Jonathan Genest-Jourdain

[Emergency Debate, March 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

You were having a challenge because it is the aboriginal way of dealing with issues; it is a roundabout way. It is a new way in this Parliament. You will have to live with it. I am truly sorry, but that is the way it is. Sometimes, issues are raised that have not been brought to the public's attention for 500 years. Things start piling up. You will have to learn to live with it.

I will talk about federal administrative methods, and also, ultimately, about transporting drugs to remote areas. I will speak entirely to the aboriginal experience as it is the only area in which I am on solid ground. Getting back to the fiduciary relationship, the federal government has a definite responsibility in that regard. It means something to the rest of Canada, and the government has a crisis on its hands. The Conservatives are currently in a position to take action and do what is necessary to remedy this very problematic situation. I submit this respectfully.

[Emergency Debate, March 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her question.

I just want to specify that I do not come from an Inuit community. I come from an Innu community. It is close, but roughly 10 degrees lower in latitude. Now, the reason I delved into Indian issues is because everything to do with Innu and Inuit communities falls under federal jurisdiction. Thus, I took the liberty of elaborating on this subject.

Now I am going to talk about the fiduciary relationship with regard to the administration of pharmaceutical products in the communities. This fiduciary responsibility must not be expanded to cover every stages of an individual's life. Free will applies to all human beings and the communities are going to have to take a position. They are going to have to do some soul searching. That type of thinking should open one's eyes to the substance of the issues and encourage mobilization at the local level.

[Emergency Debate, March 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as is my custom, I would like to change the subject a little in order to direct the listener toward possible solutions and other paths that have yet to be explored.

This emergency debate is a good opportunity to shed some light on the real impact that pharmaceutical products have on our society. The deprivation resulting in part from this chance occurrence has brought some issues related to addiction and social vulnerability into the open. Such exposure adds to the environment of fear fed by the government's anticipated cuts on the delivery of services to the public.

Now, I would like to say that I hope that the current drug shortage will make Canadians more aware of drug addiction and prescription drug and substance abuse. In fact, this problem is generally condemned, and I think that now is the right time to address this type of problem.

Overmedication is a significant problem in Canada. In addition to having serious consequences for the physical and mental health of patients, it is also very harmful to the health care system. Hospital admissions due to drug reactions or interactions are very expensive, not to mention the cost of the drugs themselves.

One member of Parliament told me that psychiatric care would surely suffer as a result of this drug shortage. In my practice—I am a lawyer, specifically a criminal lawyer—I was responsible for hundreds of cases involving confinement to institutions, and it seems that the drug shortage will affect anxiolytics, antidepressants and anticonvulsants. This is a problem right now, and I wanted to mention it. It is psychiatric patients who will be the most affected by this drug shortage.

On another note, oddly enough, the breakdown in the pharmaceutical supply cycle coincides with recent discoveries about the true impact of narcotics addiction on our country's aboriginal communities. According to the figures released to the Canadian public over the past few weeks, the rate of addiction to OxyContin, a prescription pain killer, was up to almost 70% in remote communities. I am referring to the information in the media about the community of Cat Lake, where the community leaders reported this rate of addiction. Obviously, I hope that it is 70% of adults who are addicted to this drug. I did not look into the subject any further but it has been mentioned in the House before and it came to my attention. I wanted to mention it.

This high proportion should be considered only from the viewpoint of the government’s tendency to blind delegation and its refusal to manage, follow up and administer prescription drugs to certain restricted social units, which are, in addition, very well insured.

I shall return momentarily to these restricted units, and I will also talk about the promiscuous nature of life in the communities, that is, the extreme crowding these people experience. I shall also talk about the coverage enjoyed by the aboriginal citizens of our country.

What is provided to Canada’s first nations under Health Canada’s non-insured health benefits program covers a wide range of prescription drugs, including restricted drugs, the so-called downers and uppers. People in my home community take a lot of these drugs, and do not always respect the recommended dosage or prescriptions.

I want to talk a little about my community. We have a clinic back home called Uauitshitun Santé et Services sociaux. The health services also manage the social services, which include child and family services. And in even more remote areas, these health services are also asked to determine the proper dosages to give patients and to manage prescription drugs.

As I said, aboriginals benefit from very generous coverage for all kinds of drugs.

In many cases, the people receiving these prescriptions are elderly. In many cases, their prescriptions are misused by family members. I will discuss that in more detail shortly.

The overmedication of target groups—aboriginal communities and elderly individuals in those communities—justifies a review of health care priorities as defined by the nation's decision-makers.

