We’re Still Here” — but how many more won’t be?

“We’re Still Here” — but how many more won’t be?

BC’s Human Rights Commissioner just released a powerful report on how the province uses its powers under the Adult Guardianship Act (AGA) — a law that allows authorities to detain adults they believe are at risk.

The report makes 10 recommendations to protect human rights. One key point: we need mandatory public data on how often these detentions happen, who is affected, and what happens next.
📖 (See page 108 here): https://bchumanrights.ca/inquiries-and-cases/inquiries/inquiry/were-still-here/

But while this step toward transparency is important, it only scratches the surface. We’re dealing with a much deeper, systemic crisis.

Last night, I saw a video of a man clearly in crisis — exposing himself, smoking drugs, repeatedly arrested — and yet nothing is done. Meanwhile, we hear of young people being locked up for days just because the on-call doctor is away for the long weekend.

And parents? Often locked out completely. Privacy laws prevent families from being involved in their children’s care, even when they’re screaming for help. This isn’t protection. This is abandonment.

Let’s be honest. Over 16,000 people have died from fentanyl in BC. Behind every number is a person — and a circle of grieving family and friends who knew something was wrong and tried to help, but were shut out by the system.

This isn’t a coincidence. It’s the legacy of a system built to control and discard, not care and heal.

It’s the same foundation that shaped Indian Residential Schools and Hospitals — places that dehumanized, traumatized, and experimented on generations of Indigenous children.

The cycle continues: ➡️ Make them sick at school (neglect, racism, exclusion)
➡️ Fix or discard in hospital (medicate, isolate, detain)
➡️ Profit (from Big Pharma, prisons, disability supports, even grief)

Doctors thrive. Pharma thrives. Bureaucracies thrive.
And the rest of us? We suffer. We grieve. We watch our kids disappear.

So here’s what we demand:

✅ Reform privacy laws that keep loving families in the dark
✅ Fund care teams, not just crisis response and detention
✅ Center human rights, especially for people with disabilities, addictions, or mental illness
✅ Respect Indigenous knowledge and leadership in healing
✅ Create systems of prevention, not just punishment

We need to grieve, but we also need to fight — because if we don’t speak out, who will? If we don’t act now, our future generations will inherit this same broken machine.

The report is called “We’re Still Here.” But how much longer can we say that if nothing changes?

#HumanRights4BC #WeAreStillHere #FentanylCrisis #MentalHealthReform #BCPolicyChange #PrivacyLawsReform #IndigenousJustice #EndTheCrisis #StopTheHarm #NoMoreSilence #16KandCounting