Health Committee on April 15th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 110 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.

As a safety reminder, please ensure that your earpiece is not too close to the microphone, as it can cause feedback and potential injury.

In accordance with our routine motion, I'm informing the committee that all remote participants have completed the required connection tests in advance of the meeting.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on November 8, 2023, the committee is resuming its study on the opioid epidemic and toxic drug crisis in Canada.

I'd like to welcome our panel of witnesses here with us today.

As an individual, we have Dr. Nathaniel Day, provincial medical director of addiction at Alberta Health Services.

Our witnesses are appearing by video conference. We have the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, which is being represented by Fiona Wilson, president and deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department. We have the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which is being represented by Rachel Huggins, deputy director and co-chair of the drug advisory committee. From the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, we have Dwayne McDonald, deputy commissioner, and Will Ng, assistant commissioner.

Welcome to all of our witnesses. Thank you for being here.

I'm sure you've been advised that you have five minutes for your opening statements.

We're going to begin with you, Dr. Day. Welcome.

You have the floor.

[Dr. Nathaniel Day, Provincial Medical Director, Addiction, Alberta Health Services, As an Individual]

Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to speak to your distinguished committee today.

I'm Dr. Nathaniel Day, the provincial medical director of addiction for Alberta Health Services. I am also the person who designed and, with our team, implemented Alberta's virtual opioid dependency program. I was a member of the minister's opioid emergency response commission in Alberta under the Notley government and I was the co-chair of the recovery expert advisory panel for Alberta's current government.

I will briefly summarize some of the actions we have taken in Alberta to respond to the current phase of the opioid addiction and overdose crisis. I will raise things that I think are successful and could be replicated. Of course, a long-term problem requires long-term effort in order to see maximal benefits.

As recently as 2016, Alberta, like all jurisdictions, struggled to meet the needs of people with opioid addiction living anywhere not immediately local to a bricks and mortar opioid dependency treatment program. All jurisdictions have struggled with this problem. I proposed a new approach that provided virtual care, now expanded to every community in Alberta. To our knowledge, we were the first program to ever look at exclusively virtual care with no in-person component. We collected data on outcomes for our patients, which was published in the literature. By providing virtual service, we were able to reach people who had never been reached previously. We served people in 331 different communities, villages, cities and hamlets all across our geography.

Since 2018 we have not had a wait-list for services. If you need help today, you get help today. Right now there are people in Alberta who are certainly calling in for help, and then our allied health team starts an assessment. Our physicians work on shift 24 hours per day to assess and treat. Prescriptions go out to pharmacies closest to the patient, including delivery to remote indigenous communities. Because we use virtual tools, we can also support new places where people with opioid addiction are located. Our objective is to reach anyone who needs our care, wherever they may be.

For example, we have found that police, like all frontline workers, want to help the people they encounter who suffer from addiction. Police in all jurisdictions have people who use opioids, who are arrested for any reason and who, while waiting to see a justice of the peace, are going into or are at risk of going into withdrawal. In Alberta, when a person is under arrest they can be connected confidentially, using the same rooms that a person would use to speak with a lawyer, to get a health care intervention to manage their withdrawal, and an invitation to continue with us if they choose. About 10% of those patients are filling prescriptions in community 90 days later.

We supported the Province of Alberta's encampment response. We provide support to people in shelters, low-barrier housing programs and supervised consumption sites—essentially wherever a person is who wants service. Alberta is expanding access to bed-based services. Government has funded access to bed-based treatment spaces that were previously private. Government has eliminated the copay for addiction treatment. Alberta's government has also announced 11 new recovery community treatment programs, two of which are now in operation. The others are in various stages of planning or construction.

Alberta is working with provincial corrections to expand meaningful treatment for people with addiction who are incarcerated. Alberta has legislated licensing and accreditation standards for addiction service providers. This ensures that any Albertan who accesses our system of care receives evidence-based quality services.

We have a gap medication program that gives no-cost provision of Suboxone, Sublocade or methadone to anyone with a health care number, with no application and no delay.

