Letters to The Sun, March 12, 2022: Parent trying to get answers regarding the drug toxicity crisis


Opinion: Letters to The Vancouver Sun, March 12, 2022.

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Re: Backing away from cliff: Finally, life-saving help for BC youth aging out of care.

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Thank you Lori Culbert for such a detailed article. Culbert has provided answers to so many questions that she has only received very vague answers regarding “aging-out.” Although it may not be in our field I have been trying to get such answers regarding the “drug toxicity crisis.” Perhaps The Vancouver Sun could suggest someone who might help.

Our son Tommy died from toxic drugs in October 2020, and since then I have become a volunteer and advocate for the unhoused and addicted in Maple Ridge. In attempts to answer questions at Street Outreach meetings I have communicated with the MLA hoping for details of the government’s plan for managing this crisis.

The regurgitated responses are those of very vague plans for funding, housing, counseling and treatment beds. But any details of when the plans will be realized and implemented don’t seem to exist. And I receive only the press statements of everything the government has done so far and the general plan. Obviously this doesn’t satisfy myself or the people who use substances. It doesn’t give them any hope.

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I recently read that those young adults who have been “aged-out” without adequate support and preparation are more likely to become addicted. I believe a concrete government plan on harm reduction and treatment would help them as well.

I appreciate all the research and the effort Culbert put into her article.

I hope that at some point we can see the same for those with the living experience of substance use and their families and loved ones.

Debbie Picco, volunteer, community action table, Maple Ridge Street Outreach Society, Pitt Meadows


Excellent coverage in The Sun about forthcoming BC provincial support for youth aging out of care. One important point that you might wish to cite in any future coverage of this topic is that a disproportionate share of these youth are Aboriginal.

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Initiatives of this kind were recommended by the BC Expert Panel on Basic Income, and also by other groups.

Our report was issued at the start of 2021 and this topic was covered in various parts, but our key recommendations can be found on Pages 452-462.

Dr. Jonathan Rhys Kesselman, professor emeritus, SFU, school of public policy

Switching to smaller cars will benefit planet

Remember the Arab oil crisis of 1973? It led to people buying small cars.

Nowadays, driving around in my little car, SUV and truck behemoths dwarf me on the roads and in parking lots. Let’s hope the current high gas prices stimulate more people to switch to small or electric cars, and then perhaps there will be an overall benefit to the planet.

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Anthony Griffiths, professor emeritus, Department of Botany, UBC

$200M taxpayers’ dollars for a gondola?

Re: SFU gondola plan up in air as TransLink faces cash crunch.

In its Climate Change Strategy, January 2022, TransLink estimates the impact of the November 2021 flooding in BC at $32 billion. Flooding and wildfires devastated our province, isolating communities and destroying infrastructure.

How then, can TransLink consider seeking $200 million to fund a gondola linking the Production Way University SkyTrain to Simon Fraser University? A project that, were it approved, would travel through the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area, and serve a single Lower Mainland community, already well-served by a bus network.

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Surely, taxpayer dollars would be better spent rebuilding BC’s infrastructure to better withstand natural disasters and focusing on slowing climate change. We should think more broadly to how we support farmers, who feed Lower Mainland residents, to get back to their land. Rebuilding communities whose homes were destroyed and most importantly executing stated climate change strategies.

TransLink is already on the path to electrifying the bus fleet with a goal of 2040 for zero emissions. If TransLink is to seek funding, it should be for the proven and stated bus electrification strategy. Two-hundred-million dollars would go a long way to speeding up the process of electrifying the bus fleet. Electric buses can be used interchangeably on any route, based on ridership at any given time.

According to Plug in Canada, electric buses with simpler engines, are more reliable than diesel and perform well in all weather conditions and better than diesel in snowy conditions.

Let’s look to a brighter future for all British Columbians.

Marjorie Robertson, Burnaby


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