Justice Committee on May 27th, 2026

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

What role do you think schools, families and community organizations play in this communication process to spread this message?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

I’m going to talk about the future. In the past, I found there was a lack of communication, particularly in David’s case, regarding these kinds of issues in high school. Once a student turns 14, school staff are not allowed to speak to their parents without the student's consent. Staff cannot speak to the parents of a student between the ages of 14 and 16—so, we parents cannot get any updates. The staff cannot talk to us and tell us what is going on. That is when parents feel powerless.

That is what happened to us. We didn’t know what our child was doing at school during lunch break, because the staff couldn’t tell us. The first we heard about it was when our child called to tell us they were emptying his locker. Imagine how we felt as parents when things had already reached that point. It’s unbelievable.

So, yes, there’s a need to raise awareness in schools. What could the school have done? It could have called the police, but didn’t want to penalize the student. Yet that is exactly what needs to be done: there must be an intervention. People think they’re being kind and helpful, but they’re not. So we need to start by raising awareness in schools.

Next, community organizations need support—that’s clear. However, you know as well as I do that when a private member’s bill is introduced and says that $1 billion is needed, it won’t be passed without a royal recommendation, and I don’t think that much spending would be approved.

This problem is everyone’s responsibility, at every level—whether it’s families, schools, society or community organizations. In Canada, we cannot simply accept the situation we find ourselves in today and fail to take care of our youth.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Ms. Lattanzio.

Mr. Fortin, go ahead.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Berthold, Ms. Levesque, Ms. Berthold, and Ms. Riendeau, thank you for being here. Thank you for your courage. When people go through such an ordeal, they may feel like hiding in a closet and not emerging for a long time. You decided to take the bull by the horns. Truly, you have my utmost admiration.

Like my colleagues, I don’t have many questions either. Usually, we have important questions for witnesses, and we don’t always agree on everything. I won’t speak for everyone around the table, but I think we’re practically all in agreement on the bill introduced by our colleague Mr. Berthold.

I have long lamented the fact that there is not enough discussion about the issue of mental illness. There are drug problems, of course, but, more broadly, there is also mental illness. We worry, we’re concerned and we talk a lot about various health issues like cancer, heart disease and so many others, and we set up programs for those diseases. I’m not against that, of course. These are scourges that must be addressed. However, mental illness is also a scourge, and we don’t take it seriously enough.

In fact, I’m echoing what you said. I want you to know that I completely agree with you. I can speak on behalf of the entire Bloc Québécois caucus when I tell you that we were all stunned, moved and troubled by what happened to David. We are fully supportive of the initiative undertaken by our colleague Luc Berthold.

I was listening to Ms. Riendeau’s testimony. It’s incredible, because it’s something we’ve often encountered here. I’ve said it many times and I’ve often pointed it out: there are no resources. As Ms. Riendeau said, we could pass three million bills, but if the resources aren't there, nothing will happen. I hope we'll be able to secure those resources. We know we have widespread budget problems. I don't have to tell you about the state of our hospitals, our schools and even our roads. The fact remains that we must immediately address this issue of funding for the various organizations that assist not only our youth but also the most vulnerable. Even if David had been 35 years old, I believe he still would have deserved society’s help. We must do something.

The only question I have, then, pertains to this issue. Do you have a plan of action that outlines what resources our governments can deploy to address these problems, whether in Quebec City, Ottawa or across all Canadian provinces? That is my question.

As for the rest, I feel a great deal of sympathy. Please accept my deepest condolences. You can count on our support for your efforts.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Fortin.

I was pleased to hear Ms. Riendeau's testimony. Indeed, adding legislative measures is not always the only solution. Why did I propose this solution? It's so that we can start talking about it. If we don't talk about it, no additional resources will be allocated.

We are legislators. We take action; we can introduce bills to raise awareness about mental health.

Earlier, you made a comparison that struck a chord with me. You asked how we were going to go about adding resources. We're not talking about a hospital; we're not talking about a road; we're not talking about infrastructure. That said, what is all this infrastructure for? It's meant to serve people. So, if we don't treat the people who will use it, why are we spending so much money to make sure there are no potholes in the roads? That's really true.

If I may, Mr. Chair, and if everyone agrees, I'd like to take a moment to tell you a story. You will immediately understand just how serious this is; it no mere anecdote.

When David took his own life, we had to intervene. Without going into all the details, I'll just say that, one day, we received a call informing us that he had barricaded himself in the basement and was preparing to attempt suicide for the first time. We then called the police. He was admitted because he had attempted suicide by taking medication. I mention this because what happened next is such a testament to the problem we have as a society. At the time, David was in a state of crisis and was making threats. We think he tried to stage a “suicide by police”. Actually, I don't know what you call it. I don't know if you know what that means. In our case, he showed up at the door with a knife, and then he told the police that they could try to come and get him. He was probably hoping they would shoot him. It was that serious. He barricaded himself in, then managed to escape, but while escaping, he cut his arm. He was bleeding. There was a lot of blood. He was taken to the hospital. A guard was posted at his door, given the state he was in.

