Vancouver city council approves Yaletown overdose prevention site

Vancouver city council has voted to approve an overdose prevention site in Yaletown after a long debate which divided those who supported it and residents concerned about its location across from a popular park.

The vote was 7 to 4 with NPA councillorsopposing it.Mayor Kennedy Stewart tweeted out the final vote and repeated his supportive stance.

Councillors Sarah Kirby-Yung,Melissa De GenovaandLisa Dominato calledfor more community engagement with residents living in downtownsouth Granville and pushedunsuccessfully to have staff look at other options.

Some of the neighbourhood's residents argued the site at 1101 Seymour St. is too close to Emery Barnes Park which is across the street.

However, advocates for the site have said the indoor location will get people who are using illicit drugs off the streets into a place where they can receive supervision which will help save lives.

The latest numbers from the coroners service show British Columbia recorded 127 drug overdosedeaths in September, pushing the province's death total for the first nine months of the year past 1,200.

During the pandemic, the Yaletown neighbourhood has seen an increase in people who have moved from a tent city at Oppenheimer Park to provincial government purchased hotels on Granville Street and the West End.

Green Party Coun.Pete Fry saidthe city could have done a better job introducing the idea to the public.

"We should have been more proactive in presenting this plan to the public and anticipating the conversation around this specific location, so we could have avoided a lot of the polarizing, stigmatizing, under-informed languagethat has come out of this conversation that had to happen."

More than a hundred people signed up to voice their opinions about thesite.