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Minister wants Act changed to force homeless into shelters

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    Minister wants Act changed to force homeless into shelters

    by: IAN BAILEY January 1, 2009

    VANCOUVER -- Housing Minister Rich Coleman says the Mental Health Act needs to be changed so homeless people can be forced into shelters for their own good.

    "I just think it's important to take a hard look at it," Mr. Coleman said yesterday in an interview.

    He said he has discussed the idea with Premier Gordon Campbell, and launched a review of the act to figure out how to make the plan work.
    "There are provisions under the Mental Health Act for a committal and that sort of thing. I think we need to have some stronger provisions for this sort of situation."

    The idea appears to predate a recent tragedy in which a homeless woman died in Vancouver after her makeshift shelter caught fire while she tried to deal with the cold, but Mr. Coleman referenced that incident in discussing the plan.

    "I think when someone puts their life at risk, at that level, there are probably issues with mental health and addictions in most cases and we should have the power to be able to say, 'We have a bed for you and you're going to that bed,' " he said.

    Asked who would enforce such an approach, he said the police and mental-health workers, among others, would have to be rallied to the cause. "The whole system has to integrate to make this successful," he suggested.

    He conceded that the challenge is to figure out what would compel people to remain in shelters after they were removed to them.
    "I think, in most cases, if we had the ability to say, 'You're going,' a lot of them would," he suggested.

    Mr. Coleman said there is no timetable to advancing the idea, noting he could not commit to action by the time members return to the legislature in February, or even before the provincial election in May.
    "The work is ongoing," he suggested. "It is a pretty big process.
    "We do have to take into account the Charter and whether these things would have a Charter challenge attached to them but, you know, I just honestly believe some people are so ill on our streets that they can't make decisions for themselves and they become a danger to themselves and the public," he said.

    "We should have the opportunity to intervene because, if we can, we can save them." Kerry Jang, a councillor with the majority Vision Vancouver party on Vancouver city council, said Mr. Coleman's "heart is in the right place," but there may be a better way to work toward the same goal.

    "Not all homeless people are mentally ill and so simply using the Mental Health Act won't cover all the homeless people," he said yesterday.
    Instead, he said, temperature should be used as a factor for taking action.

    When the temperature is sufficiently low, it should be the basis for apprehending people and putting them in shelters, he suggested.
    "We're also cognizant of civil liberties, so forcing someone against their will [into shelter] is problematic from a legal and mental-health treatment perspective," said Dr. Jang, also a psychiatry professor at the University of British Columbia.

    He said he looks forward to further discussing the idea with the minister this year.


    Original post --> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...1.BCCOLEMAN01#
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