Good morning and thank you for this opportunity.
I understand that you've received a great deal of evidence on the realities of overdose and the opioid crisis in Canada. I'm here today to offer a front-line perspective and talk about how Bill C-224 would improve community health.
I want to preface my statement by imploring this committee to hear from the community of folks who are most directly affected by overdose and criminalization, and that is the community of people who use drugs. I am here with one member of that community, my colleague, Christine Lalonde. I'm a front-line harm reduction worker at Centretown Community Health Centre, just 10 blocks from Parliament Hill. Every day I provide safer injecting and safer smoking supplies to people who use drugs in this city. In addition to distributing supplies and offering health education and referrals, I also listen, support, and build trust with people who use drugs. At times I am the first and only point of health care contact for folks who use drugs.
Nearly every person I talk to about overdose has had a personal experience with it. Either they have overdosed themselves or they have been present at an overdose. I have worked with people who have overdosed and died in Ottawa's parks, overdosed and been resuscitated in shopping centre washrooms, and folks who have had peers overdose and die in their homes. Community members continue to be apprehensive about calling 911 in overdose situations. Calls occur less than 50% of the time, according to Ottawa Public Health, due to concerns about police presence, fear of arrest, or being implicated in the overdose. Individuals who do call 911 often report being heavily questioned by the police, assumed to be suspicious rather than praised as quick-thinking witnesses.
If you are someone who has regular contact with police and the criminal justice system, you may be reluctant to involve the police in an overdose situation. Past charges and criminal records have a way of influencing police behaviour. One man I work with who has a long history with the police in Ottawa has instructed his partner to never call 911 if he overdoses. He knows he will face charges if that happens. The last time he overdosed, his partner ran to the nearest fire station and asked them to help but not to involve police. Criminalization impacts this community's health. People who use drugs are incredibly stigmatized in our culture. They are frequently judged for their behaviour and perceived as undeserving of care. This stigmatization plays out in health care settings and impacts people's decisions to seek care, be it with their own doctor, or by calling 911 for an overdose. While our law and law enforcement need to adjust their attitudes towards people who use drugs, so too do we as Canadians. Bill C-224 challenges criminalization and stigma by prioritizing public health and safety at overdose scenes.
There are a great many drug policies that you as decision-makers can implement to address the opioid crisis in Canada, which include decriminalizing the use of all drugs, supporting the expansion of supervised consumption services and take-home naloxone programs, increasing access to drug and alcohol treatment, opioid substitution therapy, and medical marijuana. The good Samaritan drug overdose act is just one of a multitude of strategies this country desperately needs to respond to the current public health crisis.
Like some of your previous witnesses and members of this committee, I feel the immunity outlined in this bill needs to be broader than possession. Nevertheless, I support this bill as a first step and I applaud MP McKinnon for proposing it and using his position to support the lives of people who use drugs. Bill C-224 is a harm reduction strategy that this committee has the influence to pass into law. A common definition of harm reduction is “any step towards greater safety is a step in the right direction”. Bill C-224 is a step towards greater safety.
Thank you.