Ontario mayors ask for mental-health law reviews in wake of opioid, encampment crisis
Global News
Ontario Big City Mayors are asking the province to review mental-health laws and whether to expand the scope of involuntary treatment for people who are addicted to drugs.
Ontario Big City Mayors are asking the province to review mental-health laws and whether to expand the scope of involuntary treatment for people who are addicted to drugs and live on the streets.
The organization that represents 29 mayors of cities with more than 100,000 people say they are taking no position on treatment given without consent — a practice British Columbia’s government recently committed to expanding.
But they say they want to spark a discussion with the provincial government, noting homelessness has risen across Ontario since the COVID-19 pandemic, in communities big and small.
Encampments have popped up in recent years throughout the province, while the cost of both purchasing and renting housing has increased significantly.
Toxic overdose deaths are also up, and the mayors are demanding immediate action from both the province and the federal government.
Last year, nearly 2,600 Ontarians died due to opioids, a 50 per cent increase from 2019, with fentanyl and its derivatives especially affecting users in the homeless population.
“For those suffering from mental health and addictions in this province, there are not proper facilities that have capacity to give everyone who requires the care they need to get that care in a timely fashion,” said Josh Morgan, the mayor of London, Ont.
“That is an absolute crisis across this province and something that we know we need the government to move on.”
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Parents in the Halifax area are voicing concerns as children have been finding drug paraphernalia in their neighbourhoods. In one case, a child was pricked by a discarded needle.
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