On a cool Thursday afternoon in Ottawa, veteran police officer Sgt. Avery Flanagan approaches a man hunched over in a downtown parking lot. He has crushed opioids in one hand and a needle in the other.
Flanagan tells the man, who appears to be in his 20s, he can’t use drugs on private property.
“Have you ever overdosed on fentanyl?” asks the officer.
“Twice or three times,” he responds. “You hit the floor, you wake up, you don’t even know that you’ve overdosed.”
“Pretty scary feeling?” asks Flanagan.
“Yeah, pretty scary,” he answers.
Similar encounters unfolded throughout the day as Global News accompanied the officer during a patrol last November of the city’s downtown, an area where the opioid epidemic and housing crisis are colliding and having deadly consequences.
In the two months since, the Public Health Agency of Canada released updated 2023 numbers in December 2023 showcasing the staggering scope of opioid and drug overdoses across the country. That data showed an average of 22 deaths per day from apparent opioid toxicity between the first six months of last year, up five per cent from the same period in 2022.
Most of those — 89 per cent — are in three places: B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
And as housing affordability becomes a political lightning rod set to dominate the return of the House of Commons on Jan. 29, there is growing attention not just on those who struggle to make their rent or mortgage payments, but also on those who don’t have a home at all.
More on Canada
“The opioid crisis is something that I’ve seen really, really hurt us. And it’s been a struggle to get a hold,” said Flanagan.
The officer is a member of the Ottawa Police Service’s neighbourhood resource team, which focuses on crime prevention and public safety.
Flanagan comes from a family of police officers and has spent most of his 20-year career working in downtown Ottawa, which is undergoing a dramatic transformation, he says.
In his view, Ottawa could just as well be any Canadian city.
“I don’t think we’re unique at all,” he told Global News. “I’ve travelled through work, and I’ve travelled personally, and I’ve seen it from Victoria to Greater Halifax.”
“Even before the pandemic, North America was hit by this opioid crisis. That’s probably been the biggest change that I’ve seen,” added Flanagan.
1:08 Sgt. Avery Flanagan checks alleyway for possible overdose victims in Ottawa
How much have opioid overdoses increased?
The veteran officer says one of the biggest challenges in his 20-year career has been trying to respond to the overdose epidemic.
The most recent available data shows nearly 4,000 Canadians died during the first six months of 2023. More than 70 per cent of those who died were male, and most are between the ages of 20 and 59. Eighty-four per cent of the deaths involve fentanyl, up 47 per cent since 2016.
The opioid epidemic took hold years ago, with federal government beginning its surveillance of the crisis in 2016. Since then, the situation has only gotten worse. Over the past seven years, opioids have killed more than 40,000 Canadians.
“The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the crisis, as several jurisdictions reported higher rates of fatal overdoses and other harms,” said the Public Health Agency of Canada report from December.
In the four hours Global News spent with Flanagan, the majority of his time was spent on the front lines of this public health disaster.
“A large majority of our calls are mental health and medical, mostly overdoses,” he said.
The emergencies unfolded stumbling distance from Parliament Hill. The juxtaposition is not lost on Flanagan; Canada’s most powerful politicians and some of Canada’s most vulnerable people, all nestled in the same one-kilometre radius.
“I don’t know what the solution is. It’s way above me. All I can do is focus here in Ottawa and try to come up with some ideas and small little band-aids to help,” he said.
What role does the housing shortage play?
As Canada’s addiction crisis deepens, a lack of affordable housing has thrust substance use and also extreme poverty into public view.
“I haven’t seen the visibility of homelessness this bad,” said University of Ottawa psychology professor Tim Aubry.
Aubry co-chairs the Canadian Housing First Network, an organization trying to eradicate homelessness in Canada.
The most recent Statistics Canada survey on housing shows as of 2021, more than 227,000 Canadians were on waiting lists for social or affordable housing.
No camping sign at the National War Memorial grounds in Ottawa, Ontario on Friday August 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Lars Hagberg.
THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Lars Hagberg
What’s adding to the problem, says Aubry, is that social assistance has not kept up with inflation, pushing the lowest-income earners out of the rental market entirely.
“People who are homeless compete with students. They compete with people coming into the country. It’s all that low level rental,” he added. Flanagan says he has also seen more visible homelessness in downtown Ottawa.
While out on patrol, the officer recognizes a young man named Justin. He stops to check on him. Justin, who only wants to use his first name, sleeps on the streets in and around the city’s Byward Market.
It’s a popular area and tourist destination, but the market also struggles with crime, drug use and homelessness.
“There are all sorts of vacant dwellings, but they’re not being accessed for financial reasons, as opposed to humanitarian assistance,” said Justin.
“There’s a lot of money being pumped in all directions. A lot of it going to the public sector isn’t really going to the public.”
2:39 Edmonton mayor seeks to declare homeless crisis emergency
In 2017, the Trudeau government released its National Housing Strategy, which included a pledge to cut homelessness by 50 per cent over the next 10 years.
But halfway into the strategy, the Liberals can’t say how much progress they’ve made.
“It’s an area that we need to get better data [on],” acknowledged Housing Minister Sean Fraser at a news conference in Halifax on Monday.
A 2022 report from the auditor general found major information gaps and a “lack of federal accountability for achieving Canada’s target.”
“Infrastructure Canada spent about $1.36 billion between 2019 and 2021 on initiatives to prevent and reduce homelessness,” reads Auditor General Karen Hogan’s report.
“The audit found that the department did not know whether the rates of homelessness and chronic homelessness have increased or decreased since 2019.”
Fraser said the pandemic disrupted data collection and “delayed our ability to understand the progress that has been achieved.”
But he insists the federal government is on track. “We believe it’s ambitious, but we can achieve the target.”
What are possible solutions?
Aubry says the key to getting people out of chronic homelessness and treating addiction is a “housing-first” approach.
“A lot of our resources go to emergency measures,” said Aubry. While those are crucial, especially during the winter months, they do not get to the root of the program, he says.
“You have to marry housing with support, and we haven’t nearly done enough of that.”
According to Aubry’s own research, Canada needs to triple the number of “housing first” programs to really make a “dent.” He also advocates for more rent subsidies.
“Whether it’s social assistance or it’s even the disability pension, the amounts simply haven’t kept up with the cost of accommodations. So there has to be resources targeting the deficiency in income support.”
A drug syringe and nasal overdose spray can be seen near a popular drug spot in Ottawa, Ontario on Thursday, June 25, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Lars Hagberg.
THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Lars Hagberg
The role of mental health supports — and the challenges of accessing that care — are also a crucial part of any potential solution, Aubry and Flanagan say.
One of Flanagan’s last stops is the Salvation Army in the Byward Market.
An older man sees the officer and asks for help. His friend, a regular at the shelter, has disappeared.
“He’s been missing for five months. He’s usually in jail or here. We’re trying to get a line on him,” he tells Flanagan.
1:33 Ottawa officer reflects on how opioid crisis has transformed the city
The man doesn’t want to give his name but identifies himself as a 61-year-old military veteran.
He used to sleep at the Salvation Army himself, after he was released from jail for assault. He says his life turned around, after his daughter took him in and he received counselling.
“I’ve had mental health issues and sought help. A lot of it, thank God.”
Flanagan searches for his missing friend’s name on the police database, but nothing comes up.
“My last stop is going to be the morgue,” says the 61-year-old.
Over the years, Flanagan has also seen familiar faces disappear. It’s one of the most difficult parts of the job.
But he says he still has reasons for optimism.
Injection booths are seen at the Cactus safe injection site Monday, June 26, 2017 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Flanagan credits safe consumption sites with saving lives and calls naloxone kits — which reverse the effects of opioid overdoses — a “blessing.”
Ottawa has four such safe consumption sites in the downtown core: two in the Byward Market and adjacent Lowertown area, and one each in the nearby neighbourhoods of Sandy Hill and Centretown, roughly 10 to 20 minute walks from the Byward Market.
