The City of Kamloops is calling on Interior Health, the provincial government, and other “relevant partners” – including BC Housing – to ensure that all four pillars of the Canadian drugs and substances strategy are “equally funded and supported.”
Those four pillars include Prevention, Harm Reduction, Enforcement, and Treatment.
“We get the emails. We see our staff struggling with everything they can do of what their limitations are. We’re finally in a position to say, ‘this is in your realm Interior Health. Here are the four pillars. Start doing what you preached to use four years ago,'” Councillor Bill Sarai, who championed that call said Tuesday.
That discussion – which initially began as a call to get city staff to develop a policy to assist Interior Health with the development of safe consumption sites – was part of a prolonged debate that ran about an hour at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“It is just not consumption sites. They need to bring treatment, recovery, and then enforcement – harm reduction and enforcement,” Sarai told NL News when asked about his amendment to include all four pillars.
“They need to do the four pillars not just the harm reduction piece. Give them a place to use. Give them a place to use. How about giving them a place to get better?”
Councillors voted 7-1 to call on staff to prepare bylaw amendments to Parks and Public Lands Bylaw No. 35-66 from 1998 to outlaw illicit drug use within 100-meters of city parks and playground as well on sidewalks. Put forward by Councillor Katie Neustaeter, she says it will bring the ban on illicit drugs in alignment with City regulations on public alcohol consumption and smoking “for the protection and enhancement of the well-being of the community.”
Neustaeter said the intent was to approach the ban from a nuisance perspective rather than a public health perspective, which would require approval from the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.
“I do have concerns with passing this off to the province in hopes that they would implement it at all parks levels across our province,” Neustaeter said. “I think that they have a lot of priorities right now and this is one we can really take local action on as we hear our residents.”
“The second concern I would have with limiting it only to parks is that we have heard so loudly from our business community who are just crying out in desperation for support when it comes to this drug crisis and the impacts its having. Also with children, who don’t just exist in parks. I think that we really need to consider sidewalks as well as a high priority area.”
As part of the all-encompassing motion, Council also repealed the original April 11 motion that called on staff to bring in bylaw amendments to outlaw the use of illicit drugs in all public parks and facilities, a motion that led to push back from Interior Health Medical Health Officer, Dr. Carol Fenton.
“With regards to changing from a public health focus to nuisance – the nuance here is that by naming more specific areas where open use is prohibited, reduces it from an all-encompassing blanket prohibition to a narrower or more reasonable scope,” the City’s Deputy Corporate Officer, Amanda Passmore, told NL News.
“So by saying ‘prohibited on any sidewalk’ still allows for drug use in another nearby area and therefore doesn’t prohibit what may be argued as necessary use of a substance for a person’s health.”
Photo via City of Kamloops
Councillor Dale Bass was opposed to the ban on public drug use, though she indicated her support for Sarai’s push to get all four pillars funded.
“How do I vote in favour of one of the clauses and not the other two without severing [the motion?] I support what Councillor Sarai is saying but I continue to have concerns about setting up false expectations from our staff [with bringing in bylaw amendments].”
“All I’m looking for is a way to support Councillor Sarai and stay true to my own believes here but if necessary, I’ll just vote against the whole thing because I know its going to pass any how.”
Councillor Nancy Bepple, who also voted against the original motion to ban the use of illicit drugs in public parks and facilities, was not present at Tuesday’s meeting.
