The sun was shining on Vernon\u2019s Cambium cidery when B.C. Premier David Eby stopped by earlier this week after making announcements in Kelowna and West Kelowna.<\/p>\n
At the same time, a political storm was brewing, and it continues to pick up steam.<\/p>\n
As early as next week, members of the Legislative Assembly will vote on a bill to suspend sections of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). Eby has said the vote will be a confidence motion, meaning if the bill fails, his government will fall and a spring election will be triggered.<\/p>\n
Such was the backdrop in the province when Eby sat down with The Morning Star April 9 for an exclusive interview and discussed a wide range of topics, from DRIPA to housing, Vernon\u2019s forthcoming psychiatric ward, the deficit, the overdose crisis, social disorder and more.<\/p>\n
Eby offered his thoughts on how best to tackle these issues, while knowing that if the DRIPA suspension legislation doesn\u2019t pass, his NDP party will have to fight in an election to be the ones to tackle them.<\/p>\n
DRIPA and the possibility of an early election<\/p>\n
Eby\u2019s government brought DRIPA into law in 2019 to commit the province to aligning its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But an appeals court decision that used DRIPA to invalidate parts of the Mineral Tenure Act has brought on legal liability issues, with two court decisions already relying on the precedent the appeals court set.<\/p>\n
Eby has said the plan to suspend parts of DRIPA is highly necessary in light of the liability issues the legislation has triggered. The B.C. Conservatives, meanwhile, want to repeal DRIPA altogether, citing the Cowichan Tribes decision<\/a> \u2014 which found Aboriginal title exists on an area of Richmond land containing parcels of both public and private property \u2014 and interpreting the decision as a broad threat to private property rights.<\/p>\n Eby and the NDPs have faced sharp criticism from First Nations as talks of the DRIPA suspension vote have ramped up, with the the First Nations Leadership Council calling the forthcoming bill a \u201cunilateral betrayal<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether suspending parts of DRIPA is worth the risk of alienating the support and trust of First Nations his government has worked hard to collect, Eby told The Morning Star it\u2019s \u201cnot something we wanted to do,\u201d but it nonetheless has to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely, it can risk the trust,\u201d Eby said. \u201cBut what we can\u2019t do is have unlimited legal liability because of the Court of Appeal decision on the Declaration Act.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s something he said he\u2019s tried to communicate with First Nations Chiefs, to mixed results at best.<\/p>\n \u201cSome are more sympathetic than others, but we\u2019re going to have to show through our actions that we\u2019re still committed to the work (of reconciliation), and we will, because this work underlies a huge part of our economic success that we are counting on as a province, but also some long-standing social issues that are the history that we inherited in this province. So there\u2019s lots of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n With only a one-vote majority in the legislature, Eby will need all the votes on the DRIPA suspension bill that he can get. He previously said he\u2019s confident he\u2019ll get the votes. One major question mark, however, is the vote of NDP MLA Joan Phillip, who Eby acknowledged is in a \u201cunique position\u201d given her husband is Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, who has publicly condemned the NDP\u2019s suspension plan.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are complicated things,\u201d Eby said when asked if he\u2019s spoken to Joan about how she\u2019ll vote. \u201cJoan herself is a remarkable Indigenous leader and a woman who\u2019s broken glass ceilings throughout her life and brings a huge amount of personal experience to our caucus.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a thoroughly unpleasant thing that we are engaged in right now, but necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Joan Phillip is currently battling cancer, as Eby himself noted. Asked if an election could be triggered in the event she\u2019s unable to vote on a DRIPA suspension bill for health reasons, Eby said \u201cthings are always inherently fragile\u201d with a one-vote majority, and whether Joan can or will vote in support of the bill, the government will reach out to Independent MLAs as well as Greens and Conservatives to find support wherever it can.<\/p>\n What\u2019s happening with Vernon\u2019s psychiatric unit?<\/p>\n Eby was last in Vernon two years ago to announce a new in-patient psychiatric unit<\/a> at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. Little has been heard about the project since.<\/p>\n Eby said the project is moving, but it\u2019s been slowed down due to \u201cserious increases\u201d in costs as the province tendered it.