Health Committee on June 6th, 2022

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Chair, can I ask, through you, for the submission of the type of data that's being gathered as part of the funding?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Who is that directed to, Mr. Jowhari?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I believe it was Ms. St-Aubin who was talking about the funding that is being provided around collecting data. I'm just trying to understand what type of data is being collected. That's all.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for your indulgence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Are you in a position to provide that supplemental information, Ms. St-Aubin?

[Candice St-Aubin]

Yes, I can come back and provide more detail in writing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Yes. Thank you kindly.

Thank you, Mr. Jowhari.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Garon for six minutes.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

My first question is for you, Ms. Weber, as it concerns your field of activity. I'd like to talk to you about the movement of certain narcotics.

Before marijuana was legalized, the federal government, through the Department of Health, granted permits for growing marijuana for personal and medical use. However, the mayors of rural municipalities in my riding, such as Saint‑Colomban, Mirabel and Sainte‑Anne‑des‑Plaines, whom I would like to say hello to in passing, are noticing that the use of these permits is being abused. It seems difficult to control. It seems that permits are granted very easily and that very little medical evidence is required. There seems to be abuse, high production and resale. Obviously, these substances are circulating and being used by young people as well.

I'd like to know whether now that marijuana has been legalized by the federal government, the Department of Health intends to review the regulations for the granting of these permits, to avoid the kind of problems I just mentioned.

[Kendal Weber, Assistant Deputy Minister, Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Department of Health]

As you've noted, in the Cannabis Act, the restrictions include a minimum age of 18 years to possess, distribute and sell cannabis. We have allowances for children who access cannabis for medical purposes. They need to get an authorization from their health care practitioner and then they'll be able to access—

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Let me interrupt you, because I don't think you understood the question. I'll state it more clearly.

I'm talking about people over the age of majority who obtain permits to grow marijuana and have a very large number of plants at home. Mayors in my riding are concerned because there seems to be very little control. I've been told that some people get these permits very easily. This procedure predates the legalization of marijuana.

Will the procedures be changed to tighten up the granting of permits? If not, are we going to ensure that people go and buy their marijuana through the legal channel, now that there is one?

[Kendal Weber]

Yes. There are two points.

The first point I will address is that yes, in fact, before cannabis legalization, we had cannabis regulations for medical purposes. Yes, individuals can access cannabis for medical purposes, and they can grow it for themselves. They need an authorization to grow the cannabis for themselves for medical purposes.

We are undertaking a legislative review of the Cannabis Act. It says in the legislation that three years after its coming into force we must do a review of the legislation. We will be undertaking that review of the Cannabis Act in the short term.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you very much.

I have a question for Ms. St‑Aubin.

I know that you've worked with NGOs and that children's learning is very important to you. During the pandemic, schools had to remain closed to protect children, and these closures resulted in isolation. Was this a source of mental distress for children? I'm thinking of mental health, but also learning delays, in particular.

[Candice St-Aubin]

Yes. Previous to my time with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Government of Canada, I worked in early learning and child care directly, as well as for NGOs representing the wellness of children and children's rights.

With regard to the impact, this is something we're still looking at. This is something the Public Health Agency of Canada is taking seriously. We're trying to ensure that we're investing in surveillance and surveys with partners at Statistics Canada and in the research that's happening, led by colleagues at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, on what the impact is of COVID-19 on children and youth, in particular.

As we know, the impacts are felt across the life course. Certainly, it's felt by seniors, as well as adults, economically, socially and with mental health more broadly, but when it comes to children and youth, it will require additional research and additional surveillance and analysis.

Unfortunately, it would be pre-emptive of me to address any of those questions, but it is, again, something we're looking forward to returning to when we have a bit more information on what exactly those impacts are.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Nevertheless, you could assume that it would have been better not to isolate children. That could be a logical conclusion, although we are waiting for the results of the research. We note that countries with higher hospital capacity were able to wait longer before closing schools.

Do you think that if the provincial governments had had a higher hospital capacity, it might have been beneficial for children, in the sense that it would have allowed them to stay in school longer with their peers and friends and to continue their education a little more normally?

[Candice St-Aubin]

Unfortunately, I'm not able to answer that, specifically, as addressed. What I can say, again, is that as the Public Health Agency of Canada works on providing jurisdictions with guidelines and guidance documents with respect to isolation and masking, etc., it is really up to the jurisdictions and the provincial and territorial partners to choose how they are put into place.

As it relates to health and human resources in hospital settings, I would have to look to my colleague, Jocelyne Voisin, to see if she has anything additional to provide in that area.

[Jocelyne Voisin]

We have closely monitored hospital capacity across provinces and territories throughout the pandemic to ensure, mainly, that people with COVID-19 can get the treatment they need.

In terms of the impacts it has had on children, that's a bit beyond what we can address at the committee today. It's a very interesting question. I think that's really worthy of future research, for sure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Garon.

Next, I'd like to welcome Ms. Zarrillo to the committee and invite her to take the next six minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to start with my question to Ms. Weber, and then hopefully I'll have an opportunity to talk about the impacts of changes in life at home for children. I know there was mention today of the changes to them in their communities, but I also was wanting to get some information about changes in their life at home.

I wanted to revisit something that Ms. Weber said around the legislation on cannabis and the fact that there was a commitment to a three-year review. We haven't seen it yet. I think it was October 2018, and I'm wondering when we can expect to see that three-year review on the Cannabis Act.

[Kendal Weber]

That will be starting very shortly. It is to start three years after the coming into force, so work has been under way over the past couple of months to look at public health data, public safety data and trends that we have been seeing, and to prepare for the launch of the review, which will be coming in the short term.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Will that review involve the impact on youth and usage in youth and access for youth?

[Kendal Weber]

I'm sorry, I didn't hear the first part of the question, but I think you asked if we would be looking at the impact on youth and children. Is that correct?

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Yes.

[Kendal Weber]

Exactly. It's a huge part. It's so important, because protecting children and youth from accessing cannabis is one of the key objectives. Protecting public health and public safety are objectives within the act, and we will be looking at children and youth. Anything that this study can bring to that would be useful.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'm going to talk about vaping after, but while I have this opportunity on cannabis, I was a municipal counsellor when vaping came in, and we were allowing these businesses to open before it was legally allowed to be sold in Canada, because we had no ability to stop that, and enforcement was almost invisible.

On the cannabis file, there was some talk about labelling. I'm hoping labelling and packaging will be addressed in marketing to children.

I wanted to ask about product format. We know that edible cannabis is being marketed as candy, looking like candy, in formats that are like candy. Is that going to be addressed in the study, the reality of what's happening on the ground?

[Kendal Weber]

First, it is illegal, so it's prohibited to sell and label packaged cannabis products that are considered appealing to youth. It cannot look like candy.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Between what's illegal and what happens on the ground and then the lack of enforcement and the fact that it falls on the cities, schools and school boards to handle it....