Vancouver mayor credits DTES task force with reducing overdoses. Here’s what public health experts say

published on November 19, 2025 by Isabella Zavarise in CTV News

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim continues to laud the impacts of a police-led task force focused on crime on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, claiming it led to a reduction in overdoses.

At a Nov. 5 council meeting, Sim relayed data from Vancouver Fire Rescue Services that from February to August, the first six months that Task Force Barrage was in effect, overdoses decreased around 36 per cent or by 1,200 calls.

“I know there are some questions as to whether or not, you know, the data proves that lives were saved,” he said.

“I don’t know how much more obvious it could be when you have 1,200 fewer calls for overdoses that lives weren’t saved–they were.”

‘Lives are at stake’

The idea that a decline in overdose calls is somehow related to an increase in policing has drawn disagreement from some public health experts.

Kora DeBeck, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy and a research scientist at the BC Centre on Substance Use, said there is a lack of evidence to suggest the correlation…