Vancouver City Council approved up to $16 million for 100 new police and 100 mental-health nurses Tuesday, part of the campaign platform of newly elected Mayor Ken Sim.
Sim and his ABC Vancouver party, which holds a strong majority on the council, promised to fund the hiring of the police and nurses to be used in programs where they respond to mental health calls."You cannot put a price on public safety, and you cannot put a price on mental health and wellness and we cannot afford not to do this," she said.
But at Tuesday's council meeting those numbers were bumped to $8 million for each, inclusive of any provincial or federal funding that may be available. Council voted to ask the province to be part of plans to create 12 peer-assisted care teams made up of trained peers and mental-health professionals to respond to people in distress, with or without police.
Coun. Pete Fry, who is not part of ABC Vancouver and voted against the motion, said the budgeting process hasn't been clear and that he was nervous about what promising to fund these positions would mean for the rest of the city's budget.
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