Bill C-283

An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (addiction treatment in penitentiaries)

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that, on request by a person who is sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary, a court may, if certain conditions are met, make a recommendation that the person serve their sentence, or a part of it, in custody in a penitentiary that has been designated as an addiction treatment facility.
The enactment also amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to, among other things, provide for the designation of a penitentiary as an addiction treatment facility and require the Correctional Service of Canada to ensure that a person in respect of whom a recommendation is made that they serve their sentence, or a part of it, in a designated facility is placed in such a facility as soon as reasonably possible.

Criminal Code

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to join the second reading debate of Bill C-283 regarding addiction treatment in our prison system. Let me begin by thanking the hon. member for bringing this legislation forward and for recognizing the role that addictions play in crime.

I want to start by letting the member know that the government will not be supporting her legislation, but I will go into details of that now. Having met with the hon. member, I know that she is extremely well intentioned in bringing this legislation forward, and I do give her my personal commitment that I will work with her to ensure the ideas that she wants to bring forward are looked at.

Substance abuse must absolutely be treated as a health and social issue. Any Canadian who uses substances should be able to access the services and supports that they need. Anyone incarcerated in Canada's federal institutions should have access to quality, safe, person-centred and holistic care, regardless of institutional placement or type of offence. Indeed, these programs exist, and they are comprehensive and available to all offenders. They exist as part of the Government of Canada's broad and concrete approach to strengthen public health support for all Canadians.

Included in the 2021 Speech from the Throne was:

To build a healthy future, we must also strengthen our healthcare system and public health supports for all Canadians, especially seniors, veterans, persons with disabilities, vulnerable members of our communities, and those who have faced discrimination by the very system that is meant to heal.

This is a key part of the mandate letters of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Minister of Public Safety.

The December 2021 mandate letter asked the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions to:

Advance a comprehensive strategy to address problematic substance use in Canada, supporting efforts to improve public education to reduce stigma, and supporting provinces and territories and working with Indigenous communities to provide access to a full range of evidence-based treatment and harm reduction, as well as to create standards for substance use treatment programs.

The mandate letter asked the Minister of Justice to “Secure support for the swift passage of Bill C-5 to reduce reliance on mandatory minimum penalties and promote non-criminal approaches to drug possession”.

The mandate letter to the Minister of Public Safety requires the minister to:

Develop a Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism in consultation with provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, Black communities and other stakeholders. As part of this work, [the government] consider how to ensure that federal correctional institutions are safe and humane environments, free from violence and sexual harassment, and promote rehabilitation and public safety.

As mentioned, in keeping with its public health-centred approach to addiction and the opioid epidemic that has affected families and communities across the country, the government introduced Bill C-5, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, in December 2021. The bill proposes specific amendments that would repeal all mandatory minimum penalties in the CDSA and require police and prosecutors to consider alternatives, including diverting individuals to treatment programs instead of laying charges or prosecuting individuals for simple drug possession. It would also require that all past and future convictions for the simple possession of controlled drugs be kept separate and apart two years after the bill received royal assent.

Our efforts have also been focused on addressing the opioid crisis. Budget 2022 proposed to provide $100 million over three years, starting in 2022-23 to Health Canada for the substance use and addictions program. The program supports harm reduction, treatment and prevention at the community level, and it builds on the $116 million provided in budget 2021 and the additional $66 million in the 2020 fall economic statement for the program.

I would also like to highlight that in June 2022, the government published its federal framework to reduce recidivism. The framework outlines the strategy that Canada will take working to address the barriers identified under each of the thematic priorities of housing, education, employment, health and positive support networks.

The framework identifies harms related to substance use among offenders as an urgent issue and states that more programming inside and outside of the institution to aid offenders in managing addiction will be beneficial. It highlights that the gains made during in-prison treatment programs can only be maintained if an offender is provided with sufficient aftercare supports and community treatment upon release.

Given all of these actions, let us look at what the bill proposes.

It proposes to isolate substance use treatments from existing integrated services and to enact them on their own at designated treatment facilities. It proposes an amendment to the Criminal Code to provide that a court, on request by a person sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary, may make a recommendation that they serve part or all of their sentence in a penitentiary or any area in a penitentiary that has been designated as an addiction treatment facility, provided that they meet certain conditions.

These conditions are, more specifically, where there is evidence of a pattern of repetitive behaviour indicating that substance use has contributed to the offender's involvement in the criminal justice system; that the offender consents to treatment; the court is satisfied that such an order would be consistent with the fundamental purpose and principles of sentencing; that the offence was not prosecuted by indictment for which the maximum penalty is 14 years' imprisonment or life; and, finally, that the offence was not prosecuted by indictment for which the maximum penalty is 10 years' imprisonment and the offence resulted in bodily harm or involved the use of a weapon, or involved the import, export, trafficking or production of drugs.

