44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 18, 2023 10:00AM
- May/18/23 11:02:44 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to address the motion from the member for Carleton and provide an update on our government's response to a complex challenge facing our country, the overdose crisis. This crisis is having a tragic and unrelenting toll on Canadians, their families and communities.
Each one of these deaths is tragic and creates a void in the community that can never be filled. Every person who has lost their life in this crisis has left behind someone who is grieving: a friend, a partner, a parent or a child.
There are four pillars recognized internationally as necessary for a successful substance use strategy: prevention, harm reduction, treatment and enforcement. Our government is committed to a comprehensive approach that implements policies and supports for all four of these essential areas.
The dangerous, ideological and outdated approach proposed by the Conservative motion creates a false choice between harm reduction measures and treatment. We need both. As B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapointe recently said, “There should not be a dichotomy between access to life-saving safer supply and access to life-saving treatment options”.
The intent of this motion is simply to create fear, increase stigmatization and score political points with the Conservative base. It is dangerous, anti‑science and would cost lives if implemented.
The toxic drug supply and overdose crisis is a daily worry for our government. When we think of the lives lost, the repercussions for communities, the devastating losses for families and the impact on the economy, we realize that it is a national tragedy.
It has never been more important for all levels of government, partners and stakeholders to work together to turn this crisis around.
To find solutions, we must first understand the many different factors that drive substance use. That must include addressing mental health. Harmful patterns of substance use are established over time. Some people can trace their substance use back to early childhood trauma. Others may be affected by poverty or housing instability.
While many people in Canada struggle with mental health problems, some groups face particular challenges because of systemic racism, discrimination, socio-economic status or social exclusion.
Marginalized groups are often victims of stigmatization or prejudice, which places them at higher risk. These include youth, indigenous peoples, racialized communities and LGBTQ+ people.
Stigma is harmful in several ways.
Stigma discourages people from seeking help and reduces their chances of getting help when they do seek it. It can also make it difficult to get the support needed to implement policies and programs to help people who use substances.
That is because there is still a deep-seated misconception that addiction is a choice, and that is just not true.
Addiction is a medical condition that can be treated.
The fact is that people who use substances need support, not judgment. They need community, not isolation. They need empathy and understanding, not stigma. When substance use is stigmatized, it creates a very dangerous situation. It can lead to people using drugs alone and prevent them from seeking help. That is why we need to provide a continuum of care to people who use substances, one that is woven through every area of their lives. Prevention, treatment and harm reduction measures all have a role to play, as too do actions that reduce stigma and provide continued access to health and social supports for individuals.
Our goal is to reduce the stigma and risks associated with substance use while providing people who use drugs with better access to health and social services.
To achieve this, Canada must address the risks of substance use from a comprehensive societal perspective.
Since 2017, the government has invested more than $1 billion in prevention, treatment, risk reduction and enforcement. This is in addition to the investments made by provincial governments within their jurisdictions.
The Government of Canada is now working with the provinces and territories on a transformative multidisciplinary care model that integrates patient centred mental health and substance use care.
From increased access to mental and substance use health through primary care to improve data and better sharing of health information between the professionals they consult, these tailor-made agreements with provinces and territories would improve access to the supports Canadians need when they need it.
However, we know that we need to do more, and that includes trying innovative approaches in order to save lives. It also includes making it easier for people who use drugs to access health and social services, such as treatment for people who are ready for it.
Budget 2023 sets out our plan to transfer nearly $200 billion to the provinces and territories over the next few years to improve health care, including support for mental health and substance use services. This will be done through a combination of increases to the Canada health transfer and new 10-year agreements with the provinces and territories.
These investments would help us build, among other things, a resilient health workforce that provides Canadians with high-quality, effective and safe health services when they need them. That includes access to timely, equitable and quality mental health, substance use and addiction services.
Through our tailored bilateral agreements, we will invest $25 billion over 10 years to work with the provinces and territories to advance shared health priorities.
This approach is the most effective way to integrate mental health and substance use services throughout the health care system.
This investment is in addition to the $2.4 billion over the next four years that will still be provided to the provinces and territories for mental health and addiction services as part of the 2017 common statement of principle on shared health priorities.
Harm reduction services are a vital part of a comprehensive, compassionate and collaborative public health approach to problematic substance use that includes prevention, treatment and additional social and health supports.
We cannot allow the Conservative Party's ideological agenda to shut down the safe consumption sites that have prevented more than 46,000 overdoses since 2017.
Safe consumption sites replace contaminated street drugs with a drug of known content and potency to keep people alive.
We need to keep people alive until they are ready to access treatment. We cannot allow the Conservatives to take us back to the failed ideology of the past.
Together, we can create real systemic change and give every person in Canada the support they need to live long and healthy lives.
1093 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/18/23 11:12:01 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, my thoughts are with the people in his riding.
There are several ways to help drug users, and if we want to keep people safe, supervised consumption sites and overdose prevention sites are part of the solution. They play a significant role in saving lives. Almost no one has died of illicit drug poisoning at these sites. We are there, and we will move forward with the opening of others.
72 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/18/23 11:14:15 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that important question, and no, I will not answer him in the same way.
The government's approach is built on four main pillars: harm reduction, supervised consumption sites, treatment and enforcement. This comprehensive and holistic approach provides a variety of solutions for people using drugs. It is a complex problem that affects everyone differently. We do not know why people use drugs. We do not know each person's specific reason. That is why we have to offer them a range of solutions so that they can find the one that works best for them.
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/18/23 11:15:45 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to answer that question.
As I was saying, the four pillars are prevention, risk reduction, treatment and enforcement. By relying on these four pillars, we can provide solutions that are better adapted to each person using drugs. The latest statistics show that 46,000 overdoses have been reversed at safe consumption sites. That clearly shows that these sites are essential and are an important part of the range of solutions that have been proposed to address this national crisis.
85 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/18/23 11:26:48 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's pain and emotion. To be quite honest, I prefer her emotion to the Conservatives' rigidness.
She talked about how others see people who use drugs and how those people see themselves. We know that stigma has a major impact on how they react, on how they act.
Does my colleague agree that working on reducing the stigma surrounding drug users could improve the current crisis?
73 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/18/23 12:06:40 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his strong advocacy.
In April of this year, the BC Coroners Service affirmed that there continues to be no evidence that prescribed safe supply is contributing to illicit drug deaths. In fact, B.C.'s chief coroner said, “safer supply...is absolutely not driving this crisis.”
I am disappointed with the misinformation and misconceptions the Conservatives are promoting. We know the street drug supply is toxic and poisoned. Recovery is possible, but it looks different for everyone.
Could my colleague speak to how people need to be alive to benefit from treatment?
101 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
