The City of Burnaby is joining forces with Fraser Health and the Burnaby School District for a healthy community initiative, but some are worried it could lead to a downloading of services.
At Monday night's meeting, council approved the proposed terms of reference for a Burnaby healthier community partnership, which will promote health and chronic disease prevention, good nutrition, and tobacco and drug reduction, among others.
The joint working group is comprised of technical staff of all three organizations who will meet twice a year, Coun. Paul McDonell told council.
"The role of the steering committee will be to establish key health priorities, keep abreast of changes of health status and advocate internally and externally for any resources, funds and skills and key priorities, monitor progress and report back to the partnership," McDonell said.
To support the work, the city obtained a $5,000 grant from the B.C. Healthy Communities Society, which is a provincial non-profit organization that receives funding and support from the provincial and federal governments for community-based health initiatives.
However, Mayor Derek Corrigan was concerned the initiative would lead to the province downloading mental health services and more to the municipal level.
"I think, you know, there's no budget for this," he said. "There're areas that are of extreme concern and we're advocating on, but I worry when there's requirements for resources and funding that the effort will be to have Fraser Health try to find some ways they can access the municipal budget in order to deal with these issues."
McDonell said he and Coun. Pietro Calendino raised those issues at the first partnership meeting on Oct. 23, 2013.
According to a city staff report, the healthier community partnership stems from the global healthy community movement.
"It is recognized that many of the activities/initiatives that contribute to the health of the community are generated outside of the formal health-care system," Lou Pelletier, director of planning and building, states in his report. "As such, health promotion is advanced through a broad, integrated and intersectoral approach to achieve equitable and sustainable health for all people."