At the hospital, we were told that they would treat his physical injuries first before addressing his suicide attempt. That's fine. They gave him plenty of painkillers and everything he needed. Once the bleeding stopped, he developed an infection, and it got worse. The staff said they were taking care of that. So, out of the five or six days he was in the hospital, they treated his physical injuries for four days. After that, as Ms. Riendeau said, they wanted to treat just his drug use, but not the problem behind the use. He was released from the hospital, and he committed suicide two weeks later.

So, what's visible—the bleeding wound—is treated. However, the wound that's bleeding on the inside is not addressed. This illustrates the importance of treatment at a younger age and the importance of doing what we're doing now.

I want to thank Caro, Justine and Marie‑Soleil, who is far away, for letting us bare our hearts and spill our guts to explain this to you because it's the only way to change things, since this is a taboo topic. People have asked me if I am not afraid to talk about all this and be targeted. On the contrary, since we've been talking about it, we've seen that so many people have experienced such situations. There are many more than we think. There are many more than any of us realize. Now that we've spoken about it, people are coming to us and talking to us about it. They want to talk about it, but they don't have the opportunity; there's nothing in place.

Yes, it's true that we put a lot of money into fixing what's visible, what's bleeding, but we're not equipped to deal with what's inside.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. Fortin.

We'll go to Mr. Gill for five minutes.

[Amarjeet Gill, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all of you.

Please accept our heartfelt and sincere condolences for your loss.

MP Berthold, I know you personally. I sit with you, and I admire you for bringing this bill forward. I know you are a terrific member of Parliament and public servant. You continue to do these things for the betterment of community and society at large. Normally, when these things happen to a family, they lose track, but you are doing a wonderful thing that will bring relief to so many other families. Thank you for that.

Thank you for introducing this important bill, and thank you for your bravery in sharing your family's story.

Addiction is a cycle that affects Canadians from all walks of life. We are seeing that this is a problem not only in Canada but across the world. We all have stories to share, and I think we probably have more than one.

I know that all members around this table agree that it is an important issue. We must do more to break this cycle.

Can you speak more on the importance of having juvenile intervention for at-risk young offenders to prevent lifelong addiction?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

I'll try to give you an answer in English. I'm speaking English because I think we should do something about it throughout Canada, and I want to share the message with all Canadians.

Madame Riendeau just told us that the earlier, the better. I would like her to expand on that.

Before a young person becomes a criminal to pay for drugs or an addiction or because they're not feeling very well inside, we can do something. However, at a certain stage, it's more difficult, because when they're arrested, they will face justice for a crime related to an addiction, and it's a crime that might never have happened if not for the addiction.

If we can intervene when someone is younger and has just tried something with a friend, it's logical. That's why I want to provide this opportunity to a judge. As my wife and Justine said in the beginning, not acting is worse.

Thinking that a juvenile person will just say “okay” to “don't do that”.... They don't listen to their parents. I just had to say that to my children, and they did exactly the contrary each and every time. It's the same for all of us. We have no power over that. That's why we need to intervene at a young age.

Do you want to add something?

[Angy Riendeau]

You know, the first early contact with the justice system is a risk factor. In fact, one of the challenges we face in 2026 regarding youth crime is that these young people enter the system far too late. There are currently young people involved in gun-related homicides who have never been flagged by any system professional.

Therefore, we must act early because there is an accumulation and escalation of delinquency. It is quite rare for a young person's first offence to be an attempted murder by firearm.

[Amarjeet Gill, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, but can I ask you a quick question, MP Berthold? How did the court system fail your son as a youth or as an adult?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

It's like she just said. As a youth, he wasn't arrested. He wasn't facing any kind of.... I don't know how to say it in English.

[Justine Berthold]

Is it “punishment”?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

Yes, punishment. Thank you, Justine.

Because of that, he was just beside the track.

[Angy Riendeau]

When it comes to juvenile delinquency, there are two trajectories for young people who engage in delinquent behaviour. Of all the young people who commit offences during adolescence, 95% will not engage in persistent delinquency as adults.

Earlier, the comments made by the member and his family struck a chord with me, as one of the crucial elements is the parent-child bond. It is true that substance use and delinquent behaviour during adolescence can be part of a trajectory, a developmental phase of adolescence that is considered normative. It is extremely difficult for a parent to know how to intervene with their child. They ask themselves the following questions: Is our child going through a normative phase or are we losing them? Should we impose harsher punishments at home?

We don't necessarily need the justice system to intervene, but we need support tailored to the young person's level of risk—based on their trajectory, their background, early development and everything else that affects them. That's what I do in my practice. I work with young people, but I primarily work with parents to help them. Thanks to our tools, we—the experts and criminologists—are able to determine whether the young person is part of the 95% or part of the 5% chronic offenders who require more intensive support.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Ms. Riendeau. I have to move on to the next speaker.

Next is Ms. Dhillon for five minutes.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank our dear colleague and David's entire family, including Marie‑Soleil, who is not here.

Thank you for sharing your heartbreaking experience not only with us, but with everyone in Canada and Quebec. It's truly something that…. I don't know how you've managed to be here. You're really brave. All I can say is thank you, on behalf of all of us.

