Residents and business owners who are facing the effects of mental illness and addictions daily are being left out of a new city 鈥減eer-informed鈥� task force struck to study the issue, says Victoria Coun. Geoff Young.
鈥淚 think that the direction of the task force that we鈥檝e got here ignores the views of those downtown residents and visitors and businesses who are indirectly affected, the impacts on the cleanliness of the downtown, the cost to our bylaw officers and our police, and focuses entirely on it as if it was exclusively a health-care issue,鈥� Young said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not the experts in health care. We鈥檙e the experts in impacts on the city and that鈥檚 what, in my view, is getting short shrift here.鈥�
The task force is meant to help the city identify what can be done to address 鈥渃ommunity wellness challenges鈥� related to mental health and addictions. Stakeholders will respond to questions relating to four areas: education, prevention, integration of services and advocacy.
The motion says the task force is looking for members who have experience with:
鈥� Mental-health problems or addictions themselves or in their families.
鈥� The health-care system in the areas of mental health or addictions.
鈥� Homelessness.
Young said the city regularly fields complaints about street disorder, perception of danger, noise and people 鈥渟etting up house on public spaces and even on private spaces.鈥�
While it鈥檚 important that the city be informed about mental-health and addiction issues, the task force鈥檚 composition is clearly focused on people who have lived with mental-health issues and addiction, and Indigenous elders, Young said.
He said it does not include representatives from the Victoria Conservatory of Music, which is located next to the Our Place community outreach centre, downtown residents, downtown businesses or landlords.
鈥淭hey have a very clear interest in how it is that we as a city go about addressing the issues of mental health and addictions in the downtown,鈥� Young said, 鈥測et the proposal we have here is focused very narrowly, I would suggest given the participants, on looking at it from the point of view of the people directly affected.鈥�
Despite Young鈥檚 concerns, councillors at committee approved draft terms of reference including $25,000 in funding to undertake a review of other jurisdictions鈥� strategies on a municipal mental wellness and addictions and $7,500 for honorariums for task force members.
The recommendations came from councillors Sarah Potts, Marianne Alto and Jeremy Loveday.
Loveday was appointed to the task force.
Potts said many 鈥渃ommunity partners,鈥� including those mentioned by Young, will be involved in developing a strategy.
鈥淭hey are involved in the initial series of meetings, letting us know what is happening and where are the gaps,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need all of their information as well and that is absolutely part of this work.鈥�
That input, Potts said, will then be 鈥渇iltered through lived experience.鈥�
Best practices suggest 鈥渄ecisions made for people need to include the people who are most affected by it. It鈥檚 been noted that there are barriers to participation and also there is value to providing compensation for good work done,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e want to honour that and we really want this whole entire process to be driven by peer experience and we want to put that at the forefront of this work.鈥�
Alto said the city has an obligation 鈥渢o weigh in and take a leadership role.鈥�
鈥淲e really do have a unique opportunity here to make changes that will encourage our partners across various service agencies to do the work that will actually save lives day to day,鈥� Alto said.
