“We need recovery, we need treatment, and we need enforcement. These things have to happen, they have to happen together.”
That is according to Nathan Giede, an organizer of an “enough is enough” rally taking to the streets of Prince George next week that is calling on the government to take a firmer approach to the combination of homelessness, drug usage, petty crime, mental health, and social issues locally and around the province.
The enough is enough movement has been active for around a year, according to Giede, it started on Vancouver Island and has migrated to other communities around BC.
He said there are two parts to the idea, the first is the conversations that politicians have had have been “fruitless.”
“People are simply putting their foot down saying ‘no, that’s it. We have had enough, you can’t keep ignoring the issue,” Giede explained.
The other aspect is a need for a combination of enforcement, treatment, and recovery.
“Recovery [needs to be] utilized as the fundamental answer to these problems, instead of saying ‘oh, we hope this person recovers,’ and let them go, but they haven’t recovered – they are still addicted to this horrible, toxic substance that is driving them to commit crimes,” he said.
“Because those solutions aren’t offered, or because we don’t look at the full picture, we get repeat offenses, repeat problems, and a growing problem.”
He reiterated it is a call to action to the government, not a criticism of people who have found themselves in these unfavorable situations.
“We get it is an absolutely complicated situation, we get that. But that’s just it, no more simple rhetoric, implement the things we know work… these things have to happen, they have to happen together to work, and they’re not happening.”
The rally will take place on Thursday (April 27) at noon on the walkway along highway 16 between the School District office and Treasure Cove.
“I think it is going to be easy to pick some of the things I’ve said apart,” Giede admitted, “ultimately people need to sit back, regardless of where they stand on this issue, and they need to ask themselves a very important question: if I am an average person of average ability, do I believe that person has both responsibility and freedom? If we can’t have an intelligent conversation about that, we are lost from the beginning.”
“We can’t agree on a starting place, and therefor nothing gets better and nothing changes,” he said. “I’m not saying this is a perfect solution, what I am saying is some people are going to come together and say ‘we want a serious conversation about this.'”
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