There is an institutionalized tendency to direct patients with a variety of symptoms toward treatments that rely heavily on the use of modern pharmaceuticals. Far be it from me to suggest that the pharmaceutical industry promotes the use of prescriptions for aboriginal patients. However, that argument has been brought to my attention. It is a valid hypothesis. There is a lot of suffering in my home community and in other Innu communities. Doctors are often powerless to alleviate human suffering. Some might be tempted to overmedicate an individual with problems that resemble depression. More thorough testing might reveal that the problems can be treated with holistic measures and without the thoughtless administration of pharmaceutical products.

I want to come back to the crowding in communities. I said that seniors are most often users of opiates, including OxyContin. I would not say that this is a widespread phenomenon, but seniors' drugs will sometimes be stolen. Some people are well aware of the effect of downers and will arrange to steal drugs meant for seniors. Social services could confirm this problem, which is condemned. Ultimately, the senior is missing several tablets at the end of the week. Young people or the people who steal a drug grind it into a powder to snort it. The drug can also be injected, but most of the time it is snorted. People will steal drugs, regardless of the dosage. All they want is to get high or come down.

The current shortage associated with Sandoz and its impact on addicts clearly illustrate the problems that can result from a sudden disruption in the supply of targeted drugs in the country. An expert from Simon Fraser University recently talked about the impact such a shortage can have on Canada's social fabric and the certain involvement of organized crime cells. The increase in the black market price of targeted drugs such as uppers and downers—including opiates—will lead to a marked increase in criminal activity connected with trafficking.

Finally, let us hope that this crisis situation will prompt Canadians to re-evaluate their relationships with pharmaceutical products, because sometimes abundance can lead to abuse.

[Canada-Jordan Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, March 1st, 2012]

Madam Speaker, could the hon. member go into more detail about the concept of corporate expropriation and the circumstances that would give rise to it?

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 29th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I am honoured to be the last member of my party to speak to this bill, which does not use overly accessible language. The administrative subtleties of the prison system are only rarely revealed to average Canadians. Indeed, there are those within the legal profession who specialize in this field. To illustrate the scope of my observations, I will draw on my experience in the legal aid office where I worked for two years.

I will pick up where I left off during my last intervention. In 2006, after I was called to the bar, I returned to the land of my ancestors and was hired by the legal aid office. I was assigned to the itinerant court. I was a criminal defence lawyer, and I represented Innu and Naskapi people in remote regions. The court travelled from place to place, and I represented people charged with criminal offences.

During my two and a half years in the legal aid office, I worked with another lawyer, Ms. Gaudreau, who worked exclusively on the complaints and grievances from inmates at the Port-Cartier institution. In my riding, there is a maximum security penitentiary 35 minutes away from Sept-Îles, and Ms. Gaudreau worked full time on those files. I had many conversations with Ms. Gaudreau over the years. I even went to the penitentiary several times to see how such cases were handled. Among other things, thanks to my time in that office, I saw that there were enough contentious claims from the penitentiary to make up the majority of a defence lawyer's, in this case, Ms. Gaudreau's, workload. The presence of a maximum security penitentiary in my riding also enabled me to deal directly with criminal files involving federal prisoners as part of my professional practice. There were not many of them, but there were some.

In addition, there was a large aboriginal presence in the Port-Cartier correctional institution. Accordingly, holistic aboriginal programming is offered at this institution. This holistic program includes a healing process borrowed from traditional Innu and Naskapi ways of life, a process that focuses on the principles of reintegration into one's home community.

In September 2011, the last time I toured my riding, I was asked to meet with the director of the Port-Cartier penitentiary, who wanted to talk to me about continuing this holistic program at his institution. We discussed the various measures that had been proposed over the years. The program has been in place for several years now. There is an area on the penitentiary's grounds where inmates who identify as aboriginal can go to get back to their roots. These inmates receive regular visits from elders and can have innu mitshu, that is, traditional food, inside the institution. The goal of all this is to help them reintegrate into their communities after they have served their sentences.

A Statistics Canada publication from July 2009 highlights the higher proportion of aboriginal federal inmates who need help in areas like social interaction, attitude, employment and community functioning compared to non-aboriginal inmates.

As for social reintegration factors, problems and contentious issues in communities and on reserves are often resolved using aggression and methods that are outdated by today's standards. All the measures that come under the complaints and grievances hearing process incorporate this new aspect of communication and rethinking the adversarial process that is common in our society in 2012.

No examination of the complaints and grievances process that is part of the dynamic framework unique to the prison population can ignore the large proportion of inmates who do not have a high school diploma or a job. This situation results in many comprehension difficulties—problems understanding the subtleties of the complaints and grievances process available to inmates who want to appeal an administrative decision by the institution.

