History Has a Memory: Are We Repeating the Same Mistakes?

 History Has a Memory: Are We Repeating the Same Mistakes?

There is something unsettling about watching history circle back.

For decades, people fought to expose the abuses that happened inside institutions like Riverview and Oakalla in British Columbia. We learned painful lessons about what happens when society decides that certain people are easier to remove, isolate, or control than to support.

People with mental illness, addictions, disabilities, poverty, and trauma were often placed into systems that promised care but sometimes delivered neglect, loss of rights, and in some cases, abuse.

We said: Never again.

But now we are having the same conversations again.

Politicians, doctors, police, families, and advocates are debating involuntary care — whether people should be taken into treatment against their will. Some argue that intervention is necessary when someone is dangerously unwell or unable to care for themselves.

And there is truth in that.

There are people in crisis who cannot recognize they need help. There are families watching loved ones deteriorate while waiting for a system that moves too slowly. There are people who need immediate care and protection.

But there is another truth too.

A system cannot say, “We need the power to force people into care,” while people who are asking for help voluntarily are still unable to find a detox bed, treatment space, psychiatrist, or supportive housing.

That contradiction matters.

Because care is not just about taking someone away from the street or a crisis situation. Care means what happens afterward.

Where do they go? Who supports them? Do they have housing? Do they have stability? Do they have dignity?

Without those answers, involuntary care risks becoming another way to manage visible suffering instead of actually healing it.

We also cannot ignore the lessons from the COVID years. Many young people experienced isolation, anxiety, depression, and a mental health crisis during that time. Youth struggled with access to support, and many families felt abandoned by systems that were overwhelmed.

We need to talk honestly about what worked, what failed, and what we learned.

Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that Canada must be careful not to respond to social problems by removing people’s rights instead of addressing the conditions creating the crisis: poverty, homelessness, lack of healthcare, trauma, and addiction.

The question is not simply:

“Should we ever intervene?”

The harder question is:

How do we help people without repeating the harms of the past?

A society should be judged by how it treats people when they are at their most vulnerable.

We need compassion. We need accountability. We need evidence-based treatment. We need housing. We need prevention. We need listening to people with lived experience.

Because history does repeat itself — unless we are willing to remember it.

The goal should never be to lock people away because we have failed to build a system that supports them.

The goal should be to build a society where people can get help before they reach a point of crisis.

Care should mean dignity. Treatment should mean hope. And human rights should never be an afterthought.

Reflective Questions

1. When does protecting someone become controlling them?

2. Have we truly learned from the mistakes of past institutions, or are we repeating patterns in a different form?

3. Can a society claim to care about mental health if people asking for help cannot access care?

4. What does “care” really mean — removing someone from a crisis, or supporting them before they reach that crisis?

5. Who gets to decide when someone has lost the right to make choices about their own life?

6. Are we addressing the causes of suffering — housing, poverty, trauma, addiction, isolation — or only reacting when the crisis becomes visible?

7. What happens after someone is taken into care? Where is the long-term support?

8. Why do we often wait until people are in extreme crisis before offering help?

9. How do we balance public safety, compassion, and human rights?

10. When future generations look back at this moment, what will they say we chose to do?

11. Are we listening enough to people with lived experience, or are decisions being made about them without them?

12. Is a system truly caring if it only responds when people are already broken?

Hashtags

#HumanRights

#MentalHealthMatters

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#DignityForAll

#ListenToLivedExperience

#MentalHealthCrisis

#HousingIsHealthcare

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#HumanityFirst

#EndTheCycle

#LearnFromHistory

#HistoryRepeats

#RightsAndRecovery

#SupportBeforeCrisis

#PeopleBeforeSystems

#TraumaInformedCare

#AddictionRecovery

#RecoveryIsPossible

#SocialJustice

#CommunityCare

#AJustSociety

#HealthCareNotHandcuffs

#SolutionsNotPunishment

#HopeOverHarm

Keywords

involuntary care

mental health system

addiction treatment

human rights

institutionalization

Riverview Hospital history

Oakalla history

psychiatric care

trauma-informed care

homelessness and healthcare

supportive housing

youth mental health

access to treatment

lived experience voices

healthcare reform

dignity and autonomy

social responsibility

prevention and early intervention

compassionate communities