Time to send a message to the Federal Government

As we continue our advocacy work, Moms Stop The Harm members and allies hope to intensify our work towards ending overdose and drug poisoning crisis by urging the Government of Canada to take action and to do things differently.

Specifically, we will ask the Government of Canada to declare the overdose and drug poisoning crisis a national public health emergency and to:

Take steps to end deaths and injuries:
Immediately collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive, pan-Canadian overdose action plan.
Ensure that any plan considers reforms that other countries have used, such as legal regulation of drugs to ensure safe supply, decriminalization for personal use, and changes to flawed drug policy and policing.
Ensure this emergency is taken seriously with adequately funded programming and supports.

MSTH has developed a new tool to help our members and supporters to increase political pressure on the federal government to do more:

A paper Petition and Sample Letter to Your Member of Parliament (MP): Petitions are a good way to show we have support. Government representatives will not be able to help but notice when our petition is read in the House of Commons day after day. MPs will be forced, in a small way, to bear witness to the overdose crisis and hopefully respond with new and improved measures. We also hope the petition will nudge MPs to take informed positions on drug policy issues in the upcoming election.

While paper petitions may seem old school, they have more strengths than parliamentary online petitions. Online petitions can only be signed for a short period of time and are presented by one MP. Paper petitions can be presented by many MPs and signed until there is an election.

The urgency of the overdose and drug poisoning crisis is nowhere near the top of the agenda, where it should be. We have lost over 44,000 Canadians to this crisis since 2016 and the numbers show no sign of decreasing any time soon. Month after month, loved ones are perishing while our health care system is in shambles and health care and addiction provider services are left in tatters, unable to support their clients.

IT IS TIME FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO DO MORE!

Moms Stop The Harm would like to revive our petition urging the Government of Canada to take action and to do things differently.

Specifically, our petition asks the Government of Canada:

To declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency and:
Immediately collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive, pan-Canadian overdose and drug poisoning crisis action plan.
Ensure that any plan considers reforms that other countries have used, such as legal regulation of drugs to ensure safe supply, decriminalization for personal use, and changes to flawed drug policy and policing.
Ensure this emergency is taken seriously with adequately funded programming and supports.

Petitions are a good way to show we have support. Government representatives will not be able to help but notice when our petition is read in the House of Commons day after day. MPs will be forced, in a small way, to bear witness to the overdose crisis and will hopefully respond with new and improved measures. We also hope the petition will nudge MPs to take informed positions on drug policy issues in other forums.

While paper petitions may seem old school, they have some advantages over parliamentary online petitions. Online petitions can only be signed for a short period of time and are presented by one MP. Paper petitions can be presented by many MPs and signed until there is an election.

How you can help:

Step one: Download and print the Petition. Please get family, friends and allies to sign our petition. You’ll need a minimum of 25 signatures (Note: A couple of extra signatures always helps in case someone has not properly completed the petition).

Step two: Send the signed MSTH petition(s), along with a Covering Letter, to your MP, or another MP if you prefer. Copy, paste and customize the letter. You can get your MP’s contact information by calling 1-800-463-6868 or going to https://www.ourcommons.ca/en. Remember a) mail to MPs is postage free and b) MPs are there to help you with matters like this. It’s their job!

Step three: Call your MP in a couple of weeks if you haven’t heard anything and ask if she or he will be presenting your petition in the House of Commons. What is said in the House of Commons is documented in the Hansard Index, which will allow us to track the progress of our petitions. Please let us know if your MP is reluctant to do so, as we can help you find an MP who supports our cause. You can reach us at info@momsstoptheharm.com.

We have also added a video link here and included the video to provide you with additional information on gathering signatures and submitting the paper petition.

MSTH greatly appreciates your help with the petitions so that we can bring the overdose and drug poisoning crisis closer to the forefront of the government’s agenda, where it belongs.

Lives depend on it!

This webinar explains how you can be part of a campaign to ask the Government of Canada to declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency. The webinar explains how downloading a petition, collecting signatures and sending the signed petitions to your MP can easily be accomplished and make a big difference. Specifically we ask the the the federal government immediately collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive, pan-Canadian overdose action plan. Ensure that any plan considers reforms that other countries have used, such as legal regulation of drugs to ensure safe supply, decriminalization for personal use, and changes to flawed drug policy and policing. Ensure this emergency is taken seriously with adequately funded programming and supports. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the overdose crisis is one of the most devastating public health emergencies our country has faced in a century. And it is time for the federal government to do more.

