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Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Feb/8/22 9:57:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, a homelessness initiative was started in my riding during the pandemic. A whole lot of these resources have emerged in Quebec and across the country. The pandemic has taken a toll. What we are hearing tonight is that the pandemic has had major consequences in terms of mental health and opioid use. I think that cases have doubled in all provinces across the country. Some people have succumbed. They lost their job and started using. There is a homelessness initiative in my riding. Although there was a little funding during the pandemic to support these people and these kinds of resources, that well has dried up. The government has not made any announcements about what will happen at the end of March. Organizations are waiting to pay people and keep the resource open. Does my colleague agree that the government should extend funding for homelessness beyond March 31?

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Mr. Marc Dalton

Feb/8/22 9:58:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert. He asked what the alternatives are. I truly believe that recovery centres are essential. As I mentioned earlier, the pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on the number of people dying. The director of one recovery centre told me that many people living on the streets were receiving money that they were not really supposed to receive. Many of these people were negatively impacted as a result. That is one of the problems that was noted.

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Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

Feb/8/22 9:59:58 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I just want to tell my neighbour, the member for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, that I know how deeply this affects his community, and I know how hard he and other elected officials in his community are working to make sure that people are housed and cared for in Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge. The other thing that the member and I share is the reality that the opioid crisis is responsible for the declining life expectancy of men in the province of British Colombia. We know much of it is related to tradespeople. Unfortunately, tradespeople do not have access to the care they need: the health care and the doctors they need to deal with the pain they are dealing with every day. I just wanted to extend my wishes to the member that our communities remain healthy, and also ask the member if he supports the bill from my colleague, the member for Courtenay—Alberni, in relation to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs, so that those who are working, who are trying to work through pain and trying to work through any type of opioid addiction are not at risk of losing their employment.

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Mr. Marc Dalton

Feb/8/22 10:01:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for her comments and, yes, we are right across the river from each other. I know one of the organizations in my riding that is helping those to recover is Hope for Freedom. I know there are also facilities in her riding that are doing great work. It gives me hope to see people's lives changed and for them to be able to come out of this. It does give me that hope, so I am happy to work with her. As far as the Conservatives' position, we are not for trying to go after the drug users but more those who are in the distribution and pushing on a large scale. That would be our focus. I would have to look at the bill before I comment further, but I do thank her for her questions.

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Mr. Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville, Lib.)

Feb/8/22 10:02:20 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Kitchener Centre. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this very important issue that has tragically touched so many lives right across the country and of course in my riding of Vancouver Granville. British Columbia has been seized by the opioid crisis as we have heard from other members. It does not matter whether we are rich or poor, urban or rural, likely we know someone who has either lost their life or been touched in some way by this awful crisis. The impact of the opioid crisis is devastating individuals, families and communities. We all know it has become worse through the COVID-19 pandemic with isolation, stress, reduced access to services and toxic supply now entering the mix. As a result, we saw a 74% increase in opioid-related deaths during the first six months alone of the pandemic. When we think about the opioid crisis, too often we fall back on stigmatized characterizations of people who use drugs. The ongoing effects of the opioid epidemic are pervasive. These overdoses are claiming the lives of thousands of Canadians of all ages from all walks of life. We continue to hear so many devastating stories from people who have lost a loved one to this epidemic. I heard these stories during my more than 10 years as a volunteer and a board member at Covenant House in Vancouver, and I have heard them from my constituents about their loved ones, whether they are doctors, lawyers, teachers or kids. To this day, I am absolutely haunted by the stories of young people for whom the possibility of death from an opioid was just all in a day's living. I was also moved by the desire of so many who were desperate for a way out, a way out that meant that they could get clean and stay clean and not worry about dying in the process. These young people, those who survived and those who did not, continue to be a reminder of why we have to act. Those who were impacted by the opioid crisis still remain stigmatized by the public, and the stigma remains a huge barrier to ensuring that people who use drugs can receive safe, culturally competent and trauma-informed care. Harm reduction, safe supply and addressing this as a health care issue is what we must do. Substance use is a health issue that requires care and compassion like any other health condition. It requires vision like that shown by Vancouver's late mayor Philip Owen and his four-pillar approach for addressing Vancouver's drug crisis. The four-pillar approach reflected a comprehensive approach to the drug crisis by treating it as a public health issue and not solely as a law enforcement issue. Instead it involved a mix of prevention, enforcement, treatment and harm reduction. This approach was critical in changing the shape of how Vancouver approached the drug crisis in the early 2000s. Now almost 20 years later we know that there is lots more work and collaboration that we need to put into place, but we know that harm reduction saves lives and we know that we need critical action immediately to reduce the harms of the worsening toxic drug supply. It is often said that Canada's opioid crisis started in B.C. and it has to end in B.C. I am proud of the work that we have done to date. In 2017, my colleague from Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam introduced the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, which provided limited legal immunity to those bystanders who called for help if they witnessed an overdose. Since 2017, supervised consumption sites across Canada have received more than 2.9 million visits and have reversed nearly 27,000 overdoses without a single death at a site. We know that supervised consumption sites save lives by providing a safe, clean space for people to bring their own drugs to use and to be able to test these drugs safely. To continue to effectively address this crisis, we know that we have to collaborate with all levels of government in effecting a meaningful response. As we move forward in addressing this crisis, we know that a comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate and evidence-based approach is what is going to work to end this national public health crisis. We have to consider all options, from safe supply to drug checking, to stop this unending and preventable loss of life. We have a chance to lead on ending once and for all the heartbreak and devastation that is caused by this opioid epidemic. We do this by working with communities, law enforcement across all levels of government and, above all else, by keeping in mind that this is about saving the lives of our fellow Canadians. That should be reason enough to act.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Feb/8/22 10:07:03 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to probe one aspect of the member's speech. He talked about the issue of safe supply, and other members have talked about safe supply policies. The term safe supply can be used in different context. I would support, for instance, providing substances like suboxone that can be used in treatment. Suboxone can help treat opioid dependency and also has the benefit of being quite tamper-resistant. I would also support allowing doctors to have the discretion and flexibility to provide prescriptions to patients in the context of understanding their own situation or their own health needs. That could be considered a form of safe supply. What I would not support is a policy whereby a broad range of dangerous drugs were made more easily available outside the context of treatment and not under the supervision of a physician. I wonder if the member could clarify what kinds of safe supply policies he supports. Is he talking about physicians making substances like suboxone more available, or is he talking about just a general policy of government funding and increasing the availability of dangerous drugs?

