“What we need is an actual plan”: Lower Mainland mayors say homelessness has reached a “state of crisis,” with more than 4,000 people in need of housing and more than 70 homeless camps in operation
Metro Vancouver’s homelessness task force released a report [revealing that] 80 per cent of homeless people in the region have a chronic health issue. Forty-nine per cent have an addiction and 34 per cent suffer from mental illness. Thirty-one per cent of homeless people are of First Nations descent, despite the fact First Nations comprise 3 per cent of the region’s overall population. Read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail…
“There’s a common public misconception that we are unable to make decisions for ourselves. Truth being we are excluded from even participating in policy decisions that determine our fates”
A participant known as Nelson said he had hopes of going into acting, but was disappointed when a counsellor set him up with a theatre company dedicated to “people affected by mental illness”
Day of Action follows many recent steps taken by drug user communities and harm reduction advocates to share knowledge, increase frontline supports and cope with the grief of losing loved ones as fentanyl helps fuel an overdose crisis