Advocate says progress being made since B.C. child torture death, more work required
Jennifer Charlesworth's statement Tuesday comes a year after her report on the myriad of failures that ended in the death of an 11-year-old Indigenous boy who was tortured by extended family members who had been approved to care for him by the government.
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Vancouver Sun
16 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Opinion: The hollow quilt: Canada's overdose crisis and the fraying frontlines
Recently, I've been thinking more about quilts. How a quilt holds strongly together despite its modest makeup of cast-away parts, scraps and small squares. It holds together because there is strategy behind it. A community of hands planning the structure, methodically laying its shape, and deliberately stitching each piece. I've also been thinking about the overdose crisis here in Canada. Obviously. As CEO of the Dr. Peter Centre — a community-based health-care organization serving the sidelined two per cent of citizens with overlapping issues such as addiction, mental illness, trauma, housing insecurity, etc. — it's all I think about most days. Recently, we have seen the government tackle the problem from the border. They are getting tough on border security and all it represents: organized crime, international trafficking, and a porous flow of toxic drugs. I think that's commendable. I think it's necessary. I also think it's not enough. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. In building a quilt, you typically reinforce the outer edges last, serging and binding only once the insides have structural integrity. Right now, the inside of this complex-care quilt is quietly collapsing. The frontline of community organizations in food, housing, health and cultural services that have held this crisis at bay — like HIV support, Indigenous wellness, harm reduction, enhanced supportive housing, etc. — are unravelling from within. Their funding is siloed and fickle — built for narrow mandates and tied to the shifting political tides. Their resources are stretched thin, with burnout at a breaking point. (One major supportive housing provider recently reported over 25 per cent of its staff on stress leave at the same time.) And, critically, they lack a coordinated backbone — doomed to reduplicate one another's efforts, build vertically without sharing cross-sector insights or burnout mitigation strategies, and compete for a shrinking funding pool. (Yes, we clocked Prime Minister Mark Carney asking ministers to 'find 7.5 per cent savings' — we know what that means.) At a time when we need a strong, stitched-together quilt of care to stem the overdose crisis, we have a hollow quilt. A quilt with strong borders, frayed interiors. But if there's one thing my decades-long journey in this line of work has taught me: These scraps of fabric are scrappy. Frontline organizations don't give up hope easily. And we don't sit idly to the side, scratching our heads and waiting out a solution. We know the solutions. Coordination. Speed. Support. We need a national coordination initiative that reinforces what already works. We need to de-silo and stabilize the 700-plus frontline organizations committed to solutions. We need to train the workforce for current realities: trauma-informed, peer-led, culturally grounded care. And we need to build organizational resilience so people stay in the work. We need speed. We need to spread tools, knowledge, and evidence faster than the crisis moves. And we need to work faster than the official data that illustrates the crisis. Historically, governments have waited to bear out the data before taking action. But by the time we act on the data, the problem has evolved to evade our action. That's why innovation must move faster than the speed of data. Lastly, we need support. We need the government to see the problem holistically: that the congestion of hospital beds, the bottlenecked ER lines, the tents lining our civic spaces, the business closures in 'problem neighbourhoods,' the erosion of public trust in our institutions, and the people on the streets who are either sleeping, dying or dead — they are symptoms of a continuous system in disorder. We need the government to step up and support a coordinated frontline sector. With money, sure. But with commitment too. And the best way to accomplish that is with the support of ordinary Canadians. The best quilts I've seen are community projects. People coming together to create something that wraps around an individual, warms them against the harsh winds, consoles them. Even if you bring a single thread to this project — a letter to your representative, a donation to a frontline organization, a conversation with someone who just 'wishes these people would go away' — you are helping. Scott Elliott is the CEO of the Dr. Peter Centre, a frontline health-care organization in Vancouver.
