Latest news with #B.C.ConservativeParty
CBC
13-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
B.C. doctors get new guidance on involuntary care for drug users
Social Sharing British Columbia clinicians have received new guidance about involuntary care for adults, including a directive that it cannot be used to prevent harmful "risk-taking" by people who use drugs whose behaviour is not related to mental impairment. The guidance from Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.'s first chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, is aimed at helping clinicians and others decide when involuntary admission is appropriate for people with both mental-health and substance-use disorders. Vigo said in a news release that involuntary treatment "can be a tool to preserve life and treat the source of impairment" among those with such complex needs. Health Minister Josie Osborne said the ongoing toxic drug crisis has led to a "small but growing number of people who are living with overlapping mental-health and substance-use challenges, as well as brain injuries from repeated overdoses." While the new guidance aims to ensure those people have the right support in place, it does not constitute changes to B.C.'s Mental Health Act, she said. "This is about providing a higher level of care to a very specific and vulnerable population," she told a news conference announcing the guidance on Wednesday. The 11-page guidance document outlines three main scenarios when someone with substance-use disorder may receive involuntary treatment: simultaneous mental disorders, acute and severe psychiatric syndrome with unknown causes, and ongoing mental impairment after remission from an acute state. But it notes the legislation must not be used as a "controlling intervention to curb risky decision-making" that is unrelated to a state of mental impairment. WATCH | How involuntary care helps or hurts people in B.C.: How involuntary opioid addiction treatment could help or harm British Columbians 6 months ago Duration 7:07 As the provincial election approaches, the poison drug crisis is top of mind. The B.C. Conservative Party has promised to use involuntary treatment for those experiencing severe addictions if it wins the October election. Tyson Singh Kelsall is a social worker and PhD candidate in SFU's faculty of health sciences. He joins Dan Burritt to unpack the issues surrounding involuntary treatment. Vigo said the vast majority of people with mental disorders, including substance-use disorders, will not meet the "stringent threshold" for involuntary treatment. "However, there is a fraction of a percentage point that in any given year will require it as a life-saving tool," he told Wednesday's news conference. Vigo said substance-use disorders are a subtype of mental disorder, and many clinicians were already applying the legislation the way it was intended. WATCH | B.C. NDP commits to involuntary care changes: B.C. plans to expand involuntary care program 6 months ago Duration 2:16 But he said the "siloed evolution" of addiction medicine and psychiatry had resulted in some making "misguided interpretations" along with "segregated services" that left patients suffering from concurrent disorders falling through the cracks. "The problem is that we had not taken stock of the complexity of concurrent disorders and acquired brain injury in the context of addiction to those new drugs," Vigo said of today's highly toxic illicit drug supply. "And for a time, there was a legitimate debate about whether the Mental Health Act applied or not. Now, in time, we have grown to understand that it does." The expansion of involuntary care to those with concurrent mental health disorders was not well received by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. In a news conference on Tuesday, VANDU president Dave Hamm said there is a lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of involuntary care for substance use disorders. "Money should instead be invested in detox, sobering centres and other supports," he said. "A sobering centre that is peer-led and medically supported will keep people stable and save lives while also opening pathways to treatment if they choose," he added. Not aimed at apprehending people: minister Vigo said dispelling misconceptions about involuntary care in the Mental Health Act was a step toward supporting those patients, in addition to bringing new services online, including mental-health units in corrections facilities and care homes. "If we want less people to be treated involuntarily, we need to improve the quality and the quantity of the continuum of care, voluntary and involuntary," he said. Osborne said the guidance was not aimed at making it easier to apprehend people under the Mental Health Act, rather the goal was to support clinicians in correctly identifying people who would benefit from involuntary treatment. "At the same time, it is so important that we continue to invest in and build out that continuous system of mental-health and substance-use supports that are voluntary," the minister said. The first of the new involuntary care beds open this month at the Surrey pretrial centre, while those at Alouette Homes in Maple Ridge will open later this spring.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
B.C. solicitor general says Opposition operative took mentally ill man from care home
VICTORIA — British Columbia's Solicitor General is accusing the B.C. Conservative Party of involvement in removing a man from a mental-health facility against the wishes of his family as the Opposition party sought evidence of irregularities in the October provincial election. Garry Begg says in a court filing that the man was found in a state of "psychosis" after being reported missing, and that the vehicle that took him away from Argyll Lodge care home in the riding of Surrey-Guildford in January was located by police outside the law office of the defeated Conservative candidate who is pursuing allegations of irregularities. Begg's filing, dated Tuesday and signed by his lawyer, says the man was admitted to a hospital emergency room under the Mental Health Act and he remains hospitalized in a secured unit. The woman accused of acting on behalf of the Conservatives was identified in Begg's filing as Jatinder Sodhi. 