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Call for "state of emergency" on social issues

Steven Soos says Region reeling from addiction, other crises BY JOHN CHICK Special to the VOICE Former Welland mayoral candidate Steven Soos is calling on Niagara Region to declare a state of emergency around addiction, homelessness and mental health

Steven Soos says Region reeling from addiction, other crises

BY JOHN CHICK Special to the VOICE

Former Welland mayoral candidate Steven Soos is calling on Niagara Region to declare a state of emergency around addiction, homelessness and mental health.

While it may sound drastic, Soos says the crisis is very real.

“In Niagara it’s nothing short of an epidemic,” he said. “If the politicians don’t want to call it that, then that’s fine. But it’s the truth.”

Steven Soos. SUPPLIED PHOTO

Furthermore, he adds that declaring a state of emergency is actually quite easy to do— pointing to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s recent declaration of a climate change emergency, and two northern Ontario First Nations communities declaring a state of emergency over water quality.

According to the Province of Ontario Emergency Response Plan (2008), Canadian municipalities are free to declare states of emergencies in response to “any situation or impending situation caused by the forces of nature, an accident, an intentional act or otherwise that constitutes a danger of major proportions to life or property.”

In other words, they’re not just for natural disasters. The declaration of an emergency also allows municipalities to set aside procurement bylaws for emergency purposes.

In that situation, “the province must respond with funding,” Soos said.

He says he’s come to the realization it’s needed in Niagara while working as a developmental support worker.

“In five short years I’ve seen a lot,” he said.

The numbers might just back him up. Beyond the fact that Niagara’s unemployment rate has historically been above the national average, the region hit a high in March 2018 when 625 residents—including 144 children — were counted as homeless. While that number may sound low in a municipality of 450,000, data shows a housing crunch with low rental vacancy rates, rising home prices, and an all-time high in shelter occupancy —which operated at 109.4 percent capacity in the first four months of 2018.

Soos says he sees other uncounted disturbing trends in Welland.

“I’ve seen people dumpster-diving in donation bins as of late,” he said. “It doesn’t look like there’s a lot of people out on the street, but it’s quasi-homelessness in Welland. There are so many people that couch surf, there’s so many people that stay with others.”

The more shocking statistics come in terms of addiction, which tends to go hand-in-hand with poverty. With North America in the throes of a continuing opioid crisis, Niagara EMS reported 335 suspected opiate overdoses between January and June this year alone. That’s already over two-thirds of the total suspected overdoses in all of 2018. Across Ontario, opioid overdose deaths rose 35 percent in the first quarter of this year over last, with the Ontario Provincial Police reporting they administered a record number of Naloxone doses—a medication to counter opiate overdosing— in March and April.

Soos, who finished second to Mayor Frank Campion in Welland’s 2018 municipal election, freely admits that he was once addicted to prescription painkillers.

“I have my own lived experience … I’ve lost my own friends because some of them couldn’t get the help they needed,” he said. “If this isn’t a crisis, I don’t know what constitutes a crisis.”

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump declared a public health emergency over the opioid crisis. Related or not, American overdose deaths declined five percent the following year.

“Look at shelters, detox, rehab in Niagara,” Soos said. “Always full.”

Soos sent letters recently to Regional Chair Jim Bradley and Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, calling on both to declare a state of emergency.

“Niagara is severely lacking in services for mental health and addictions,” he wrote to Bradley. “Take Welland for example, that does not have mental health services in their hospital. In 2019, this simply does not make sense.”

Soos hadn’t heard back from either by press time. A Voice request for comment from Bradley’s staff was not acknowledged.