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Feb/8/22 7:34:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will attempt to speak in French for the first time. I apologize for any mistakes I make. Health experts agree with the NDP that the government should be asked to use its powers under the Emergencies Act to declare a national public health emergency. This would, for example, allow the Minister of Health to designate overdose prevention sites as emergency clinics, thus making them legal and eligible for federal funding. Does the member opposite agree?

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Ms. Marie-Hélène Gaudreau

Feb/8/22 7:36:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Victoria, because her French is excellent. I understood her very well. I am pleased to see that there are some things that can be done. It is what I was talking about earlier. A pioneer in this field, Dr. Robert, in Montreal, has created a model that works precisely to give people access to sites that help them avoid this tragedy. Can we provide such sites in all areas where this vulnerability exists? Once again, I congratulate my colleague on her French. I will have the opportunity to speak my other official language in another context.

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The Speaker

Feb/8/22 7:36:57 p.m.
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Are there questions and comments? Seeing none, we will move on. Before we do, I just want to remind everyone that I know this is an emotional and very difficult subject, but please place your questions and comments through the Chair and not directly to each other. I do not expect any arguments to break out tonight, but it keeps everything a little more in order. Resuming debate, the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni.

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Questions and comments period

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Feb/8/22 7:37:29 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-216

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the good member for Edmonton Griesbach. Last year, the government's Health Canada expert task force on substance use, with 18 esteemed experts in this field, came together. They cited in their recommendations and report that bold actions are urgently needed, including decriminalization and the development of a single public health framework to regulate all substances in the expansion of safer supply. This is in response to the 25,000 lives that have been lost. The task force was mindful of five core issues: stigma, disproportionate harms to populations experiencing structural inequity, harms from the illegal drug market, the financial burden on the health and criminal justice systems, and the unaddressed underlying conditions. The Prime Minister, just last week, agreed that this is a health issue and not a criminal issue. He had already told the nation, before calling an unnecessary election, that his government would be informed by the recommendations of this expert task force. In May 2021, we heard from the experts and were informed by its nearly unanimous recommendations. I urge all members to consider these recommendations, which mirror the measures proposed in the bill I tabled, Bill C-216, which is a blueprint for a truly health-based approach to substance use. We agree on all sides of this House to consider the advice of public health officials in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now time to act on the advice of experts about the overdose crisis, which is killing increasing numbers of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. It is killing 20 people a day. We continue to hear from medical health officers from all provinces and territories, as well as our new good friend, the member for Yukon, who has been advocating that we tackle this issue. In our larger cities we hear it from law enforcement and from frontline workers who struggle daily to save lives in the midst of this overdose crisis. We hear the same advice from those with lived experience, those who have used illicit drugs or continue to do so. There are many reasons, including trauma in their lives, poverty, homelessness or addiction. We have also heard from thousands of family members who have lost loved ones. On Thursday, we will hear from the chief coroner of British Columbia. She reports on the numbers of overdose deaths in my home province for 2021. While I dread her report, I welcome it as more overwhelming evidence to act. The expert task force recommendations are straightforward and common sense. They are evidenced-based and rooted in the fundamental need to save lives. It is harm reduction. The expert task force found that criminalization of simple possession causes harms to Canadians and needs to end. These are not my words; the words come from this body of esteemed experts, gathered together by the government to guide the actions needed to save lives. It has been more than nine months and hundreds of deaths since the City of Vancouver applied for a section 56 decriminalization exemption with the support of its medical health officer and the chief of police. This is the exact same process Vancouver used to get the first supervised consumption site almost 20 years ago. The federal government of the day backed the city against provincial opposition, as the need was so great. That took courage and political will, which is what we need right now. The need is more dire today, if that is possible, but for whatever reason, the Vancouver application, now joined by applications by British Columbia and the City of Toronto, sits on the minister's desk. The government was informed by its expert task force that “As part of decriminalization, the Task Force recommends that criminal records from previous offences related to simple possession be fully expunged.” This should be complete, automatic deletion, and cost-free. Simply because those Canadians are burdened with criminal records for simple possession of illicit substances, they often face insurmountable barriers to employment, housing, child custody and travel. The bill I have tabled calls for a national plan to expand access to harm reduction, treatment and recovery services across Canada. Importantly, this plan must include ensuring low-barrier access to a regulated safe supply for users, instead of leaving the drug supply to gangs that are driven to maximize profits at the expense of lives. We must support the domestic production and regulation of a safer supply that is readily available to users. Unfortunately, even though these common sense reforms are supported on a daily basis by public health professionals, law enforcement, media, frontline workers, substance users and their families, they have been given very little attention by the government. This overdose crisis is not identified in the mandate letter to the Minister of Health. It is barely mentioned in the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions's letter. There is nothing in the Speech from the Throne. I ask all members of this House to take the politics out of the overdose crisis. This crisis must be treated with urgency. Slow-walking essential reforms through protracted political and bureaucratic deliberation, or worse, ignoring them altogether, will only result in more preventable deaths.

