Complex problems, however widespread, are typically best solved on the ground in the locale where they’re unfolding, with input from those most directly involved and affected.
That was the intent behind the creation of BC’s Community Action Teams (CATs) in 2017-18, by the [then] Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions, shortly after the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency.
Sadly, in the five-plus years since, the crisis has continued (more or less) unabated, and has arguably become more complex through COVID, safe supply and increasing variability in the drug supply.
Creating and maintaining a functional CAT on the Sunshine Coast has proved to be a complex problem of its own. Since it was first created in 2018-19, the SC CAT has had no fewer than five coordinators. The first two lasted barely a year, if that, in their post, respectively. Then we shared a coordinator who was based in Powell River for about 1.5 years, during COVID – which was less than ideal. A related concern arose when the executive for the Sunshine Coast CAT fiscal agent who had been living on the lower Sunshine Coast relocated to Vancouver Island. This created a literal visual and operational gap between the local experience and the oversight agency –– although the fiscal agent is the oversight agency only in terms of financial management and ensuring reporting, ideally, the fiscal agent is also a community partner at the CAT table.
The good news is, the Sunshine Coast is currently poised to overcome these issues and start afresh with a new, committed core group on its steering committee and a new locally based fiscal agent – the S.C. Resource Centre. According to some of the key people involved in running long-functioning CATs in Comox and the Fraser Valley, the creation of a steering committee is one critical ingredient in a successful CAT. A second key ingredient endorsed by CAT members from Abbotsford-Mission and Comox Valley is a shared vision, common values, a basis of unity for understanding the role of the CAT in our community. The current CAT Steering Committee is 14 individuals from 10 organizations in our community. The vision is to be inclusive of invested community members who are concerned about and committed to supporting safety, inclusion, compromise and wellbeing for people using substances and at risk of fatal overdose, and the community around them as we continue to mitigate harms within this ongoing toxic drug crisis.
At this time we urgently need a project lead and peer coordinator to bring forward our collective vision, and support the organizational functioning of the CAT. Please circulate the posting widely!
