Belleville is overdosing on part of a larger problem the government needs to address

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BELLEVILLE — Belleville native Brian Orford is 44. He looks much older. He is very sad as he sees everything.

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He probably has.

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Brian knows the streets, here and there, and he knows the people who live on the streets. He knows all 17 people who overdosed within 24 hours this week.

People think they've overdosed on a batch of opiates, but GHB may have been involved. Date rape drug. There is talk that trunk doping is also moving in this direction. This is the fear that causes addicts to lose their fingers and toes.

“A lot of people here have switched to other drugs,” he says. “It's very dangerous.”

This. Nine people were taken to Belleville Hospital Tuesday night for life support. According to Brian, they overdosed along the lash wall at the John Howard Society Discovery Center at the bottom of the United Church in Bridge Street. They are all his friends, he says.

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When it happened, Belleville police issued an emergency alert to the public. They warned people to stay away from downtown Belleville. For security purposes.

It's like a war zone. It is these days.

Orford said big cities send homeless people and drug addicts to small towns like Belleville. Make them someone else's problem. He is not the only one saying it.

“There were two or three buses,” says Brian. “They are offered a free lunch and the bus takes them here.”

It has happened two or three times in the past few months, he says. “These are people other places can't afford,” he says. “But there are already a lot of people here. And there are no resources.”

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Homeless workers in Belleville — who did not want to be named — confirm what Brian said. They nodded. They've heard it, too: Big cities like Toronto dump their homelessness and drug addiction problems on small towns like Belleville.

There are stories of blue buses slipping into the city at night, dropping bewildered people onto the cold and lonely sidewalks.

“We've all heard it,” says one. “Buses come from other places like Toronto and Ottawa.”

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Representatives of the city mayor and police chief and other officials are holding a press conference at the site of the overdose. The mayor is Neil Ellis, a friendly straight-shooter who used to be a member of parliament.

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When asked about rumors of big cities abandoning homeless and addicted people in Belleville, Ellis doesn't dodge or weave. According to him, 66% of the homeless in this area are from this area. “But homeless people don't vote,” he warns. So they are not completely reliable.

Ellis won't confirm that people are being dropped off here. But it is not denied. “This issue is a major issue for every community in Canada,” he says. And the federal and provincial governments have more to do, he adds.

His chief of police, Mike Callaghan, bowed his head sharply. He said Ottawa and Queen's Park were mostly AWOL. Callaghan hasn't been able to hire new police officers in years, and Belleville is growing rapidly.

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Grace Inn, a few blocks north of City Hall, is one of the few places that offers a bed to a homeless person. Before the pandemic, it was completely full — it has only a few dozen beds, and Belleville has a homeless population of at least 200. (And full disclosure: This writer has previously donated to Grace Inn.)

Jody Jenkins, Grace Inn's outreach chair, says she's heard “for some time” that homeless and addicted people are being dumped in Belleville. But, he says, “according to our data, it does not correspond to housing. About 80% of our shelter guests are from the immediate and surrounding areas.”

So, for now, stories about mysterious blue buses dropping broken people onto the sidewalks of Belleville at night will remain stories. Well, when you think about it, it doesn't matter.

Because, as Mayor Neil Ellis says, the problem is everywhere. And moving it from one city does not change the reality.

And the truth is that the problem comes back everywhere.

And it keeps getting worse.

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