Vancouver Sun
17 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
'Canada will win' race to bring LNG to Asian markets, B.C. Premier David Eby says
Kitamaat Village — Premier David Eby says Canadian values will help the country 'win this race' to deliver liquefied natural gas to Asian markets, even as U.S. President Donald Trump sets his sights on developing the industry in Alaska. Eby told a news conference on Tuesday that Canada is a reliable partner, which can deliver the fuel to Asia in a direct, affordable way, while Trump has been 'insulting and demeaning' towards other countries and insists his only concern is America. The premier's remarks came as his government announced a $200-million agreement with the Haisla Nation to support infrastructure for the Cedar LNG project, a floating liquefied natural gas terminal that will be located near Kitimat on B.C.'s Northern coast. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. He says the funding will help the nation build infrastructure, including a new electricity transmission line and distribution lines to power the facility. Eby hailed Cedar LNG as the world's first Indigenous majority-owned liquefied natural gas facility, saying it represents a 'model' for resource development that will help diversify the Canadian economy and reduce reliance on the United States. The premier says Trump has meanwhile shown he will make 'arbitrary and extrajudicial decisions on a whim,' announcing them through his own social media platform, Truth Social, and cannot be relied on as a trading partner. 'If you are a government in Asia looking for reliable energy sources that you can count on and a partner that you can count on, that isn't suddenly going to cut off your access to energy, that isn't suddenly going to massively increase the tariffs on the energy or taxes on the energy that you're purchasing, then nobody, nobody would be looking at the United States right now,' the premier says. He noted the first large-scale shipment of fuel from the LNG Canada facility, another export terminal in Kitimat, departed for Asia earlier this summer. Eby's comments come a few weeks after Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan and Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a statement applauding Trump's support for the natural gas industry in the state during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The U.S. lawmakers' statement quotes Trump as saying 'Japan will soon begin importing historic new shipments of clean American liquefied natural gas in record numbers' and discussing a 'joint venture' between the two countries. Sullivan says in the statement that Alaskans are ready to work with Trump and Japan to 'realize a dream (they) have been pursuing for almost half a century.' 'With (Trump's) leadership, we will get the Alaska LNG Project built, which will create thousands of good-paying jobs, reinvigorate our American steel industry, significantly reduce our trade deficit in Asia, and deliver clean-burning Alaska gas for Americans, our military, and our allies in the Asia-Pacific, like Japan,' the statement says. The Haisla Nation has partnered with Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. for the Cedar LNG project, which is scheduled to come online in late 2028. A statement from Eby's office and the Energy Ministry says the provincial funding complements $200 million in federal funding announced earlier this year. The BC Green party issued a statement later Tuesday saying the government's decision to provide funding to another liquefied natural gas project is 'irresponsible' and prolongs the province's dependence on fossil fuels. 'Fossil fuel expansion contradicts achieving the province's legislated emissions reduction targets — which we have already failed to meet,' says the statement from interim Green Leader Jeremy Valeriote. 'The government's continued inaction when it comes to the climate, and their disingenuous greenwashing of LNG as 'clean' energy is a distraction from their climate action failures,' it says. Valeriote says the province should instead invest in economic pathways towards long-term sustainability, public health and community well-being.
Winnipeg Free Press
17 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Canada will win' race to bring LNG to Asian markets, B.C. Premier David Eby says
KITAMAAT VILLAGE – British Columbia Premier David Eby says Canadian values will help the country 'win this race' to deliver liquefied natural gas to Asian markets, even as U.S. President Donald Trump sets his sights on developing the industry in Alaska. Eby told a news conference on Tuesday that Canada is a reliable partner, which can deliver the fuel to Asia in a direct, affordable way, while Trump has been 'insulting and demeaning' towards other countries and insists his only concern is America. The premier's remarks came as his government announced a $200-million agreement with the Haisla Nation to support infrastructure for the Cedar LNG project, a floating liquefied natural gas terminal that will be located near Kitimat on B.C.'s northern coast. He says the funding will help the nation build infrastructure, including a new electricity transmission line and distribution lines to power the facility. Eby hailed Cedar LNG as the world's first Indigenous majority-owned liquefied natural gas facility, saying it represents a 'model' for resource development that will help diversify the Canadian economy and reduce reliance on the United States. The premier says Trump has meanwhile shown he will make 'arbitrary and extrajudicial decisions on a whim,' announcing them through his own social media platform, Truth Social, and cannot be relied on as a trading partner. 'If you are a government in Asia looking for reliable energy sources that you can count on and a partner that you can count on, that isn't suddenly going to cut off your access to energy, that isn't suddenly going to massively increase the tariffs on the energy or taxes on the energy that you're purchasing, then nobody, nobody would be looking at the United States right now,' the premier says. He noted the first large-scale shipment of fuel from the LNG Canada facility, another export terminal in Kitimat, departed for Asia earlier this summer. Eby's comments come a few weeks after Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan and Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a statement applauding Trump's support for the natural gas industry in the state during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The U.S. lawmakers' statement quotes Trump as saying 'Japan will soon begin importing historic new shipments of clean American liquefied natural gas in record numbers' and discussing a 'joint venture' between the two countries. Sullivan says in the statement that Alaskans are ready to work with Trump and Japan to 'realize a dream (they) have been pursuing for almost half a century.' 'With (Trump's) leadership, we will get the Alaska LNG Project built, which will create thousands of good-paying jobs, reinvigorate our American steel industry, significantly reduce our trade deficit in Asia, and deliver clean-burning Alaska gas for Americans, our military, and our allies in the Asia-Pacific, like Japan,' the statement says. The Haisla Nation has partnered with Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. for the Cedar LNG project, which is scheduled to come online in late 2028. A statement from Eby's office and the Energy Ministry says the provincial funding complements $200 million in federal funding announced earlier this year. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. The BC Green Party issued a statement later Tuesday saying the government's decision to provide funding to another liquefied natural gas project is 'irresponsible' and prolongs the province's dependence on fossil fuels. 'Fossil fuel expansion contradicts achieving the province's legislated emissions reduction targets — which we have already failed to meet,' says the statement from interim Green Leader Jeremy Valeriote. 'The government's continued inaction when it comes to the climate, and their disingenuous greenwashing of LNG as 'clean' energy is a distraction from their climate action failures,' it says. Valeriote says the province should instead invest in economic pathways towards long-term sustainability, public health and community well-being. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.
