Evidence of meeting #4 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was enforcement.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard
Jennifer Goldstone  Acting Head, National Anti-Drug Strategy, Department of Justice
Paul Saint-Denis  Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
Trevor Bhupsingh  Director General, Law Enforcement and Border Strategies Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Jean Cormier  Director, Federal Coordination Centres, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Don Head  Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada
Taunya Goguen  Manager, Serious and Organized Crime, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Luc Chicoine  National Drug Coordinator, Federal Coordination Centre, Federal and International Support Services, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Denis Kratchanov  Director and General Counsel, Information Law and Privacy Section, Department of Justice

5:10 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

I would like to know how much work you do, as you work with Health Canada and other groups, looking at the issue of actual demand.

Knowing that addiction is a chronic disease, a medical disease where we look at medical intervention.... Most people who are addicted are not addicted because they lack willpower; they are addicted because—we now know about—the neurotransmitters in the brain, etc., so everyone agrees with the idea of replacement therapy.

My question is this: What are we doing to deal, very clearly, with the demand side? Are you working together with Health Canada and the provinces in a reasonable way to deal with the issue of addiction per se and the medical problem, and how we can treat it and at the same time prevent harm? I simply want to know if you are involved in this. I know the police departments are. But in the RCMP, I'd like to know if you are looking at this from that perspective.

5:10 p.m.

Insp Jean Cormier

Is the RCMP is involved with the different departments...?

5:10 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

No, also with other police officers around the country. In Vancouver, I know they are very much looking at addiction as a disease and not necessarily as an enforcement thing only.

5:10 p.m.

Insp Jean Cormier

Right. Definitely in the nature of police work we certainly look at the enforcement side of things. But as I said, we do subscribe to the fact that it is not only a law enforcement issue but also a whole community issue, and everybody has a role to play in it--

5:10 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

But a medical issue. I want to talk about the medical component of it here and, therefore, harm reduction being a core piece of public health policy. For any medical disease, harm reduction is a piece. I go back to why it is that harm reduction used to be part of the policies up until 2005. Why has that changed? Why has harm reduction been removed?

5:10 p.m.

Insp Jean Cormier

I'm not sure I'm in a position to answer that question.

5:10 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

Okay. Thanks.

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Ben Lobb

Thank you, Ms. Fry. We're right on time.

That will conclude this portion of our committee meeting. I thank the witnesses here today. Your support staff did a great job.

We'll suspend for a moment. We're going to go in camera and continue on with our committee business.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]