There is a significant issue for elderly and disabled people needing extended care. They are on their own in the community until a crisis occurs and then they end up going into acute care. Once there, they generally can’t return to their original living situation and so acute care is backed up with people that should be in extended care beds. Community Care has to prioritize these cases to free up the acute care beds, so the wait lists for those out in the community are that much longer. Caregivers (family, friends, acquaintances, neighbours) are getting burnt out and the elderly and disabled out there are “hanging by a thread”. Or worse, these people have no caregivers and no affordable and safe housing and are suffering from terrible neglect and living conditions.

Citizens continue to struggle with low welfare rates and increased cost of living with shelter rates for regular income assistance not changing and not keeping pace with rapidly increasing housing costs. Rental accommodation that is safe and affordable is not available, for the most part, in our community. This has led to increased homelessness that has recently become quite visible. This has contributed to the “survival sex trade in our community”.

We still see more people who are living in our community with no income. They cannot qualify for income assistance and are living off the kindness of strangers or friends and acquaintances, or from the proceeds of crime and prostitution. The sex trade has significantly increased here since the last report, and Prostitution Offender Program representative advised us that an offer to the local RCMP to provide spaces for local people in the Sex Trade Rehab Program resulted in 21 referrals (those willing to participate).  They were “shocked”, given the size of our community.

The move to electronic deposit of income assistance checks by the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance has resulted in an increase in clients who are having their income assistance garnisheed for outstanding debts to the bank or to a creditor. We have had to work on retrieving these funds from creditors (based on the illegality of seizing “welfare” income, and have had some cooperation from banks following contact from us. Recently, there as a mass garnishee province wide of electronically deposited income assistance checks, for outstanding Visa bills. Some of these seizures were done past the expiration of the statute of limitations. Clients have been advised to move their accounts elsewhere, or not to agree to direct deposit if they have not already done so. There is no mechanism in the legislation to allow for replacement of the garnisheed funds. This has particularly impacted those on disability pensions.

The local ministry office will be renovating to comply with the new “open space office design” initiative, which will occur in all ministry offices this year. Our office will have nine “wickets” and one interview room. We are concerned about the morale of ministry staff that will be losing their individualized offices, and the confidentiality and privacy for clients who are attending the office to deal with their income assistance needs.

 The local office for B.C. Mental Health and Addiction Services (formerly Forensic Psychiatric Services) reports a significantly changed demographic and client base for Campbell River. The issues are almost entirely substance related, with male transients aged 21 to 30 years old, couples and families comprising most of the referrals over the last six months.

The local probation office reports an increase in the numbers of people on probation for drug related crimes (330 in the north island) and reports that the drug trade here is “disorganized” compared to Nanaimo- south, and that there are many independent traffickers and violence arising from “debt enforcement”.

We have seen an increase in absolutely homeless people, those with no where to go but the streets. Most of these people are unable to qualify for income assistance and therefore are hungry and without shelter. While we have a shelter in Campbell River, there is a limit of ten days for the duration of one’s stay, three days if the person is “self referred”, with some discretion to extend that if special circumstances exist and if the person is actively seeking alternatives that appear to be promising. Also, if someone does not qualify for welfare, then the shelter does not received funds to house that individual and this can and has impacted the availability of shelter services for some. There are 16 to 20 shelter beds for men and women, 4 crisis beds for women, and 2 youth beds funded by MCFD and John Howard Society. The shelter also has “mats” and these are regularly in use to accommodate the overflow on a nightly basis. 

The crisis grant legislation now eliminates the prospect of discretionary decisions. Those whose food has been stolen, or whose checks have been garnished, or who have lost some or all of their money, no longer qualify for crisis grants more than twenty dollars per person per household per month. This is not realistic to those who require food for two or three weeks until the next check issue and this has put a strain on the food bank, local charitable organizations such as Saint Vincent De Paul, and likely contributes to the increase in shoplifting (food) crime. While referred to one of four soup kitchens, mobility is an issue for some people who either live too far, cannot access transit for either money (fare) or scheduling reasons, or have physical and mental impairments preventing them from getting there or being able to be around other people in a soup kitchen setting.

The problems continue for those on income assistance and disability assistance who require dental work or dentures. While the Ministry reached an agreement in principle with the College of Dental Surgeons to raise the rates for coverage to an acceptable level, most of the dentists or denturists in our community (and elsewhere we are told) do not accept the Ministry rate and bill over it. This leaves people either unable to obtain the dentures or the dental work, or struggling to pay the difference, usually required in advance. In some cases we have been able to negotiate payment schedules with dentists to satisfy the outstanding balances which average around $200.00 on dentures and $75.00 for dental consultation, specialty, or anesthetic fees, but lately, dentists have opted to refuse service to patients in these financial positions.