How widespread are the homeless/mental health/addiction issues in your city/province?

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Talking to some of my right-wing friends they think Canada is already a communist country so might as well go full throttle to socialism

Ask them if they've ever been on EI.
then call them Commie bastards

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by niwell

Just a little too close to “socialism” for us to try. Ignoring that’s the whole basis of our welfare state. But whatever I guess.

Canadians: We're not Americans

Also Canadians: Capitalism is the best system we have. We cannot have a hybrid system or any talk of helping Canada's less fortunate populations. I didn't cause them to be homeless, have a drug problem, or mental illness. It's not MY responsibility.

meanwhile...

While there is no OECD-wide average against which to compare Finland’s homeless rate of 0.08%, other countries with similarly broad definitions of homelessness provide points of reference, such as neighbouring Sweden (0.33%) or the Netherlands (0.23%)

0.08%!

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Ha! However, what we're doing now is useless.

Edmonton and Winnipeg may be lost causes; however alcohol prohibition across Canada could lead to less poverty, addiction and mental illness.

You can't be actually serious.

Prohibition has never worked. It currently doesn't work for opioids and pharmaceutical drugs. We're just shy of 5 years away from the government recognizing that it doesn't work for weed. Alcohol prohibition didn't work 100 years ago, when you had to send physical messages to people and somebody had to teach you in person or read it in a book. Nowadays with the internet it would be 10x harder to try to prevent people finding how to make it, where to get ingredients, etc.

Alcohol is so easy to make. Yeast is a magic little bug that will do all the work for you, just give it some sugar to eat. It can be made anywhere (not needing tropical ingredients) and puts off nothing but carbon dioxide.

Any source of sugar. Sugar, molasses, most grains, fruit, fruit juice. I make gallons of hard cider every summer using nothing but whatever apple juice is on sale and a packet of yeast.


... actually, I bet a new prohibition would be extremely profitable for me

[Loco101]

This made me think of the Conservatives ad in 2015 trying to scare voters of the legalization of cannabis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OI-Y2seFco

[urbandreamer]

Well it's been proven that drinking more than 2 servings of alcohol weekly is detrimental to our health, so outright banning it makes sense.

I've noticed quite a number of black & FN - African? - homeless in downtown Kitchener vs the small number of old school German Canadian men you'd see 20-30 year's ago.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

@jkenney
LIVE: The Government of Alberta is announcing $187 million in new funding to address addiction and homelessness in Edmonton and Calgary
---

@AmarjeetSohiYEG

for making today’s announcement happen. The $70M announced today will support many important initiatives and also help close the funding gap between Edmonton and Calgary to support our unhoused neighbours.

https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1576263015380709376

Yup. close down safe injection sites. (that can help people get off drugs). Close or privatize Addition centres or make a number of then religious based.(a lot of people have religious based Trauma).
(This will stop a lot of people from getting help). Move some out of the cities To areas that are less accessible. Stop funding support services. Then at the last minute refund some things.

Ever since the UCP have been in power I have seen a steady increase in the number of homeless and poverty in the inner city. That homelessness is now being seen in a large part of Edmonton not just the inner city. I now walk around at lunch and always carry a Neloxone kit with me.

The inner city services that I do volunteer work with are beyond max capacity. It is going to take a generation to recover.

When Danni gets in I can see this getting worse again.

Medicine hat the City that said it beet homelessness, had issues 7 months later and its only getting worse.

My big beef is that the people and Political leaders that profess to be such great strong Christians are the least Christian I have encountered.

I know a lot of good religious based groups , they don't push their religion on you. they are there just to serve where they can. but the leaders and the fundamentalist Christian groups are the problems.

I'll be doing dinner service at an Inner city church on Friday. It will be interesting to see if we have enough to serve everyone.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Well it's been proven that drinking more than 2 servings of alcohol weekly is detrimental to our health, so outright banning it makes sense.

Sure, let's add red meat, trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, and the list goes on...

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Well it's been proven that drinking more than 2 servings of alcohol weekly is detrimental to our health, so outright banning it makes sense.

An excessive amount of anything is detrimental to our heath

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Yup. close down safe injection sites. (that can help people get off drugs). Close or privatize Addition centres or make a number of then religious based.(a lot of people have religious based Trauma).
(This will stop a lot of people from getting help). Move some out of the cities To areas that are less accessible. Stop funding support services. Then at the last minute refund some things.. .

Opening safe injection sites in Vancouver hasn't made a dent in drug use or overdose fatalities.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Opening safe injection sites in Vancouver hasn't made a dent in drug use or overdose fatalities.

When they closed them down here the poisoning deaths went up. I am trying to find the report from Lethbridge, after they closed theirs down they had a huge jump in deaths.

However as a friend told me( he is EMS Paramedic). There are a lot of calls from the burbs as well. We just see it more in the homeless community. About a year ago he had a call to a well off neighborhood. Apparently the husband and wife both needed help. he indicated that about 1/3 of his calls are drug related. He does not work in the inner city but in the Burbs and rural areas.

[urbandreamer]

Like I said a few months ago, Edmonton and Winnipeg are very similar. The only solutions to reducing crime and homelessness in the refugee and FN communities is hire them, house them and reduce access to alcohol and drugs. Instead of charities, why can't wealthy locals "adopt" and house one to provide insight into how to become successful?

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Yup. close down safe injection sites. (that can help people get off drugs). Close or privatize Addition centres or make a number of then religious based.(a lot of people have religious based Trauma).
(This will stop a lot of people from getting help). Move some out of the cities To areas that are less accessible. Stop funding support services. Then at the last minute refund some things.

