Children and Family

The BC Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth is seeking input on youth mental health issues. The Committee will be meeting with stakeholders and experts on this important issue and they are also inviting written submissions from the public until Friday, July 25, 2014.

The Committee is an all-party committee of the Legislative Assembly.

Interested individuals may make a written submission, or learn more about the work of the committee at: https://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/cay.

Today I had the privilege of attending the Oak Bay Young Exceptional Star (Y.E.S) awards ceremony at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre where ten exceptionally talented youth in grades 6 to 10 were honoured for their achievements.

As noted in the nomination announcement, “The goal of the awards is to emphasize the positive achievements of Oak Bay’s young people by recognizing those who have distinguished themselves in such areas as volunteerism, arts, citizenship, academics, athletics and/or who have overcome obstacles to achieve their goals.”

Congratulations to this year’s award winners: Candra Barber, Owen Chow, Cam Henderson, Owen Jaques, Jessica Maitland, Isabella McNamee, Jean Newell, Oleg Saldyga, Leah Smith and Ruby Tang.

I had the pleasure of presenting the award to Jean Newell. Below is the text of my speech.

Fourteen year-old Jean Newell won the Karate Canada Nationals in Team Kata in Toronto last year, and then went on to win silver in the Junior Pan Am Karate Tournament in Medellin, Columbia. To put this into perspective, for those of us who don’t know the competition well, this is the first time Canada has placed in the finals in the 24 year history of that tournament, putting Canada on the map!

Jean qualified to become a National Karate Referee, which breaks with tradition, as normally you have to be at least 19 to hold this position. As a result, this March Jean was asked to referee at the North American Cup for Karate at the Richmond Oval. In 2012, Jean won double silver in the annual US Open in Kumite (sparring), as well as in Kata in Las Vegas, the largest karate tournament in the world.

In addition to his outstanding Karate skills, Jean is also an exceptional soccer player. He does much of his Karate competing with his older brother Geoffrey, and these inseparable boys are very committed to their sport and involved in the Oak Bay Community. Jean is a straight-A student who takes his studies very seriously.

As we can see from all his accomplishments, Jean gives everything he undertakes his all.
Ladies and gentlemen – please help me in congratulating Jean Newell as a recipient of a 2014 YES Award.

Today during Question Period I asked the Minister of Health about whether or not he was willing to help with the imminent funding crisis faced by the Island Sexual Health Society. I was pleased that the Minister has agreed to work with Island Health and the Island Sexual Health Society to seek ways of alleviating their funding predicament.

Below is my question followed by the minister’s response.

A. Weaver: Island Sexual Health Society provides essential primary and public services to the lower Island, with over 26,000 patient visits each year. It fills a significant gap around basic health care needs in a cost-effective manner.

My riding has both Camosun College and the University of Victoria, with thousands and thousands of students who do not have GPs or access to GPs, who require these services.

The Island Sexual Health Society is systemically underfunded by our public health system, needing more than a third of their budget — in fact, 36.4 percent, if you wish to know, of their operational budget — from non-governmental sources. As a consequence, they are struggling to stay open. In fact, you might say they are victims of their own success.

My question is to the Health Minister: will the minister make a commitment to support Island Sexual Health in continuing to provide these essential services?

Hon. T. Lake: Thank you to the member for Oak Bay–Gordon Head for the question.

Island Sexual Health is a non-profit organization that does provide excellent service to people in the Victoria area. They have a mixed funding model. They provide services on a fee-for-service basis. That continues so that health services are available through that model. They also provide some public health services through funding from Island Health, funding that has continued to increase over time.

I understand that Island Sexual Health moved into larger facilities and that the higher costs associated with those larger facilities have outpaced their revenue in terms of the MSP fee-for-service model. I know that Vancouver Island Health Authority is working with Island Sexual Health, and we will be involved in those discussions to look at ways of supporting this organization to maintain the valuable services that they do provide but also to maintain and stay within the budget that they have for those services.

In order to explore the matter further I followed up with a supplementary question. The Minister reaffirmed his commitment to work with Island Sexual Health Society to find solutions to their funding problems.

A. Weaver: Thank you to the minister for the very thoughtful response to that question.

I would like to add that just this week the board of Island Sexual Health met and agreed to cut their budget for this next fiscal year by $140,000, and they also made some structural changes by going to a walk-in model to increase client numbers and decrease administrative costs, but, as the minister noted, they still need long-term commitment of $235,000 per year to offset tenancy costs. This is the barrier to their continued success.

Again to the minister: would the minister be able to agree, again, to work with Island Sexual Health in order to solve the crisis, the short-term crisis that they face, in terms of meeting their monthly tenancy costs?

Frankly, the services they offer to southern Vancouver Island are simply too important for them not to remain solvent.

Hon. T. Lake: Again, I want to acknowledge the very good work that Island Sexual Health provides to residents in the Victoria area, particularly the university population. The member from Oak Bay and I share family members who attend the university and know that these services are very valuable.

