Downtown PG president takes province to task over social issue measures

“For all of the effort they have put into these issues, they have been utterly failing.”

Those are the words of Downtown PG President Eoin (Owen) Foley when describing the provincial government’s efforts to crack down on drug use and other major social issues that continue plague cities like ours.

This morning (Thursday), Downtown PG joined the provincial Save Our Streets coalition, which is calling for a crackdown on property crime, street violence, and retail theft. It has ballooned to 59 organizations, businesses, or groups since launching in October.

Foley told MyPGNow.com that these issues have been at a fever pitch for far too long, often leading to subsequent repercussions.

“It’s unacceptable. Any reasonable person out there would agree these issues stem from drug use and mental illness and absolutely every reasonable person wants folks who are  facing these issues to get the help that they need.”

“It weighs heavily on us. It means that customers aren’t as likely to come downtown, and our staff maybe don’t feel as safe and it’s pretty frustrating on a daily basis.”

Foley added that every program or measure the provincial government has put in, has often led to three or four steps back, which he believes is a peace-mealed approach at best.

“For all of the effort they have been doing to address these issues, they have been utterly failing. They have put in more programs and the problems continue to get worse and worse and more people are dying on the street from an overdose.”

Case in point, the province’s illicit drug crisis, which continues to put a death grip on the province since a public health emergency was declared in 2016.

In 2022, Northern Health posted 187 drug poisoning fatalities, with 83 of those occurring in Prince George – both record highs.

As of the end of November, 2,039 people lost their lives due to the toxic drug supply last year. In 2022, 2,377 residents passed away from illicit drug overdoses, making it the deadliest year on record.

As members continue to join, SOS said their next goal is to research trends found around the province to see if government actions are improving issues and making streets safer or not.