Some of the PETITIONS TABLED:

*September 24, 2020 - Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to table a petition on behalf of residents from Cumberland and Courtney. They call on the government to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emergency under the Emergencies Act in order that the government can manage and resource this crisis with the aim of reducing and eliminating preventable deaths from poisoned fentanyl. We have lost over 147 residents in British Columbia in August alone. The government has not declared it a public health emergency even though over 15,000 Canadians have died since 2016. The petitioners want the government to reform current drug policy and decriminalize personal possession. Last, they want the government to create with urgency and immediacy a system to provide safe, unadulterated access to substances so that people who use substances experimentally, recreationally or chronically are not at imminent risk of overdose due to a contaminated source. These petitioners are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and cousins of people who have died and lost loved ones. The government needs to take action.

*September 28, 2020 - Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Mr. Speaker, sadly I am rising once again today to table a petition on behalf of constituents from Port Alberni, Qualicum and Parksville. They are raising concerns about the fact that over 15,000 Canadians died as a result of fentanyl-poisoned sources, which were preventable deaths. The number of these preventable deaths total beyond all public health emergencies in the last 20 years, including SARS, H1N1, Ebola and COVID-19. The petitioners call on the government to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emergency; that it reform current drug policy to decriminalize personal possession; and create, with urgency and immediacy, a system to provide safe, unadulterated access to substances so people who use substances experimentally, recreationally or chronically are not at imminent risk of overdose due to a contaminated source.

*November 2, 2020 - Green MP Paul Manly (Nanaimo-Ladysmith): Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table e-petition 2783, which was brought forward by constituents in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith. The overdose crisis has been declared a public health emergency in British Columbia. This year, more people in B.C. have died of opioid drug poisoning than from the COVID-19 pandemic. The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to declare a public health emergency because of overdose deaths in Canada; reframe the overdose crisis in Canada as a health issue rather than a criminal issue; take a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to the overdose crisis by addressing issues of addiction, poverty, housing, health care, racial discrimination, and economic inequality and instability; listen to and act on recommendations made by social workers, front-line workers, nurses, doctors, drug users and individuals directly involved in the drug-using community; end the wasteful and ineffective war on drugs; and decriminalize personal possession of all drugs in Canada and guarantee a safe supply of drugs in Canada.

*November 4, 2020 - Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition on behalf of people in my riding around the opioid crisis. The petitioners cite that the preventable opioid overdoses resulting from fentanyl-poisoned drug sources requires action. More people have died in this public health crisis than from all public health emergencies in the last 20 years. They also cite that the current war on drugs has been costly, grossly ineffective and has resulted in widespread stigma towards addiction and those who use illicit drugs. Criminalization of particular substances has resulted in the establishment of a drug trade that now traffics dangerous and lethal products such as fentanyl. By regulating to ensure safe sources with proper measures and bylaws, this will reduce the criminal element associated with street drugs. The petitioners are calling on the government to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emergency under the Emergencies Act in order to manage and resource it with the aim to reduce and eliminate preventable deaths.

*November 19, 2020 - Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition today on behalf of petitioners who are raising concerns regarding the fentanyl poisoning crisis and demanding action be taken. This is timely, given that the Mayor of Vancouver is calling on the government to decriminalize the possession of opioids in Vancouver and all drug supply. They are calling on the Government of Canada to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emergency under the Emergencies Act in order to manage and resource it, with the aim of reducing and eliminating preventable deaths; reform current drug policy and decriminalize personal possession, which is what the mayor of Vancouver is asking for; and create with urgency and immediacy a system to provide safe, unadulterated access to substances, so the people who use substances, whether experimentally, recreationally or chronically, are not at imminent risk of overdose due to contaminated sources. The petitioners cite that the 15,000 deaths in our country were all preventable.

