Street problems – where to advocate for improvements

/

(Update: Victoria City Council has endorsed (an 8-1 vote) the Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, which identifies needed actions by the relevant levels of government (more on that below), and our initial actions on Pandora, Princess and downtown.)

This is a post about which level of government has the tools to solve which problems, and how to contact them.

…….

I’ve done a lot of advocacy to all levels of government to address various issues. We would all like government to “just fix the problems” we see on our streets – very serious problems including homelessness, addictions and other mental health problems, disorder, etc.  I get asked sometimes why the City hasn’t already fixed various problems.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. If it were, we would have done it long ago.

Government in Canada is actually divided into three parts (and in Victoria, we have a fourth part – regional government) and they don’t all have powers over the same things. The Constitution distributes powers over different subject areas between the Federal and Provincial levels. And provincial legislation – mainly the Local Government Act and the Community Charter – set out what municipalities and regional governments can and cannot do.

I wrote this post to help people figure out which level of government is responsible for what issues, and thus where it’s most useful to advocate for improvements in relation to homelessness, addiction and other mental health disorders, street disorder, etc. (By the way, here are some advocacy tips.)

It’s important to have the facts and not misinformation about who can do what, in order to get at the real sources of problems, and thus the real solutions. Misinformation causes people to bark up the wrong tree, wastes their time and effort and everyone else’s, and doesn’t provide results.

This post is just a starting point, and is not meant to be a comprehensive explanation of these topics; further information is available with a web browser search.

Homelessness

This is primarily a provincial government responsibility. (The City’s role is mainly just reviewing land use applications, such as a proposal for establishing a new affordable housing building.)

Here is some of what the BC Government is doing:

To advocate for more action, contact: Hon. Christine Boyle, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, HMA.minister@gov.bc.ca.

The federal government is also working in this area, with provinces, e.g. through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy https://housing-infrastructure.canada.ca/homelessness-sans-abri/index-eng.html

Addictions and other mental health disorders:

This is primarily a provincial government responsibility. (The City’s role is mainly just reviewing land use applications, such as a proposal for establishing a new hospital.)

Here is some of what the BC Government is doing: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/mental-health-and-addictions/building-better-mental-health-and-addictions-care.

To advocate for more action: Hon. Josie Osborne, Minister of Health, HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca.

Items left on sidewalks and in parks

Keeping public spaces like sidewalks and parks clear of waste and items that the owner cannot or will not move is a function of the City.

Here is some of what the City does: https://davethompsonvictoria.ca/the-citys-approach-to-homelessness-and-sidewalks-parks/

To ask for an area to be cleaned up, contact Public Works https://www.victoria.ca/contact-us/public-works-24-hour-line. To advocate for enforcement of a bylaw, contact Bylaw Services at https://www.victoria.ca/city-government/bylaw-services.

Safe streets and sidewalk design

The City is responsible for ensuring our streets and sidewalks are designed in a way that makes them safe for all users, whether in motor vehicles, on bikes or scooters, or on foot.

Here is some of what the City is doing: https://www.victoria.ca/getting-around.

To advocate for safer street and sidewalk design, contact the City here https://www.victoria.ca/getting-around.

Public safety policy: 

This is primarily a provincial government responsibility (The City’s role is mainly keeping sidewalks and parks from becoming blocked with debris.)

Here is some of what the BC Government is doing: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/public-safety-solicitor-general

To advocate for more action, contact:

Law enforcement

Homelessness is not a crime; crime is crime. Enforcement is a Police Department responsibility. (The City only enforces City bylaws, such as keeping public spaces like sidewalks and parks clear of waste and other items.)

Police make all decisions about when, where, how and whether to enforce drug laws, criminal laws, and a range of other laws on a situation-by-situation basis, following their own priorities, which the City does not control.

The City funds the police, but does not direct, supervise, or govern the police. That’s up to the police board. You can email the police board at Board@vicpd.ca.

To advocate for enforcement of specific laws or in specific locations, contact VicPD at https://vicpd.ca/contact-us/.

Bail and criminal sentencing laws

This is a Federal Government responsibility (The City has no role).

Here is some of what the Federal Government is doing: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/index.html

To advocate for more action, contact Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, mcu@justice.gc.ca. Here’s my advocacy letter and here is a news story about a motion that I brought regarding bail reform for chronic repeat offenders, which passed 8-1, and another I brought regarding returning fugitives with warrants in other cities to face trial in those cities, which passed unanimously.

As noted above, this post is just a starting point, and is not meant to be a comprehensive explanation of these topics. I hope this has been helpful, and further information is available with a web browser search.