The closure of Essondale/Riverview in BC, so that care could be de-institutionalized and moved into the community, has contributed to untreated mental health issues made worse by street  drug use. 

"Jane Duval, executive director of the BC Schizophrenia Society, commented recently in the Globe and Mail on the number of people displaced as Riverview patients and now surviving on the street or in the justice system: “It’s a huge scandal. One of these days I think we’ll look back on it, and it’s going to be a very shameful incident in our past.”

The situation here is not comparable in terms of severity to what is a truly deplorable - and not laughable - situation in South Africa. But our societal conscience should not be clear.