Mayor Simon Yu is asking city councillors to join his call for stronger ties between all levels of government in the area, with an eye on addressing mental health and addiction.
The proposal comes in a report that will go to council at its Monday, July 22 meeting. It's titled The Need for a Joint, Regional Response to Local Challenges. Yu notes that while the various local governments work well together, more can be done and a proper memorandum of understanding will help solidify that effort.
"The City of Prince George regularly meets with local representatives from each order of government," Yu writes in his report. "Consistently in these conversations the need for joint advocacy to address pressing local issues is raised. We believe it is time to pull everyone together to further focus this conversation."
He envisions a formal collaboration framework between city council, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and area MLAs and MPs.
"I believe we recognize the challenges our region faces as compounding crises in healthcare, mental health, drug addictions and natural disasters continue to impact the province," he wrote. "We recognize that these issues overlap with all levels of jurisdiction and need joint leadership. We have committed to working together as representatives from five orders of government to address these issues and now need to connect to prioritize and advance this work together."
Yu suggests starting with expanded mental health and drug addiction treatment.
"These services, I believe, are integral to combat many of the issues our region is grappling with, and I welcome the opportunity to get everyone around one table on this topic and any others that the group wishes to raise," he wrote.
If councillors approve his recommendation, Yu said, his office will begin working on a draft memorandum of understanding for council to consider before it goes to representatives of other area governments.
