Vancouver city council approves funding for more police, mental-health nurses

“You cannot put a price on public safety, and you cannot put a price on mental health and wellness and we cannot afford not to do this,” she said.

The city was originally prepared to spend $4.5 million for the police and $1.5 million for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, with hiring to start in January.

But at Tuesday’s council meeting those numbers were bumped to $8 million for each, inclusive of any provincial or federal funding that may be available.

The change comes days after Premier David Eby announced a new public safety plan that includes expanding mental-health crisis response teams.

Council voted to ask the province to be part of plans to create 12 peer-assisted care teams made up of trained peers and mental-health professionals to respond to people in distress, with or without police.

Sim’s promise received significant pushback from some members of the public and mental-health advocates who say including police on mental-health calls increases anxiety for those in crisis and that the money could be more effectively used elsewhere.

Coun. Pete Fry, who is not part of ABC Vancouver and voted against the motion, said the budgeting process hasn’t been clear and that he was nervous about what promising to fund these positions would mean for the rest of the city’s budget.

“We are kind of setting a stage here for what looks to me like a little bit of a blank cheque approach,” he said.

In a report Tuesday, the Vancouver Police Department estimated that the full contingent of 100 new officers, plus 20 civilian professionals it’s looking to hire, would cost $15.7 million annually.

It’s unclear when the new positions could be filled.

When asked about the Canada-wide pressure to hire nurses and when new hires could be in place, Vancouver Coastal Health said in a statement that it “has already begun working on a multi-year recruitment and retention plan for nurses.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2022.

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Vancouver city council approves funding for more police, mental-health nurses

What's Trending