44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2024 02:00PM
- May/29/24 11:59:57 p.m.
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Madam Chair, when COVID-19 arrived in this country, we put out a plan to get vaccines to people. We moved and mobilized quickly. We worked through jurisdictional overlap overnight to literally save lives. However, the government is not doing that when it comes to this crisis because of stigma. Is the minister aware that over 20 years of peer-reviewed research shows that safe consumption sites save lives and increase access to treatment?
We heard from the deputy commissioner of the RCMP that they want more safe consumption sites, not fewer. Is the minister aware that with the surge of overdose deaths in Lethbridge, Alberta, since the closure of its safe consumption site, they have tripled? It has triple the death rate of British Columbia per capita. In Regina, where we do not have a safe consumption site, it is double that of Saskatoon. Also, HIV rates are impacted when we do not have harm reduction. Saskatchewan has 19 HIV cases per 100,000. To compare that to the second-most, it is Alberta, at 4.2.
It is out of control. Will the minister intervene?
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- May/30/24 12:01:13 a.m.
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Madam Chair, I am the last person who has to be convinced that safe consumption sites are important.
Since 2017, with 41 safe consumption sites across this country, we have reversed 55 overdose deaths. We have seen over 4.6 million visits, and we have had over 417,000 referrals to treatment. We know they matter. That is why we work with communities to get them in place. However, health service delivery is in provincial jurisdiction. We can use a hammer and a nail, or we can work collaboratively to move all boats along and have the tide rise. We have to work with our provincial partners.
We are not all on the same page on this. I agree with him that the numbers in Alberta are tragic, but at the same time, we need to work together as much as we can because the bottom line is that we want to save lives. This is our goal. Our priority is a comprehensive strategy of prevention, harm reduction, treatment and enforcement.
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- May/30/24 12:02:22 a.m.
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Madam Chair, agreeing is not good enough. Safe consumption sites are frozen in Ontario. The government is not delivering them in those places in Alberta that I talked about.
Is the minister aware that in 2008, all nine judges of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the federal Conservative health minister's attempt to close Insite went against the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms by threatening the safety and lives of the people who needed to use it?
What has changed for the minister? I want to know. Do we need to do this again? Is this what needs to happen, given that the minister is saying that she cannot do anything as it is outside her jurisdiction?
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- May/30/24 12:03:03 a.m.
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Madam Chair, quite the contrary. It is not that we cannot do anything; we are a key part of the approval process to enable safe consumption sites to be established in communities, and we continue to do that work. We are fully committed to doing that work. We know harm reduction is health care. We know safe consumption sites are health care and we will continue to support the opening of safe consumption sites.
With respect to Ontario, I speak to my counterpart Minister Tibollo quite regularly about the report on safe consumption sites, but we need to work together. This is how we will combat this.
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- May/30/24 12:03:42 a.m.
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Madam Chair, does the minister think it is appropriate for Alberta to levy a $10,000-per-day fine against people for providing life-saving first aid by operating informal overdose protection sites?
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- May/30/24 12:03:57 a.m.
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Madam Chair, we are working to make it as easy as possible for communities to be able to access supports to be able to set up the sites that they need.
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- May/30/24 12:04:09 a.m.
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Madam Chair, does the minister see that this is really a province that is implementing a de facto criminalization of medical practices?
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- May/30/24 12:04:17 a.m.
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Madam Chair, as I just said, we will work with communities to streamline the process of opening safe consumption sites as much as we can.
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- May/30/24 12:04:27 a.m.
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Madam Chair, the federal government should be asserting its jurisdiction and not allowing provinces to threaten draconian penalties on people trying to save lives during a worsening overdose crisis.
My question for the minister is this: When will her government act to ensure that treatment services for substance use are subject to proper regulation and oversight, and are part of Canada's public health care system, rather than a for-profit Wild West of unregulated, unaccountable and possibly dangerous private companies?
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- May/30/24 12:05:01 a.m.
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Madam Chair, we are in complete agreement that treatment services are health care services and that there need to be standards in place. Each provincial jurisdiction does have, although it is not equal across the board, standards in place.
Can we do more to set national standards for this? This is why we have reintroduced the expert advisory panel, to be able to look at the crisis in a renewed way to see where we need to do more.
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- May/30/24 12:05:34 a.m.
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Madam Chair, during Mental Health Week earlier this month, the Prime Minister stated, “We’re making sure that all Canadians have access to the mental health care they need, no matter where they live or what they do. That means making sure that mental health is a full and equal part of our health care system.”
In the absence of a dedicated and permanent Canada mental health transfer with accompanying legislation, provinces and territories are under no obligation to ensure that the delivery of mental health and substance use health services is on par with the delivery of physical health services.
How do the federal government and the minister intend to address the exclusion of mental health and substance use health services from the Canada Health Act? How do the minister and her government intend to ensure Canadians have access to the mental health and substance use health supports they need?
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- May/30/24 12:06:20 a.m.
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Madam Chair, the $200 billion in bilateral agreements that the Minister of Health and I signed with all 13 provinces and territories this past year had clear guidelines with respect to the integrators and targets they needed to set in the commitments they set out in their work plans.
As mentioned previously, on average, over 30% of funding went toward mental health and substance use services. We see the expansion of the integrated youth services, IYS, in jurisdictions across the country and the provinces taking them on and understanding their value when it comes to addressing prevention and mental health supports. We will continue—
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- May/30/24 12:07:02 a.m.
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The hon. member. There are 38 seconds left.
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- May/30/24 12:07:05 a.m.
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Madam Chair, we know that housing is integral in supporting people with substance use disorder. The government announced $250 million for emergency funding in the budget. That could create tiny homes in communities like Port Alberni and we could trust the province to support wraparound supports and the city to provide land. How quickly can the government get that money out the door? It is an urgent situation, an emergency.
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- May/30/24 12:07:27 a.m.
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Madam Chair, I would not want to speak for the Minister of Housing, but from what we can see in the announcements that have been rolling out across the country, and with our firm commitment to speed up housing, including complex-need housing, I am encouraged by the work we are doing to see housing built.
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- May/30/24 12:07:47 a.m.
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It being 12:07 a.m., pursuant to order made earlier today and Standing Order 81(4), all votes are deemed reported. The committee will now rise.
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- May/30/24 12:08:47 a.m.
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The House stands adjourned until later this day at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 12:08 a.m.)
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