The sites provide clean equipment for drug use and safe disposal of things like needles afterwards, as well as emergency care for overdoses, testing for infectious diseases, access or referrals to addictions services, and access or referrals to services for help finding housing or work.
Flanagan also points to a future downtown police service center which will open in the Rideau Centre, a shopping mall next to Byward Market.
It’s part of a wider strategy by Ottawa police to increase its presence downtown and change the way the service responds to mental health crises.
“You want it to attract people, but you also want it to be a deterrent to crime. So that’s a tough balance,” said Flanagan.
The officer says his job is a constant balancing act; preventing crime and building trust with “people who are day-to-day living tough lives.”
“When we walked around today and we saw folks I know and recognize, that’s a good feeling. That means that I’m doing my job.”
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government announced on Thursday what it described as world-leading legislation that would institute an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media, and hold platforms responsible for ensuring compliance.
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
The legislation will be introduced in Parliament during its final two weeks in session this year, which begin on Nov. 18. The age limit would take effect 12 months after the law is passed, Albanese told reporters.
The platforms including X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook would need to use that year to work out how to exclude Australian children younger than 16.
“I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online,” Albanese said.
The proposal comes as governments around the world are wrestling with how to supervise young people’s use of technologies like smartphones and social media.
Social media platforms would be penalized for breaching the age limit, but under-age children and their parents would not.
“The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won’t be on parents or young people,” Albanese said.
Antigone Davis, head of safety at Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the company would respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce.
“However, what’s missing is a deeper discussion on how we implement protections, otherwise we risk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place,” Davis said in a statement.
She added that stronger tools in app stores and operating systems for parents to control what apps their children can use would be a “simple and effective solution.”
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. TikTok declined to comment.
The Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the digital industry in Australia, described the age limit as a “20th Century response to 21st Century challenges.”
“Rather than blocking access through bans, we need to take a balanced approach to create age-appropriate spaces, build digital literacy and protect young people from online harm,” DIGI managing director Sunita Bose said in a statement.
More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in fields related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Albanese last month opposing a social media age limit as “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”
Jackie Hallan, a director at the youth mental health service ReachOut, opposed the ban. She said 73% of young people across Australia accessing mental health support did so through social media.
“We’re uncomfortable with the ban. We think young people are likely to circumvent a ban and our concern is that it really drives the behavior underground and then if things go wrong, young people are less likely to get support from parents and carers because they’re worried about getting in trouble,” Hallan said.
Child psychologist Philip Tam said a minimum age of 12 or 13 would have been more enforceable.
“My real fear honestly is that the problem of social media will simply be driven underground,” Tam said.
Australian National University lawyer Associate Prof. Faith Gordon feared separating children from there platforms could create pressures within families.
Albanese said there would be exclusions and exemptions in circumstances such as a need to continue access to educational services.
But parental consent would not entitle a child under 16 to access social media.
Earlier this year, the government began a trial of age-restriciton technologies. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, the online watchdog that will police compliance, will use the results of that trial to provide platforms with guidance on what reasonable steps they can take.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the year-long lead-in would ensure the age limit could be implemented in a “very practical way.”
“There does need to be enhanced penalties to ensure compliance,” Rowland said.
“Every company that operates in Australia, whether domiciled here or otherwise, is expected and must comply with Australian law or face the consequences,” she added.
The main opposition party has given in-principle support for an age limit at 16.
Opposition lawmaker Paul Fletcher said the platforms already had the technology to enforce such an age ban.
“It’s not really a technical viability question, it’s a question of their readiness to do it and will they incur the cost to do it,” Fletcher told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“The platforms say: ’It’s all too hard, we can’t do it, Australia will become a backwater, it won’t possibly work.’ But if you have well-drafted legislation and you stick to your guns, you can get the outcomes,” Fletcher added.
TOKYO (AP) — A robot that has spent months inside the ruins of a nuclear reactor at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant delivered a tiny sample of melted nuclear fuel on Thursday, in what plant officials said was a step toward beginning the cleanup of hundreds of tons of melted fuel debris.