Given the long sentences served by prisoners in federal penitentiaries, it is conceivable for their everyday lives to be regulated, as in a type of micro-society. Guarantees offered to all Canadians, such as access to the justice system, may be modified so that they respond to the prisoners' situation.

This is where the complaints and grievances process comes into play; hearings are held for these cases based on an internal arrangement that promotes interaction between administrative authorities, staff and prisoners. A number of reports have established the importance of appointing a grievance coordinator within the prison's administration and increasing the resources allocated to the informal resolution of complaints.

This reasoning thus invites us to identify, develop and implement alternative methods for resolving contentious issues internally. The bill before us presents measures that are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the desired flexibility necessary in communications between prisoners and the authorities.

The internal complaints process offered to prisoners is, in and of itself, part of the rehabilitation process. I spoke about holistic procedures or measures. This is somewhat the same. It is rehabilitation. It is basically a healing process. Other than the purely clerical aspect of how complaints are lodged, the adversarial system that allows prisoners to lodge complaints and grievances gives them the opportunity to voice their concerns and ensures that the parties are able to discuss the facts and possible methods of resolution. This is thus an alternative method for resolving conflicts that is available and beneficial to prisoners. This principle of fairness allows prisoners or their lawyers, such as Ms. Gaudreau whom I mentioned, to present the facts and receive advice, at public expense if necessary—since, as I was saying, legal aid covers this type of case—in order to handle each case properly.

Just the simple possibility of designating inmates as “vexatious complainants” gives rise to many legitimate concerns, including concerns about the commissioner's discretion. It should be noted that no specific definition is found in the bill for vexatious or multiple complaints. What is more, labelling inmates as “vexatious complainants” will only fuel their sense of oppression, will not enhance the quality of relationships, and will even reinforce the adversarial nature of the relationship between the administration and inmates.

Having the Commissioner of the Correctional Service apply arbitrary rules to assess the pertinence of complaints will only unleash or increase hostile reactions, and undermine the relationship between the inmate population and the administration. According to my understanding of the situation, the complaints and grievances process provides an outlet of sorts for the tension often associated with the tumultuous life of inmates, especially in maximum security institutions. Often it involves the offenders in special protection. Just having access to this resource and having an opportunity to be heard and to make their case is a step towards rehabilitation. It is part of the journey that ultimately enables an individual to reintegrate into society and be an asset there. I submit this respectfully.

[InnuRassemble Project, February 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to acknowledge the exceptional work that the Polyvalente des Baies high school in Baie-Comeau is doing in our community. This high school won the Essor provincial grand prize for its InnuRassemble project at the Essor recognition gala held on Saturday night in Rimouski. The InnuRassemble project, which brings young people from both cultures together through the arts, was carried out in partnership with the Estuaire school board, the Uashkaikan secondary school in Pessamit and the Baie-Comeau centre for the arts.

This project is unique to Quebec and got off the ground in 2010 with the Théâtre Le Clou, which won the Baie-Comeau centre for the arts the Rideau award. The project was centred on creating a song. It allowed 600 young people from Baie-Comeau and Pessamit, which are 50 km apart, to attend workshops together and see shows by Chloé Sainte-Marie and the singer Samian, who performed a song called Parle-moi that was written by young people from the two communities.

This type of initiative illustrates the true willingness of the Innu and Quebec communities to come together, as we have seen in the riding of Manicouagan.

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member on his rapidly acquired understanding of the concept of a culturally integrated approach as presented in the House this morning. It fits quite nicely into a speech. All of the Conservatives' speeches this morning have one thing in common. They all include plenty of mind-boggling numbers to shore up their attempts to show that they are committed and that they want to hand the reins over to communities and help them. Are they really committed to getting involved on the ground and taking into account the sometimes difficult situations that young people have to deal with in their communities?

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I particularly appreciated the member's comments concerning the community of Natashquan, which is in my riding. I was there four or five days ago. I do not have a question or a comment, but I humbly submit for the information of the House that a portion of the infrastructure intended for youth is already unusable. Winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour tore the roof off.

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question.

I have a solution, but it does not necessarily involve pillaging natural resources as the only option for economic development. We have to find other ways to ensure that these programs receive adequate funding.

[Business of Supply, February 16th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

I cannot speak for other communities, but I can draw on my own personal experience. It is a good sign that so many people want to pursue higher education. However, that is not the case on my reserve right now, where the high school graduation rate is less than half that in other Canadian communities.

I think that the Canadian government should help communities and community members who show a strong interest in higher education, and it should invest money accordingly. Sometimes, these measures manifest as a massive cash injection. I think this is one of those cases. Some situations call for significant additional funding so that aboriginal students who wish to exercise their right to education have the means to do so.