The Correctional Service of Canada would be required to fulfill such recommendations and adjust their rehabilitation model, which currently provides addiction treatment to all offenders who demonstrate substance use and addiction treatment needs.

Additionally, the bill proposes that the Corrections and Conditional Release Act be amended to provide authority for the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada to designate a penitentiary or area of a penitentiary to be an addiction treatment facility.

The bill would also amend the definition of “health care” in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to include “care that is provided as part of an addiction treatment program in a designated facility”.

It would authorize the Minister of Public Safety to enter into an agreement with a province “for the provision of addiction treatment programs to offenders in a designated facility and for payment by the minister, or by a person authorized by the minister, in respect of the provision of those programs”.

Under this bill, offenders that serve part or all of their sentences in a designated addiction treatment facility would still serve their required penalty of imprisonment.

I would point out that currently, these facilities do not exist.

The court-ordered penalty would still be served but with a focus on addiction treatment within a designated treatment facility.

At this point, I would like to outline our objections to the bill.

First, isolating those treatment services could create negative outcomes for offenders. People living with substance use disorders are not necessarily ready for active treatment. A spectrum of supports, which is not limited to active addiction treatment, must be explored and available to offenders living with substance use disorders.

The government also opposes the proposed bill because it would introduce amendments that could have a number of unintended negative consequences, including for overrepresented populations in the federal correctional system, such as indigenous and Black offenders. Further, the government recognizes that more needs to be done to support people experiencing harms from substance use.

That is why our government will continue to work with provincial and territorial governments, partners, indigenous communities, stakeholders, people with lived experience with substance use, and organizations in communities across the country to work toward reducing substance use harms.

My sense is that the federal framework to reduce recidivism is the place where the hon. member’s ideas can be explored. I thank her again for bringing this bill forward and for meeting with me to discuss the issues that she is concerned about. As I said earlier, I commit to working with the hon. member on this issue.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

moved that Bill C-283, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (addiction treatment in penitentiaries), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Madam Speaker, as this is my first time making a speech in the House since a tragic incident in British Columbia, I would like to first take a moment to pay tribute to the RCMP constable whose life was sadly taken while serving in Burnaby in the line of duty. The late constable was a member of the detachment’s mental health and homeless outreach team, and she served in the role for three years. I have no doubt of the immense impact she had in her community.

I am here today to rise and speak to my first private member's bill, Bill C-283, the “end the revolving door” act. This legislation proposes to amend the Criminal Code of Canada and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to expand the sentencing options available in our justice system and to assist those whose lives have been ravaged by addiction.

When I was first elected, I knew I wanted to do something for those suffering from mental health challenges and/or addiction. My team and I researched this topic, looking for possibilities within federal jurisdiction to make a difference. Thanks to the member for Kootenay—Columbia, I was able to pick up his work and research where he left off at the end of the previous Parliament. I thank him for his prior work on this legislation and for speaking to it today as well.

The effects of the revolving door in our justice system for those with mental health and addiction issues are felt in communities across Canada. There is surely not one member in the House who would not consider this an issue in their community.

In Kelowna—Lake Country, desperate people suffering from severe addictions and mental health challenges are entering and exiting our justice system without the proper curative treatment they need to heal. As a result, they return to my community, and others across the country, only to repeat the same cycle of behaviour that, for many, will see them re-entering the justice system and those same penitentiaries again and again. The effects of this have been widespread. Residents have valid safety concerns, businesses deal with crime and safety issues and first responder resources are strained.

Crime numbers show law enforcement spends a lot of their time focusing resources on those with mental health and addiction. Courts are backlogged with reoffender cases. Small businesses have to foot the bill for damage. People are injured, or worse, and families are torn apart.

We do not know if my private member's bill, Bill C-283, would have made a difference in each situation, but we need to do something. If we get the actions proposed in this legislation implemented and there are differences being made in people’s lives and in communities, surely this could be expanded in other ways.

The need for legislative action is imperative. A 2015 study by Correctional Service Canada showed that, at admission to federal custody, 70% of men and 77% of women offenders had a substance use issue. Similarly, a review of the National Parole Board files revealed that about 73% of offenders who were returned to custody had abused substances while on release. They also revealed that substance use had contributed to the termination of their release.

Municipal leaders are calling for action, including the BC Urban Mayors' Caucus. They state that their cities' businesses are “facing break-ins and other challenges, as a result of increasing social disorder and challenging behaviour from people in crisis.” We need to do something, and we need to take action.

This need for legislative action on mental health and addiction for those in the justice system is clear. Parliament has already taken action to focus on recidivism, in other words, the revolving door. The House of Commons came together to unanimously pass legislation from my colleague, the member for Tobique—Mactaquac, to establish a framework to reduce recidivism in Canada. Bill C-283 seeks to continue this work by assisting addiction treatment in federal penitentiaries where people in need can receive the curative treatment they desperately need.

