Missing six-year-old found after 3 nights on her own
Safe inhalation site opening in Prince George
Pretty incredible news last night:
A missing six-year-old girl has been found safe in a forested area in northern B.C. after three nights on her own, RCMP say.
The child was reported missing at 6 p.m. on Sept. 19 in the community of Southbank, B.C. about 25 kilometres south of Burns Lake and 200 kilometres west of Prince George.
In a statement, RCMP said the girl was located shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday in a forest area near her home and the Skin Tyee First Nation band office, which officials had searched earlier, leading searchers to believe she was likely moving around during the time she went missing.
"This is the outcome that we all hoped for, she was missing for multiple days, but everyone searching remained dedicated to bringing her home safely," said Burns Lake RCMP Detachment Commander, S/Sgt. Joshua Smith.
Dozens of volunteers from around the province were involved in the search and watching the Facebook video of everyone cheering as the girl was found was pretty energizing.
Safe inhalation site opening in the city
Last week, an Instagram video was posted showing what is going to be a new safe inhalation site in Prince George.
The push to get a site open here is a long one. The reason behind this is because while the default image that pops into many people’s heads when they think “overdose” or “hard drugs” is a needle being injected into an arm, a growing number — more than 60 per cent now — of fatal overdoses from illicit drugs is through inhalation:
Nearly two-thirds of the overdose deaths in British Columbia this year came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place for people to smoke, something the province's chief coroner says needs to change.
Lisa Lapointe said the latest data show 65 per cent of overdose deaths in 2023 came after smoking drugs, compared to 15 per cent involving injection, 14 per cent snorting and five per cent from oral consumption.
That's more than double the rate in 2016, when 29 per cent of deaths resulted from smoking drugs, and up from the 56 per cent of deaths involving smoking in 2021, according to a 2022 data report from the coroner.
The one in Prince George looks to be outdoors, while in Vancouver a clinic is opening indoor spaces.
News roundup:
A bit of an odd start to the campaign for Prince George-North Conservative candidate Sheldon Clare.
And news to me: the CN Centre got its new sound system installed.
Building permit values slow down in August in Prince George.
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