There is much more that we could talk about. I will conclude with this: We would not be in this situation if our communities and families were as healthy as they could be. I recommend that this committee support only initiatives that will improve community and family wellness. It is important that all people with addiction—which touches all Canadian families and communities—be offered hope. Hope is, in my opinion, the antidote to stigma. Hope is powerful, and the evidence shows that when it sets in, it increases positive outcomes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Dr. Day.

Next, from the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, we have Fiona Wilson.

Welcome to the committee, Ms. Wilson. You have the floor.

[Fiona Wilson, President, British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, and Deputy Chief, Vancouver Police Department]

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. I am Fiona Wilson. I am President, British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, and Deputy Chief, Vancouver Police Department

In my role as president of the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, I'm honoured to share with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health our experience as police leaders with decriminalization in British Columbia.

The decriminalization exemption was issued under section 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act by Health Canada. It took effect over a year ago, on January 31, 2023. The exemption is part of a three-year pilot project that aims to take a health-led approach to substance use, as opposed to one led by the criminal justice system.

In British Columbia, we know all too well the severity of the toxic drug death crisis. Yesterday marked eight years since a public health emergency was declared in British Columbia on April 14, 2016. Since that time, tragically, more than 14,000 British Columbians have died from accidental overdose.

We've seen the crisis have the greatest per capita impact on rural communities, including those in northern British Columbia, on Vancouver Island and in the Cariboo. In many of these rural communities, the crisis can be double or triple the provincial average. Sadly, the highest per capita impact has been in Vancouver-Centre North, which includes Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Here, the stark reality is that the overdose crisis is more than 12 times the provincial average.

We recognize that the crisis has had an especially devastating impact on indigenous people in British Columbia. Alarmingly, indigenous people are six times more likely to be impacted by the crisis than non-indigenous British Columbians.

In recognition of the magnitude of this crisis, police leaders in B.C. supported decriminalization and taking a medically led approach to substance use. At the heart of it, police agree that people should not be criminalized as a result of their personal drug use.

In terms of police data, across British Columbia there has been a more than 90% reduction in drug seizures at or below the 2.5-gram threshold. Based on these results, I'm confident that frontline police officers are doing their part to implement the decriminalization exemption and to support a health-led approach to substance use.

However, the implementation of decriminalization has not occurred without criticism or concerns.

As police leaders, we were unequivocal about the need to prevent unintended impacts on community safety and well-being, especially for youth. The British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police clearly identified some of those potential consequences prior to the submission of the exemption request, both orally and in writing. These serious concerns included but were not limited to the matters of public consumption, consumption in licensed establishments and other places such as cafés and restaurants, and impaired driving.

However, the implementation of decriminalization occurred before more extensive restrictions on public consumption and problematic substance use could be adopted. While the vast majority of people who use drugs do not want to do so in a manner that negatively impacts others, there have been several high-profile instances of problematic drug use at public locations, including parks, beaches and around public transit. In addition, there have been concerns from small businesses about problematic drug use that prevents access by customers or negatively affects operations.

To address some of these concerns, after significant advocacy on the part of police in B.C., three additional exceptions were added to the exemption on September 18, 2023. In addition, the Province of British Columbia has taken significant steps to enact legislation that would prevent problematic substance use that negatively impacts community members, especially youth. However, before this legislation came into effect, a B.C. Supreme Court injunction was granted based, in part, on the section 7 charter rights of people who use drugs.

Given the scope of the crisis, it is apparent that decriminalization is only one strategy and that it must be part of a broader, multi-faceted response. Additional strategies include increased efforts in the areas of education, prevention and treatment and in the provision of enhanced health services to communities across B.C. While much work is occurring in these areas and significant investments of public resources have been made, it's clear that while decriminalization was able to come into effect in a relatively short time frame, these other strategies will take significantly longer to achieve and implement.

While working toward better health outcomes for people who use drugs, there must also be consideration of the needs and well-being of the broader public. I believe that other jurisdictions that have implemented or considered decriminalization, only to later abandon it, have done so because of unaddressed and unintended impacts on community safety and well-being.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Wilson.

Next, from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, we have Rachel Huggins.

Welcome to the committee, Ms. Huggins. You have the floor.

