violence from prolific offenders out on bail on multiple charges.
The premier lobbied Ottawa for bail reform, implemented a task force and issued directives to Crown prosecutors. Eby said he thinks that has worked. Sort of.
“These attacks are so awful for the people who are victims of them, but also they attack everybody's sense of comfort and safety in downtown cores across the province,” he said.
“So it makes it very hard to say, look, these kinds of attacks are down 50 per cent in downtown Vancouver. Well, what's that matter to me, when someone's getting stabbed in the middle of the downtown? I mean, one is too many.
“We see these signs that we're headed in the right direction, that the number of attacks is going down, that the number of overdoses is going down, we're showing progress on those things. These are all hopeful indicators. But this is a big problem, and we're talking about thousands of people, so they're not problems that are going to get solved overnight.”
Not overnight, perhaps, but the argument starts to stretch a bit thin seven years into the NDP government’s tenure.
The next step, after the new involuntary care rules, will be to open new involuntary care spaces in which people can be held.
“We expect them to be open in the spring at Surrey pretrial, and at Maple Ridge,” said Eby. “These are mental health beds for Surrey pretrial, for people who’ve been in custody, and for Maple Ridge, for people in the community.
“It’s a small number of beds, but it will prove out the model. And we’ve got the resources to be able to expand it across the province.”
It might prove the model, but British Columbians will also be looking for a different kind of proof: A visible, meaningful, tangible reduction in street disorder and public fear in downtown cores. Without it, the cycle continues.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 16 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
