Debates of Feb. 8th, 2022

The Opioid Crisis in Canada

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Madam Chair, decriminalization does have something to do with it. It removes the stigma. We are already moving forward with that as a federal government. We have asked attorneys general, federal and in every province, not to give criminal records to people who are using certain amounts. The City of Vancouver is willing to work on this.

I am in support of it, but the thing that saves lives, which is what I am focusing on tonight, is safe supply. When we look at the evidence, yes, Portugal has had some success, but the greatest successes are occurring in Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries where they are using safe supply. We need to recognize how people use it. It is not being used intravenously anymore. It is being inhaled. We see all kinds of people using it. We need to move forward to save lives.

Decriminalizing is important. It is one of the many tools that we have, but everyone is focusing on that and nobody is really talking about access to safe supply. The federal government has been giving access to safe supply and funding safe supply in every province that has asked for it. The thing we are talking about is how to make this inhalable drug available to 70% of users and how to ensure that we are using a tried and true for the past 25 years drug that has been shown not only to save lives but to get people into rehabilitation—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I have to give other members an opportunity to ask questions.

The hon. member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Madam Chair, we are having yet another debate on this issue, saying some important things with lots of great sentiment.

The member has been a member of Parliament for a long time and was a minister at one point in time. One would think she would have influence within her own party, especially with her credentials. I am wondering what specific action her government has taken that she can point to and what demonstrable results those actions have resulted in to tackle the opioid crisis. The numbers do not seem to indicate any action or impact whatsoever.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Madam Chair, I will start by saying that we actually opened up safe injection sites, safe consumption sites, across this country, which were blocked and stopped for 10 years by the Conservative government. That is the first thing we did.

Second, we made naloxone available, which can immediately save someone who is dying of an overdose and prevent them from dying. We have been giving access to drugs to many provinces that have been able to accept it. The problem is that it is not reaching everyone. I talk all the time with colleagues of mine who are also physicians. They are telling me that the thing to do is to use what has been successful for 25 years in Europe, in Switzerland and Scandinavia, which is diacetylmorphine. It is an easy drug.

I have told my colleagues in government, because we recently found out this is something that is easily done, to provide a substance use and addiction funding program to doctors, nurse practitioners and others to give this drug, in its inhalable form and its intravenous form, to people who need it. The SUAP grant funding will make it happen because right now in the province of British Columbia, it is not being allowed by the provincial government.

My friends may say—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

We have to resume debate.

The hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Madam Chair, let me begin by saying this is one of the most informed, incredible debates I have seen in the House of Commons since I was elected. I am going to be splitting my time with the member for Peterborough—Kawartha.

A lot of the statistics I wanted to raise and some of the points I wanted to raise have been shared already. I have been focused recently on the Parliamentary Budget Officer when he said that we spent over $300 billion on COVID-19 measures since 2019 alone. Looking beneath our ongoing public health debates is what we are discussing here tonight and that is the opioid crisis, which is particularly bad in my home province of British Columbia.

I had this internal debate a few times throughout the last two years. Imagine if we spent just a fraction of what we were putting into COVID-19 to keep people home and directed those funds to some of the treatment options that have been shared here tonight.

For the purposes of expediency, let me raise a couple of points on first nations. A 2017 report by the First Nations Health Authority and B.C. Coroners Service found that status first nations were five times more likely to experience an overdose and three times more likely to die from one. Some people within first nation communities are continuing to use opioids even after receiving life-saving treatments three to five times through Naloxone. This is devastating.

Another area that requires some attention and it was raised by the last speaker from Vancouver Centre is about men. Men are disproportionately impacted in their thirties by this devastation in the opioid crisis, particularly, in the B.C. construction industry. This is one of the largest employers in my province and anyone who has ever worked in construction knows that it is hard physical work and workers often suffer a higher rate of injury on the job. As has also been discussed tonight, in this male-dominated industry, workers are statistically less likely to discuss mental health and substance abuse problems due to stigma.