'He has lost his home and his independence as a result of the interference of Ms. Sodhi on behalf of the petitioner and the Conservative Party of B.C. in his care,' says Begg's response, released by the NDP on Thursday. The allegations are among duelling narratives presented by the B.C. government and the Opposition about Argyll Lodge, which is at the heart of Conservative allegations of voter irregularities in the election. Begg's legal filing is in response to a petition by Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa, who is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to invalidate Begg's 22-vote election win in Surrey-Guildford that gave the NDP a one-seat majority. Randhawa and the Conservatives have made a series of allegations of voting irregularities at Argyll Lodge, a community residential facility for adults with mental illness. The Conservatives, meanwhile, cited an affidavit by the Green candidate in the riding, Manjeet Singh Sahota, which says that when he tried to campaign at the facility, a caregiver told him the residents do not vote. The BC Green Party confirmed the existence of the affidavit, saying in a statement that the party will refrain from drawing conclusions until all evidence has been examined. "Because of my conversation with the caregiver, I was left with an impression that no one votes from the lodge, so I believe I did not leave my campaign materials there either," Sahota's affidavit says, according to a news release from the Conservatives. "A few days later I was canvassing in the same neighbourhood, and I did not revisit the house because earlier I was told that the people living at the lodge do not participate in voting.' Conservative Leader John Rustad on Thursday renewed calls for a public inquiry about the alleged irregularities at Argyll Lodge as he described Sahota's affidavit. "We now know from the other affidavits that those members in that lodge voted, that they all voted by mail," Rustad told reporters. In January, Elections BC suspended its review of the Conservative complaint over potential violations after the party said it had evidence of 45 suspicious votes in Surrey-Guildford. Elections BC said the review was suspended until the courts had ruled on Randhawa's petition. Begg's filing cites affidavits from lodge staff and a resident's relative. It says Sodhi was warned by RCMP to stay away from Argyll Lodge after she began visiting residents starting in November last year, giving them cash and accusing relatives of not caring for them. The filing says the facility's director and family members were concerned Sodhi was "a scam artist" trying to exploit two residents, unaware that she "was in fact assisting the Conservative Party of B.C. in gathering information for the petition," the response says. Begg's response says in spite of the police warning Sodhi took two residents to open bank accounts and also took them to a lawyer to sign statements about the election that "they could neither read nor understand." The response says one resident was allegedly moved out of the facility by Sodhi despite his son's request for a restraining order or peace bond against her. It says the black truck that took the resident away was later located by police outside the Randhawa's law office. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025. Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press
CBC
17-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Canada recognizes Aboriginal title over Haida Gwaii in historic agreement
Social Sharing The federal government will recognize Aboriginal title over the archipelago of Haida Gwaii off British Columbia's northern coast in a historic agreement with the Haida First Nation. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said this is the first time the federal government has recognized Aboriginal title through negotiations. He said it's a significant achievement that will reset the relationship between the government and First Nation in a very meaningful way. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Anandasangaree and Immigration Minister Marc Miller are scheduled to be in Haida Gwaii Monday to participate in a community celebration of the agreement. The Big Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement affirms that the Haida have Aboriginal title over all of the islands' lands, beds of freshwater bodies, and foreshores to the low-tide mark. The agreement transitions the Crown-title land to the Haida people, granting them an inherent legal right to the land. The transfer of the underlying title would affect how courts interpret issues involving disputes. Anandasangaree said the agreement will kick off a five-year transition period and require legislation to iron out all the details about how it will apply in practise. Ottawa said it will work respectfully and co-operatively with the Haida Nation on matters relating to Haida Gwaii. It said both governments have agreed the shift will be "orderly and incremental" to provide stability to residents and other interest holders. Decades in the making The agreement follows similar recognition by the B.C. government last year. It resolves a four-decade-long fight that began with a logging blockade and became an intensely fought legal battle. The agreement comes more than two decades after the Council of the Haida Nation launched a legal challenge against Canada and the province, seeking a declaration of Aboriginal title. Ottawa said the three parties have been negotiating since 2021 to "incrementally negotiate" matters that would otherwise have to be litigated. It said Canada provided $59 million in funding to the Haida in an "advance capital transfer" to boost the nation's "governance capacity building." About 15 per cent of Haida Gwaii is owned, managed or used by the federal government, including a national park and Haida heritage site. A further two per cent are owned by other parties. B.C. Conservative Party critical of agreement The government said the title agreement between the Haida First Nation and B.C. was struck last April. Haida Nation President Jason Alsop has called the new law in B.C. a "step toward peaceful coexistence" with the province. He said in April that the nation planned on taking control of Haida Gwaii's economy according to its values and traditions, taking a sustainable rather than exploitive approach to the land and the sea. The provincial Opposition B.C. Conservative Party has criticized the agreement, saying it puts private landowners "at the mercy of Haida [and] future Haida Indigenous law." But the First Nations Leadership Council in B.C. has said the agreement does not affect private property rights. Anandasangaree dismissed the concerns about impacts on landowners as a "lot of noise." "One of the key elements of this agreement is that private title will not be impacted in anyway," he said. "Your ability to get a mortgage, or ability to get the property encumbered for construction for putting on a lien — all of those will continue." The federal Haida Nation Recognition Act was passed last year. Ottawa said Haida lands held as reserves under the Indian Act will stay under federal jurisdiction until the Haida council, Old Massett Village and Skidegate bands and members initiate negotiations.
