B.C. suicide prevention private member’s bill introduced by Liberal MLA

Editor’s note: This story contains references to suicide. If you or a loved one is at risk of self-harm, the BC Crisis Centre can be reached at 1-800-784-2433. Translation services are available.

After dealing with addiction and mental health challenges, a B.C. MLA is taking steps in the Legislature to address suicide prevention.

Surrey South BC Liberal MLA Elenore Sturko has introduced a private member’s bill that seeks to tweak Section 28 of B.C.’s Mental Health Act, which involves people who are apprehended — not arrested — due to an apparent mental health crisis.

“It’s something that’s very meaningful for me. In my former career as a police officer, I’ve seen many times where we’ve had clients who were in distress or apprehended in a crisis and then were subsequently not certified and then went on to either self-harm or die by suicide,” she told CityNews Wednesday.

Just last month, Sturko, who is a former RCMP officer, shared details about her alcohol use and how it’s changed her views on involuntary care. She tells CityNews she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and developed “unhealthy coping mechanisms” after attending a call in 2009 where a man, Todd Marr, had taken his own life on Highway 1 after being released from the hospital.

“Helping people in their moment of crisis is one of the reasons that I became a police officer. Now, as an MLA, that mission has only deepened,” Sturko said in the B.C. Legislature during the introduction of her private member’s bill.

“Every year hundreds of people in a moment of crisis are apprehended under section 28 of the Mental Health Act of British Columbia. With multiple documented cases in B.C. where individuals have been apprehended, not certified and then have self-harmed or died by suicide shortly after their release, it’s clear that this is a gap that must be filled.”

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The proposed changes in her bill urge hospital staff to try and get as much information as possible from loved ones or care providers before deciding if that person should be admitted or not.

“This isn’t meant to have a doctor a nurse practitioner disclosing to other people a lot of information about the subject who’s already apprehended, they’re being detained under the Mental Health Act, it’s an opportunity for them to have that extra tool to gather more information about the totality of the circumstances,” she said in her interview prior to the bill introduction.

Sturko is very clear in that the proposed amendment wouldn’t affect a person’s privacy, but a medical professional also doesn’t need their permission, in the case of an emergency, to call their next of kin.

“It’s painful and it’s hard and it’s difficult. There are many reasons people don’t want to be certified, but we still need to try and help them,” she told CityNews. “Allowing a doctor or a nurse who may have just met this person five minutes before in a busy emergency room, giving them that opportunity to have another source of information that can help paint the total picture, is an important one.”

Sturko’s move also comes after the death of Vancouver Police Department Const. Nicole Chan, who took her own life following relationships with two senior officers. In 2019, shortly after being released from the hospital, Chan died. At a coroner’s inquest looking into Chan’s case earlier this year, the hospital’s psychiatrist testified he did not admit her on mental health grounds because he didn’t have all the information.

Chan was 30.

“This isn’t [a] total fix for our mental health system, I think more work needs to be done, but this is something we can do in the meantime, something that could be implemented,” said Sturko.

She admits it’s rare for a governing body to move forward with a private member’s bill introduced by the opposition, but she’s hopeful the NDP will do just that.

“I think it opens up the conversation and brings attention to a very, very important aspect of caring for people in our province which is allowing those that love the ones in crisis, love the ones with addictions… an opportunity to participate in helping to save their loved one.”

She says the amendment has the support of both the Marr and Chan families and urges anyone who wants to share their own story about mental health to email her.

–With files from Martin MacMahon