Mr. Berthold, you talked about David and mentioned that his problems began in high school. From what I understand from your testimony, the purpose of your bill is for people in positions of authority to start slapping these young people on the wrist. I want to understand why you say that's the right way to do things, instead of telling parents that their son has problems. When you're young, you never listen to your parents—or at least almost never.

When people in a position of authority, such as police officers, are faced with a young person who may have smoked a joint or drunk alcohol, that's kind of on the borderline of when intervention is warranted. It doesn't go any further than that. However, at some point, it starts to go further. Your goal—which is at the heart of your bill—is, first and foremost, for people in positions of authority to intervene at school with young people aged 14 to 17. After that age, young people have more freedom; they go to college or they are no longer in school.

Any one of you four can answer my question. Is that really the goal—that is, do you want people in positions of authority to intervene?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

People say “punish”, but I prefer to say “heal”. A slap might just open the door to healing. Beyond drugs, there is mental health behind all of this. Mental health issues are at the root of many substance abuse problems. If we ignore that, blame everything on drugs and don't provide treatment, we'll just label the young person a drug user or a pot smoker, thinking that it will go away.

As Ms. Riendeau said, the earlier we intervene, the sooner we are able to identify the issue. Otherwise, parents are at a loss. Personally, I would have appreciated someone like her telling me exactly what we needed to do when David was 13 years old, as we didn't know what to do.

I think Justine wants to add something.

[Justine Berthold]

I'll speak for my sister and me. When my brother started having problems, I was very young. I was seven years old, and he was 13. During those years, he was not doing well. I remember that my sister and I didn't understand everything because we were too young. My parents could see that my brother needed help, and we told our parents. We saw our parents struggling. We saw that our parents weren't doing well. We wanted to help our father, but there was no help.

At that time, we were telling our parents to stop because it was hurting them. We were asking them what they could possibly do. The only thing they told us was that they didn't know what else to do. That's exactly what we told them: They couldn't do any more. The situation was destroying the family; there was nothing more they could do.

I think the goal is to get that little extra for the parents. It's about getting that little extra from the school staff, who will go talk to the police, so that it's not the parent who has to call the police for their child. I think that's really what we're trying to do.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Ms. Levesque, would you like to add anything?

[Caroline Levesque]

As parents, we tried to keep our son in line, give him small family punishments and all that. At some point, things for out of hand. There was also a time where he started doing well, but he didn't want to get treatment.

After he really went off the rails for the first time, in 2018, he pulled himself out of it on his own. However, since his underlying issues had not been addressed, as soon as he faced a setback, he would fall back into that pattern.

If he had received care at a younger age, if he had been given a slap on the wrist that forced him to seek treatment to heal and receive support, the two subsequent episodes might not have happened, nor would the suicidal episode.

That's also the goal we're striving toward.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Ms. Dhillon.

Mr. Fortin, you have two and a half minutes.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have the floor for two and a half minutes, and I don't intend to ask any questions. I won't repeat myself unnecessarily. I'm offering these two and a half minutes to the witnesses, if they would like to finish their testimony.

Ms. Berthold, I really appreciated the testimony you just gave. As a parent, I have always asked myself the following questions about my children: If I am too strict, will they run away, and if I am not strict enough, will they become delinquents? It's true that we don't know. No one has a crystal ball. I, too, Mr. Berthold, would have liked to have someone like Ms. Riendeau with me.

I offer you the remainder of my speaking time.

[Angy Riendeau]

I don't have a crystal ball, either.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

There is no crystal ball. There are no miracles. What we are proposing is a path forward, and we hope people will follow it. I hope to be able to convince people to follow it going forward.

You know, as life would have it, I drew number 30 for private members' business. You know how it works. I was able to do something. Thanks to that, I had the chance to introduce a bill quickly. That is a message life is sending us.

I would like to tell people who are suffering, people going through these situations, that they're less alone than they think. The only problem is knowing where to call. The only problem is knowing who to turn to, as there are so many resources. In emergency situations, we are often referred to the telephone number of the hospital, the crisis centre or places like that. Beyond that, life goes on. There are parents who are suffering. There are young people, brothers and sisters who are suffering. If anyone is hearing this, I want to tell them that there have been at least two suicides in other families following David's suicide. Those people imitated David. So there are other families suffering, and that's sad.

I would like to remind everyone that there is the 988 helpline. I want to say this because it's important to mention it. If you're feeling down, call at least once. If you're in that kind of a state, call—it doesn't cost anything. It takes two seconds, and then you'll be able to talk to someone.

One thing is certain: You mustn't stop at that call. You have to take it further because that is a crisis. You have to get through the crisis by dialling 988 or 1-866-APPELLE in Quebec. Every province has helpline numbers. Afterwards, you need more support.

Thank you for letting me reiterate the importance of seeking help.

[Caroline Levesque]

I'd like to add one thing. This is his mother speaking. Back when David was doing well, he talked about a joint project he had with Luc—giving talks to help people. I think the bill is somewhat of a continuation of that desire to help others.