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Mr. Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay—Rainy River, Lib.)

Feb/8/22 7:43:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Courtenay—Alberni for his words of wisdom. He seems to know a fair bit about this problem and seems quite passionate about it. I do not know if he knows anything about this, but I know part of the problem with the opioid crisis is that so many drugs are laced with fentanyl. People will be smoking what they think is crack, but it is laced with fentanyl. As a result, they have an overdose of narcotics and they die of that overdose. Does the member have any suggestion or know of any policy interventions that can address this problem?

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Mr. Gord Johns

Feb/8/22 7:43:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. I appreciate my colleague's bringing up that point. Not only do we have fentanyl on our streets, we have carfentanil. Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It is 4,000 times more potent than heroin and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. It is killing people. People who use drugs and people who are addicted to drugs need a regulated safe supply; otherwise, they are going to die. That is why we are here. That is what my bill is about. It is about addressing that and giving a response to that. We need to decriminalize so that people are not using drugs while they are home alone and are not using harm-reduction supports, but they also need access to a safe supply. It is time for us to have courage and not worry about just votes and getting re-elected. We were elected to do the right thing: to save lives in a crisis like this. There were 25,000 lives lost in the last six years. I am urging the government and all members to come together to listen to the expert witnesses, the health experts, the police chiefs and the frontline service workers. This is what they are calling for.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Feb/8/22 7:44:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to say a big thanks to the member for Courtenay—Alberni for bringing his private member's bill forward. Vancouver East has been trying to raise this issue for many years now. In fact, I still recall the late Bud Osborn, who spearheaded the harm reduction approach and called for decriminalization decades ago. VANDU in my riding has been very active on this issue and has been continuing in pursuit of it, and Moms Stop the Harm has been very active in highlighting this issue, but yet, so many years later, the government continues to refuse to take action. Why does the Liberal government refuse to acknowledge the lives that have been lost as a result of the opioid crisis, refuse to declare a national health emergency and refuse to grant the City of Vancouver the exemption that it is seeking? Why does it not bring forward a bill that will save lives?

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Mr. Gord Johns

Feb/8/22 7:45:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has been at ground zero of this fight from the beginning. They fought for Insite, and not a single person has died at Insite in its 20 years. It is remarkable It is because politicians are so worried about votes. They are so worried about getting re-elected instead of doing the right thing. That would be my answer. I also believe that these lives do not matter to those politicians. It has to change, and people are holding their politicians to account when they are ignoring expert recommendations from their own top public health officials, from their own police chiefs and from their own family members. No one is untouched by this, no one in this country, especially in the province I come from. There is not an MP in this House who has not received a phone call from a constituent who has lost a mom or a dad or a daughter or a son. Everybody has been impacted. It has been six years and 25,000 lives. Why are we not responding in the way we responded to COVID? We have demonstrated that we can respond. I want to thank my colleague, and I will work with her and all members of this House to move quickly, because 20 people are going to die today, and more tomorrow. Every day that we wait on implementing these common-sense reforms, people will die.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Feb/8/22 7:47:41 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-216

