NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO – The Northern Policy Institute has released a province-wide study on homelessness, addictions, and mental health that shows a province-wide epidemic on all three fronts.
The study also highlights that Thunder Bay’s homeless population has more than double that of the municipality of Ottawa, Hamilton, and Waterloo.“Every northern health unit experienced the highest number of opioid-related emergency department visits within the last five years,” writes Holly Parsons, author of More than just a Number: Addressing the Homelessness, Addiction, and Mental Health Crisis in the North.
NOMA president Wendy Landry said, “it’s a huge challenge, and it’s a huge challenge across the province no doubt. But we believe in Northern Ontario our challenges are unique. Our challenges need to be looked at in a different capacity than it has been across the province. We appreciate the work that the province has been doing on health and wellness, mental health and addictions, hospitals and physicians, but we feel that our situation in the north is extremely unique.
In the meantime, the shortage of health care professionals, housing resources, inadequate funding, and lack of action from decision makers across the region has created another substantial barrier when addressing these three epidemics.
'Addition epidemic'? You mean Addiction Epidemic** 🤣🤣🤣🤣