The impact of stigma on drug use is real. Fear of stigma prevents some people from seeking help. Labels like “drug abuse” or “drug abuser” dehumanize how people are suffering and can impact the quality of care they might consider accessing. That is an important point to raise. We really need to look through the lens of the 30-year old male who seems to be disproportionately impacted by this and indigenous people.

For the purpose of time, I called up a friend of mine, Jesse, who works for the 5 and 2 Ministries in Abbotsford. They get lots of contracts with the Province of B.C. and the City of Abbotsford to deal with issues like the opioid crisis. It is important to mention in the context of treatment that we need to find hope. Based on what an expert told me today, people are going to recover and get past this, despite the debate about safe supply and everything else, if people have hope and they have something to live for. That needs to be part of any conversation we have today.

My community of Abbotsford and my entire riding of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon have seen the devastation first-hand. My office is directly beside Haven in the Hollow. I just had a report that there was a death there the other day. There were also 19 Naloxone treatments in one month.

In conclusion, I am going to propose and throw out some new policy ideas that might help and add to the discussion tonight. First, we need to do more to empower civil society. Imagine if we gave tax breaks to Canadians who want to support a treatment centre, similar to what we give those who support political entities in this country.

Second, in British Columbia we have talked a lot about the other side of drugs and that is money laundering. FINTRAC, the ability of the RCMP to stop the people importing illicit drugs into Canada, that is not taking place. That is one area where the Liberal government has not taken action to address the real and dangerous consequences of money laundering.

Third, we need to give more control to first nations to address this issue as well. We need to give them more control over housing and we need to apply culturally appropriate methods to address the opioid crisis.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health]

Madam Chair, the supply changes so quickly people do not know what they get. There are also signs the street supply of fentanyl is being laced with far more potent opioids. I would like to hear my colleague's comments on how important supporting safe supply is, as it is such an essential component of turning the tide on the alarming rise in opioid deaths from the toxic drug supply.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Madam Chair, regarding a safe supply, I know for a fact, when I spoke to Jesse at 5 and 2 Ministries today, that his organization and other similar ones are often called by Fraser Health and told about this new illicit pill that is being passed around. People can literally watch people being brought into hospitals who are having overdoses because our police officers and the Canada Border Services Agency do not have the capacity to do their jobs effectively in the way they see it.

I have not completely informed my own opinion about the merits of a safe supply. In some context, it might be part of the solution.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Chair, the opioid crisis affects people for different reasons, such as mental health issues or pain. My colleague gave a good explanation earlier, especially with respect to construction workers who suffer serious injuries.

That comment reminded me of a conversation I had a few weeks ago. This person told me that assistance programs, such as workplace injury programs, are now costed by accountants instead of actuaries. Actuaries are the ones who see the long-term impacts on top of the short-term costs.

It may be worth taking a long-term perspective instead of focusing on the money when it comes to helping injured construction workers or people with mental health issues.

I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on that.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Madam Chair, at the very least, organizations working with people experiencing the effects of opioids must be given the tools.

I also believe we should give the provinces more money through health transfers to improve the situation.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, I know that whenever we raise the issue of needing to advance decriminalization and safe supply people say there is no silver bullet. Nobody ever said that this would be a silver bullet. We need a whole host of tools, but first and foremost I have to say this. Dead people do not detox. We need to keep them alive. We need to save lives, and maybe there will be a process for them that one day they can embark on that would take them on a different path.

Will the Conservatives support the private member's bill that my colleague, the member for Courtenay—Alberni, has tabled to decriminalize so that we can start saving lives?

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Madam Chair, I have not had an opportunity to review this recently tabled legislation, so I cannot comment on a bill I have not read. That said, the Province of B.C. already has de facto decriminalization, yet the deaths and the challenges are still present. I am not opposed to decriminalization necessarily or even a safe supply, but I would need to do more research and look at the bill. I would welcome a further conversation with this member if she would like to explain it to me in more detail. In good faith, I have not read this bill yet, so I cannot comment.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Madam Chair, Cassy was a daughter, a sister and a friend. She met the intersection of mental illness and addiction, and the system failed her.

