Prince George City Councillor Kyle Sampson is calling for a discussion on public safety, the health and addictions crisis, and the housing shortage with provincial entities.
At last night’s (Monday) city council meeting, Sampson put forward a Notice of Motion that will be included at Council’s next meeting on December 5th.
“The City of Prince George is facing a number of crises that are impacting the daily lives of all residents in our community,” Sampson wrote in his Notice of Motion.
“The need for our Council to take further action towards reducing the impacts felt by those connected with these crises needs to take priority now.”
The Notice of Motion has three recommendations attached to it, asking representatives from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, the Ministry of Health, the Attorney General and the Minister responsible for Housing, Northern Health, and BC Housing come to Prince George to engage in meetings with council and city staff on what is being done to address the social issues the city is facing.
“The impacts of homelessness, the encampments, as well as the mental health and addictions epidemic are a growing concern, and are impacting all residents of our community, including those living directly with these struggles,” Sampson wrote.
“Although areas like health, housing, mental health, and addictions are not under the jurisdiction of a local government, this is our community, and we need to take the next steps beyond simple advocacy and gain the supports necessary to resolve these issues.”
The full notice of motion can be found here.