The BC Government Employees Union (BCGEU) is trying to lobby support to force the provincial government to hold a public inquiry into organized crime, opioids and money laundering in the province.

They say it’s the best way to learn the truth about a crisis that’s killed thousand’s of B.C. residents and made it the most unaffordable place to live in Canada.

President Stephanie Smith was speaking on NL Newsday yesterday afternoon and said the move comes after a decision last year where criminal charges were dropped after a two-year RCMP investigation into money laundering.

“How is the opioid crisis connected to the housing affordability crisis?” she asked. “Has there been a role of organized crime and the money laundering?”

“What we need is a broad mandated public inquiry to find out the answers those questions to see where the system potentially broke down and how do we fix the problem?”

Smith added that the multi-layered crisis of drugs, crime and money laundering is impacting all of their 72,000 members, not just casino workers, as many are “literally first responders”.

“Our librarians, our deputy sheriffs and our corrections officers, they’re the ones who are often literally first on the scene when dealing with an overdose,” added Smith. “It is very very heavily impacted.”

“I myself have sent cards to family members who have lost family members because of the fentanyland opioid crisis.”

Union officials say Premier John Horgan and Attorney General David Eby have not ruled out a public inquiry, but they want to push the government to act.