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Courtenay—Alberni for his powerful statement, but moreover his powerful actions. I thank the member for tabling this critically important piece of legislation, Bill C-216. This bill has the framework to finally address the drug poisoning crisis like the crisis it is: a public health care crisis. This crisis is killing Canadians, 20,000 of them in the last five years. This is truly an emergency, and it is one the government can no longer ignore. This crisis affects all Canadians, but in particular young people, indigenous people, Black people and people of colour. This crisis is affecting Canadians unequally, and it is not by coincidence or chance. It is because of the historic and ongoing violence and systemic racism that has existed and continues to exist in Canada today, violence like the residential schools that existed until 1996; violence like the sixties scoop that tore apart thousands of indigenous families, including my own; violence like the government's ongoing apprehension of indigenous children; and violence like the underfunding of critical services, such as providing clean water. Many of my fellow indigenous people now live in urban centres; more than 50%. My constituency of Edmonton Griesbach is home to some of the largest urban indigenous populations in Canada, and this reality could not be more visible. What many of my neighbours and I see in the community is the large number of folks living without homes, being continually harassed and criminalized and ultimately incarcerated. They are then thrown right back out on the streets with a criminal record, struggling to find housing and employment and left feeling hopeless. Just this weekend, I was out in my community with a group called Boots on the Ground handing out care packages of naloxone kits, coffee and other much-needed items. Within about an hour, we had given out over 200 packages. I can tell members first-hand the need to address this public health care crisis in my constituency is great and urgent. This crisis falls directly at the feet of governments, both Conservative and Liberal, that have time after time ignored the calls to action by health professionals, indigenous leaders and harm reduction groups like Moms Stop the Harm and Bear Clan Patrol. We cannot treat a public health care crisis with arrests and incarceration. Health care workers know this, substance users know this and my constituents know this. Groups like the Alberta Medical Association have said this. City councils in Alberta are calling for this. Decades of history and evidence from around the world show us that the current approach of criminalization simply does not work; it only leads to more harm and deaths. Health Canada's own experts know this. Last year, its expert task force on substance use published a groundbreaking report about alternatives to criminal penalties for simple possession of controlled substances. The task force, which is made up of some of Canada's leading experts, described the federal government's current policies as follows: Current public policies on substance use, and criminalization chief among them, are part of a vicious cycle that is fed by and continues to feed inaccurate, stigmatizing perceptions of people who use drugs. Canada’s current policies are based on an outdated and deeply problematic position, which the Task Force members reject, that devalues and dehumanizes people who use drugs by labelling them as immoral, “addicts”, or weak. Health Canada's experts do not hold back about the racist realities of Canada's drug policies. The report goes on to say: The legislation criminalizing drug possession is part of historical and ongoing structural racism and continues to have disproportionate effects on Indigenous and Black populations, which are more often targeted for prosecution for simple drug offenses. These are only two of the reasons the task force unanimously recommended that Health Canada scrap all criminal penalties for simple possession. I want to conclude by thanking those on the front lines of this crisis every day, groups like Boots on the Ground Edmonton, Water Warriors YEG, the Bear Clan Patrol and Moms Stop the Harm. They are shouldering the burden of this public health care crisis because governments refuse to do what is right. This is our chance to rectify it, to undo some of that harm and to set a better path forward. Governing is about choices. With Bill C-216, we are giving the House and the government a choice, an opportunity to listen to the experts, and a chance to do what is right and save lives. We can choose to end the war on drugs, and I urge all members of this House, whether government or opposition, to make the right choice and pass Bill C-216 into law.

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Mr. Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay—Rainy River, Lib.)

