A Tale of Two Leaders

This past weekend has been a busy one in the news for BC politics with the closing of meetings of the Union of BC Municipalities. Of particular note were announcements made by Premier Gordon Campbell and comments from Carole James regarding homelessness and mental illness in BC.

Both of these issues resonate clearly for us in Vancouver-Hastings. One need only walk a few short blocks of Hastings street to witness first hand the very real footprint that homelessness has left in our community. No longer is this a problem limited to the downtown eastside.

I must have read half a dozen pieces between the Sun and the Province dedicated to homelessness and mental illness and I found it very interesting to see the manner in which our two provincial party leaders approached a very serious and growing problem and the level of leadership applied toward reaching a solution. On one hand we have Gordon Campbell who, in Saturdays Vancouver Sun acknowledges the "the mentally ill in BC have been let down" and he recognizes that "the de-institutionalization of the mentally ill has been a failed experiment". Does he mention the fact that it was the NDP in the late 90's who first helped carve up Coquitlam's Riverview Hospital? No, he doesn't.

On the other side of the house we have NDP leader Carole James who, in the same piece blames Campbell and the BC Liberals for the increased number of homeless people in BC, for creating the gap between the rich and poor in this province and for cancelling the fall sitting of the Legislature (How many fall sessions did the NDP cancel during their tenure? Someone remind me.) The Premier, in acknowledging homelessness has also recognized the limitations of his government in dealing with the problem and points out the need for cooperation between all levels of government in order to reach a real solution (a point echoed by Michael Smyth in the Vancouver Province, "Cities share blame for plight of homeless"). Ms. James calls this finger pointing.

So let me point some fingers. While it is true that the number of homeless people in the GVRD almost doubled between 2002 and 2005 (from 1121 to 2174), the truth is that homelessness in BC has actually been on a steady increase since the early 1990's. In fact:

1. In 1998 there were 70 foodbanks in BC, about as many as in the rest of Canada combined.
2. In 1997 the child poverty rate was 19.6%, only slightly better than the national level.
3. There were about 15 000 homeless people in BC in 1998.
4. Between the years 1991 and 1996 the number of households in the GVRD at the risk of homelessness increased from about 39 000 to almost 58 000 and the number of homeless people during this period doubled.
5. Between 1995 and 2000, in Burnaby the number of trips made to the foodbank rose by almost 38%.

The problem of homelessness can certainly not be ignored any longer. Premier Campbell has acknowledged this and stepped up to the challenge, however the problem cannot be solved by the province alone. Communities through-out the province must take some responsibility for the people living on their streets and perhaps most importantly, Carole James and the NDP need to demonstrate a bit of leadership of their own and become part of the solution to homelessness. Especially since they helped to create the problem.