Evidence of meeting #119 for Health in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was drugs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
Thank you, Dr. Henry.
Thank you, Mrs. Goodridge.
Next we'll have Dr. Hanley, please, for five minutes.
May 30th, 2024 / 12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Brendan Hanley Liberal Yukon, YT
Thank you very much.
I'm picking up halfway, so I'm going to apologize if I repeat any past themes. It's really good to be here.
I'm going to concentrate my questions on you, Dr. Henry. It's really good to see you again.
Since we're on this theme of public consumption and decriminalization, I want to allow you a little more time to untangle what I see as somewhat of a confounding between the idea of decriminalization and public consumption.
I see public consumption every day in downtown Ottawa, for example, where there is no decriminalization as of yet. We know that it's an issue that affects all of our inner cities, and it had long been an issue in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and elsewhere in B.C. before we came to this approach of trying to remove the stigma of criminalization from personal drug possession.
I'm going to allow you a minute to really expand on this at your leisure.
12:25 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
Thank you.
I think that is the important thing. We have seen increased visible homelessness. We know that. We know from data that, across this country, as we've come out of the pandemic, we've had increases in people living in poverty and with food insecurity, and that has led to more visible homelessness. Some of those people are people who use drugs.
Yes, I think it's very real and very concerning that we've had increases in people recognizing and seeing people on the streets. That is hard for all of us, and that is something that underlies some of the challenges we're facing with increased challenges with drug use as well. We do need to address that.
To link it to one small policy change that is around removing criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs is wrong, because we know that this was a problem prior to that coming into play. It is still an issue that we all need to deal with. We need to deal with the societal issues that underlie that, which are challenges with income insecurity and challenges with home insecurity and homelessness. Those are underlying issues that we need to work together on.
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
Brendan Hanley Liberal Yukon, YT
Thanks, Dr. Henry.
I was one of your colleagues in the Yukon at CMOH, and I remember well when you declared a public health emergency in 2016.
Can you give me a bit of a big picture view of where we are now compared to where we were then, particularly if we're thinking about how we leverage further federal support and national coordinated support?
I'm going to allow you to give a bit of that big picture overview with a view to ongoing recommendations.
12:25 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
When we declared the emergency—it was my predecessor who did that in 2016—it was really to raise awareness about this issue that was changing, and changing rapidly, and leading to people dying at an unprecedented level. It allowed us to pull together information. It allowed us to start working on harm reduction. If we think about it, at the time, naloxone was a medication that was only available under prescription so we have come a long way. We know that the naloxone program, the take-home naloxone program that started out here in British Columbia as a harm reduction measure, has saved thousands of lives.
We were making some progress in putting together more coordination, understanding that pathway to treatment for people with a substance use disorder, and raising awareness about the toxicity and the changing nature of the street drugs. When we hit the pandemic, sadly, a lot of the supports that we had put in place that were making a difference in 2019.... When we had the concerns about transmission of the virus, things got dramatically worse, but also during that period of time, the global drug trade changed dramatically.
The importation of small amounts of synthetic opioids really took over what we were seeing on the street, and that has remained at a very high level. We have also made some progress, though the levels are still very high—too high. We have more awareness now. We have systems in place. We have programs like Hope to Health.
We are now working, finally, I believe, in our health care system at trying to get more cross-provincial support for people who have to enter into the health care system, because we know the stigma and shame that people who use drugs experience in our health care system.
We have these things, but we have to put them all together. We have to work in a coordinated way.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Thank you very much, Chair.
Dr. Henry, Dr. Perry Kendall was B.C.'s public health officer before you, from 1999 to 2018. Is that true?
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
He was the provincial health officer. That's correct.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
You seem to have some trouble with this, but the Vancouver Sun reported that in 2020, after retiring as the public health officer, he co-founded Fair Price Pharma. Is that true or is that not true?
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I believe he was involved with it. I don't know the exact nature. He was involved with it. He is no longer involved with it.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
As far as I am aware, he is no longer involved.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
He was one of the co-founders of this company that imported 15 kilograms of heroin into Canada.
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
You must remember that any importation of drugs into Canada is done under Health Canada.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
No, Dr. Henry, please. This is not your stage to grandstand. This is to answer some very pointed questions.
The question would be that he was the co-founder of a company that imported 15 kilograms of heroin into this country and the answer, of course, is yes.
Do you know a Dr. Mark Tyndall?
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I do know Mark Tyndall.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Is it true that he's the former executive medical director of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control—
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
That's correct.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
—and former deputy provincial health officer under Dr. Kendall? Is that true?
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
That's correct.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
He started a company called MySafe Society. Is that true?
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I don't remember the name of it. It could be.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Okay. Let's say it this way then. He started a company to supply so-called safe supply hydromorphone from vending machines. Is that true?
12:30 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
From biometric machines, I believe so, yes.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Fair enough.
That company then received $1.3 million from Health Canada's SUAP funding. Is that true?