CBC
28-01-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Elections B.C. suspends probe into Conservative claims of vote violations pending court case
Elections B.C. says it has suspended its review of a complaint from a Conservative candidate over potential violations in the October election as the B.C. Supreme Court considers a similar claim. Honveer Singh Randhawa and the B.C. Conservative Party have called for a review of the 2024 election results, in particular in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, where the NDP candidate beat Randhawa by a narrow margin of just 22 votes. Randhawa filed the complaint with Elections B.C., then days later he asked the B.C. Supreme Court to declare the election of New Democrat Garry Begg invalid. Elections B.C. said in a statement issued Tuesday that the court filing also named Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman in the case. It said that allegations in both the complaint and the court petition are similar and in order to preserve the integrity of the court proceedings, Elections B.C. will suspend its review until the court makes its decision.
CBC
28-01-2025
- Health
- CBC
B.C.'s provincial health officer champions kindness on 5-year anniversary of province's 1st COVID case
Social Sharing On Jan. 28, 2020, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry held a news conference announcing B.C.'s first confirmed case of COVID-19, setting into motion what would be months of public health restrictions and uncertainty amid the world's worst pandemic in over a century. Five years later, Henry is reflecting on the "collective trauma" that people endured and says kindness is needed now "more than ever" to get through other tough problems. "We've been through a very difficult five years. Everybody has suffered, but we can support each other as we're getting out of this and we're facing the next challenges," Henry said in an interview with CBC's The Early Edition on Tuesday. Henry notes that the issues many people are currently facing, such as the economy, affordability and housing, are not related to health, but she says British Columbians should rely on each other as they did during the pandemic. "The fact that we are connected, that kindness comes from that sense of kin," she said. Henry led the province's COVID-19 response, working with government to balance politics and policy, regularly updating B.C. residents on the prevalence of the virus and deciding when to impose and lift public health restrictions. Through it all, she urged people to "be kind, to be calm, and to be safe." 'Trying to find that balance is never easy' There were some lighter moments, like when she gave British Columbians tips for safer sex, but also tough and controversial decisions on indoor masking, vaccine passports and mandatory vaccinations in health-care settings. She was criticized both by people who thought the rules were too stringent or came too late and those who thought they weren't strong enough, even receiving death threats at times. "We needed to protect people's lives first and foremost," she said. "Trying to find that balance is never easy." Henry says politicians have been trying to take advantage of people's anger to win points, noting that the B.C. Conservative Party promised to fire her if they formed government during the last provincial election campaign. She says B.C. is in some ways better prepared to handle another pandemic because of advances in vaccinations and wastewater surveillance, but she's concerned that many people no longer want to talk about public health and are opposed to the idea of any restrictions in the future. "It is, I think, a reflection of a collective trauma that we've all been through," she said. "We need to be concerned. There's other viruses that are out there. We need to watch them. We don't need to change our lives in dramatic ways like we did before … but we do need to have that degree of awareness." WATCH | The lasting impacts of COVID in schools: How B.C. schools coped with COVID-19 18 hours ago Duration 2:17 Five years ago, the first case of COVID-19 was detected in B.C. The pandemic drastically altered public education in the province. CBC's Jon Hernandez looks back on how students and schools fared during those trying years. Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, says he hopes people keep some lessons from the pandemic, including being up-to-date on flu and COVID vaccines and staying home when you're sick. "I think that this concept that you can sort of soldier through an illness, sort of medicate yourself and drag yourself to work sick and then collapse at the end of the day, that's not heroic, that's wrong," he said in an interview with CBC News. "As a society, we need to provide for people so that this is a real option that they can stay home without a financial consequence." Henry takes shots at Alberta During the interview, Henry also criticized a new report issued by a task force created by Alberta's UCP government to review that province's pandemic response. Henry, along with other doctors, says the report contains misinformation. The report questioned the value of COVID-19 vaccines and recommended doctors be allowed to prescribe alternative medications, including the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, which is not authorized for the treatment of COVID-19 in Canada. The Alberta government says it's reviewing the report but has yet to make any final policy decisions. "To have a report like this is really, in some ways, embarrassing," Henry said.
