Barrie City Councillors stopped short of declaring a public health emergency in Barrie, but are still calling on the provincial and federal governments to help with the local opioid crisis.
It's a move that calls for swift action, and was met with resounding support at Mondays General Committee meeting.
“We showed our city, we showed the province and even the country that we're serious about the opioid crisis that we have, and that we want concrete political action on that crisis,” said Councillor Keenan Aylwin Monday night.
Aylwin, along with Councillor Natalie Harris, put a motion on the floor to ask the provincial and federal governments to step in and provide Barrie with resources to cope with the opioid crisis. “Downtown Barrie has an emergency room department visit-rate that is ten times higher than the provincial average,” says Aylwin.
Councillor Natalie Harris asked Barrie’s mayor, Jeff Lehman, to declare a Public Health Emergency in Barrie.
“I just couldn't sit back anymore,” the former paramedic said on Monday,
The move to declare a local Public Health Emergency prompted a lengthy debate.
“I don’t think we’re ready,” was a comment made by Councillor Jim Harris, while Councillor Doug Shipley argued “Let's make sure we're doing it right. Let’s do it once. Let's solve this issue and be the leaders in Canada with this perhaps.”
In the end Councillors decided to gather more information before declaring a public health emergency in Barrie. Staff will report back in three weeks on what the implications could be. Councillors did vote to ask for federal and provincial help with the crisis, and plan to include a deadline in their request.
“'we've actually put a deadline in to say to the federal government, provincial government, ‘we need help to combat the opioid crisis and we want to know in three weeks what your response is to that request for help,’ “ says Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman.
“I think the conversation has really started to head down the direction in the serious what that it needs to so I'm happy with the outcome tonight,” says Councillor Natalie Harris.
Monday’s vote will need to get a final stamp of approval next week.
