Re: “The lost and damaged of Pandora should be in involuntary care,” column, June 22.

Thank you, Gene Miller.

This really needed to be said. Unfortunately there is little hope of any of the suggested solutions being implemented. The problems in Victoria that are spoken about in this column will unfortunately remain.

The rabidly woke portion of our population will ensure that any solutions suggested will not be implemented. Some believe that the unhoused are better off living on the streets where they are free — free to commit acts of violence.

How can this be preferred over being housed in secure facilities? We need to have secure, humanely run, locked ­facilities once again.

Deinstitutionalization was one of the worst decisions our governments made. Add to that the drug situation and we will continue to have street chaos.

Yvonne Andre

Campbell River

Re: “The lost and damaged of Pandora should be in involuntary care,” column, June 22.

Gene Miller’s column on the never-ending saga of Pandora Avenue highlights not only the problem but the lack of significant change over many years. He had the guts to be straightforward while suggesting some solution-oriented changes that should quickly evolve past long-winded action plans to real change that needs to be given high priority.

Having worked for more than 40 years as a counsellor and supervisor in mental health, addiction and employee assistance programs, up until now my experience and knowledge in the field has fallen on deaf ears.

Of course, the big question is, how do we move from good ideas to actually doing something about it? Moving Our Place from Pandora to another non-city-centre location only makes sense. Probably more but much smaller venues would be a good start.

Involuntary care should not be reserved for such a small minority as to render it irrelevant.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is showing us how to make significant changes within short time frames. For so many reasons, we are looking at an emergency situation that not only punishes those with the biggest problems but all of us for our misdirected approaches that make us feel better but alas only perpetuate the problem.

An immediate co-ordinated approach........

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