Feb/8/22 7:52:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Edmonton Griesbach, like me, has a riding with a large indigenous population. I wonder how much he thinks the answer to the opioid problem is a matter of directly dealing with opioids and how much of the answer involves dealing with the underlying socio-economic inequality, which is certainly part of the problem and fuels the crisis.

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Feb/8/22 7:53:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's question strikes to the core of the issue, which is the long-term, historic and ongoing systemic discrimination, particularly against indigenous people, that has led to this unfair outcome. Indigenous people have been hit the hardest in the opioid crisis, in the mental health crisis and even in the crisis of COVID-19. We have to address things like residential schools and the sixties scoop in order to get a true grasp of the issues facing indigenous people today.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Feb/8/22 7:54:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I particularly appreciated your choice to quote directly from the report of the expert task force on substance use. I was curious if you would be open to sharing more with the House on recommendation no. 7, which reads, “The Task Force strongly urges Health Canada to respect the sovereign rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada and support their governments in providing appropriate prevention and treatment approaches.” Would you be open to sharing your advice with parliamentarians on how to ensure that this is brought to fruition?

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The Speaker

Feb/8/22 7:54:56 p.m.
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I would remind hon. members to place their questions through the Chair and not directly to each other. The hon. member for Edmonton Griesbach.

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Remarks addressed to the Chair

Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Feb/8/22 7:55:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, how we respect indigenous people is a matter of how we understand indigenous people. Part of the understanding is knowing that indigenous people are on the front lines every single day protecting one another, protecting communities and doing what we can with the resources we have. When we make mention of the things the report calls for us to do better, it is respecting that indigenous people have a right to ensuring health care is provided and that the nation itself has the tools to provide that service in a culturally appropriate way.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Feb/8/22 7:55:53 p.m.
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Qujannamiik Uqaqtittiji. The member has made a powerful statement. First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia has shown that indigenous people are five times more likely to experience an overdose and three times more likely to die than other residents. This demonstrates that Canada's colonial efforts to “take the Indian out of the child” continue to have impacts on the mental health of Inuit, first nations and Métis. We have also heard many times in this House about the over-incarceration rate that exists among Inuit, first nations and Métis. Could the member expand on how criminalizing drugs contributes to the ongoing cycle of violence that indigenous peoples have suffered in Canada?

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Mr. Blake Desjarlais

Feb/8/22 7:56:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Nunavut and I have a lot in common. Part of what we have in common is our fight and pursuit for indigenous justice. When we think about what indigenous justice in Canada looks like today, we cannot go any further than looking at our criminal justice system. We cannot do this work right without bringing those who are most affected along with us. Our nations are in pain, and this no coincidence. It is the government's own doing through the Indian Act, in large part, as well as the discriminatory policies that look at indigenous people as wards and the existing policies that continue to harm indigenous families, such as the CFS system. These systems are still in place today, and they continually disenfranchise and discriminate against indigenous people, resulting in their contribution to the cycles of violence that our people find themselves in. These cycles of violence come with painful outcomes for our own family members.

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Hon. Patty Hajdu (Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, Lib.)

