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By Justine Kelsie

City resources could be part of Mayor’s Community Opioid Task Force

Mar 27, 2018 | 1:49 PM

The city is looking at providing staff resources for the Mayor’s Opioid Task Force.

If approved, the city would provide one person from Community Social Development as well as another person to do administrative work like planning meetings, compile reports, and take minutes at meetings for the group.

City Homeless Initiatives Supervisor Katherine Schmidt says as the opioid crisis is widespread, it is important to put a special focus on combatting the issue.

“I am really proud of the reaction and immediate response that has happened with the City of Grande Prairie. I think Mayor Bill Given taking a lead on a Mayor-led Task Force is an indication of that. I think the collective that has come together right across the community to say, ‘we know we have a crisis, we need to work together, let’s just do it’,” said Schmidt.

During a committee meeting Tuesday morning (March 27), Given talked about members that had been attending the meetings from other organizations on a regular basis. He said HIV North, ACT Medical, all three school boards from Grande Prairie, City Enforcement Services, Alberta Health Services, the Peace Country Drug Awareness Coalition, and the Chamber of Commerce have had representatives attending.

“I think that is where I talk about collective impact because it is collective. It is not individuals or non-profits or groups running around trying to do their little bit. It is more like ‘How do we work together on this as a city?’,” said the supervisor.

The city was referred to as the “backbone” of the Task Force during the meeting as well.

“I think any organization, a committee or something coming together, needs to have a backbone organization that stands behind it to make sure the work gets done. The backbone (in this instance) is the City of Grande Prairie taking the leadership role,” explained Schmidt.

City council will look at the idea at a future city council meeting with any staff additions to the Task Force being people who already work for the city. 

According to the province’s most recent Opioid and Substance Misuse report, on average, 1.9 individuals die every day in Alberta as a result of an apparent accidental opioid poisoning. In 2017, there were 26 deaths in Grande Prairie related to fentanyl overdose compared to 10 in 2016. Last year, Grande Prairie had the highest rate of apparent drug poisoning deaths related to fentanyl in Alberta. 

by Justine Kelsie