- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Indigenous Services
Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
- Liberal
- Thunder Bay—Superior North
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $142,376.94
- Government Page
- Feb/8/22 8:08:06 p.m.
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Madam Chair, there is a lot of work happening at various levels of government to consider decriminalization. As I said earlier in response to other colleagues, I believe that there is no one perfect approach. It will be multiple things that will help people who use substances and that will help their families.
The first thing we have to do, and I fully agree with my colleagues in this regard, is to treat people who use substances with respect and compassion. There is no path forward if we do not get that right.
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- Feb/8/22 8:06:02 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I think the member opposite knows that is exactly the journey we have been on. We have been working with provinces and territories on making sure people can access safer supply. In fact, just a few months ago, prior to being the Minister of Indigenous Services, I was so pleased to announce funding for four safer supply projects in British Columbia.
Of course, this relies on those strong partnerships with provinces, territories and, indeed, the entire health care sector. We need to support providers so that they feel comfortable and safe to prescribe safer supplies for people who use substances. The federal government has been doing that in partnership with provinces and territories.
Finally, we must note that, in fact, it is not one approach that is going to help save lives and stop this tragedy. It is going to be multiple approaches, as appropriate and as determined by people in communities.
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- 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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- 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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