Andrea Horwath is making a call for investments in mental health and addictions care in Thunder Bay.
The provincial NDP leader was in northwestern Ontario on Tuesday and was joined 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,” says Horwath. “Families are being torn apart. People are ending up in the ER again and again. Parents are losing their precious children.”
According to 2020 numbers, there were 6,828 mental health and addictions visits to the emergency room at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Hospitals across northwestern Ontario are facing similar situations.
Thunder Bay has one 25-bed treatment centre.
“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 an overdose,” says Horwath.
Horwath points to a cut of $330 million from planned mental health and addictions funding province-wide in 2018 as part of the problem.