However, whether it’s a non-profit organization or a private corporation providing publicly funded health care, it is important that they pay attention to the funding model and the revenue that comes in and the expenditures. In this situation, this organization decided to move into space that perhaps outpaced their ability to match with revenue. But we will work with them. We will work with Vancouver Island Health Authority to look and see if there are ways of supporting the organization while making sure they stay within their budget.

The Municipality of Oak Bay Child and Youth Committee (OBCYC) is proud to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 7^th Annual Young Exceptional Star Awards (YES Awards).  These awards recognize the accomplishments of youth from grades 6-10 in the Oak Bay area.  Students who attend schools in Oak Bay or those who have an Oak Bay address, but are attending a public or private school outside of the municipality of Oak Bay as well as those who are receiving a home school education are all eligible for consideration.

The goal of the awards is to emphasize the positive achievements of Oak Bay’s young people by recognizing those who have distinguished themselves in such areas as volunteerism, arts, citizenship, academics, athletics and/or who have overcome obstacles to achieve their goals.

Mayor Nils Jensen believes Oak Bay is fortunate to have so many outstanding young people who aspire to make a difference by contributing in positive ways within our community.  “The YES awards are a great way to recognize youth in Oak Bay, and encourage them to continue to make a positive contribution to the community. These youth send a message of hope to the community that the next generation is full of promise, and inspire us all to do our part to make a difference.”

Recipients will be recognized at an awards banquet to be held on May 7, 2014.

Nominations must be returned by March 7th, 2014 to Councillor Michelle Kirby, The Corporation of the District of Oak Bay, 2167 Oak Bay Avenue, Victoria, B.C., V8R 1G2, or faxed to 598-9108.  Questions or comments can be directed to Mary Kelly at mkelly@sd61.bc.ca.

Please click here to view the Nomination form.

At a press conference held by the Community Social Planning Council in Greater Victoria, a cross partisan group of MPs and MLAs endorsed the Community Action Plan on Poverty and spoke on the need for collaborative policy and action. Building on the vision shared at the Board Voice conference in Vancouver BC, Andrew Weaver spoke of the “opportunity to rethink how we address the social challenges that for years have afflicted British Columbians—our families, friends, neighbours, and ourselves.”

Statement by Andrew Weaver MLA – Community Action Plan on Poverty

“We’re here today in recognition that poverty is systemic within our community. But this is not new. For over a decade British Columbia has had the worst, or second worst, child poverty rate in Canada. The challenge confronting us is: “What can we do collaboratively to help eliminate poverty in our region”.

Each and every person living in Greater Victoria needs to recognize that poverty affects all of us. We need to recognize that working to end poverty is not only the right thing to do from a social perspective. But it is also the right thing to do economically. It simply costs society much more to let our most vulnerable fall through the cracks and end up homeless or on the streets.

How can we not act on the knowledge that thousands of people each year turn to food banks just to get by?

Like you, I believe we have a responsibility as a society to end poverty. Achieving this goal will require an overarching provincial strategy that fosters locally-based solutions. While Carol James and I, local first nations and the rest of you, continue to advocate for the development of that provincial strategy, we must all continue with our work in the community. That’s why we are here today.

The Community Action Plan on Poverty offers a local and grassroots approach to addressing poverty in our community. Its vision and guiding principles are inclusive, supportive and respectful. I am proud to support CAPP and I commit to doing my part as both an individual and as an MLA.

Collaboration and cooperation must be at the root of any successful poverty reduction strategy. I believe that when organizations as diverse as the Community Social Planning Council, the Vancouver Island Health Authority (now rebranded as Island Health), and the Victoria Downtown Public Market Society all work together on initiatives to reduce poverty, it represents a will to accomplish significant results. I truly am proud to support this collaborative action.

I am committed to doing my part to help address the 10 key focus areas identified by CAPP. Let me go further and commit to specifically focusing on three areas: Health, Housing and the development of a Strong Local Economy.

In addressing health within our community, I will continue to speak out on our need to improve access to and the transition from adolescent mental health services. Prevention is a key component of any poverty reduction strategy. Yet at the moment we do not have a coherent and effective system for treating adolescent mental health and as a result, too many of our youth end up falling through the cracks, particularly as they transition to adulthood.

I also plan to continue advocating for further investment into affordable housing, starting with the 2014 budget debate. Investment into affordable housing is sorely needed in the capital regional district where the average rent of a bachelor suite is more than one can obtain from a social assistance cheque.

Finally, I have been and will continue to be a strong proponent of building a dynamic and resilient local economy. As one example, I see the development of the clean-tech sector as an economic, social and environmental strategy that will provide communities with high-paying, stable, and long-term jobs. Developing a resilient, local economy will help provide the foundation for an effective poverty reduction strategy.

These are but three actions that I will commit to taking. But that’s not the end. If you have suggestions of other concrete steps I can take, I encourage you to please let me know. I am excited to be working with you to advance these goals.”

Endorsement of CAPP  letter from Andrew Weaver