Group of B.C. mayors demand gov’t take action to address public safety

B.C. mayors will gather in Victoria Wednesday afternoon, calling on the provincial government to address street disorder and public safety.

Municipal leaders from Prince George, Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Coquitlam, Sechelt, Kelowna and the co-founder of the Save Our Streets Coalition are expected to speak outside the B.C. Legislature building around 12:20 p.m.

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog tells 1130 NewsRadio that the longstanding problem seems to have escalated in recent years.

“We are not seeing the kinds of improvements that one would expect, given the money that’s been put into housing,” said Krog.

“It is clearly a far more complex problem than politicians have been prepared to accept.”

The group is asking for increased funding to deal with housing and mental health supports — two portfolios that fall under the provincial government.

Maybe a difficult ask after B.C. posted an $11.6 billion deficit just last week — a situation the government warns will get worse next year.

Krog says the province should face the issue of public safety now, before it becomes more expensive.

“The deficit and the financial circumstances of the province are obviously very much an issue, but candidly, we are spending, as municipalities, millions of dollars annually on extra policing, community safety officers. Our businesses are spending it in increased insurance costs, the cost of repairs, vandalism, extra clean-up, and security. The money is being spent, but the solutions and improvements are not occurring. I think you have to accept we’re going to have to spend some money fairly quickly to get things done much faster so people can feel secure.”

Krog also wants funding to deal with the ongoing opioid crisis, which he says is tied to mental health and housing needs.

“We’ve always had a level of street disorder, that’s natural, but the severity of it is such now that everyone is talking about it. It’s the biggest single source of complaint for municipal politicians.”

“I think you have to accept we’re going to have to spend some money fairly quickly to get things done much faster so people can feel secure.”

After a court injunction shut down a homeless encampment in Nanaimo in 2018, nothing has improved in his city, Krog says.

“It’s a prime example of what can happen in communities, and thereafter, things have gotten worse, not better. And by that, I mean, the number of people we estimate in Nanaimo who are without housing, many of whom of mental health/addiction trauma, brain injury issues, let alone old-fashioned poverty and lack of housing, is 800 to 1,000 people.”

The last population data pegs the city at just under 109,000 people.

Krog is putting forward resolutions, including implementing secure and voluntary care beds, increasing supportive housing, and improving post-secondary training for those who will look after people who need the most help.

“The province needs to acknowledge the depth of the problem and the feds as well.”

Krog isn’t giving a timeline for when he’d like to see the government take some serious action to tackle these issues.

“Municipal politicians can ask for everything, and we can threaten, and we can cajole, and we can charm, but ultimately the province will do what the province will do. However, having said that, I would have thought the results of the provincial election in October were pretty clear to the premier and to the government how the people of British Columbia were feeling. They want this solved. This is, I think, for many British Columbians a political priority.”

Krog says, overall, he gives the provincial government a ‘C’ grade for its handling of public safety issues.