Vancouver's mental health crisis

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On 26 April, this year, 11 people were killed after a car was driven into a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver. Dozens more were injured, making it the deadliest attack in the city’s history. The youngest victim was just five years old. The accused, 30-year-old Adam Kai-Ji Lo, remains in custody while facing numerous charges of second-degree murder. Shortly after the attack, authorities confirmed that he was ‘being supervised under the Mental Health Act’ at the time of the attack. This case has sparked a conversation that was already bubbling under the surface about mental health and the way it is dealt with – or not - in the city. April’s attack was not the first time a random act of violence had occurred in the city, where the suspect was being treated for mental health issues. A report into a triple stabbing at a festival in Vancouver's Chinatown last year said the man accused of the crimes had been released by a psychiatric care facility 99 times in the year prior without incident. Sam Gruet travels to Vancouver, British Columbia to ask if the city and wider province, is facing a mental health crisis, exploring how a mixture of cuts and a worsening opioid crisis has led some to call for drastic action. Producer: Megan Lawton Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy (Photo: Candles placed on 41st and Fraser in Vancouver the day after a man drove a car into a crowd during the Lapu Lapu Festival. Credit: Don MacKinnon/AFP/Getty Images)