Dear Editor,
I sat in on the budget meeting back in 2023. I had mentioned that there were not any real mental health and addiction resources in Richmond. MLA Henry Yao had said he would look into it. Well, here it is a year later and there have been no improvements.
I went to see if there were any changes and it is as hard as it was in 2023 to get the help needed if you wanted to see an addictions counsellor or a mental health worker. He has definitely dropped the ball.
I got a pamphlet in the mail stating that MLAs Kelly Greene, Aman Singh and Henry Yao mentioning the changes that they would make for Richmond. There is no mention of making changes to the mental health and addiction services.
It does say, however, they would strengthen health care but it only mentions two new Urgent & Primary Care Centres and a new ER, ICU, larger patient care tower and modernized cancer clinic as part of Richmond Hospital expansion. There is no mention of addiction services expansion.
Here are the statistics: Since the public health emergency for toxic drugs was declared in 2016, the province has seen a 119-per-cent total increase in annual overdose/poisoning events. In 2023, BCEHS paramedics responded to an average of 116 calls a day.
These people are someone’s child, father, mother, brother, sister. So, I ask you, why are the addiction services in Richmond being neglected?
I had a 38-year addiction. I am now 19 years clean. If I were homeless and addicted and went into the addiction services here in Richmond to get the help I needed and they asked me to come back or phone later, the opportunity would be lost.
When you are homeless, chances are you don’t have a phone -- I know I never did when I was homeless and addicted.
I also mentioned that they should model all addiction services after the one in Surrey. In Surrey you can walk off the street and see a counsellor and get referrals the same day.
They have a drop-in five days a week where you can see a counsellor that day to get started. It's only a short session but nonetheless you are not asked to come back another time.
That could mean the difference between life and death.
The 2024 budget does not provide any additional funding to expand addiction treatment, recovery, harm reduction or community mental health programs. There is $215 million in spending and that is for all of B.C. and that will be dedicated to maintaining programs currently operating or being implemented.
How ridiculous is it that there is no additional funding that could possibly save lives of Canadians?
The budget in Richmond is more geared to seismic upgrades than it is does trying to help people with addiction and mental health issues. This is what the City of Richmond is investing in the future.
For the 2024/2025 school year, the cost increased to $640 million. The Richmond School District's seismic mitigation program estimates it will cost a total of $775 million to upgrade 22 schools seismically in the 2025/2026 school year.
This is a $254 million increase from the 2023/2024 school year, which was projected at $521 million.
Where is the logic they give school districts $755 million to schools where the money would be better spent saving lives. The schools have gone for years without upgrades and no matter what they do they cannot predict what mother nature will do even if they do seismic upgrades.
I have lost many friends and family members to overdoses.
I am tired of the money that is being wasted on unnecessary resources.
Richard Griffin
Richmond
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