
The issue of mental health care in British Columbia has become a talking point following Monday's 10-hour bridge closure in Kelowna that did much more than inconvenience tens of thousands of people.
Goods and services moving up and down Highway 97 were cut off, workers were unable to get to their places of employment and medical procedures had to be postponed or rescheduled because a "distraught man" parked his ice cream van across the lanes while making threats about explosives inside.
Elenore Sturko, critic for Solicitor General and Public Safety, is calling on the government to follow the LePard Butler report.
The 2022 report from former Metro Vancouver Transit police chief Doug LePard and health researcher-criminologist Dr. Amanda Butler, recommending the creation of 'low secure units' for troubled individuals.
"We need to definitely have a scaling up of services," she said, noting that how funding is spent also matters.
"We need to make sure that we're actually targeting areas that have actually led to a province not being safe."
Police say the man who blocked the bridge was arrested and taken to Kelowna General Hospital for an assessment. His status is not known but it does not appear charges have been laid at this time.
Roy Winter, who is associated with the ice cream van that blocked the bridge, posted to social media and sent to local newsrooms a lengthly and rambling manifesto that contained threats about the contents of the van. In the post, which has been shared closed to 1,000 times on Facebook, Winter outlined a long running feud with RCMP, individuals and a local business.
Winter's message noted that he had recently been detained under the Mental Health Act at Kelowna General Hospital. Many of the comments under the post urged Winter to get help.
Sturko says she appreciates the difficulty faced by law enforcement officers, doctors and nurse practitioners but she points to the challenges of dealing with people who have serious mental health issues.
"We really do need to change direction here," she said, urging the province to move away from allowing patients to continue drug use while trying to address mental health challenges at the same time.
"Acknowledging that there's a deeper and more complex problem here that actually will require a real, comprehensive plan that attacks the problem, and the compassionate thing, which is providing adequate care for mental illness," Sturko said.
Sturko acknowledged steps taken by Premier David Eby in rolling out secure care for those suffering from brain injuries, major mental health issues and severe addiction. But the 10 beds planned in Surrey don't do much to help the Okanagan.
"It appears the only pathway that David Eby is exploring seems to be through criminal justice, which means that a person actually has to commit a crime before they find their pathway to help," Sturko said.
Castanet has reached out to the Minister of Health Julie Osborne on the issue.