B.C. failing most vulnerable amid toxic drug crisis, critics say: ‘It’s heart-wrenching’

Critics are renewing their calls for changes to the way B.C handles mental health and addiction, saying it's not working, and the proof is on the street.

The painful toll of the province’s homelessness crisis is on full display just steps away from the Law Courts in Vancouver, where a man has been hovering over a small steam grate on the sidewalk for weeks.

During Sunday’s pouring rain storm, the man was wrapped in soaking wet blankets while trying to stay warm atop the grate, which periodically vents steam on Nelson near Howe Streets in the city’s downtown core.

A broken walker could be seen nearby. When asked if he was OK, the man nodded ‘Yes.’

“It’s heart-wrenching,” said Dr. Paxton Bach, an addiction medicine specialist at St. Paul’s Hospital.

On March 12, Global News spotted the same individual in a sleeping bag, writhing over the grate as drivers and pedestrians passed by.

Last Friday, firefighters and paramedics attended after passers-by became concerned about the man’s well-being.

“Nobody wants to be living in a wet suitcase on a steam grate in Vancouver in March,” said Bach. “But we’re not providing some of our poorest, most vulnerable citizens with viable alternatives.”

With a limited number of shelter beds available and people not always feeling safe in shelters, Bach said we are seeing staggering amounts of visible poverty amid a toxic drug crisis.