CLBC failing ‘duty to care’ for cognitively impaired man after multiple overdoses: Family​on March 14, 2025 at 1:07 am

Another family is speaking out about what they say is inadequate care under the oversight of Community Living BC, the Crown corporation responsible for some of B.C.’s most vulnerable people.

Eysiah Winnig, 28, is non-verbal, has been diagnosed with autism, paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other impairments.

His sister Emilia Winnig told Global News that he was also diagnosed by a doctor as needing supervised living for the rest of his life.

Despite that, she says CLBC helped him emancipate himself and has since failed to place him in properly supervised housing.

“They have a duty of care to make sure he is safe,” she said.

“They have recognized, at least verbally to me, on multiple occasions that he doesn’t make decisions in his own best interest that keep him safe, that he is indoctrinated into the Downtown Eastside street culture, they are supporting him by driving him to the bus so he can go downtown, even though we have relocated him to Maple Ridge to keep him away from the DTES.”

Eysiah has been forced to move multiple times from home-share arrangements after acting out in a variety of ways including starting fires and smoking indoors, she said.

She said because of his developmental delays, he has the mental capacity of a five or six-year-old, and that his behaviours can be “difficult.”

More worryingly, he has also gotten into drugs, and has survived multiple overdoses — most recently in December.

“Since 2018, he’s been in the hospital in the ICU multiple times because he has been given nefarious substances laced with fentanyl,” Emilia said.

“He doesn’t deserve to live that way. And sadly this isn’t the first time, this is probably the sixth time in the last five years I have had to be called to the hospital and find him in disrepair.”

Emilia said the family wants to be more involved in his care, including monthly updates on his health and dental situation.

But she said CLBC has been difficult to communicate with.

“I only hear from (CLBC) if Eysiah has been missing for multiple days where he goes AWOL and is down on the DTES. Very often they call me and say they haven’t seen him for three days, and I will go and look for him.”

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CLBC declined an interview request and in a statement said it could not comment on the Winnig family’s case due to privacy legislation, but that CLBC clients have a right to self-determination and inclusion in their communities.

But in an interview with Global News in February, CLBC CEO Ross Chilton responded to concerns about drug use among the Crown corporation’s clients.

“Sometimes they make decisions we wish they didn’t make, including using certain drugs or engaging in other dangerous behaviours,” he said.

“Our population is not immune to the same things that are tragic to all the British Columbia citizens, in terms of toxic drug supply, and we do our very best, but unfortunately, bad things do happen.”

Emilia said the family is “unbelievably worried” about Eysiah and has come to feel that CLBC simply doesn’t care about him.

“They’ve said as much in a meeting with them after my unfortunate situation in early December, I called an emergency meeting with both (the home-share program) and CLBC and said, ‘Do you recognize that by us recognizing that Isaiah is making his own executive decisions, that this will result in his likely overdose and death?’” she said.

“And they said, ‘Yes, we do recognize it and it is unfortunate,’ and that they deal with many unfortunate situations, and that’s just the way that it is, and that we should take it up with the B.C. government.”