In this issue:

• No Fixed Address: The White Cart Memorial Chilliwack Screening, Feb 26
• Youth Grief and Loss Support Group starts Feb 3
• Celebrating 10 Years of Partnership and Impact with VICCIR
• B.C. Ends Decriminalization Pilot Program: Your Opportunity to Share Questions
• External Community Opportunities & Resources
• Articles & Media

No Fixed Address: The White Cart Memorial Chilliwack Screening, Feb 26

We invite you to join the BC Centre for Palliative Care and Community Action Initiative for the first-ever Chilliwack screening of No Fixed Address: The White Cart Memorial, followed by a panel discussion exploring the film’s themes and impact.

The film is a powerful and intimate documentary that sheds light on a deeply overlooked aspect of the homelessness crisis: people's grief following the death of someone they care about. Through the voices and stories of individuals living with unstable housing, the film explores what it means to grieve without a house, and how loss echoes through a community already struggling to survive.

February 26, 1pm to 3:30pm PST, The'í:tselíya - Health & Community Centre (7256 Chilliwack River Road, Chilliwack)

Youth Grief and Loss Support Group starts Feb 3

Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House and Reach Community Health Centre, with funding from CAI, are offering a free, weekly Youth Grief & Loss Support Group for youth ages 13-18 who have been impacted by the toxic drug crisis. This compassionate, youth-centred program provides a safe space to share experiences, connect with others, and explore healing through creative, art-based activities. Sessions are facilitated by a Registered Clinical Counsellor and include snacks, food cards, and transportation support.

• When: Tuesdays, February 3–March 24, 6:30–8:30 PM

• Where: Drive Youth Employment Services, 2106 Commercial Dr., Vancouver

If you need support applying, contact: [email protected] or call 604-253-9675, text: 604-889-8463.

Celebrating 10 Years of Partnership and Impact with VICCIR

In December, our Community Counselling Grants Manager, Adrienne Yeung, had the pleasure of celebrating Vancouver Island Counselling Centre for Immigrants & Refugees (VICCIR) at their 10th anniversary celebration. Since 2019, the Province of BC has supported VICCIR’s essential work providing mental health counselling to immigrants and refugees across Vancouver Island in a wide variety of languages through the Community Counselling Fund. We would like to congratulate the VICCIR team on a decade of compassion, inclusion, and impact. CAI is honoured to be part of the journey!

📸 Pictured: VICCIR Executive Director Ana Maria Pavon (left) with Adrienne Yeung (right).

B.C. Ends Decriminalization Pilot Program: Your Opportunity to Share Questions

On  January 14, the B.C. Ministry of Health announced that the province would not seek to renew its exemption from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which allowed the province to run a three-year trial decriminalizing possession of up to a total of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA for people 18 years and older. The exemption came into effect on January 31, 2023, and expires at the end of this month.

Minister of Health Josie Osborne has released a statement saying, “In 2023, we launched a pilot program to decriminalize people who use drugs. We did this with the support of advocates, service providers, police and members of the legislative assembly. The intention was clear: to make it easier for people struggling with addiction to reach out for help without fear of being criminalized. Despite the hard work and good intentions behind the pilot, it has not delivered the results we hoped for. For that reason, we will not be asking the federal government to renew the exemption.”

“This does not mean the work ends here. We remain focused on strengthening the approaches that are helping people get timely, appropriate care. Our priority is, and always has been, to make sure people can get help when and where they need it. We continue to believe that addiction is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.”  

Source: BC Gov News

As this pilot comes to an end, we invite you to share your questions.

External Community Opportunities & Resources

• UBC Micro-certificate in Mental Health and Substance Use: A new online program designed to provide learners with knowledge and skills to engage in frontline service provision to individuals experiencing mental health and substance use challenges.

• Project funding from the Pacific Blue Cross Health Foundation: Three different types of project funding are available for non-profits that are striving to improve health and wellbeing for British Columbians.

• Reaching Home funding: Supporting First Nations-led efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness.

• Vancouver Foundation’s LEVEL BIPOC Grants: General operating grants of $150,000 to invest directly into BIPOC-led and BIPOC youth-led and/or engaging organizations in BC. Application deadline: February 9.

• Work Experience Opportunity Grant: Supports non-profits in providing paid work experience placements to individuals on income or disability assistance. Application deadline: February 24

• Strengthening Community-Based Services: A virtual capacity building event that will showcase two projects designed to help community-based organizations deepen their impact, strengthen culturally safer practices, and support stigma-free services for people with lived or living experience(s) of HIV, viral hepatitis, mental health challenges, and/or substance use.