Vancouver Mayor demands Premier fund ‘involuntary care’ beds

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has written to BC Premier David Eby demanding that the province funding for involuntarily care facilities.

“I am writing to urge your government o immediately commit resources to Vancouver to address the mental health and addiction crisis that continues to drive street disorder in our City. These resources should come in the form of at a minimum, 100 involuntary care beds in Vancouver,” wrote Sim.

Sim lashed out at Eby, stating that “Vancouver, the city most visibly affected by this crisis, and consistently carrying the overwhelming weight of street disorder in the province” has not received involuntary care beds, in contrast to recent government announcements in Prince George, Maple Ridge and Surrey.

The Mayor also suggested that Eby was failing the people of Vancouver, both as Premier and as a Vancouver MLA while accusing Eby of continuing to “double down on failed policies that not only do not address this crisis but exacerbate it even further.”

Kareem Allam, who is running for mayor for the Vancouver Liberals, responded noting that the BC Supreme Court recently ruled against blanket forced treatment while saying “Vancouver needs integrated response teams and the Province needs to fund the stabilization and treatment beds behind them.”

Allam also accused Sim of “whining to the Premier in a public letter every three weeks.”

Notably, Allam was Sim’s first chief of staff upon becoming mayor in November 2022, before stepping down in February 2023. In the 2024 provincial election, Allam, noting that he was a lifelong conservative and BC Liberal, announced that he would be supporting the BC NDP.

A recent poll from Research Co. reported that Allam was viewed as the strongest candidate in a diffuse field to take on the incumbent mayor.

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Socialist city councillor Sean Orr also responded, saying Sim’s statement was “bluster and won’t amount to anything” while accusing Sim of using city resources to campaign.