[Rachel Huggins, Deputy Director and Co-Chair, Drug Advisory Committee, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police]

Thank you.

Distinguished members of this committee, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to address you today on this very important issue.

It's important to begin by noting that law enforcement agencies across the country acknowledge that the opioid crisis is a public health issue. While police have a critical role to play in terms of preventing illicit drug distribution, curbing supply and safeguarding communities, we recognize and understand the need for a comprehensive approach that addresses the social determinants of health. This requires coordinated efforts across government, health care, the justice system, police and community organizations.

In July 2020, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police called for a broad societal response that includes prevention, education, support systems and access to treatment for those affected by drugs. We also supported the decriminalization of simple possession of illicit drugs as an effective way to reduce the stigma of substance use disorders, reduce public health and safety harms and divert individuals with substance use disorders away from the criminal justice system.

As you heard from my fellow co-chair of the CACP drug advisory committee, Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson, our early experience with formal decriminalization for simple possession of illicit drugs has had some unintended but not completely unexpected consequences.

Preliminary results of this pilot project have proven what police leaders have stated from the beginning: Decriminalization of drugs for personal use is only one part of a system and has to be part of an integrated, health-focused approach to addressing the opioid crisis and toxic drug supply.

Today the CACP reaffirms its commitment to a health-centred approach to the drug issue and reaffirms that addressing the opioid crisis includes the decriminalization of possession of illicit drugs.

In the past four years, important procedural and legal reforms, as well as training, have been implemented. These have led to a significant shift in police and public perception about substance use disorders, as well as a decline in simple possession charges, thereby reserving criminal sanctions for the most serious circumstances.

Decriminalization is about preventing the unwanted criminalization of personal substance use, creating a continuum of care to ensure that persons who use drugs are better connected with health supports and, finally, third, allowing the police to focus on serious illicit drug trafficking and production offences.

The pilot project implemented in British Columbia succeeded in achieving the first goal, which is procedurally and fiscally easy to attain.

Creating a continuum of care is much more challenging, as well as resource-intensive, but the successful achievement of goal number one depends on the successful implementation of actions to support the achievement of goals two and three.

From a police perspective and as police leaders, we see the critical importance of having the appropriate health and social structures in place before proceeding with changes to the legislative framework that would formalize the decriminalization of simple possession.

In conclusion, from a public safety perspective, Canada's police leaders believe that the success of any strategy in relation to the ongoing crisis of toxic drug supply should be measured based on its ability to improve health outcomes, reduce the impact of organized crime and address the property crimes and public safety issues that result from unaddressed substance use disorders.

The CACP believes that any strategy that is considered must be medically led and based on empirical medical research, and must provide increased health connections with medical professionals for people living with substance use problems.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Huggins.

Finally, we'll have the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I'm not sure whether it's Mr. McDonald or Mr. Ng or whether you're going to split it, but you have the next five minutes all to yourselves. You have five minutes in total.

[Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon.

I'm Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, the commanding officer of the British Columbia Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I oversee over 10,500 employees, of which 6,800 are police officers. We deliver municipal, provincial and federal policing throughout B.C.

I would like to acknowledge that I'm joining you here today from our headquarters, which is situated on the unceded territories of the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo First Nations.

I'm joined here by Assistant Commissioner Will Ng. He's our criminal operations officer for British Columbia and he serves as a single point of control and coordination of all investigative, intelligence and specialized RCMP resources within the province of B.C., ensuring alignment and enhanced delivery to the municipal and provincial contract partners.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak today.

We're here to provide perspective and information about the impact the opioid crisis is having on policing for the RCMP in British Columbia. I'll explain our role, our training, our challenges and some recent investigative findings.

Since 2015, the RCMP has been grappling in British Columbia with the alarming rise in overdose deaths, a rise fuelled by the increased prevalence of fentanyl in the illicit drug supply. This crisis has not only claimed thousands of lives; it has also left a profound impact on our communities.

Since the declaration of a province-wide health emergency in April 2016, over 13,000 lives have been lost to toxic, unregulated drugs in British Columbia. This is a crisis that knows no bounds. It affects people from all walks of life and communities across the province.

