Reports to the Government of BC

Reports to the Government of BC.

The BC Crisis Line Network submits reports and recommendations to various Provincial leaders and committees. The following is a breakdown of the recommendations made by the Network and how they were reflected in the final reports issued by the committees.

Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act.

The Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act was assembled on December 9, 2020 to examine, inquire into, and make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly on: reforms related to the modernization and sustainability of policing under the Police Act; the role of police with respect to complex social issues including mental health and wellness, addictions and harm reduction; the scope of systemic racism within BC's police agencies; and whether there are measures necessary to ensure a modernized Police Act is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

On April 28, 2022, the Committee released their final report: Transforming Policing and Community Safety in British Columbia. The recommendations made by the BC Crisis Line Network during the public consultation period informed one of the Committee's recommendations:

4. Create and appropriately fund a continuum of response to mental health, addictions and other complex social issues with a focus on prevention and community-led responses and ensuring appropriate first response. This includes:

Increasing coordination and integration across police, health, mental health, and social services
Integrating mental health within 911 call options

The Network's presentation advocated for a mental health crisis response system which would care for those in crisis by providing the least-restrictive, lowest-cost option of service appropriate for the situation, escalating the response modality and involving the police only when necessary. The response system starts with mental health crises being responded to by crisis lines, mobile crisis teams being dispatched if the situation cannot be deescalated, the person being taken to a community crisis stabilization centre if the hospital is not necessary, and finally wrap-around post-crisis being offered once the crisis passes.

This system is based on the crisis care continuum established by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States) and recommended to be available in every community.

Implementing the system outlined by the Network will result in decreased use of police resources, emergency rooms, psychiatric inpatient care, and jails.

Read the Network’s response to the report here.

Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Service.

The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services is one of ten permanent parliamentary committees of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The Committee holds an annual public consultation on the upcoming provincial budget following the release of the budget consultation paper by the Minister of Finance.

During the public consultation for the 2023 provincial budget, the Network’s presentation informed the Committee’s recommendation in the final Budget 2023 Consultation Report. Recommendation 195 suggested that the Province should “implement a provincial wireless call-answer levy, similar to those that exist in other provinces, to ensure equitable funding for 911 dispatch services in the province and create a taskforce inclusive of all emergency services providers to determine how to best integrate mental health supports into emergency response through a fourth option for 911” (pg. 92).

The recommendation encompassed all three calls to action made by the Network in their presentation to the Committee:

Introduce a 9-1-1 levy to fund crisis line access as a 9-1-1 fourth option: Mental Health
Ensure all crisis lines can directly refer callers to crisis mobile response teams led by a mental health professional and inclusive of peer support workers
Appoint a provincial task force drawn from crisis lines, 9-1-1’s, BC Ambulance, and CMHA-BC to create 9-1-1 levy legislation that supports a mental health response system that works.

Read the Network’s response to the report here.

Select Standing Committee on Health.

The Select Standing Committee on Health is one of nine permanent all-party committees of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The Committee is working to identify potential strategies to maintain a sustainable health care system for British Columbians.

In 2022, the Committee was tasked with looking into responses to the urgent and ongoing illicit drug toxicity and overdose crisis in BC in consultation with various stakeholders, including service providers, peer groups, and nonprofits. The Network made recommendations that the Province should:

Embed suicide prevention into the response plan;
Fund crisis response models that free up money for prevention and treatment by utilizing least coercive, least costly, and most effective crisis intervention strategies; and,
Recognize crisis line volunteers as our next generation of emergency crisis responders and create career pathways to address staffing shortages.

In their final report, Closing Gaps, Reducing Barriers: Expanding the Response to the Toxic Drug and Overdose Crisis, the Committee made a recommendation that was in line with those made by both the Network and the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act: “To better leverage the deployment of first responders to mental health and substance use crises, explore alternative options, including crisis response teams, and integrate a mental health option in 911 calls.”

The report discussed the option of leveraging crisis lines to provide wrap-around support for those who had experienced a toxic-drug related event or are being discharged from a treatment program. The Committee also supported the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act’s recommendation for the creation of a Provincial prevention-focused and community-led mental health crisis response system.

Read the Network’s response to the report here.