The sample, the size of a grain of rice, was placed into a secure container, marking the end of the mission, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which manages the plant. It is being transported to a glove box for size and weight measurements before being sent to outside laboratories for detailed analyses over the coming months.
Plant chief Akira Ono has said it will provide key data to plan a decommissioning strategy, develop necessary technology and robots and learn how the accident had developed.
The first sample alone is not enough and additional small-scale sampling missions will be necessary in order to obtain more data, TEPCO spokesperson Kenichi Takahara told reporters Thursday. “It may take time, but we will steadily tackle decommissioning,” Takahara said.
Despite multiple probes in the years since the 2011 disaster that wrecked the. plant and forced thousands of nearby residents to leave their homes, much about the site’s highly radioactive interior remains a mystery.
The sample, the first to be retrieved from inside a reactor, was significantly less radioactive than expected. Officials had been concerned that it might be too radioactive to be safely tested even with heavy protective gear, and set an upper limit for removal out of the reactor. The sample came in well under the limit.
That’s led some to question whether the robot extracted the nuclear fuel it was looking for from an area in which previous probes have detected much higher levels of radioactive contamination, but TEPCO officials insist they believe the sample is melted fuel.
The extendable robot, nicknamed Telesco, first began its mission August with a plan for a two-week round trip, after previous missions had been delayed since 2021. But progress was suspended twice due to mishaps — the first involving an assembly error that took nearly three weeks to fix, and the second a camera failure.
On Oct. 30, it clipped a sample weighting less than 3 grams (.01 ounces) from the surface of a mound of melted fuel debris sitting on the bottom of the primary containment vessel of the Unit 2 reactor, TEPCO said.
On Thursday, the gravel, whose radioactivity earlier this week recorded far below the upper limit set for its environmental and health safety, was placed into a safe container for removal out of the compartment.
The sample return marks the first time the melted fuel is retrieved out of the containment vessel.
Fukushima Daiichi lost its key cooling systems during a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, causing meltdowns in its three reactors. An estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive melted fuel remains in them.
The government and TEPCO have set a 30-to-40-year target to finish the cleanup by 2051, which experts say is overly optimistic and should be updated. Some say it would take for a century or longer.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said there have been some delays but “there will be no impact on the entire decommissioning process.”
No specific plans for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal have been decided.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong typhoon was forecast to hit the northern Philippines on Thursday, prompting a new round of evacuations in a region still recovering from back-to-back storms a few weeks ago.
Typhoon Yinxing is the 13th to batter the disaster-prone Southeast Asian nation this season.
“I really pity our people but all of them are tough,” Gov. Marilou Cayco of the province of Batanes said by telephone. Her province was ravaged by recent destructive storms and is expected to be affected by Yinxing’s fierce wind and rain.
Tens of thousands of villagers were returning to emergency shelters and disaster-response teams were again put on alert in Cagayan and other northern provinces near the expected path of Yinxing. The typhoon was located about 175 kilometers (109 miles) east of Aparri town in Cagayan province on Thursday morning.
The slow-moving typhoon, locally named Marce, was packing sustained winds of up to 165 kilometers (102 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 205 kph (127 mph) and was forecast to hit or come very near to the coast of Cagayan and outlying islands later Thursday.
The coast guard, army, air force and police were put on alert. Inter-island ferries and cargo services and domestic flights were suspended in northern provinces.
Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoon Kong-rey hit the northern Philippines in recent weeks, leaving at least 151 people dead and affecting nearly 9 million others. More than 14 billion pesos ($241 million) worth of rice, corn and other crops and infrastructure were damaged.
The deaths and destruction from the storms prompted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a day of national mourning on Monday when he visited the worst-hit province of Batangas, south of the capital, Manila. At least 61 people perished in the coastal province.
Trami dumped one to two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours in some regions, including in Batangas.
“We want to avoid the loss of lives due to calamities,” Marcos said in Talisay town in Batangas, where he brought key Cabinet members to reassure storm victims of rapid government help. “Storms nowadays are more intense, extensive and powerful.”
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages and caused ships to run aground and smash into houses in the central Philippines.
