Okay. Thank you.
As time is running short in terms of my availability, I will speak very briefly to the motion that was mentioned, but I would also like to comment on what's been brought to me by the first intervenor on the motion. I'll start there.
As members know, I was invited on the basis of a motion to come and speak to the opioid crisis, so I do want to make sure I comment on what's been most recently said. You brought up a number of issues, and I think the one that you were asking most directly for was to declare a national emergency on it. I think it's important to speak to that.
The mechanisms available to the federal government on the declaration of an emergency are somewhat different from the powers that are vested in provincial governments for a declaration of an emergency. British Columbia effectively declared a public health emergency, and I have found it helpful to provide them with tools they didn't already have.
Under federal legislation, there is currently an Emergencies Act. It is a modernization of the previous War Measures Act, which was implemented on three occasions: World War I, World War II, and the October Crisis. The current Emergencies Act has never been implemented. I have asked my department, including the Public Health Agency of Canada, to investigate whether a declaration of an emergency would be appropriate under the Emergencies Act.
To do so, we would have to have exhausted all other possible resources, and it would essentially take over powers that are currently vested in provincial governments to be able to act on public health. The analysis of the department to date has been that it is not deemed to be appropriate under the circumstances.
That in no way is an indication that we don't recognize the seriousness of the opioid crisis. I have continued to say that if we felt that declaration of a national emergency would give us tools we don't already have, then clearly we would have a responsibility to do so. To date we feel that the lack of declaration of an emergency has not impeded us from using all tools at hand. That said, we have looked for other alternatives outside the Emergencies Act to be able to bring further resources and mechanisms to the table.
I know British Columbia used their declaration as a way to be able to get better data and surveillance. One of the things that the chief public health officer would be able to speak to if we had the time would be that he has taken steps to open a new special advisory committee.
We have decided to look at the opioid crisis in the same frame that we would look at an infectious disease epidemic. The special advisory committee tool has been used in things like the H1N1 crisis and the Ebola crisis, and it was also used in response to the Syrian refugee crisis. It gives the chief public health officer the opportunity to work with medical officers of health in the public health network across the country to be able to do a much better job than we're doing now, getting as close as possible to real-time information on data and surveillance.
I don't know whether you want me to take the time, but the chief public health officer could give you information. I believe he is meeting tomorrow with medical officers of health and public health officers across the country to talk about getting that kind of information. Thank you for raising this issue.
The other thing the committee recommended was a task force, and I'm happy to say we do now have a task force within Health Canada, as was recommended by the committee. These are examples of things that we're doing to be able to pursue this issue.
I should respond specifically to the motion on the table, and I'd be very pleased to have a conversation with Mr. Brown about this at another time in recognition of the fact that we're here to talk about opioids. I think he's put forward an interesting motion to essentially evaluate a mechanism that was proposed by the previous health minister, who is now Leader of the Opposition.
The process that is currently in place for people who were potential victims of thalidomide was put in place by the previous government, the mechanisms by which people would be compensated and by which those who didn't meet the criteria would have the opportunity to be able to respond to that.
I am pleased that Crawford & Company has been able to identify, I believe, a further 26 individuals, and there was one who actually met the criteria as recently as last week. It continues to identify new people who have suffered as a result of thalidomide.
Having said that, if the committee feels it's appropriate to examine the process that the previous government put in place and to assess whether in fact that was a fair process, obviously it's completely the committee's jurisdiction to examine that.