Tag Archives: Campbell River and District Coalition to End Homelessness

Health

Medical detox coming to Campbell River

Greater Campbell River has one of highest rates of drug related deaths in BC.

The first community-based medical detox north of Nanaimo will be opening in Campbell River this Fall. Island Health secured a location at 731 Nicholas Road near the North Island Hospital – Campbell River campus. 

“This is a really exciting addition to Campbell River.  When people living with addiction reach out and make that brave choice of getting the services that they need, we’d need to be able to meet them where they are and with the services that they need right away. This is a new six bed medical detox that the community has been asking  for,” explained  Michele Babchuk, MLA for North Island and a resident of Campbell River. 

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Housing, Politics

Solving Campbell River’s homeless crisis

Editor’s Note: While Campbell River is two ferry trips away, it is the central hub for supplies and local government in our area. All Cortes Island residents periodically pass though Campbell River and the affordable housing crisis is found in every community. (See the charts at the bottom of this page.)

Campbell River’s latest ‘Point in Time’ (PIT) Count found 197 homeless people within the city limits. 65% of them have been in Campbell River for at least five years, and 22% were born there. They are sleeping outside, in vehicles, or in someone else’s home. When asked, a third of them reported not earning enough money to pay rent. 

“If they’re not in public places, if they are shuffled along back into alleys or nooks and crannies, they are targets. That is one of the reasons they congregate in public together. It’s safe. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run into over the last year that have got a cast, or their heads wrapped up or they’re on crutches or whatever,” explained Sue Moen, who worked for the Salvation Army prior to her retirement.

“It’s like, ‘Bylaw Enforcement pushed us along. We hung out in this alley. Four guys showed up (not members of the unhoused community),  beat us all up and stole all our stuff.’”

Cortes Currents asked Moen for her impressions of a series of motions the City of Campbell River passed at their October 10 meeting. 

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Housing

The Campbell River Coalition to End Homelessness Responds

(Editor’s note: While the events described in this article did not take place in the Discovery Islands, the Directors for Cortes Island and Area C both voted in the SRD Board meeting mentioned below. Also, we are part of the ‘District’ that the Campbell River and District Coalition to End Homelessness operates in.)

Last week, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board decided to step back from involving themselves in Campbell River’s emergency shelter. They were responding to a request from the Campbell River and District Coalition to End Homelessness. The Board considered two options: (A) they could give staff direction to explore what this would entail, or (B) they could inform the Coalition they are not prepared to take on the responsibility of operating homeless shelters. After 42 minutes of a somewhat confused debate that ended in a 7-7 vote, they chose option (B).   

Cortes Currents reached out to the Coalition for comment while writing up an account of the meeting, but neither Stefanie Hendrickson, the Coalition’s Coordinator, or Sue Moen, from the Salvation Army, were available until the afternoon of Monday, November 14, 2022. Both women responded by email. 

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Housing

Who will look after Campbell River’s homeless population when temperatures plummet?

When temperatures plummeted to −20° last year, SRD Emergency Coordinator Shaun Koopman stepped in to make arrangements for Campbell River’s homeless population to be sheltered in the city’s community centre. The SRD intervened again last week, but at their November 9 meeting the Board decided this was a Campbell River problem.

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Politics

First meeting of the new SRD Board

The new Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board was sworn in on Wednesday, November 9. 

“10 of the 14 Directors on the Strathcona Regional District Board are new. There’s been a huge changeover.  You do have some folks with experience in there, but it’s a new place to work. My initial experiences  with folks is that people  are approaching this job with a really open mind, a willingness to work together, cooperative attitudes and it’s really great,” explained Mark Vonesch, the new Regional Director for Cortes Island. 

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