<\/p>\n \u201cConstruction inflation in our infrastructure has been a major issue. Families doing renovations are seeing this. You can see it at the hardware store and at the grocery store. The inflation and the cost of construction is a serious issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expansion in that psychiatric care is crucial. But doing it in a way that is sustainable financially for the province, especially when we\u2019re under pressure from global events, tariffs and other challenges, is also equally important. So we\u2019re working with Interior Health to find a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The psychiatric unit is indeed highly needed, as evidenced by the case of Ezra Cool<\/a>, who did not make it to one of two psych wards at the Vernon hospital after six days in Emergency, and who died in a highway collision while experiencing psychosis after escaping wraparound supervision.<\/p>\n In light of Cool\u2019s case, Eby said more healthcare spending needs to be directed towards frontline patient care, and that means reducing corporate and administrative healthcare spending where possible.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we can find savings and efficiencies in the healthcare system is in reducing silos between health authorities, working more efficiently with innovation and technology, but certainly in reducing non-frontline positions in health authorities \u2014 VPs, assistant VPs, communications teams, and so on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve communicated an unambiguous message, not just to health authorities, but also to the public sector in the province \u2014 universities, colleges, and others \u2014 that they have to reduce administration costs so that we can direct more money to the frontline.\u201d<\/p>\n Eby said he couldn\u2019t speak to Cool\u2019s case specifically, but could \u201centhusiastically agree\u201d that more nurses and other healthcare professionals are needed broadly across the province, including Vernon.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why we launched a number of different initiatives. We have a new medical school that has students starting in August. We expanded spaces at the University of British Columbia for physicians. We\u2019ve expanded nursing training across the province. But all of those take years to bring those doctors and nurses and health professionals on. So we\u2019ve also been recruiting and really met a welcoming audience in the United States,\u201d the premier said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had more than 2,000 American health care professionals \u2014 doctors, nurses, and health science professionals \u2014 apply to work in British Columbia, including in the Okanagan.\u201d<\/p>\n Social disorder and the overdose crisis<\/p>\n Eby\u2019s government chose not to renew its drug decriminalization pilot program earlier this year. When asked what the NDP learned from the three-year experiment, Eby said there is a need amid the crisis to be humble enough to recognize when things aren\u2019t working.<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus continues to be on increasing the availability of treatment in Vernon and in the Okanagan, both voluntary and involuntary treatment,\u201d Eby said. \u201cWe\u2019re working with mayors on identifying a site for additional involuntary care for people struggling with addiction, mental health issues and brain injury, which is an unfortunately growing population.\u201d<\/p>\n The B.C. Conservatives have signalled they want involuntary care for people trapped in a cycle of drug addiction and overdose expanded significantly. Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew called this the more compassionate approach at a Vernon townhall<\/a> last month, while adding it needs to be done to curb spikes in social disorder that are making it hard for businesses in Vernon and Kelowna to operate.<\/p>\n Eby said involuntary care does in fact exist in the province already, though it\u2019s designed for a very specific part of the population struggling with mental health, drug addiction and brain injury. He pointed to the Red Fish Healing Centre in Coquitlam, which does involuntary care for people throughout the province.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not enough,\u201d Eby said, adding an additional site has been identified in Surrey and other sites are being identified in the north.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still struggling to find an appropriate site in the Interior and on the Island for this care,\u201d Eby said, explaining the province is looking for sites that are \u201cas close to turnkey as possible\u201d so that they won\u2019t take two or three years to build from scratch.<\/p>\n Eby added he\u2019s proud of how Vernon has reduced homelessness<\/a> of late, \u201cwhich has a positive impact on street disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n Housing indicators strong in Vernon<\/p>\n