Justice Committee on Sept. 20th, 2017

[Marc Paris]

They're one of the tools. They're one of the tools in the tool box. I think in-school programs are extremely effective with the younger generations as well.

I think parents have an important role to play with their kids. That's why our current campaign with the cannabis talk kit has been going out the door. We've distributed 100,000 of them already and this campaign started in mid-June. It's probably the most effective tool for parents. It's an excellent tool to open that conversation. Parents need to be involved because even though parents don't think their teenagers listen to them, the number one reason kids tell us that they stay away from drugs is not to disappoint their parents.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I like your video as well and I'm going to make sure my brother and sister-in-law have access to it so they can be texting their kids. The best voice I have with the kids...the kids and I chat, but if you want to really get inside their heads, text them. There are no masks anymore.

[Marc Paris]

The reason we won all these international awards is that it used breakthrough technology. Five different platforms of technology were used to do this campaign. Unfortunately, I couldn't take you through the longer video, but essentially you're sending a video to your child that's about a minute and a half and you're saying, “I want you to watch this video.” The video was designed to target the kids.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I think it's brilliant.

I have another question and then I'll move on to Mr. Lee.

We heard earlier from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police that with resources they'll be ready. Do you take the police chiefs at their word?

[Marc Paris]

They know their business more than I do. I think if they have the proper funds and they know the clock is ticking.... I don't know whether they'll be 100% ready; maybe or maybe not. If you asked them, they probably would want six more months, but, as I said, the train's left the station. I think we have to get going because we're living in a grey zone right now. The quicker we have definite rules and regs, I think we'll be at least in known territory.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Paris.

Mr. Lee, in the time that I have remaining I want to ask you something relating to your experience particularly with youth. You've said already that mandatory roadside testing will be effective. Does SADD approve of removing legal defences also?

[Arthur Lee]

Yes.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

What about interlock devices?

[Arthur Lee]

We believe they are effective as well.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

What about paying for testing devices, capacity building, and training for police officers so they can catch more people?

[Arthur Lee]

Yes. As I mentioned before, we hope the best devices can be used to prevent some of the defences that the defence lawyers previously were talking about with improperly working devices. We hope those issues can be avoided in the future by making sure the devices they have are working properly and provide accurate results to provide police officers with the enforcement tools they need.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Great.

I have two final questions for you.

Some of the $274 million is for public awareness campaigns. What's the most efficient way for organizations such as yours to apply for the grants to be able to do more of this work?

Also could you maybe speak for 30 seconds on the most effective tools for you in working with students in school to keep them from driving impaired?

[Arthur Lee]

As for applying for grants, we just need to be made aware. There are a number of organizations out there that would likely be on your list of people to contact to apply for them. I don't know what is the best route to go about it.

One of the best campaigns we have right now in reaching all students across our province is our liquor bag campaign. We provide a templated liquor bag that students write a message on. That liquor bag is then taken to a local liquor store where a person goes in and buys a bottle of wine. Their bottle is put into a bag with a personalized message on it from a student in their local community. Last year we had requests for over 65,000 bags across our province. We have incorporated a contest into it. One of the reasons we think it's the best is that it's the most engaging.

We do different education campaigns. We put up posters. We send out information pamphlets. This campaign has students directly involved in being participatory in learning about the effects of drinking and driving. The teachers are also there, coordinating and providing them with information about drinking and driving and the risks and dangers associated with it.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you both for indulging me in a rapid-fire question round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Thank you very much. We got a lot of questions and a lot of answers in that round.

Mr. Rankin, let's see if you can do as well.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I'm not even going to try.

I want to thank you both for coming.

I'm interested in building a little on what Mr. Boissonnault was talking about with the public education campaigns. I, too, give you a real shout-out for the work you've done with the cannabis talk kit, and the video you showed us is really excellent. I'm concerned, though, about the in-school programs.

Mr. Paris, I'm a little skeptical, despite what you have said. My kids never listen to me, so I don't understand why they listen to other parents. I think peer pressure and in-school education is really important, so while I really think this is superb, I wonder if you could talk to us a little more about your in-school programs.

Mr. Lee, could you respond as well, please?

[Marc Paris]

Currently we don't have the resources to do in-school programs, but we are in conversation with a group in Quebec that has an excellent in-school program, both at the junior high and senior high levels, which was funded by Health Canada and is available in both English and French. We're looking at working with them to roll this out.

It is a very expensive proposition, because you need trained counsellors to go into the schools to do it. The cost has been estimated at about $10 per head.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

With the success you've had with texting, why couldn't you do something generated not by the parents, but rather by the children, the student councils, or whatever, not necessarily having people in the schools but a similar emphasis as on texting?

[Marc Paris]

In the research I've seen on in-school programs, the most effective are peer-to-peer. With some of the stuff these folks are doing, peer-to-peer is the most effective, because the students are being spoken to by people their own age. The most effective would be somebody their age who has been charged or has had an accident and can share that. That is the most powerful, effective tool to change kids' attitudes and behaviours.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Lee, can you add anything about the peer-to-peer programming or the work you've done in the schools?

[Arthur Lee]

Sure.

I talked about the liquor bag campaign. We also hold regional conferences. We'll go to specific regions. We do find that a number of our chapters come primarily from rural areas. They face greater challenges with limited resources for transportation and driving greater distances, so there is a greater need for us to go to rural areas, have regional conferences, and provide speakers and resources to these different schools on impaired driving.

We also do speaker tours. As Mr. Paris mentioned, it has a great impact on these students to have someone come in who has been affected by it. One of the most recent ones we had was Hayden Bell. He was a college football prospect, and all those prospects, hopes, and dreams have been wiped away because of an impaired driving accident where he was a passenger in a vehicle. He has gone with us to schools and shared his message about the dangers of impaired driving as well.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I'm thinking of cannabis in particular. Is the emphasis in the school programming that you would recommend on “Just say no”, or is it focused on “If you consume, don't drive” ? There's a difference.

[Marc Paris]

In our case, we're there to educate kids about the dangers of cannabis in terms of the development of the teenage brain. It's from a health perspective that it's not a good thing for a teenager to consume cannabis.

Regarding drug-impaired driving, yes, the idea is that if you're going to be consuming, don't get behind the wheel.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I sympathize entirely, but I come from a province which probably has the highest cannabis use among young people in the world. I think Canada, if not the highest, is one of the highest users of cannabis and I come from the province where the numbers are the highest.

When I have talked with students in my riding about D.A.R.E. and other such programs, they just roll their eyes and say, “Are you kidding me?” I guess I'm anxious to know whether this is going to be a different program than “Just say no”, when it has obviously not been successful. I'm looking for advice.

Before you answer that, and because of the time constraints, on the money part, I'm delighted that you've received money from Health Canada in the case of Mr. Paris' organization, and from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction you have some foundation money. That is terrific.

Mr. Boissonnault has talked about money that will be available from the federal government for programs, which is terrific. This is going to be a gigantic change. Is there enough money, even if you had the time to get the programs ready, to do what's required to achieve the education that's necessary? I'm very anxious about that and I wonder what your thoughts are.

[Marc Paris]

In terms of money, in all the campaigns we've done, we haven't had one single dime of public money. The only money we got was for the printing, translation and distribution of this brochure. That's it. We've never had any public funds for any of our campaigns. We have to survive on donations.