Tag Archives: Campbell River

Health

Youth face barriers to overdose harm reduction, say front-line workers

Editor’s note: There were 47 drug related deaths in the Greater Campbell River Health Area during 2023. This is the third worst drug related death rate on Vancouver Island, only surpassed by Victoria (145) and Nanaimo (116). There were 31 drug related deaths in Greater Campbell River during 2022 and 26 in 2021. 

Greater Campbell River is a health area that stretches from the Oyster River to Sayward on the east coast of Vancouver Island, and includes Discovery Island communities like Cortes, Quadra and Read, but the epicentre of this public health emergency is the city of Campbell River.  According to BC emergency Health Services, paramedics responded to 681 drug overdose calls in Campbell River last year. The numbers have kept increasing every year since COVID arrived in March 2020 and did not decrease after the period of self distancing ended. There were 525 callouts in 2022, 404 in 2021 and 249 in 2020. In the four years prior to that, the call numbers fluctuated from a low of 152 in 2016 to a high of 230 in 2018.

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With the toxic drug crisis as the leading cause of death for British Columbians aged 10 though 59, nearly 170 youth, aged 18 and under, have lost their lives since 2017. According to experts, not enough research and monitoring has been done to assess the impacts of the crisis on young people, who also face barriers when accessing harm reduction services.

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Animals, Health

Chronic Wasting Disease reported in the Kootenay Region

On January 31, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed that two cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) have been found south of Cranbrook, in the Kootenays. ‘The first sample came from a ‘harvested’ adult male mule deer and the second from a white-tailed doe that was struck on the road. 

CWD is a highly infectious and fatal disease, which the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention states, “affects many different species of hoofed animals including North American elk or wapiti, red deer, mule deer, black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, sika deer, reindeer, and moose.”

This is the first report of CWD west of the Rocky Mountains in Canada or the United States.  

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Housing, Poverty

Unhoused People Struggle with ‘Street Feet’ in Rainy Vancouver

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the Tyee, which gives a warning about the photos you see above (and puts them in the text below). When people cannot dry their feet out for a prolonged period of time, they get what some of our WWI grandfathers and great grandfathers called ‘trench foot.’

This report is from Vancouver, but probably also applicable in our area. The 2023 ‘Point in Time counts‘ found 197 ‘house challenged’ people in Campbell River, 272 in the the Comox Valley, and 126 in Powell River. There is less data about rural areas, but 11 of the respondents to the 2022 ‘Collecting Stories Of Where You Live’ survey on Cortes Island reported they had been ‘unsheltered’ at some point during the year. There were fewer respondents in Area C (which includes Quadra, Read and other Discovery Islands), where the number was 12.

Even more alarming, the number of ‘homeless’ people appears to be growing. 32% of the respondents to the Campbell River ‘Point in Time’ count said they had been ‘unsheltered’ for less than a year. There were actually 81 more people on the streets than in the 2021 count. Similar increases were reported in the Comox Valley, Parksville/Qualicum, Port Alberni and Sechelt/Gibsons. (This was the first ‘Point in Time’ count in Powell River, so there are no previous numbers for a comparison.) When people were asked why they were unsheltered, the #1 response in every one of these ‘Point in Time’ counts was they could not afford to pay for housing.

There are far larger numbers of people spending more of their than income than they can reasonably afford (i.e. +30%) for rent or mortgages. According to the 2021 census, 47% of the renters on Cortes Island and 38% of the renters in Campbell River and Electoral Area C are vulnerable. Roughly 15% of the home owners in these three communities are also considered to be ‘at risk.’

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In the winter and spring, unhoused people in Vancouver struggle with something known anecdotally as “street feet.”

It happens when the rain soaks your socks and shoes and you’re unable to clean and dry your feet regularly, sometimes leaving them damp for months on end.

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Community, Politics

Coming to Cortes & Quadra:  SRD Poverty Reduction Plan

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) received a $147,700 grant from the Union of BC Municipalities to prepare a region-wide poverty reduction plan. They will be holding meetings in Campbell River, Tahsis, Gold River, Cortes Island, Quadra Island and Zeballos at the end of the month. 

“Our plans are only as good as the information we receive and we really, really want to be able to address poverty in a holistic, honest and earnest way. We can’t do that without the community. So we really need you guys to come out and to talk to us. Give us your thoughts, all of your ideas, your criticisms, your comments,  your questions. Whatever you need us to know, because all of that feeds into the plan, and it makes it more robust, and just everything we do is going to help alleviate poverty in the region as a whole,” explained Meredith Starkey, Manager of Parks and Planning at the SRD.” 

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Business, Community

Community, Connection and Engagement on Quadra Island

When Quadra ICAN held a community consultation last September, the central question was ‘what are the challenges the island will face as global temperatures warm up.’There were different questions when ICAN held another community meeting at the Quadra Community Centre on Sunday, February 11, 2024. 

“We’re moving to solutions and planning. So today, the questions we’re going to be working on are: ‘What can we do as a community to become more resilient and self-sufficient in the face of ecological challenges? And then what is important for us to be working on right now?’” said Jennifer Banks-Doll, facilitator of the event. 

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