An Urgent Response to Housing and Homelessness Crisis and Overdose Crisis Is Needed

I further add that there is another serious crisis at hand which compounds the dire impact of lack of housing, and adds additional pressures in Vancouver East: the crisis of opioid overdose deaths and the scourge of fentanyl poisoning.

With regard to halting the opioid overdose crisis, I have called on the government to declare a National Health emergency ever since I have been elected as a Member of Parliament. As well, it is long past time to take on “Big Pharma” because the opioid overdose crisis is not limited to the DTES – as you know, it is affecting communities big and small all across the country. I believe that my constituents, and indeed all Canadians, deserve answers and accountability. Too many people have lost their lives. In the U.S., federal authorities have already secured criminal pleas and over $600 million in fines, damages, and other costs from Purdue Pharma for misbranding OxyContin with the intent to defraud and mislead; and, just yesterday, an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in that state’s opioid crisis. That is why I stood in the House on November 29, 2018, to call on your government to launch an investigation into the role drug companies may have played in fuelling the opioid crisis and seek meaningful compensation for the costs of addiction. This would be an important step to pressure the manufacturers to take responsibility for the lives that they have damaged.

During my time as MLA for Vancouver - Mount Pleasant in the late 1990s, the three levels of government came together to address the challenges faced by the people in the Downtown Eastside community. With each level of government in agreement to do what they could within their jurisdiction, the Vancouver Agreement was negotiated, which resulted in a number of then ground-breaking measures, most notably the adoption of the “Four Pillars” approach which led to the development of the first supervised injection facility in North America.

We thought that things were bad then but today, we are in a situation that is even worse with illicit fentanyl causing at least four overdose deaths a day in British Columbia. As early as April 2016, the BC Public Health Officer declared a public health emergency due to the climbing number of overdose deaths. In comparison, in 2009, 428 people died of the H1N1 virus, and the government of the day declared a national health emergency. Today, with the opioid crisis, over 1,400 people are dying a year in this country, yet your government has not declared it a national health emergency.

We also still have an influx of deadly poisons being sold on the streets. People in my community are asking, when will the government respond to the call to prevent illicit, internationally traded deadly drugs from invading our communities in the most deadly way?

I am also mindful that the people who have borne the heaviest toll of all in this are Indigenous people. As Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, has pointed out, “a disproportionately high number of the vulnerable [Oppenheimer] Park residents facing the loss of a safe and stable living situation are Indigenous. Any move to forcefully evict them is callous and insensitive to the mental health, addictions, and poverty that they are battling as a result of an ongoing colonial legacy of systemic discrimination and oppression.” I share his concern, and the concern that continued inaction on the part of the federal government to act swiftly in accordance with the urgency of the need for housing violates “the basic rights of Indigenous peoples articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, as well as blatantly ignore[s] the call for safe housing that is appropriate to the cultural and economic needs of Indigenous peoples set out in the National Inquiry’s Calls for Justice.”

Not only this, but Indigenous people have been grossly over-represented in overdose events and deaths; according to the BC First Nations Health Authority, First Nations people are 5X more likely than non-First Nations to experience an overdose event, and 10% of all overdose deaths in BC involved First Nations peoples.

With these dire and life-threatening emergencies at hand, I believe that it’s time to bring all three levels of government together for a renewed Vancouver Agreement. A comprehensive and coordinated strategy between all levels of government is needed more than ever. Just as we did then by incorporating leading initiatives from other jurisdictions, we need now to learn from the successes of the Portuguese model. The strategy must also recognize the need to address the issue of poverty and the social determinants of health.

As evidenced by the experiences of people at the encampment, there is a great need for low-barrier temporary shelter space; on-demand detox/treatment facilities, and access to other health and support services; second-stage and transition housing, and accessible permanent housing.

In the interim, our community urgently requires the federal government’s support to secure housing now for those in need, while more permanent units are under construction.

I am calling on the Federal government to provide emergency funding to Vancouver so that additional modular housing units could be built to house those currently living in the encampment.

Canada must also ensure that all of these actions align with the rights outlined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and it is absolutely crucial that government act decisively on all recommendations of the National Inquiry’s Calls To Justice to ensure a supported and just future for Indigenous women and girls, and indeed for all Indigenous people.

If our community and indeed our society are not to fall ever further behind, then the urgent housing resources would arrive today.

The tools to act are in your hands.

I would close in saying that, in speaking with those who have sought shelter together in the encampment at Oppenheimer Park, many face multiple challenges. These challenges include securing adequate income, appropriate health care, adequate nutritious food, culturally appropriate support and services, and family reunification. Without a safe, secure, affordable and stable home, the hope of ever meeting these challenges can seem distant indeed. With a place to call home, the journey of healing can begin, for individuals and for the community as a whole. Let us begin today and with the very basics: a home for every one.

Sincerely,

Jenny Kwan
MP for Vancouver East
NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
NDP Critic for Multiculturalism