TRAGEDY NOT AVERTED

It appears that a mentally disturbed woman has murdered a young boy in Grand Forks, B.C.

This is a tragedy on a hundred different fronts.

The mayor "criticized cutbacks in the province that have led to reduced services for mental health patients over the last decade. “I think what we've lost here is mental health support in the community,” he said. “The community sees [this] as a health problem as much as a crime problem.”"

Governments, like individuals, have priorities, and we and they are consistent in our choices.

Recent provincial and federal governments have shown a distinct lack of interest in something as baffling and time-consuming and labor-intensive as mental health problems.

The results, on a daily basis in all our communities, speak for themselves.