Cassy's lifeless body was discovered at a local music store in my riding of Peterborough—Kawartha on election day, September 20, 2021. Cassy was one of 17 people a day in Canada who died from opioid poisoning. She tried to get help and her family tried to get her help, but it was not there.

Let us talk about the stats. In my riding of Peterborough—Kawartha, from March 2020 to December 2021, 75 people, including Cassy, died from an opioid poisoning, and 25 people died from COVID. How is our opioid crisis not a state of emergency?

Our hospital in Peterborough has double the opioid death rate of the rest of the province—double. We also have the highest unemployment rate in Canada and a housing crisis. These things are not exclusive of each other.

We need a national plan. We need to look at the return on investment when we delve into prevention, treatment and recovery. Right now we are caught on a merry-go-round. EMS respond to a an overdose call; they take the patient to the already maxed-out and resource-depleted ER, and the patient is released, only to overdose within hours or days, and the cycle continues.

I want to share a message I received from a constituent. I do not have permission from the family to share his name, so I will call him Johnny.

Johnny lost his mother and father to cancer within a few years of each other, and then lost his small family to a breakup. He turned to the streets. He overdosed and was hospitalized for a bit. He overdosed again last month, except this time he sat in the ER for hours without being attended to. He was apparently kicked out by security for being loud, vulgar and argumentative. He left on foot without a coat. His body was found in a local park the next morning. He froze to death.

One of my favourite quotes is from Mr. Rogers: Anything mentionable is manageable. We cannot manage what we do not acknowledge. This pandemic has magnified an already mounting crisis. People cannot manage the stress of trying to pay bills, taking care of kids and losing their jobs.

Mental health is physical health. One cannot separate the two. We need to change how we talk about mental health and addiction and we need to change how we treat it. I have a saying that education equals awareness equals change. We can be the change, but we have to acknowledge what the opioid crisis is. It is a desperate attempt to escape from both physical and mental pain.

Canada needs a government that will invest in offering recovery and healing. By definition in the medical world, opioids are prescribed to manage pain, and that is what they do, but it is not always physical pain the patient needs escape from. Canada has a chance to be a leader in how we treat pain. We have a chance to change how we help people heal. It will not be easy and it will take time, commitment and a lot more than just money to solve this crisis. We need a cultural and policy shift in how we provide health care, but we can do it. We are ready.

There is no effective strategy dedicated to the cause of the opioid poisonings. On a given day during my campaign, I would see EMS respond up to four times to an overdose call in the same area. How much is that costing? Imagine if we invested this money spent on resources to solve the problem rather than to react to the problem.

We need to invest in complete wraparound services. We need innovative treatment and recovery healing centres that do not just manage the addiction but look at the cause and manage trauma. We need to invest in the research to learn why someone turns to opioids. We need to evaluate how and when doctors are prescribing opioids.

With the right intervention and strategy, Cassy and Johnny could have been more than another statistic.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Chair, much like the thousands of other Canadian deaths from all regions, Cassy's loss of life is significant and impacts all of us, not just the families and friends. We extend our condolences.

The member highlights, as others have, the severity of the problem. As I have been listening to the debate, one of the things that comes to my mind is that it is not the responsibility of just one level of government. There are roles for the federal government, provincial governments, municipal governments and non-profit organizations to play, as well as the valuable input from first responders.

I am wondering if the member can provide her thoughts on how important it is, as a community and as a society, to take a holistic approach at trying to resolve the thousands of deaths that occur every year because of this sad story.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Madam Chair, I think tonight has been so emotional and profound for so many, because we all know across this House that it is a crisis. I absolutely agree with what my colleague, the member for Foothills, said tonight: We need a strategy. We cannot have a shotgun approach.