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Mr. Taleeb Noormohamed

Feb/8/22 10:08:22 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we have to work with the provinces and the cities where we are going to be putting this in place to understand what makes the most sense. There is lots of opportunity for us to look at SUAP, the substance use and addictions program, and ways in which we can direct funding from there to work with physicians to deal with safe supply. There are so many options available to us, and we need to explore all of those options. I know the minister dealing with mental health and addictions has been putting a tremendous amount of time and effort looking into this. We can come up with solutions that work to serve Canadians in the most meaningful way possible, and hopefully with the support of all in the House.

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Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Feb/8/22 10:09:04 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-216

Mr. Chair, the member for Vancouver Granville talked about how he listened to the stories of people struggling with addiction. Some of the most moving stories I have heard from my constituents have been from people who have struggled with addiction. Some of them have overcome it and are back with their families or forming new families, which is so moving. He outlined some of the paths we need to take to get people to that place. My colleague from Courtenay—Alberni has tabled a private member's bill, Bill C-216, which will be debated here very shortly, that will tackle each of those things. It will tackle decriminalization of small amounts of drugs and it would form a national strategy with the provinces to talk about dealing with the harmful medical effects such as safe supply. I am wondering if he will support this bill.

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Mr. Taleeb Noormohamed

Feb/8/22 10:10:08 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his advocacy on this issue. There are many elements we need to consider. Working with the provinces is key. Vancouver and British Columbia have already put in applications for exemptions. These are tangible things we can put into place right away. All of these opportunities are ones for us to take up in partnership with the provinces and the cities. It is how we are going to get this done. It is how we are going to make sure we are addressing these issues in all the different ways required, from ensuring there is safe supply all the way to ensuring there is wraparound care for mental health and addictions, all of which are interlinked in many of these situations.

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Mrs. Julie Vignola (Beauport—Limoilou, BQ)

Feb/8/22 10:10:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a background in education, and school boards and schools in Quebec have a need and a duty to prepare action plans. These plans must include objectives and state how they will be reached, how long it will take and who is responsible for doing it. Is it not time that we did the same for the opioid crisis? We have plenty of solutions to offer.

