Youthful? No, Hamilton’s rated a real fuddy-duddy

Weak transit blamed for ranking us among least youth-friendly cities

HAMILTON WAS GIVEN the dismal ranking of second-last in a national report on youthful cities.

Only St. John’s, Newfoundland, fared worse than Hamilton in the comparison of 13 Canadian cities.

Toronto was declared the most youth-friendly place in the country by the index released Wednesday.

“If you’re not a youthful city, then you are the opposite of that,” said Robert Barnard, co-founder of YouthfulCities, which does annual indexes on the best places to live for people aged 15 to 29.

“Opposite means it’s an atrophying city. It’s not coming up with any new ideas and it’s not bringing in that critical young labour force that’s going to drive the economy forward in the long term.”

Health care, a vibrant music scene and the ability to easily travel to cities that rank higher on the index are Hamilton’s top strengths, concludes the report. Plentiful jobs can also attract young people here.

“People might move in for the jobs

Hamilton was found to have more waste and fewer recycled materials per capita, higher carbon emissions and a greater number of registered vehicles.

YOUTHFULCITIES 2018 index of Canadian cities

Ontario’s corrections ministry has updated a controversial policy that limited inmates’ access to methadone treatment, an inquest into eight drug-related deaths at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre has been told.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services policy update — dated April 17, about a week after the inquest began — opens up the ability for inmates not already prescribed methadone before their arrest, to access the opioid addiction treatment in custody.

Up until now, inmates who admitted addiction and sought treatment were routinely denied.

This included Marty Tykoliz, who asked to be prescribed methadone at the Barton Street jail on March 1, 2014.

He was denied and died of an accidental overdose two months later.

He is among the eight inmates whose deaths between 2012 and 2016 are being examined at the high-profile inquest.

The revelation came Wednesday during the testimony of Dr. Mikhail Epelbaum, the detention centre’s psychiatrist and sole methadone prescriber.

“That’s a very big change,” he testified.

The revised policy also allows doctors to prescribe suboxone — another opioid addiction treatment.

This drug, like methadone, is an opioid itself (buprenorphine) but is also mixed with the overdose antidote naloxone, Epelbaum said.

Suboxone is considered safer than methadone.

However, exactly how this changed policy will be implemented is not yet clear.

The April 17 document does not reflect an announcement made by the federal government in March that it’s amending the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Until now, doctors prescribing methadone had to seek an exemption, but that is being eliminated this month.

Further confusing matters is the fact that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, which currently requires methadone prescribers to take a course and pass a test, has yet to respond to the federal change.

“All of this is in a state of flux,” Epelbaum said.

The change to increase access to methadone or suboxone is a good thing, he said. But he also explained that “prescribing methadone is the easy part.”

There are other challenges that still need to be met — including increase demands on pharmacies, deliveries, fridge space to hold the medication and also nursing staff to distribute.

Mental illness is “extremely common” in the jail, Epelbaum testified, later agreeing that overcrowding and other conditions in the jail exacerbate this stress.

On Wednesday, the inquest also heard from David Ellis, manager of provincial emergency response and security for corrections, who spoke about the use of body scanners, added to the Barton Street jail in 2016, and drugsniffing dogs.

The canine program began as a pilot with one dog in 2012 and grew to four dogs in 2014.

The dogs are used to conduct searches of provincial jails at least twice a month.

The dogs are very good a sniffing out marijuana, hash, cocaine, crack, heroin, methamphetamine and ecstasy, Ellis said.

But there are limits. Dogs are only approved to search areas, not people — and the inquest has heard many inmates hid drugs in body cavities.

The dogs are also not currently trained to sniff out fentanyl.

Ellis said they’re still deciding if they will take this on.

The dogs can also get overwhelmed and are typically only able to work for about 30 to 45 minutes straight.

Ellis also testified about a “myth” that is believed by some inmates and jail staff that the new body scanners can be tricked by wrapping contraband in carbon paper.

Ellis said he’s tested this and it “has absolutely no impact.”

The inquest has previously heard from jail management that the true problem is actually staff inability to properly read the X-ray screens.

Ellis testified the province is always looking for new technology.

The inquest, which began on April 9, is looking at the deaths of Peter McNelis, Louis Unelli, William Acheson, Trevor Burke, Stephen Neeson, David Gillan, Julien Walton and Marty Tykoliz, who all died between 2012 and 2016.

The inquest continues Thursday.

‘‘ That’s a very big change.