Feb/8/22 7:58:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sharing my time tonight with the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River. I am joining the House today from the Robinson-Superior Treaty territory. I am actually on Fort William first nation as we speak. We are deeply saddened and concerned by the number of people losing their lives because of opioids and addiction. It is a serious problem that affects every region of the country. Before COVID, Canada, like other countries, was in the midst of an opioid crisis, but the pandemic has made this crisis even more acute. The reasons are many, but the results are devastating for so many people and families across this country. All too often it is indigenous people who bear a disproportionate burden of grief in this crisis. Last week I spoke with Chief Evan Yassie of the Sayisi Dene First Nation following the tragic passing of a young community member. Chief Yassie rightly describes the situation as an epidemic within a pandemic. In 1956 the Sayisi Dene community was forced to relocate. What did that mean for his relatives? It meant leaving an area rich with tradition, natural foods and safety. It meant being dropped off at a new location with less food, little to no shelter, and no way for the community to manage a looming and brutal winter. The community experienced this relocation trauma not once but twice, and as Chief Yassie told me, many people died of exposure, grief or trauma. Their community is located in the far northern part of Manitoba, with no all-season roads. Resources are flown in, and in the winter, for increasingly few weeks, resources are transported on winter roads. The remote nature of this community means that gas has had to be rationed as they await this year's winter road, and the rationing has had direct impacts on their ability to care for each other, to conduct wellness checks and to support each other. Despite these challenges and their most recent loss, Chief Yassie points out that, like other indigenous, Inuit and Métis communities, access to culturally informed mental health services that provide wrap-around care and re-connection to culture and the land are critically important. We talked about the fact that we cannot find our way out of this crisis unless we reduce the demand, indeed the need for substance use as a way to self-treat deep and intergenerational trauma. It is our duty to acknowledge that the act of colonization through displacement, discrimination and systemic racism has caused intergenerational trauma for indigenous peoples, and that issues such as remoteness cannot stand in the way of doing everything that we can to reconcile. To reconcile means that we must move forward on equality, on truth, on self-determination and on services that are not eurocentric but rather designed by and for indigenous peoples with sufficient funding and supports in place so that people can access them. I am someone who has worked on the issue of mental health and substance use for a long time. I am also someone who loves people who use substances, and I have lost a few. I am critically aware that there is no one approach or program that can help. Prevention, for example, starts early. It is things like decent housing and education opportunities, skills training and access to culturally relevant supports. It is making sure that kids get the best start they can. It is working across agencies, governments and sectors. Of course, it takes all of us, at every level, in every community, and it means that we help each other, and we lean in to listen. My department is working closely with first nations, Inuit, and Métis partners to improve service delivery. What does that mean? It means supporting better and more access to culturally grounded wrap-around care. It means treatment with medication, traditional practices, on-the-land healing, case management, counselling and aftercare. It means making sure that federally funded programs support organizations with flexibility to support people in ways that will help them stay connected. One of our government's first actions in 2015 was to restore harm reduction supports as a key pillar in addressing the opioid crisis. When someone dies of an overdose, it is too late. We must do everything we can to help people stay alive as they work towards recovery, and recovery is possible. That is why another key element of our approach is collaboration. Everyone is affected, and partners in health, in justice and at every level of government must put people and families at the centre. We must all ask what more we can do to support people to find and stay in appropriate treatment, to support families and groups like Moms Stop the Harm, and to help each other get through this crisis together. As we know, emotional trauma must be understood and treated as a risk factor so that fewer people end up facing neglect and isolation. A crisis of this scale requires a response from society as a whole, including representatives from all levels of the community and government. It is of the utmost—

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The Assistant Deputy Chair

Feb/8/22 8:03:15 p.m.
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I apologize, but we have to go to questions and comments. The hon. member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound.

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Mr. Alex Ruff (Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, CPC)

Feb/8/22 8:03:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, a report that was produced in my riding, the community drug and alcohol strategy for one of my counties, stated that mental health and addiction services are spread across many different ministries and funding bodies, both provincially and federally, and are significantly underfunded, relative to the federal spending on physical health. Individuals and families seeking help to address mental health, substance abuse and other needs such as housing are required to navigate a complicated system of supports and reconcile conflicting policies, information, attitudes and options. Knowing the role for the minister, and as well with respect to indigenous services and having two reserves in my riding, what steps has the federal Liberal government taken to consolidate responsibility in making access support easier for all vulnerable Canadians?

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Hon. Patty Hajdu

Feb/8/22 8:04:21 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the federal government has an important role to play in supporting provinces and territories to deliver on their responsibilities for health care, including mental health and substance use care. Beyond that, we also have an important responsibility to provide support for first nations and indigenous communities and ensure they have the right supports as they choose and that those supports are appropriately funded, and designed and led by indigenous people. We will continue to work with all partners to make sure we can increase capacity for communities to support people who use substances and their families who love them.

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