Protests which started in Nanaimo will take place across the province on Thursday – including in Kamloops – calling on the provincial and federal government to address issues around crime.

The “Enough is Enough” demonstrations started over a year ago due to an “extreme concern” around public safety issues resulting from an increased amount of crime across the province.

Organizer Collen Middleton says they are calling for change.

“Enough is enough, we got to get the cage-rattling to escalate here so that, that people that are in positions of power and authority to change something so they can’t ignore it any longer,” he said on the NL Morning News.

The protests come over seven years into the opioid crisis, with Middleton who is also part of the Nanaimo area Public Safety Association, says is doing more harm than good.

“We don’t oppose the principle of that ministerial order. We understand it was put in with good intentions, but what we are concerned about now, seven years on, is that things have changed,” he said. “We’ve created a monster, a positive feedback loop of addiction and suffering.”

Middleton suggests a trio of issues contributing to the rise in crime across B.C., including a lack of mental health and addiction support, affordable housing, and issues with the judicial system and law enforcement.

“There is virtually no publicly available mental health and addiction support for people trying to get off drugs if they don’t have the money or the resources and there’s not enough treatment like detox beds,” Middleton said. “Secondly, housing affordability, so many people are marginalized, working precarious jobs, don’t have financial security and we live in a province where, where the housing situation is out of control.”

“And lastly, the judicial system and law enforcement, we’ve got not nearly enough police officers to keep up with the demand and call for service and the judicial system that is that it’s favoring prolific offenders being let out while they’re awaiting trial, and that is still very much, a danger to the public.”

He says those overlapping social crises are combining to create a public safety emergency, suggesting there needs to be cross party solutions to address the public safety risk.

“Harm reduction and safe supply have a place, but they are supposed to be intervention to an otherwise catastrophic outcome, not the solution and I think that is the point, there isn’t one silver bullet solution to this,” Middleton said, noting the hope is to get that message into the email inboxes of provincial and federal elected officials to say “enough is enough.”

“We’re not impressed by this foot-dragging lack of action, passing the buck. We know that it’s a multifaceted solution. There are complex solutions to complex problems,” he said.

“Let’s stop pretending like one individual or political party has the magic solution here; we need our politicians and public servants to move and act in the best interest of the public.”

The “Enough Is Enough” rally in Kamloops will take place outside City Hall at noon on Thursday, April 27.