Ever since the UCP have been in power I have seen a steady increase in the number of homeless and poverty in the inner city. That homelessness is now being seen in a large part of Edmonton not just the inner city. I now walk around at lunch and always carry a Neloxone kit with me.

The inner city services that I do volunteer work with are beyond max capacity. It is going to take a generation to recover.

...

Ever since the UCP came to power they single handedly ruined any "Alberta Advantage" of the province.

Alberta used to have, arguably, the top public education system in Canada (very recently one of the top in the world) with healthcare not far behind. Now teachers, nurses, doctors have left the province in droves as they've cut funding to both sectors.

Sounds like you're a good soul volunteering in your community for the less fortunate

[Acajack]

Just saw a report on TVA about the city of Granby wondering how to deal with the burgeoning number of homeless encampments in the city.

Granby is a city of around 65,000 people about an hour east of Montreal. It is not part of the Montreal metro.

I would guess that the last time a place like Granby had this type of issue would have been around the Great Depression.

[giallo]

edit

[Coldrsx]

Cabinet task force to tackle Edmonton social issues

December 13, 2022 Media inquiries
The Edmonton Public Safety and Community Response Task Force will address social issues through a coordinated response between the province, city and local partners.

Addiction, homelessness and public safety issues have affected every community in Alberta, with Edmonton being especially hard hit. To address these issues and build on the province’s recovery-oriented system of addiction and mental health care, Alberta’s government is forming the Edmonton Public Safety and Community Response Task Force.

The task force will implement a series of initiatives in the Edmonton metropolitan region as part of a $187-million commitment to address addiction and homelessness in Alberta’s urban centres. In Edmonton, $63 million of this funding will go toward dramatically increasing access to addiction services and supports over the next two years, and $19 million has been allocated to combat homelessness.

“Addiction has become one of the most urgent social issues facing our province, and one of the most complex. This task force will bring community partners together to implement a series of recovery-oriented initiatives, enhancing public safety and improving addiction and mental health care in Edmonton.”

Nicholas Milliken, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction
---

Task force members are:

Nicholas Milliken, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction

Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services (chair)

Jeremy Nixon, Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services

Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Municipal Affairs

Chief Billy Morin, Enoch Cree Nation

Chief Isaac A. Laboucan-Avirom, Woodland Cree First Nation

Tim Cartmell, pihêsiwin Ward councillor, City of Edmonton

Sarah Hamilton, sipiwiyiniwak Ward councillor, City of Edmonton

Dale McFee, chief of police, Edmonton Police Services

Kerry Bales, senior program officer, Provincial Addiction and Mental Health, Alberta Health Services

Graeme McAlister, associate executive director, EMS Operations, Alberta Health Services Edmonton Zone

Susan McGee, chief executive officer, Homeward Trust

Also invited, pending City of Edmonton approval:

Andre Corbould, city manager, City of Edmonton

Joe Zatylny, fire chief, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services

https://www.alberta.ca/announcements.cfm



Which led to this...


'Not approved by city council': Sohi blasts UCP over new Edmonton social issues task force

https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/not-appr...orce-1.6193190

[LightingGuy]

In Burlington we now regularly see panhandlers on certain intersections, and at some highway exits (more towards the west). Don't remember ever seeing this when I was kid in this area.

[esquire]

Interesting thread.

Winnipeg already had its fair share of problems before, but it has gotten worse over the past few years. I live in suburbia, not the far outer reaches of it but still generally a pretty neat and tidy part of town. But we have seen people camping out in parks around here, panhandling, and the nastier side too, like petty crime. You go to the mall and it is unbelievable to me how locked down it is... numerous entrances closed, lots of security guards, it feels downright fortified compared to even 5 years ago. And this is the suburbs, don't even ask about downtown.

In terms of social decorum generally, it feels like this type of sign has become ubiquitous over the last few years. It's sad that it even needs to be pointed out. But there is so much anger and such a propensity to lash out. We've leaned so hard into this non-deferential mindset that we have become outright rude as a society.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

Interesting thread.

Winnipeg already had its fair share of problems before, but it has gotten worse over the past few years. I live in suburbia, not the far outer reaches of it but still generally a pretty neat and tidy part of town. But we have seen people camping out in parks around here, panhandling, and the nastier side too, like petty crime. You go to the mall and it is unbelievable to me how locked down it is... numerous entrances closed, lots of security guards, it feels downright fortified compared to even 5 years ago. And this is the suburbs, don't even ask about downtown.

In terms of social decorum generally, it feels like this type of sign has become ubiquitous over the last few years. It's sad that it even needs to be pointed out. But there is so much anger and such a propensity to lash out. We've leaned so hard into this non-deferential mindset that we have become outright rude as a society.

These signs are definitely ubiquitous here as well. Often in surprising places - not where one would normally expect interactions between the public and staff to be tense.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Acajack

These signs are definitely ubiquitous here as well. Often in surprising places - not where one would normally expect interactions between the public and staff to be tense.

We have "code white" in the hospital for a security response when patients or visitors are being violent or threatening to staff and others. They get called pretty regularly, and not just from the ER.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

We have "code white" in the hospital for a security response when patients or visitors are being violent or threatening to staff and others. They get called pretty regularly, and not just from the ER.

AFAIK these have existed for a long time in the hospital milieu.

My kids when they were in elementary and high school here in Quebec had periodic "code blanc" lockdown drills in case of threatening individuals.