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Mr. Taleeb Noormohamed

Feb/8/22 10:11:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the time has come to work together and tackle this problem. We must work with all the provinces to find solutions that will work for their regions and for the cities facing this crisis. We will work together, because that is what it will take to find these solutions and solve these issues in an effective manner.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Feb/8/22 10:12:15 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to start by thanking the member for Yukon for his leadership in ensuring we have this conversation this evening. It is such an important conversation to come back to the critical need for us to save lives in the midst of a poisoning crisis. Before we talk about that crisis, I want to share that in Waterloo region alone in 2021, there were around 155 overdose poisoning deaths. As a baseline, to give members a sense, we had 145 deaths from COVID-19 in Waterloo region. As many members also know, the average is now 19 deaths a day across the country. For those in this place who like talking about the economics of decisions that are made here, in 2017 we spent $6.4 billion on policing, courts and correctional costs with respect to criminalized substances. Tonight and often, I have heard many folks say that this should be a public health matter, not a criminal justice one, and I could not agree more. The good news is that we have advice for all parliamentarians on how to ensure that our legislation reflects that, because the fact is that today it is not true. It continues to be that we are criminalizing unregulated substances across the country. To do that, I would encourage all parliamentarians to review the expert panel's advice from Health Canada on substance use. This is why I am so supportive of the member for Courtenay—Alberni's private member's bill. It is taking a road map from this third-party advice to move toward legislation that would do exactly that. It would treat this as a matter of public health and, because it is a crisis, which is a view that every speaker this evening has shared, we should move forward with the urgency it deserves. That is why I would encourage all parliamentarians to support the private member's bill. Specifically, in doing so, that bill includes recommendations from the expert panel, including the decriminalization of simple possession of unregulated drugs, expunging or wiping clean the records of folks so they do not have that discrimination throughout their lives and a national strategy that would include low-barrier access to a safer supply. As we do that, I also want to point out the need, which was mentioned by the task force, to talk about the social determinants of health while also directly addressing the poisoning crisis we are in. We know that, for those who are currently addicted to unregulated drugs, that is heightened by the lack of access to quality, dignified and affordable housing. It is heightened by the lack of truly universal health care across the country and the lack of proper income supports. With the rest of my time, I would love to share a quote from a frontline worker in Waterloo region. This is from Alice, who works at the Sanguen Health Centre, who supports and works with people every day who are on the front lines of this crisis. Her words are the following: Regardless of the political climate, we are going to spend every minute of our day caring about people who use drugs, honouring their lives, their perspectives and their expertise, and advocating with them when their needs are not met. We will continue to build and create relationships that are based on mutual respect and love and walk with people in their times of joy and in times of heartbreak. We will remember each life that has been lost in preventable overdose deaths as the vibrant, complex and beautiful spirits that they were instead of cold statistics, and we will continue to refuse to accept the status quo: that people who use drugs are considered less important than other people in our communities. We will proudly declare to anyone who is listening (and many who aren’t) that people who use drugs are a welcome part of our community, not people happening to our community, just as we have every day for many years.

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Mrs. Élisabeth Brière (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, Lib.)

Feb/8/22 10:17:13 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the member mentioned that a lot of money has been put in the justice system. We introduced legislation that, among other measures, would require police and prosecutors to consider non-criminal responses to some drug-related offences. I would ask my colleague if he agrees that alternatives to prosecution should be considered for simple possession offences.

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Mr. Mike Morrice

Feb/8/22 10:17:45 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I do agree, and to go a step further, we recognize that mandatory minimum penalties, as has been called out in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, need to be moved away from. I would actually encourage the governing party to go further with that legislation to ensure that we follow through on the calls to action from the TRC.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Feb/8/22 10:18:23 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to very strongly agree with the aspect of the member's speech where he talked about affirming the immutable human dignity of everyone in our society, recognizing that those who suffer from substance abuse disorders need to be greeted with love, care and empathy. Many members of the government, as did this member, spoke about advocating for the further liberalization of drug laws, such as decriminalization, and some members support full legalization. I think one of the problems with these arguments is that they do not take into consideration the fact that, in certain contexts in Canada, we already have, practically, very liberalized drug law realities at the local level. The reality, for instance, in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver is not formal legal decriminalization but effective legalization as well as the concentration of services. However, it just is not working. If we look at the regional context where there is a practical liberalization of drug laws, we continue to see very high levels of overdose deaths. I do not agree with the member, but I would ask him to explain further why he assumes that further liberalization is going to solve a problem that it has not solved up until now.

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Mr. Mike Morrice

Feb/8/22 10:19:46 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-216

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for the question and for the tone with which the question was asked. It sounds like it comes from a place of genuine curiosity. My perspective is to follow the expert advice that parliamentarians are being given, and that expert advice from the task force on substance use shares very clearly the need to move away from criminalization alongside other recommendations, many of which are reflected in Bill C-216, that would ensure that we would not only save lives but better take care of people across the country.

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Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Feb/8/22 10:20:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. We have talked about a lot of things this evening. For me, there are four takeaways: diversion; increased health transfers because health care is under provincial jurisdiction; increased investment in social housing because the federal government has neglected it for 30 years; and long-term investments to fight homelessness. Which of those four ideas does my colleague think we should prioritize in tackling this crisis?

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Mr. Mike Morrice

Feb/8/22 10:21:32 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-216

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert. My priority is Bill C‑216, which was introduced here in the House. It is a mix of policies. We do not need to choose one over the other, as we have in front of us a bill that would allow us to do a mix of what experts are already calling for.

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Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Feb/8/22 10:22:14 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to pick up on some of the barriers that these people face. They face many barriers, but when I talk to people who work with those struggling with addictions in my riding, in my hometown of Penticton, places like Discovery House, Pathways, Moms Stop the Harm, one of the big barriers is the stigma that many people have against those struggling with addiction. I had the opportunity to have dinner with the Consul General for Portugal last summer, Marta Cowling, and we talked extensively about Portugal's experience with this. One of the big successes in Portugal when it decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs was a great reduction in the stigma. When something is criminalized, these people are seen by many as criminals, and they are not. They are people struggling with a medical condition. I wonder if my colleague could comment on that.

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Mr. Mike Morrice

Feb/8/22 10:23:24 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the three-word answer is that we need support, not stigma. We need to recognize that this is part of a vicious cycle. The stigma is part of why we need to move toward decriminalization. That is what helps us move away from this, which was one of the five core challenges the task force called out, as we move toward decriminalization.

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