Vancouver council set to vote on $4.5M for more police, $1.5M for mental health nurses

Vancouver city council is set to vote on a motion that would send an additional $4.5 million in city funds to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and another $1.5 million to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) to begin the process of hiring 100 new police officers and 100 new mental health nurses. 

The $6 million would be the first money directed at fulfilling a campaign promise of new Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver Party, which swept to power with a council majority in last month's civic election.

"This is a portion of the funding to get started, to ramp up to the complement of a hundred each," said Coun. Lisa Dominato, who is bringing the motion. 

It asks that the money be available as early as Jan. 1, 2023, citing the "significant and substantial increase in supports and actions" needed to tackle Vancouver's mental health and addiction crisis.

Dominato said the VPD's suggested allocation is triple the request for Vancouver Coastal Health because police have indicated they can hire personnel faster than Vancouver Coastal Health is currently able to find nurses. The campaign promise was to have the additional 200 staff in place within two years.

Coun. Christine Boyle, who was elected under the OneCity banner, said there are questions about the motion that need answering, including the overall price tag.

'It calls for 100 new police officers and 100 nurses, but the costing for meeting those larger targets is not included, and the funds asked for in the motion clearly won't get us there," she said. 

Additionally, Boyle thinks the city should explore potentially better and less expensive models of responding to mental health calls that do not involve police.

She cited Toronto's new Community Crisis Service as an example. It features mobile multidisciplinary teams of trained crisis support workers, including community health nurses, crisis counsellors, harm reduction and peer workers. 

"Many people need help and not handcuffs," said Boyle. "It continues to be my priority that we make sure that we're sending the right people with the right expertise to each type of call." 

According to the motion, the additional officers and nurses will expand existing partnership programs like Car 87, Car 88 and the Assertive Community Treatment Team. Dominato said VCH and the VPD will lead the hiring and deployment of new staff.

 "We've heard [VCH] may deploy mental health nurses, but I've also heard from individuals who work in the social work sectors that social workers can also play a role. We're giving the strategic guidance that we want to prioritize these areas and these programs. We're identifying the funding for it, but we'll be leaving it to VPD and VCH," said Dominato.

On Wednesday, council will hear from speakers who want to comment on the motion, followed by debate and a vote where the ABC majority is expected to pass it.