'Addictions and homelessness': Mayors to target mental health support at AMO Conference
Municipal politicians will get a chance to discuss their biggest needs with the province at this week’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa, Ont.
For the first time in three years, the conference returns in-person and with one-on-one meetings with provincial ministers, and gives municipal officials the chance to talk about shared challenges.
“We have seven members of council going and the mayor and we're going to be meeting with about 14 provincial ministers,” says Josh Morgan, London’s deputy mayor.
He adds, “We're going to be discussing is London's challenges with homelessness, mental health and addictions. We've got joint delegations with the county on that, and the Ontario big city mayors have also called for an emergency meeting with the province on this issue. It's really something that a number of municipalities are facing.”
St. Thomas, Ont. Mayor Joe Preston and his team have put together a platform of issues they’ll be discussing including regional transportation, supportive housing and improved school board relations to reduce the amount of portables in elementary schools.
“We also really want to talk more about how to better handle addictions and mental health at a street level,” says Preston.
“The best ideas at conferences like this come from somebody else,” he says. “We want to ask others what they are doing in their communities and how it works for them. Many are asking us how have you done, what you've done in reducing homelessness or reducing supportive housing, and we're happy to share with the work we've done.”
Both Preston and Morgan say municipalities can’t handle this issue on their own. They need provincial and federal dollars to build capital, and provincial dollars to fund operations of facilities.
Don Trepanier, director of the Annex in St. Thomas, Ont. hopes the province will provide funding for detox treatment after the AMO Conference in Ottawa, Ont. this week. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)On Talbot Street in St. Thomas, the newly opened Annex is an addiction resource centre, who has signed on 44 new clients in the 39 days they’ve been open.
“Since we've opened our doors, [we've] become very aware of the fact that we are a small city but we have the big city trappings of homelessness, mental health issues and addictions,” says Don Trepanier, director of the Annex.
He adds, “Our focus is addictions and one of the things that we have become aware of is that we don't have any resources in St. Thomas. When we have treatment beds, if we're talking about detox, we have to go outside of the city, and that's a huge barrier to rehabilitation and recovery.”
Trepanier has been speaking with Preston, and expressed his concerns ahead of the AMO Conference.
“I'd love to hear the mayor of St. Thomas come back from that meeting to be able to say, ‘Yes we have funding for detox beds and some treatment beds here in St. Thomas,’” says Trepanier.
‘’It's just really something that this community is missing. This community needs this very much because it's a barrier to anybody who's in St. Thomas to even consider detox or treatment,” he adds.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Asking rent prices up 9.3% across Canada, Ontario sees only decline: report
A new report says the average asking rent for a home in Canada in April was up 9.3 per cent compared with a year ago, while a slight month-over-month increase was also recorded for the first time since January.
Prince William says wife Kate is 'doing well'
Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was 'doing well' in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
'I may have some nightmares:' Man survives being bitten by 2 sharks in Bahamas
A man who was bitten by two sharks in the Bahamas said Thursday he's 'thankful that I'm here' while sharing his story of survival.
Ontario coroner to investigate death of man who suffered cardiac arrest while waiting in ER
A provincial coroner will be investigating the death of 68-year-old David Lippert, who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a crowded emergency room in Kitchener, Ont.
Magnitude 4.2 earthquake reported off Vancouver Island's west coast
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
'Irate male' assaulted Newfoundland officers with block of cheese, police say
Police in Newfoundland say patrol officers were assaulted Thursday by a "very irate male" wielding a block of cheese.
Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
Canadian Blood Services apologizes to LGBTQ2S+ community for discriminatory blood donation policy
Canada's longstanding blood donation policy that prevented sexually active men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood and plasma was harmful and discriminatory, Canadian Blood Services acknowledged on Friday, in issuing an apology to the LGBTQ2S+ community.