As Council’s Downtown Neighbourhood Liaison, I attended the DVBA’s AGM today. I had to leave for a CRD meeting before the panellists’ opening remarks were finished.
I later heard that after their remarks, the meeting erupted. I had hoped to watch a recording but there isn’t one. From the reports I’ve received, the audience raised some real and serious problems. It sounds like the same problems I’ve heard from many business owners I’ve spoken with, along with residents, churches, non-profit organizations and others.
I’ve said it many times and I will say it again. What’s happening here and in cities across North America is a humanitarian disaster.
Our society has essentially left people with untreated toxic-drug addictions and other mental illnesses, people who are unhoused, and people living in poverty – some of the very most vulnerable people – to live on the street, to be preyed on by criminals, and to die on the street.
It is completely unacceptable.
It is also completely unacceptable to walk out your front door in the morning and find human waste on your doorstep. It is completely unacceptable to find your windows broken. It is completely unacceptable to have repeat offenders come into your shop and walk out with thousands of dollars of stolen goods. And so on.
VicPD Chief Del Manak has stated repeatedly that while Victoria has its problems, it’s a safe city. As Jeff Bray noted in the DVBA’s Annual Report, Victoria has one of the best downtowns in North America. That’s all true, and that said, the problems are real and serious as noted earlier.
We need action on the causes, and we need it now. From all levels of government. Here is a short version of some of what is needed (from leaders of two non-profits on Pandora): https://davethompsonvictoria.ca/the-disaster-on-our-streets
And here is another short version, from the DVBA (page 9): https://downtownvictoria.ca/downtownvictoria.ca/uploads/2025/06/DVBA_Annual-Report_2025_FINAL-Digital-1.pdf
And here is a longer version, the draft Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan, which I intend to support at the Council table tomorrow: https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=103082
Just from these three documents, you can see there is a widely shared vision on what is needed.
One key element that everyone agrees on: the people on the street and in parks need better places to go.
While these problems show up in our cities’ core neighbourhoods, I am hoping that *all* levels of government will see them as something they need to address. With urgency.
If you want to know what level of government to advocate to for action on various issues, here is a starting point: https://davethompsonvictoria.ca/street-problems-where-to-advocate-for-improvements.