Indigenous communities in B.C. have borne a disproportionate burden of the crisis, facing higher rates of opioid addiction, overdose and death compared to the general population. Persons with mental health disorders or poor mental health are also overrepresented among those affected by the opioid crisis.

It's clear that this is not just a law enforcement issue: It's a public health crisis that demands a compassionate and comprehensive response.

As you are all aware, as of May 31, 2022, B.C. became the first province in Canada to receive an exemption from Health Canada under subsection 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The exemption decriminalized the personal possession of illicit substances. We are now in our second year of the exemption, which is valid until January 31, 2026.

The B.C. RCMP continues to support our partners and stakeholders as we all work through the implementation of this exemption. As a police agency, our role is to redirect people in possession of small amounts of certain illicit drugs away from the criminal justice system and towards health and social services. The RCMP continues to support all efforts to ensure that an overdose emergency is dealt with as a health and medical emergency.

Emergency medical dispatchers assessing calls no longer call for police assistance in every drug overdose emergency. Police are only notified in overdose calls if the situation is believed to be dangerous to first responders or members of the public, or for suicide attempts, whether they are drug-related or otherwise.

It's crucial to note that drug trafficking remains an offence under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The RCMP is committed to investigating and prosecuting such offences. Additionally, the RCMP prioritizes upholding the rule of law and ensuring the safety and security of the communities it serves by targeting violent offenders, deterring youth from joining gangs and combatting gang-related violence resulting from the drug trade.

Efforts also include dismantling drug production labs and curbing cross-border trafficking, including the importation of precursors.

To support the implementation of the exemption and ensure consistent enforcement, the RCMP collaborates with the B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, as well as with our law enforcement partners, to provide training and resources to frontline officers. We've equipped our officers with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of the exemption and respond effectively to overdose emergencies.

However, challenges persist. Despite the progress made, the management of public drug consumption following decriminalization remains a concern. Additional legislation is needed to address public consumption in non-exempted areas. We're actively monitoring the provincial government's effort in this regard. We also continue to work with our cities and our indigenous communities to address public safety concerns surrounding the unintended impacts of public consumption.

The diversion of safer supply into the illicit drug trade also presents an emerging concern that requires forthright attention. Through ongoing investigations in collaboration with health authorities, we are working to better understand and address this issue to prevent further harm. Efforts are under way to improve our data capture and our analysis with the objective of developing a clearer understanding of this issue. Furthermore, we are currently working to develop training and education tools to help support our frontline officers recognize diverted safer supply.

We also recognize the frustrations and challenges felt by our indigenous communities, which continue to bear a disproportionate burden under the opioid crisis. As a partner in this fight, the RCMP is committed to working alongside indigenous communities and agencies to develop and implement long-term strategies to address the root causes of drug addiction. We will also continue to hold accountable those who traffic drugs in these communities.

In closing, I want to reaffirm the RCMP's unwavering commitment to tackling the opioid crisis here in British Columbia. We will continue to partner with government agencies, communities and stakeholders to save lives and bring an end to this devastating crisis.

Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today. Assistant Commissioner Will Ng and I are available to answer any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you very much.

We're going to go right to questions now, beginning with the Conservatives.

Ms. Goodridge, please go ahead for six minutes.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank all our witnesses for being here today and for sharing on this important issue.

I'm going to start with Dr. Day. It's spectacular to have another Albertan here in Ottawa.

One of the things that I have found to be truly revolutionary in the world of addiction treatment is what Alberta has been doing with the virtual opioid dependency program. I wonder if you could go into a little bit more detail on exactly how it works.

[Dr. Nathaniel Day]

I'd be happy to do that.

This is how it works today in Alberta. If, for example, a person is at home and they are concerned about their opioid use or maybe they have run out of their supply of drugs and they're in withdrawal, they can just call a toll-free number—1-844-383-7688—directly and they will immediately be connected with an allied health team member who will start to explore their situation. In Alberta we have the benefit of single medical health records, so we're able to see all of that person's health records from their hospital visits, previous overdoses and things like that.

