Health committee  It's my full, wholehearted belief that we need to be doing absolutely all of those things to curb this crisis. The federal government also has the opportunity to regulate the drug supply and offer a legal supply of drugs to the entire country to curb the deaths that are a result of the unregulated toxic supply.

Health committee  They're doing irreparable harm to this to the country, to the people who use drugs in this country. People are dying as a result of stigma; people aren't accessing services as a result of stigma. When politicians utilize this as an opportunity to get election votes or get ahead in their careers, they are doing harm that is killing people.

Health committee  Thank you very much. As I was saying, I feel called to share my experience on the complex ripple effects of this public health crisis within the context of a concurrent national health care crisis and provider shortage. Canadian nurses are leaving the front lines in droves as a result of burnout, moral distress, moral injury and trauma, and I'm speaking to this specifically today because I am one of them.

Health committee  Okay. I left my profession altogether with severe post-traumatic stress disorder in 2018, having worked through the first peak of fentanyl poisoning deaths and at the time of Nanaimo's largest homeless encampment, Discontent City. The devastating psychological impacts of participating in countless failed resuscitation attempts, witnessing discriminatory and stigmatizing treatment of people who use drugs, having sick patients leave before receiving treatment due to fear of criminalization, and not having the necessary resources to care for people in the way I was trained to do nearly killed me.

Health committee  I just want to make sure everyone can hear me okay. Considering that we are sitting at the crux of both Mental Health Awareness Month and National Nurses Week, I feel called to share my perspective on the complex ripple effects of this public health crisis within the—

Health committee  Good morning. Thank you for having me here today. My name is Sarah Lovegrove. I'm a registered nurse and professor for the Bachelor of Science in nursing program at Vancouver Island University, VIU. I'm grateful to be joining you today from the traditional unceded territory of the Sununeymuxw First Nation, colonially referred to as Nanaimo.