Andrea Horwath is making a call for investments in mental health and addictions care in Thunder Bay.
The Opposition NDP leader is in Northwestern Ontario and was joined Tuesday by Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell and Carolyn Karle, who lost her daughter due to addictions.
“A mental health and addictions crisis is raging, and in Thunder Bay there are too few options to turn to for help,” said Horwath. “Families are being torn apart. People are ending up in the ER again and again. Parents are losing their precious children.
2020 numbers indicated that there were 6,828 mental health and addictions visits to the emergency room at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
The city only has one 25-bed treatment centre, the Balmoral Centre on Sibley Drive.
“Today, nearly 20 people will go to the ER because they’re in a mental health emergency, or because their life is at risk from overdose,” Horwath added. “Nearly 10 will try to get help today, but the Balmoral Centre won’t have a bed for them. Thunder Bay families need and deserve urgent action and investments, not more cuts.”
Horwath pointed to a cut of $330 million from planned mental health and addictions funding province-wide in 2018.