Once that person completes their assessment with our allied health team, almost immediately—or usually in no more than 15 minutes, depending on how many people are phoning at one given time—they're connected with an addictions specialist who can then walk through what their treatment options are. That specialist will prescribe a pathway forward for them to start evidence-based treatment medications.

The prescription is sent to the pharmacy closest to where they live or work, according to their preference, and that person can start treatment that very day.

Our team, of course, will follow up with that person later that day or the next morning to see how they're doing, and we will adjust the care from there.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

What would happen if that person was, say, in a rural community like Janvier, about an hour and a half away from the closest pharmacy? What would happen to someone like that?

[Dr. Nathaniel Day]

That is a challenge. We have many communities in Alberta that are rural and remote and present more of a challenge in accessing a pharmacy. For example, in your riding, there's a fly-in community. We've been working with the local health teams in that indigenous community to have a supply of medication stored securely on site there so we can actually send a prescription to that nursing station and the medications can be provided to someone as needed.

Further, we're also working in Alberta to address this problem by enabling our paramedic teams to carry evidence-based treatment medications as part of their kit so that we'd be able to actually connect with our integrated health teams in the EMS world to bring the treatment right to that person.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I think that's truly revolutionary and I know that doing it required an exemption from Health Canada to even make it possible.

Are there any other stopgaps you might have when it comes to Health Canada being in the way of you guys being able to expand this amazing service?

[Dr. Nathaniel Day]

To be honest, we started working with paramedics about four years ago. Unfortunately, we discovered that our work was illegal, because at that time paramedics were not allowed to carry Suboxone or Sublocade in their kits. We weren't aware of that, and our paramedics weren't aware of it either. We were actually presenting some data on how well it was going when it was brought to our attention that we actually couldn't do what we were doing.

Unfortunately, it's taken several years to get the change made that now allows us to move forward. It happened just recently, in the last couple of months. We're looking forward to being able to announce and implement a province-wide program in just a few weeks from now.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you for explaining that.

I think that just highlights how challenging the bureaucratic mess of Health Canada can be. You did something that is truly revolutionary, getting Suboxone and Sublocade in absolutely evidence-based treatment modalities into communities using innovative solutions, yet the bureaucracy said that it can't happen, and it took years to get that.

As my next question, can you walk us through what the ODP would look like in Alberta Correctional Services?

[Dr. Nathaniel Day]

In Alberta Correctional Services, of course we continue people who are on evidence-based treatment medications after they are arrested. We will also start people on treatment medications.

Unfortunately, Canada's largest correctional facility is in Edmonton, the Edmonton Remand Centre. The average length of stay is about two weeks. What we were finding was that there are a large number of people coming in who were not able to start treatment right away. The wait time to get treatment was as long as four to five months. You can imagine that many people were coming in and were not able to start treatment. Then they were released before they had access to treatment, which is a problem.

The way that it works today is that when a person goes in, they are immediately screened for opioid use disorder. They are able to provide a toxicology screen to support that. We do a video recording and connect that with our virtual opioid dependency team. That person is now able to be assessed and initiated on treatment. I think the average is now 0.9 days from arrival. We've completely resolved the wait-list problem there by using technology.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Goodridge.

Next we'll go to Dr. Hanley, please, for six minutes.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Good day, everyone.

Thank you to all the witnesses for appearing and for the learning.

I want to echo Ms. Goodridge's congratulation on the virtual care program. I think there's a lot for the whole country to learn from the successes there, Dr. Day.

I'm going to focus on other areas.

A new paper just out yesterday or today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that in 2021, one in 13 deaths among people under 85 in Alberta was opioid-related. I'm sure you're familiar with the paper. For Albertans aged 20 to 39, incredibly, opioids accounted for one in every two deaths. In some of the graphs in the article, the differences between Alberta and the other provinces is, frankly, quite alarming.

Towards the end, the article says, “...the burden of premature death from accidental opioid toxicities in Canada dramatically increased, especially in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.” This suggests that Alberta is outpacing the rest of Canada when it comes to opioid-related premature mortality. From what I've seen, the 2023 data do not look any more reassuring.