We know that the heroic work of addiction professionals already within penitentiaries operating under existing programs is vital, but the results show more focus and additional action is needed to heal those suffering from mental health and addiction problems. The ability to sentence offenders into a dedicated addiction treatment facility operating inside an existing Correctional Service of Canada facility would help support their work.

No one piece of legislation can serve as the panacea for those with addiction who enter the criminal justice system. I believe this legislation can offer an important tool to help reduce recidivism, address our mental health and addiction crisis and improve the public safety of our communities.

In that effort, my bill would first empower the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada to designate all or part of a facility as an addiction treatment facility. Such a facility would need to come together with the government's support and with input from experts in addiction and recovery. I do not seek to prescribe the shape of how this facility should operate, as this would be up to the experts who work in this field.

Second, this legislation would amend the Criminal Code of Canada to support a two-stream sentencing process. While both would have the same sentence time, certain convicted individuals who demonstrate a pattern of problematic substance use and meet certain parameters at the time of sentencing could have the judge offer them the choice to be sentenced to participate in a mental health assessment and an addictions treatment inside a federal penitentiary while they serve their sentence. Through this sentencing process, offenders would still receive meaningful consequences for their actions but would also receive curative treatment, leading to a path of reducing the risk of reoffending; in other words, ending the revolving door.

This year I have had the pleasure of speaking with many stakeholders who work in addiction treatment and criminal justice reform. I want to take a moment here to thank them for those eye-opening meetings and for the important work they undertake every day. Some work directly with addicts on the streets; some work inside in the prisons; some are affected by the actions of those being incarcerated, and some are trying to help others simply because of their own lived experience.

There is a lot of support to move this end the revolving door act forward to be studied at the Standing Committee on Public Safety. I want to share just a few comments.

Marlene Orr, the chief executive officer of Native Counselling Services of Alberta, which works to heal the disproportionate number of indigenous Canadians in our justice system, states that the introduction of Bill C-283 is important, as it is a firm step forward in addressing the issue of addiction and its relationship to crime and recidivism. She says equipping Correctional Service Canada with the legislative authority to address the drug crisis in an institutional setting provides the service with meaningful tools to help Canadians address addiction and its relationship to crime.

Anita Desai, president of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice, an alliance of Canadian groups dedicated to the work of criminal justice reforms, said that substance misuse, dependence and criminal justice are quite linked and Canada is in serious need of more tools in the tool box. She went on to say she believes Bill C-283, the end the revolving door act, has the potential to create some of those tools.

Teri Smith, president of the Business Improvement Areas of B.C., says that as the organization that represents more than 70 downtown and main street districts across B.C., collectively comprising hundreds of thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of employees, they are supportive of Bill C-283, and that this private member's bill serves to address one component of the broader issue of safety, crime and vandalism by supporting critical addiction treatment supports and services for individuals in need within federal correctional institutions.

These are businesses in the ridings of members of Parliament from all over British Columbia, including from downtown Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, who have federal elected representatives across political party lines in the House. Let us all work together to address the complex mental health and addiction crisis here in Canada by reforming sentencing, improving addiction treatment in penitentiaries and offering a message of hope to communities, families and those suffering. I ask for support from all members of Parliament for my private member's bill, Bill C-283, the end the revolving door act.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-283, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (addiction treatment in penitentiaries).

Mr. Speaker, I am very excited today and pleased to rise to introduce my private member's bill, the “end the revolving door” act, to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act regarding addiction treatment in penitentiaries. I would like to thank the member for Kootenay—Columbia for doing a lot of the preliminary work on this legislation and for seconding my bill.

This bill proposes to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to expand the sentencing options available in our justice system and to assist those whose lives have been ravaged by addiction.

In my home province of British Columbia and my community of Kelowna—Lake Country, we are all too familiar with the revolving door of our criminal justice system, with prolific offenders and seeing addiction on our streets with increasing crime rates. High recidivism rates in Canada among those suffering from mental health issues and drug addictions are putting extreme pressure on law enforcement resources, straining our justice system, harming and costing our communities, burdening our municipalities and breaking Canadian families.

A 2015 study by the Correctional Service of Canada showed that, at admission to federal custody, 70% of men and 77% of women offenders have a substance use issue. This legislation would allow the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada to designate all or part of a facility as an addiction treatment facility. It would allow a court the ability to make a recommendation that people serve their sentence, or part of it, in custody in a designated facility as defined and under certain terms as laid out in the bill.

There needs to be evidence establishing a pattern of repetitive behaviour by the offender that indicates that problematic substance use has contributed to the offender's involvement in the criminal justice system. The purpose of an addiction treatment facility is to provide inmates with access to a program for a curative treatment in relation to the problematic substance use, as well as access to other related services that respond to their specific needs. In sentencing, offenders would still receive meaningful consequences, while also receiving care leading to a path of reducing the risk of reoffending.

We have a complex addictions crisis in Canada, and this would be an important tool to help communities and families, protect the public, and maintain public confidence in the judicial system. I trust that all members of this House will support my private member's bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)