The head of a large shelter on Pandora Ave. in Victoria — in the midst of the street disorder of the city's most high-profile homeless encampment — told delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference that the province needs to shift its focus on homelessness.

Our Place CEO Julian Daly said B.C. must treat it as a health issue, and that the most compassionate way forward may be involuntary treatment for some.

"That is controversial, I know," Daly said, "but if someone is so unwell that they cannot make informed decisions about their health care, then leaving them to die on the sidewalk with little but their liberties intact is not compassion. It is abandonment."

Street disorder is high on the list of priorities at the annual UBCM convention, which began Monday (Sept. 22)

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