44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 18, 2023 10:00AM
- May/18/23 4:44:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, today there was an article in the London Free Press entitled “London doctor rips ‘unfounded anecdotes’ about safe drug supply programs”. The article notes the ignorance that is going on with regard to ignoring medical research and evidence from the safe supply drug programs that are in place in this country and from the safe prevention sites. The article goes on to say, “the criticism presents a danger to harm-reduction policies across Canada”.
We need to follow evidence-based policies, and I would like an answer as to why the Conservatives are not following evidence-based policies.
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- May/18/23 4:46:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my honourable and esteemed colleague from Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne.
Before I begin my formal remarks, I note that all of us members of Parliament get to know our constituents and their families in our ridings and serve them to best of our ability. Sometimes we are called upon to go to a viewing at a funeral home when someone passes away. In the almost eight years that I have been a member of Parliament, I have been to many viewings to express my condolences to families, and I go there with the utmost humility and respect.
In one instance, I went to a viewing for a 26-year-old individual who had passed away from opioids. I know his father and the family well. I will never forget that evening. I will never forget seeing his childhood books from elementary school, which we keep as parents, and the memorabilia. This individual should have had a full and much longer life, but it was taken away from him.
I have been to many viewings, and when they are for folks in their eighties and nineties, we always say they lived full lives and God bless them; they are not suffering anymore. However, I will never forget the viewing of that young individual. He battled and lost his battle to the opioid crisis. That is the human face.
That is why we as parliamentarians and legislators need to make sure we are doing the right thing for our constituents. Evidence-based policy is the right thing. It is not Nancy Reagan's slogan to just say no to drugs. It is not an ideological stance, which I am seeing on the other side. It is none of that. It is doing what is right and what is evidence-based. That is how our government proceeds on a day-to-day basis, and that is how I feel I can best represent the constituents in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge.
As everyone in the House knows, the toxic drug supply and the overdose crisis are devastating communities across Canada. Before the COVID‑19 pandemic, 10 people died of drug overdose every day in Canada. Now we are losing 20 Canadians a day.
Over the past seven years of this crisis, many more people have been hospitalized, called emergency support services and mourned lives lost. These are our friends, our family members and people in our communities.
Unfortunately, today we are debating an ill-advised motion informed by outdated ideology. The motion recycles a simplistic, discredited approach. Instead, we could be talking about a comprehensive plan to address a crisis that is killing people.
Even former prime minister Stephen Harper's public safety adviser, Benjamin Perrin, saw the light and described the current Conservative approach, as represented by this motion, as a repetition of the Conservatives' long-discredited war-on-drugs thinking that has proven not only to be ineffective, but also costly and deadly.
An effective strategy to curb substance use relies on four internationally recognized pillars: prevention, treatment, enforcement, and risk reduction, including safer supply.
In December 2016, our government launched the Canadian drugs and substances strategy, which takes a public health approach to substance use. In doing so, we committed to a comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate and evidence-based drug policy.
As part of the Canadian drugs and substances strategy, the Government of Canada has taken evidence-based action to address the supply of toxic drugs and the overdose crisis, and has announced over $1 billion in funding. This funding includes nearly $500 million for Health Canada's substance use and addictions program to support community-based treatment, harm reduction, prevention and stigma reduction activities.
In addition, this funding has supported research and policing initiatives and strengthened the capacity of law enforcement agencies to combat illegal drug production and trafficking.
Going forward, the Canadian drugs and substances strategy will continue to guide our government's approach to drug policy, which includes a full continuum of evidence-based options, as well as innovative life-saving strategies to meet people where they are and provide the support they need.
Substance use is an extremely complex issue, and Canadians use drugs for a variety of reasons. Not everyone who uses drugs has an addiction. Even when a diagnosis exists, treatment services may not be available or affordable. Also, not everyone is willing or eligible for treatment. Recovery is different for everyone.
Services to keep people alive and safe, which contribute to better health outcomes, should not be limited to treating people with a formal diagnosis of a substance use disorder, since the crisis affects people who might be trying drugs for the first time, people who use them occasionally and people who are struggling in silence with an addiction.
There is no universal solution to this crisis. We need to have a range of measures that meet the needs of people where they are and that lower the risks of substance use. Risk reduction is a key aspect of this work and this government's strategy for dealing with the supply of toxic drugs and the overdose crisis.
The evidence shows us that risk reduction measures such as supervised consumption sites, virtual or in‑person assistance, safer supply, take-home naloxone and drug-checking technologies support the people who use drugs by putting them in contact with social and health services and, especially, by keeping them alive.
For example, in one of the hardest-hit provinces, the data gathered in British Columbia show that the combined effect of expanding access to the take-home naloxone program, the supervised consumption sites and opioid agonist therapy was crucial for preventing overdose deaths in the province.
What is more, between 2015 and 2021, nearly 125,000 naloxone kits were used to stop overdoses in British Columbia. In 2016, there was just one supervised consumption site in Canada. Since then, the number of supervised consumption sites approved by the federal government has increased to 41. They are offered in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. That is because we are investing in what has been proven to work.
More than 46,000 overdoses have been reversed at these sites, which recorded more than 4 million visits. This point is worth repeating. These safe consumption sites, the same sites that the Conservative leader wants to shut down, have prevented more than 46,000 overdoses since 2017.
Those consumption sites have saved almost 50,000 Canadians from dying.
When we say that risk reduction goes wherever the people are at, this is what we mean. Risk reduction services are saving lives every day.
Assistance services offer support to people who use drugs, either in person or remotely by telephone, videoconference or an app. They also help in the event of an overdose. In its first 14 months of operation, the virtual National Overdose Response Service monitored more than 2,000 substance use-related events and responded to more than 50 adverse events. These events required an emergency response, but no deaths were reported.
I look forward to questions and comments from all of my colleagues.
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- May/18/23 4:57:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very important question.
Our program for reducing the number of overdoses is based on four pillars: harm reduction, getting drugs off the street, having a safe supply and having a safe treatment program for individuals who have unfortunately fallen dependent on these types of substances. These four pillars need to be working in unison and must be monitored to ensure they are working. We have estimated that the system has saved the lives of 46,000 people, which is something we need to speak to and look at.
We can always strengthen the system, yes, but we need to do it with an evidence-based approach.
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- May/18/23 4:59:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester for his advocacy on health matters. I believe he is the health critic for the official opposition.
I will say this. Our government is continuing to invest money in treatment programs and a safe supply program for individuals who are unfortunately dependent on these drugs.
I remember many years ago walking into a Shoppers Drug Mart in the town my wife is from, and two young individuals were there getting a yellow mixture of water and a powder because they were dependent. We need to make sure these individuals avoid getting dependent on the substances they are on and that there is an available safe supply. That is exactly what they were doing that day, and I bet we saved their lives.
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- May/18/23 5:00:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Vancouver Island for his very informative and substantive question.
Those safe prevention sites are literally saving the lives of the most vulnerable in our society. We must always take care of our most vulnerable, and any closures of those sites would obviously be detrimental to them.
We as a government, me as a parliamentarian and all parliamentarians need to make sure we are assisting and taking care of the most vulnerable in our society, particularly those dependent on substances, who in fact could pass away from taking them if they do not receive treatment or a safe supply of alternative medicines.
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- May/18/23 5:02:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I offer to my hon. colleague my sincerest condolences.
We all offer our sincerest condolences to any person in Canada who has lost a loved one due to this crisis. We as a government must maintain and look at evidence-based policies, which can assist Canadians from having to go through this scenario. We will be there for them.
In this case, I offer again my sincerest prayers for this young individual whose life was cut short because of this.
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