Before I came and spoke this evening, I messaged our chief of EMS in my region, who said the same thing, that we need a strategy and wraparound services. We cannot have these single, individual whack-a-mole approaches, for lack of a better term. We need to come together. We need a streamlined strategy.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Madam Chair, I have a very simple question for my colleague.

Over the years, construction of new social housing units has fallen by the wayside. Now that we are confronting the harsh consequences of the past 20 years, my colleague seems to think, based on what I heard in her speech, that opioid use and addiction happen because people are seeking an escape. When people have financial difficulties or do not have access to quality health care, that can lead to homelessness.

I would like to ask my colleague if she agrees that we should try to make up for years of neglect in this area?

Does she think 1% is enough to make up for the decades during which there was not enough affordable housing for people with this issue?

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Madam Chair, I wish I could respond in French. Hopefully in a couple of years I will be able to, but my French is not quite there yet.

Absolutely, the national housing strategy is a key partner. This opioid crisis, as we heard tonight from many members, is a spiderweb of a multitude of factors that come into play. As with everything in politics, we need to address one thing to help something else. So often when I saw Cassy, whom I spoke about in my speech, she did not have a home or anything to eat, so to manage that pain she often turned to addiction. Getting people into housing is a critical piece in managing the opioid crisis.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtitiji, when former prime minister Stephen Harper made his apology for residential schools in 2008, the Conservatives acknowledged the importance of moving toward reconciliation with Inuit first nations and Métis. The Health Canada expert task force on substance use also recommends “respecting the sovereign rights of indigenous peoples in Canada to support their governments and provide appropriate prevention and treatment approaches.”

Does the member agree with the experts that the funding of culturally appropriate prevention and treatment approaches is important? Qujannamiik.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Madam Chair, the member is absolutely right. One of the reasons I chose to run to become an MP was our campaign strategy to provide $1 billion over five years to boost funding for indigenous mental health and drug treatment programs.

To answer her question, yes, absolutely.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Parkdale—High Park.

The year 2021 became British Columbia's deadliest year for overdose deaths, with 1,782 people losing their lives and two months' worth of data still to come. In October alone, there were 201 deaths, which roughly equates to six and a half a day, but behind each and every number are beloved sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and the families and loved ones they leave behind.

I want to take this opportunity to honour two parents in my riding by telling the stories of their late children.

First is the story of Annie and her son Alexander.

Alexander was an athletic and creative soul who loved his family deeply, especially his daughter Bella, but he had experienced several traumatic events in his life, including the murder of his best friend. As a result, he struggled with anxiety, depression and PTSD. After a car accident, he was prescribed oxycodone by a doctor, but his struggle with mental health left him vulnerable to addiction, and he became dependent on it. Despite this, Alex managed to stop using by himself in 2016 and was able to maintain his sobriety until the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, Alex died on January 18, 2021, from carfentanil and benzodiazepine poisoning just days before his 29th birthday. Alex died alone on the floor of his locked bathroom, trying to hide his addiction. His death left a hole in his family, as his mother Annie lost her only son and as eight-year-old Bella lost her father.

Equally tragic is the story of Clint who was a kind and successful young man who had a loving family and was just about to move in with his girlfriend. Clint had managed to score his dream job and went out with his friend to celebrate. His friend brought cocaine, which Clint had never used before, but because he was celebrating, he decided to take some. Later that night, he died. It turned out that the cocaine had been cut with fentanyl, and Clint overdosed on a drug he did not even know he was taking.

The loss of Alex and Clint are unimaginable tragedies, passing in the prime of their lives, leaving behind loving families and promising futures, but these stories are all too common in British Columbia, where it is hard to find someone who is more than a couple of degrees removed from such a tragedy.

Since the loss of her son, Annie has been driven to make sure that others do not go through the same thing that she and her family have been through. Through her work with Moms Stop The Harm, she is fighting to make sure that we end the stigma around addiction and ensure that those who need it can get help and do not take tainted drugs.

I want to thank Annie and Clint's father Al for their advocacy and tell them that we are listening, but we have more work to do so that those who are struggling with addiction can get the help they need.

