Mayor and Councillors
City of New Westminster
Re: Health Contact Centre (Safe Injection Site)
Vote yes to the Temporary Use Permit for the Health Contact Centre (Safe Injection Site), entrance on Alexander Street, New Westminster.
As a current Board Member, and Board Chair, of the Lower Mainland Purpose Society (Purpose), I have been following comments specifically regarding the Temporary Use Permit for our Safe Consumption site, and generally regarding the community issue of addiction and homelessness. There have been many different perspectives shared. I’d like to add another.
Purpose came into being because the founders recognized areas where members of our community needed assistance. For some it was help with childcare, others for psychological support, others for housing and others for addiction. In each case, the driving force behind the work was every person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity while working towards improving their circumstances. Many times, when it comes to addiction, we know that peoples’s readiness for change occurs at different times. Everyone has a unique story that brings them to the situation they find themselves. Our goal then becomes to help them stay alive until such time as they are ready to change. Not all make it to that time, but we want to live in a world where we do not give up on anyone.
Purpose believes that when living in a community, each citizen and organization that benefits from being a part of that community, holds some responsibility to make the community safer, and healthier for everyone. Community members contribute in many ways – donating to organizations, volunteering and offering support in times like these. Some people make it their life work. It takes a special kind of person to work directly with the least fortunate members of our community. Not everyone has the makeup or desire to administer naloxone to a comatose person. The people I see doing this work are not asking to be held up on any pedestal. They do it because they see a defined need where they can be of assistance.
What I see in many of the comments is some people extrapolate that this caring relationship extends to the caretaker a responsibility for the actions of the person requiring care. Perhaps that is because our first relationships – our parents – have that understanding and, in most cases, assume that responsibility. People who suffer from addiction are still autonomous people. Some of them, who live mostly on the street, litter. No one condones littering or any other anti-social behaviour. I find it strange, though, that some people expect Purpose to be a “Good Neighbour” as defined by “cleaning up” autonomous person’s actions.
In a different context, offered as an analogy, when I walk down the street I see litter from many fast-food establishments. On occasion, I have witnessed broken beer bottles. Do we expect the restaurants and bars to be responsible for their customers’ litter and sign a “Good Neighbour” agreement to hire people to pick up trash on the streets? Well, in a sense, we do. Restaurants and bars pay taxes. Taxes pay for different work sectors to address different identified needs. One of them is picking up litter on the street.
The best communities are ones filled with “Good Neighbours”. Purpose Society, by the nature of the work it does, demonstrates that being a good neighbour is very important. Purpose has the same responsibility as any other member of the community to address identified concerns and work collaboratively with other members of the community towards a solution. This includes litter and crime. Purpose will never shy away from being part of working for a solution. It is the nature of its existence.
As written, the “Good Neighbour” policy, puts undue onus on Purpose for the actions of individuals who Purpose cannot control and allows other members of the community to opt out of their responsibility to be part of the solution. For example, I would ask what the City’s responsibility is for the folks who are homeless, using drugs and congregating outside the Safe Injection Site to stay alive. The City’s new Crisis Response Program employs at least two outreach workers and three liaison officers in addition to the By-Law officers the City has always employed. The Good Neighbour Policy calls for Purpose to reduce illegal and criminal behaviour. Isn’t this the work of the New Westminster Police Department? Surely they have a role in working with the folks who congregate on Alexander Street. Perhaps their role could be included in the Good Neighbour Policy.
As a Board Member, I would advise the Society to not shoulder all of the responsibility for the actions of people who are homeless and using drugs but ensure that the Good Neighbour Policy includes the City and other organizations that can contribute to addressing the challenges that face all of us.
What is required to responsibly deal with society’s issues is the hard work of collaboration. A concentrated effort by interested representatives of the community to not just kick the problem to another area, offer a band-aid, or a sound bite. Purpose would welcome the opportunity to develop a “Good Neighbour” Policy that includes a definition for how all neighbours can live up to the “Good” description.
Sincerely,
Rick Fabbro
Chair, Board of Directors, Lower Mainland Purpose Society