The following is a letter Courtenay-Comox MLA Ronna-Rae Leonard sent to Downtown Courtenay BIA members. Ms. Leonard鈥檚 office sent a copy of this letter to the Record, with approval to publish.

鈥⑩赌⑩赌�

Dear members of the Courtenay DBIA,

Re: Street disorder in downtown Courtenay

I want to start by thanking everyone for their time, and for coming together to work on the challenge of street disorder.

This is a stressful situation for all involved, and many of you conveyed that you feel lost and you need help. You are regularly dealing with situations like break-ins, people sleeping in doorways, fires, vandalism, and more.

I want to assure you that as your MLA, I heard you. I believe we are a compassionate community, and I believe we can find the resources in our community to rise to the occasion and meet the community鈥檚 needs.

There has been positive work at all levels, and I know continuing this work will help everyone. At the beginning of 2022, the escalation of street disorder resulted in me knocking on the doors of many ministries to find solutions. I was very relieved to learn about the Public Safety and Solicitor General鈥檚 program called Situation Tables and that Courtenay was eligible for support to institute a table here.

They have been rolled out in a number of communities across BC to provide appropriate one-on-one early interventions, bringing coordinated resources to support individuals who need help. I introduced Courtenay Council to the opportunity to create a Situation Table in April 2022. I am pleased that our government is providing nearly $70,000 to get the program underway and build capacity, and grateful that John Howard Society of North Island has agreed to undertake setting the table up, building on their experience with Campbell River鈥檚 Situation Table. The Table will ensure that people who are often dealing with the RCMP will have the resources to access one-on-one help, while breaking down barriers and coordinating resources.

The provincial government is making investments in policing services, including bringing Next颅 Generation 911 to B.C., which will allow callers to text photos to dispatchers, giving the police more information as incidents are unfolding. We鈥檝e secured agreements with the federal government to strengthen bail procedures, to ensure that the police and our courts have the ability and the resources to keep repeat violent offenders off the streets. We are expecting more announcements from the federal government on this in the coming weeks and months.

We are overhauling the systems for mental health care to meet the urgent need to support people struggling with mental health, addictions, and substance use challenges. Across B.C., we are funding new adult substance use beds, including new beds here, creating a seamless model of addiction care, expanding services for youth to prevent people from falling into substance use challenges, and more. In June of last year, we opened the Comox Valley Foundry Centre, which provides support to keep youth off the streets. We鈥檝e also made changes like allowing nurses to keep people in psychiatric wards, under the Mental Health Act, to make it easier to get people the resources they need for help.

There are so many different angles to approach this challenge. Investing in affordable housing, reducing poverty, and putting money into the health-care system all work to keep people off the streets, and prevent people from needing to take extreme measures, like lighting fires to keep warm.

We recently launched a new housing approach called 鈥淗omes for People,鈥� which will work to ensure that every person and family in B.C. has a home that they can afford and meets their needs. The housing crisis, with a lack of affordable housing options, holds back our economy and forces people onto the streets. This new plan helps tackle some of those challenges, adds affordable housing, and speeds up the process to build affordable and market housing, and more. We know that housing isn鈥檛 the only solution to addressing crime on the street, which is why we are putting resources into ensuring that housing is available for people experiencing homelessness, including both temporary and permanent housing. We also know that housing alone is not a solution for people who need help, so targeted housing will be equipped with resources and support services to keep people off the streets and keep them safe. More news about this plan, and how it will help in Courtenay, will come in the coming weeks and months.

For me, this is about relationships. Relationships are important all around, and within many organizations. By gathering police, business owners, support organizations, judicial services, the local, provincial, and federal governments, and more, we can work together to meet everyone鈥檚 needs. We have the tools in our pockets to tackle some of the issues you are dealing with, through methods like restorative justice, which have shown to significantly decrease rates of recidivism. Of course, we need willing participants, which we can achieve by bringing people along with us, through positive relationships.

Working together, we can build a strong and vibrant community where businesses thrive and everyone can feel good about calling this place home.

Sincerely,

Ronna-Rae Leonard,

MLA for Courtenay-Comox