Save Our Streets (SOS) has organized a forum for later this month that will tackle a series of prominent issues, including a panel on addiction and mental health.
It will take place in Vancouver January 23rd.
Co-founder Jess Ketchum says they have lined up a number of speakers, including highly respected doctors and a former addict who went on to help form policy in Alberta.
Ketchum says Marshall Smith’s story is truly remarkable as he went from working for a cabinet minister in Victoria to living in and out of dumpsters in the downtown east side of Vancouver.
“A caring Vancouver police department member, and a couple of others, recognized that there was something special about Marshall and they helped him out. He got clean, he recovered completely, he became an advocate for others and then he became a real activist for improving the treatment for illnesses like mental health and addictions.” says Ketchum.
“He then went to Alberta, and they called him the drug czar. He worked for the Minister of Addictions and Mental Health and then he became the Chief of Staff to the Premier, so what a meteoric rise from a dumpster in the downtown east side, an incredible story. And the important part of that story to me is that it proves over and over again that addictions are not necessarily the end of the road. You can recover fully and get back to a productive life with your family and community.”
Ketchum says other issues include the justice system, policing and public safety, and housing, and says they will also have a wrap-up panel at the end.
He says they are being very future focused when it comes to what they hope will come out of these forums.
“We believe that the public and government, the media, they already know what the problems are, they already know the extent of the problems, but we haven’t spent enough time talking publicly from a data based perspective on solutions. So what solutions do we need to implement in BC that we don’t have today, what solutions have been implemented but not enough, maybe they need to be expanded, so we hope that at the end of the day from each panel we will have key messages that we’ll deliver to government saying ‘here are the recommendations that this conversation has resulted in developing’, and hopefully government will pay attention.”
Ketchum says while it will take place in Vancouver they are making sure that people from all over BC can see what they are doing.
“It’s free of charge. We have capacity for about 150. You can register at saveourstreets.ca and our full program is on the website as well. Importantly for people in your listening audience, we’re going to simulcast it as well so that people that can’t be in Vancouver for that full day will be able to review it on their computers, laptops, and IPads.”
Ketchum says a white paper that clearly articulate the recommendations that come out of each of the individual panel discussions and the forum will be sent to all levels of government.
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