When simple drug use no longer needs to be concealed out of fear of criminal prosecution, government programs that provide for safer supply will be possible, and we can create the space for treatment to rehabilitate those who are suffering from addiction.

This method has shown success in communities across my riding and has overwhelming community support. In February 2021, an overdose prevention site opened in Squamish and in Sechelt. The Sunshine Coast's first sanctioned safe consumption site was established in July of 2020. There, trained staff provides support, which includes access to naloxone, counselling, overdose response and education, drug-checking and detox treatment options. These facilities work, as despite record-high opioid deaths, not a single person has died under a supervised consumption or overdose prevention site in B.C.

We need to support these sites that keep people safe, particularly in communities where indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis. We need to build on the $200-million investment in substance use prevention and treatment services for first nations and the $116-million investment through budget 2021 to fund projects through the substance use and addictions program, but we also need to ensure that those who are suffering from addiction are able to get the help they need without fearing prosecution. Addiction must be recognized for the health issue that it is and not be treated as a criminal issue.

Our government has proposed taking steps in this direction with Bill C-5, which would require police and prosecutors to first consider diverting people to treatment programs and support services instead of charging and prosecuting them.

Preventing avoidable deaths needs to be the fundamental priority for our country. This starts with safe supply projects, including overdose prevention clinics and the financial tools with the substance use and addictions program. We have to work with jurisdictions when they are ready, but we also need to work directly with physicians to give them the tools they need to prescribe life-saving alternatives.

We will continue to work towards ending this crisis so that nobody else has to suffer the loss that the families of Alex and Clint have endured.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for his speech and for the stories that he shared.

I want to ask the member about accountability for some of the companies that have been responsible for in some ways causing and certainly fuelling the opioid crisis. There has been a lot of litigation in the United States targeting Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, as well as McKinsey, and they have been forced to pay significant amounts of money that have been able to be used towards compensation for victims as well as treatment.

My sense is that in Canada we have been far behind in terms of the government trying to hold some of these corporate bad actors accountable for fuelling the opioid crisis and for pushing misinformation about the addiction risk associated with opioids. As one of the stories the member shared shows, most of the people who struggle with substance abuse disorders in the context of opioids started with prescription opioids, and for many people that was at a time when there was a great deal of misinformation that was aggressively and pointedly pushed by some of these companies about the risks.

I would ask the member this: Why is the government not doing more, and should the government do more to hold these actors—Purdue, the Sackler family and McKinsey—accountable?

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Madam Chair, I absolutely believe that we need to hold such companies accountable for their actions. As the member mentioned, one of the stories I brought up was about an addiction that started from a pharmaceutical drug that was prescribed. However, it is not up to government to direct those prosecutions. That happens through an independent service, the Public Prosecution Service.

While we need to really focus on that and need to ensure there is justice, we also need to take the steps right now to ensure we are dealing with this as the crisis that it is. That includes some of the things I mentioned in my speech, such as having more safe supply and making sure people get the treatment they need.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for sharing these stories with us.

The stories we are hearing are all very moving, and we could spend days listening to them. However, the members of this House have a responsibility to come up with and implement concrete measures.

I was pleased to hear my colleague talk about diversion and his government's plans to address it. The Bloc Québécois will be there and will collaborate 200%. We heard about supervised sites, but they come under provincial jurisdiction.

I have a very simple question for my colleague. Everyone is well aware that we need to invest in the health care system and in social housing. The level of underfunding of social housing is appalling. These two problems are directly related.

First, can my colleague explain how he feels about being part of a government that refuses to increase health transfers, when we all know the needs are many and pressing?

Second, can we count on him to lobby his caucus to release funds and increase transfers to the provinces so we can support people—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his question.

I agree that we need to invest in affordable housing. We have implemented the rapid housing initiative, which aims to build a lot more affordable housing units. This is important, and we need to do more. These people need housing the most. Without such programs, they could end up in a situation where they will use opioids.