At the same time, that contrasts with, I would say, quite a positive note struck recently by your premier, who said that, over time, “far fewer” Albertans have lost their lives to addiction in our province and that “many drugs have their lowest mortality on record”. I know that she's referring to the decrease in other areas apart from illicit opioids, but the death rate from toxic illicit opioids by far eclipses all other causes and continues to rise.

All this is to say that when we have six Albertans dying per day and when aspects of the full spectrum of approaches are being pulled back at the same time, perhaps you could summarize and maybe justify the approach Alberta has taken.

How is the Alberta experiment going so far?

[Dr. Nathaniel Day]

Thank you for that question.

If we look at the overdose crisis overall and the number of fatalities, we see that British Columbia has the highest rate per 100,000 population in Canada. Alberta comes in second, and Ontario is third. Certainly the arrival of fentanyl and carfentanil in our jurisdiction does not go unnoted. None of us are happy with the number of fatalities that are happening because of fentanyl and carfentanil usage.

That being said, the reality is that we have an obligation. I view my obligation in Alberta Health Services as an obligation to ensure that we're building the best possible treatment system that we can, one that's accessible to people when they need it so that they can move along the continuum of care and receive evidence-based care.

Unfortunately, part of the story of what's happening in Alberta has not been narrated by Alberta. For example, in Alberta and previously, as I discovered looking at transcripts for this committee, Alberta does have exactly the same number of supervised consumption sites today as it had six or seven years ago. Alberta recently, just last year, opened six narcotic transition service sites that provide hydromorphone by injection or orally under supervision. Those medications cannot leave the site. The sites are intended to help people with the most extreme form of opioid addiction and the most negative consequences of it.

Furthermore, Alberta, as an example, distributed nearly a quarter of a million naloxone kits last year, so there are a lot of things happening in the harm reduction space that don't really make it to the front pages. I wouldn't say that Alberta is not investing in or working on those areas.

Where Alberta perhaps is different is that Alberta is trying to implement a recovery-oriented system of care, so that a person who enters care at a narcotic transition service site or in a supervised consumption site is encouraged, and there's work done to try to connect that person with treatment supports going forward.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

I have to interrupt you at this point. Thank you for that.

I would love to get more solid data, and perhaps you could help to provide that, but my understanding is that Alberta has about half the number of supervised consumption services as it did prior to the pandemic, and we had the closure of ARCHES and other supervised consumption sites. I believe my colleague talked about this closure in Lethbridge, for example. There's also resistance to acknowledging that inhalation is a primary mode now of illegal drug use. Alberta has resisted this.

The Minister of Mental Health and Addiction in Alberta talks about strong outcomes for Albertans on the path to recovery. Can you talk about outcomes for Albertans who may not yet be on that pathway to recovery?

[Dr. Nathaniel Day]

I'm not sure that I can speak to the outcomes of people who aren't engaged in the health system. It's very difficult to measure that.

To your comment, there was a supervised consumption site in Lethbridge run by a not-for-profit society, and it was closed, but the services were immediately transitioned to a site that's under my supervision. It's called an overdose prevention site, so it's not technically a supervised consumption site, but it has booths. It's operated by our public health care system. It's located in the parking lot just outside of the Lethbridge shelter that is operated by the local indigenous community, actually.

In terms of outcomes overall, I can say with assurance that whether it was the previous government or the current government, all efforts are looking towards improving outcomes for Albertans. Every initiative, every project we have is intended to make our system better, more comprehensive, with fewer gaps, so that people who need the services will be able to receive them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Dr. Day.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will try to speak slowly in case some of the witnesses struggle with French.

I'll start with the police agencies. What I understand from the testimony of you three is that decriminalizing simple possession has had more positive impacts than negative impacts in the fight against opioids and overdoses. Am I wrong?

[Rachel Huggins]

Thank you for the question.

It has had positive effects. That is what we're seeing with the numbers. There has been a significant decrease in criminalizing individuals for simple possession offences. It also gives police the opportunity to divert those individuals to those pathways of care to get them whatever support or additional resources they require from a community perspective.

I think the—