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VANCOUVER – British Columbia will be opening secure facilities to provide involuntary care under the Mental Health Act for those with severe addictions who are mentally ill and have sustained a brain injury, the premier announced Sunday just days ahead of the start of a provincial election campaign.

David Eby pledged a re-elected NDP would change 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.”

Eby told a news conference in Vancouver that involuntary help would be aimed at people struggling with overlapping addictions, mental illness, and brain injury concerns who are not able to ask for help for themselves.

“For people with these three overlapping conditions, we know that the current response that we offer is not adequate,” he said.

“It is costly for people struggling with these conditions. They are not safe, and increasingly, I’m concerned that the way that they are interacting in our communities is making everybody less safe.”

The premier’s promise comes ahead of Saturday’s anticipated launch of the provincial election campaign, in which concerns about the toxic drug crisis are expected to play a significant role, and three months after he appointed Dr. Daniel Vigo as B.C.’s first chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders.

Vigo said Sunday that most people with addictions in British Columbia are not mentally impaired and are able to seek help voluntarily.

“However, the system breaks down if services operate under the assumption that all the patients should be able to actively seek help, endure taxing intake processes where comorbidity is not considered, input from providers … is not valued, and impairments affecting their ability to consent become an exclusion criteria,” he said.

Vigo said that in order for a person to be treated involuntarily under the act, they currently have to have a mental disorder that leaves them unable to interact safely with others and regulate their own behaviour.

Eby said the province’s hospitals interpret the current Mental Health Act inconsistently, so Vigo will be sending out clarifications on how it can be applied in cases involving addiction before the legislation is formally changed.

Eby said the first site providing care for those with addictions, mental illness and brain injuries will open in Maple Ridge on the grounds of the Alouette Correctional Centre “in the coming months,” adding there are plans to expand throughout the province.

This is not the first time the B.C. government has proposed involuntary care for youth with addictions.

In 2022, a plan that would have forced youth to undergo treatment for up to seven days after an overdose was scrapped following public criticism.

Eby said Sunday he understands the concern that youth might be less likely to ask for help if they fear being taken to treatment against their will.

“So these are the things we’re trying to balance as a society. It’s incredibly challenging, and our goal is to work with … the experts in this area, because I think that we need to keep revisiting these decisions and make sure that they’re taking us in the right direction,” he said.

Last week, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said if elected, he would introduce legislation to allow for involuntary treatment and build secure facilities.

In a statement Sunday, Rustad said Eby was being inconsistent and “flip-flopping” after years of not acting on the issue.

B.C. Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau accused Eby in a separate statement of following “John Rustad off every reactionary cliff” and said she was concerned about an over-reliance on involuntary care.

Furstenau said the province already has thousands of people receiving some form of involuntary treatment annually.

“Where are the investments in prevention and addressing the root causes of what we’re seeing in our communities? There’s also no focus on long-term, community-based care after discharge,” she said.

A government statement said the NDP is building more than 400 mental-health beds at new and expanded hospitals in B.C. by modernizing approximately 280 outdated beds and adding more than 140 new ones “with more to come.”

It says all of these facilities will also provide both voluntary and involuntary care under the act.

The announcement comes after a series of stranger attacks in the province alleged to have been committed by those who are mentally ill.

A man was arrested earlier this month in Vancouver for separate attacks that left one man dead and another with a severed hand. Police later said the suspect had a history of mental illness.

Eby said the province will also be setting up a designated mental-health unit in a B.C. correctional centre, starting with a 10-bed facility at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre to provide rapid treatment for people with mental-health and addiction challenges who are being held in custody.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. It clarifies that the facilities are aimed at people with concurrent mental health and addiction concerns. An earlier version said the facilities would be for those with severe addictions or who are mentally ill.

HAIDA GWAII, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The northern British Columbia coast was rattled by two earthquakes below the ocean floor on Sunday.

Natural Resources Canada said the first quake hit at 3:20 p.m. and measured 6, while the second came about an hour later and measured 4.5.

It says no damage was reported and none would be expected.

The U.S. Geological Survey set the magnitude of the quake at 6.5, and says it was centred at about the midway point between Haida Gwaii and Port McNeill on the northern end of Vancouver Island.

The American Tsunami warning centre said no tsunami was expected to be generated.

Ben Wilson, the food and beverage manager at the Willows Golf Course in Sandspit, B.C., says he was home on his break when he felt the ground shake, long enough to know what it was, but not long enough to concern him.

“This one was definitely more noticeable than some, but not by any means, the biggest one I’ve ever felt here.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

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OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre signaled the Liberals’ carbon price and the economy will remain his prime target when Parliament resumes this week.

He painted a dystopian picture during a Sunday morning speech to his caucus, saying the Liberal government’s plans to increase the price would cause a “nuclear winter” for the economy.

“There would be mass hunger and malnutrition with a tax this high … our seniors would have to turn the heat down to 14 or 13 C just to make it through the winter,” Poilievre said.

“Inflation would run rampant and people would not be able to leave their homes or drive anywhere.”

The Conservatives are the last of the major parties to have a fall strategy session after the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois all met last week.

Poilievre has maintained his party’s commanding lead in the polls throughout the summer, and is preparing to make another push to topple the Liberal government as early as this week.

All parties are adjusting their autumn plans after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ended the agreement that was ensuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government would stay in power.

Poilievre has promised to bring in notice of a non-confidence motion at his first opportunity, and that could happen as early as this week. The Tories would likely need the support of both the NDP and the Bloc to pass the motion, which appears unlikely.

Last week, Singh criticized both the Liberals and the Conservatives over their approaches to fighting climate change, but wouldn’t say whether he would keep the consumer carbon price if his party forms government after the next election.

Trudeau responded by accusing Singh of caving to political pressure from Poilievre.

Poilievre has not been fully clear on whether he would cancel both the consumer carbon levy, charged to individuals and smaller businesses, as well as the separate system that applies to big industry.

In his speech Sunday, Poilievre took shots at both Trudeau and Singh. “This crazy carbon tax obsession of Justin Trudeau and the NDP is an existential threat to our economy and our way of life,” he said.

Poilievre said despite the NDP pulling out of the supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals, Singh isn’t committing to voting to bring down the government and trigger an election.

“Now on the eve of a byelection, sellout Jagmeet Singh wants you to believe he’s a changed man. He’s a totally new person. He’s forgotten about everything he’s been doing for two years.”

As Parliament resumes on Monday, the political mood of the country will be tested in two byelections.

The NDP are trying to fend off the Conservatives in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona and the Liberals are running a three-way race against the NDP and the Bloc in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun.

In a June byelection, the Conservatives scored a surprise win in the longtime Liberal stronghold of Toronto—St. Paul’s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

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