Mr. Speaker, as everyone sitting in this House knows, the toxic drug supply and overdose crisis is devastating communities throughout Canada. We are losing 20 Canadians a day. Prior to COVID, 10 people were fatally overdosing every day in Canada, but now it has increased. Many more of our friends, family members and community members are being hospitalized, calling emergency support for services and grieving lives lost over the past seven years of this crisis.
Unfortunately, we are now debating a misguided motion rooted in outdated ideology that will recycle a discredited, narrow approach rather than create a comprehensive plan to deal with a crisis that is killing people. Even former prime minister Stephen Harper's public safety adviser, Benjamin Perrin, has seen the light and describes the current Conservative approach, which is epitomized by this motion, as “rehashing Conservative, war-on-drugs tropes that have been long since discredited and have been found to be not only ineffective, but costly and deadly.”
There are four pillars recognized internationally that are necessary for a successful substance use strategy: prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction, including a safer supply. In December 2016, our government launched the Canadian drugs and substances strategy, which uses a public health approach to substance use. In doing so, we committed to a comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate and evidence-based drug policy.
Under the Canadian drugs and substances strategy, the Government of Canada has taken evidence-based action to address the toxic drug supply and overdose crisis and has announced over $1 billion in funding. This funding includes $490 million through Health Canada's substance use and addictions program to support community-based treatment, harm reduction, prevention, and stigma reduction activities. In addition, this funding has supported research and surveillance initiatives and strengthened law enforcement capacity to address illegal drug production and trafficking. Going forward, the Canadian drugs and substances strategy will continue to guide our government's drug policy approach, which includes a full continuum of evidence-based options, as well as innovative life-saving strategies to meet people where they are and provide them with the supports they need.
Substance use is an extremely complex issue, and Canadians use drugs for a multitude of reasons. Not everyone who uses drugs is suffering from an addiction. Even when a diagnosis exists, treatment services may not be available or affordable. Moreover, not everyone is always willing, eligible or able to enter treatment. Recovery looks different for everyone. Services to keep people alive and safe and that support better health outcomes should not be limited to just treatment services for people with a formal diagnosis of a substance use disorder, given the crisis is affecting people trying drugs for the first time, people who use drugs occasionally and people who are struggling with an addiction in silence.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this crisis. We need a range of interventions that meet people where they are and reduce the potential harms related to substance use. Harm reduction is a key element of that work and this government's strategy to address the toxic drug supply and overdose crisis.
Evidence has shown us that harm reduction measures, such as supervised consumption sites, in-person or virtual spotting services, safer supply, take-home naloxone, and drug-checking technologies, are supporting people who use drugs by connecting them to health and social services and, most importantly, are keeping them alive. For example, in one of the hardest hit provinces, evidence in British Columbia has shown that the combined effect of expanded access to take-home naloxone programs, supervised consumption sites and opioid agonist treatment has been crucial to averting overdose deaths in the province. In addition, between 2015 and 2021, nearly 125,000 naloxone kits were used to reverse an overdose in B.C.
In 2016, there were only two supervised consumption sites in Canada, both in Vancouver. Since then, the number of federally approved supervised consumption sites offering services has grown to as high as 40, and they are available in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. This is because we are investing in what works and where the evidence is. At these sites, more than 46,000 overdoses have been reversed, and there have been over four million visits. That is a point worth repeating.
The safe consumption sites the Conservative leader wants to shut down have reversed more than 46,000 overdoses since 2017. When we say that harm reduction meets people where they are, this is what we mean. These harm reduction services are saving lives every day. Spotting services support someone who is using drugs either in person or remotely by phone, video chat or an app, and they provide help in case an overdose occurs.
During the first 14 months of operations, the virtual national overdose response service monitored over 2,000 substance use events and responded to over 50 adverse events. These events required an emergency response and no fatalities were reported.
Although the Conservative opposition will tell us otherwise, harm reduction efforts are not antithetical to treatment. They are part of the continuum of care. They meet people where they are, and they can connect people with a spectrum of health and social supports.