One Third Of Calls To The Vancouver Police Have To Do With The Mentally Ill

According to an article in today’s Globe & Mail, one third of all calls made to the Vancouver City Police have to do with dealing with individuals who are mentally ill.

For those of you that are in the dark, we spent the last two decades emptying out our long-term mental facilities and placing people on the streets. I suppose, to some, the streets seemed just as good a place as any to dump those that require long-term care. After all, we can’t dare ask taxpayers to keep flipping the bill, can we?

While institutions are absolutely necessary, they must also be staffed by committed and compassionate professionals and not merely warehouses for the ‘insane’. The latter leads only to an atmosphere of abuse, degradation, and humiliation that serves absolutely no positive purpose. But that would require that they be reasonably funded and staffed, and that the costs of a decent mental welfare system in this Province, if not the entire nation, was viewed as something more than a nuisance to most.

Of course, our illustrious Mayor was ‘shocked’ by the report. He then claimed that new initiatives to build “supportive housing” for those that are “relatively stable” are in the works, but nothing for those that require substantial long-term care. He did suggest that Riverview be reopened, but to do so would require a massive influx of capital to render it habitable, never mind what could be termed an actual hospital.

What’s worse than suffering from a serious mental illness? How about suffering from a serious mental illness and being homeless?