Inspired by the provincial election, Unhoused Solidarity Collective Okanagan (USCO) held an Involuntary Treatment Rally in front of Kelowna's City Hall on Friday afternoon (Oct. 18).
"We are here to protest and resist the violent and deadly policy proposal that's been put forward by both the NDP and the Conservative party to increase apprehensions of involuntary treatment in the province," said USCO's Cassie Van Camp.
The USCO fights for those experiencing homelessness and the criminalization of drugs amid B.C.'s drug crisis.
"Involuntary care doesn't work and we know it, and there is no evidence to support that. Health experts know that David Eby knows that," said Van Camp. "We know that when people are forced into involuntary care upon release, they actually experience worse health outcomes. The risk of overdose is heightened, it's significantly higher, and so we know policies like this are violent and they put people more at risk.
We would love to see funding and energy and time and resources go towards various supports of safe supply or alternative prescribed options, affordable housing, increased mental health and substance supports, counselling, outreach services."
About 50 people attended Friday's rally, with speakers, chants, and music.
"This is an amazing turnout," said Van Camp, who added the crowd included healthcare workers, outreach workers, and a post-secondary professor.
"The turnout says so much about how our community feels. I think that this just shows that people here really recognize that this is a violent policy, that's not going to be successful and it's going to further harm our community members."
Ahead of the election, Van Camp and the USCO have some concerns about those who need help.
"We're scared that these policies are going to result in more death, more criminalization, and more displacement of really vulnerable individuals who need more access to mental health and substance supports."
On Sept. 15, Premier 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.
At the time Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.’s first chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, said that most people with addictions in British Columbia are not mentally impaired and are able to seek help voluntarily.
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.