*November 25, 2020 - Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to table a petition from my constituents. Of course, the Downtown Eastside, my own riding, is struggling with the opioid crisis. The petitioners acknowledge and note that the opioid crisis is one of the most deadly public health emergencies of our lifetime with a death taking place, on average, about every two hours and a death toll of almost 15,400 people in the past four years alone. The petitioners are calling on the government to declare the opioid crisis as a national health emergency and to take steps to end overdose deaths and injuries, and to also immediately collaborate with provinces and territories to deliver a comprehensive, pan-Canadian overdose action plan. Any plan should consider that other countries have used things such as legal regulation of drugs to ensure safe supply, decriminalization for personal use and changes to the flawed drug policy and policing.

*November 25, 2020 - Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP): Madam Speaker, the opioid crisis is one of the most deadly public health emergencies of our lifetime, with a death taking place, on average, every two hours, and a death toll of almost 15,400 people in the past four years alone. That number is from before COVID-19. Many Canadians, including representatives from the group Moms Stop the Harm, have asked me to present this petition calling on the government to declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency. The petitioners also ask that the government, by working with provinces and territories, take steps to end overdose deaths and overdose injuries by immediately developing a well-funded and comprehensive pan-Canadian overdose action plan.

*January 28, 2021 - Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, today I have a petition to present in memory of Wyatt Thomas Smith. It is signed by 25 individuals. The petitioners are asking the government to declare the overdose crisis a national public emergency and take steps to end overdose deaths and overdose injuries by collaborating with the provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive pan-Canadian overdose action plan that considers reforms that other countries have used. They ask us to ensure that this emergency is taken seriously, with adequately funded programming and supports.

*February 4, 2021 - Mr. Michael Barrett (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to present a petition on behalf of Christine Wingate in memory of her late son Shane. The opioid crisis, the most deadly public health crisis of my lifetime, which claims a life every two hours in our country, has seen a significant increase as a result of COVID-19. Opioid use and other drug use that is affecting communities from coast to coast is a scourge and must be addressed by the government. The signatories call on the government to declare the opioid crisis a national health emergency. They call on the government to develop a Canadian overdose action plan in collaboration with provinces and territories and to take the steps needed to prevent overdose deaths and injuries, particularly by looking at best practices and successful practices from other countries. On behalf of Christine Wingate and her son Shane, it is an honour to present this petition.

*February 4, 2021 - Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde (Orléans, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition today organized by Katherine Steinhoff in memory of her son Simon. It calls on the government to declare an opioid crisis, which is one of the deadliest public health emergencies of our lifetime. One death is taking place on average every hour, and the death toll has been 15,400 in the last four years alone. Petitioners call on the government to declare this a national emergency and immediately collaborate with the provinces and territories to establish a pan-Canadian action plan to end overdose deaths and injuries.

*February 16, 2021 - Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC): Madam Speaker, I am also presenting a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding who are calling on the Government of Canada to declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency, to take steps to end overdose deaths and injuries, and to immediately collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive plan, and to ensure that any plan considers reforms and that this emergency be taken seriously.

*February 17, 2021 - Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay (South Surrey—White Rock, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I rise virtually today to present two petitions submitted by mothers in my riding of South Surrey—White Rock whose families have been affected by opioid addiction. Linda Eagland tragically lost her beautiful son Justin to a fentanyl overdose. Brenda worries for her son who has struggled with addiction in the past. As a mother of four, I can understand the pain these families have endured. My heart goes out to Linda, Brenda and their families, and to all Canadians affected by drug addiction.

*February 17, 2021 - Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde (Orléans, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, last week I was proud to present a petition calling on the federal government to collaborate with the provinces and territories to establish a pan-Canadian action plan to end overdose deaths and overdose injuries.
With a death taking place roughly every two hours, and a death toll of 15,400 people in the last four years alone, the opioid crisis is one of the deadliest public health emergencies of our lifetime. Canadians in every corner of our country are affected by this crisis, and it is being made even worse by the ongoing pandemic. The petition was organized by Katherine Steinhoff, an activist with Moms Stop the Harm, and a mother who lost her son, Simon, to the crisis. It was signed by citizens across the city of Ottawa, and I want to thank her for her tireless advocacy for action on this issue.

*February 25, 2021 - Mr. Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present two petitions. The first petition was sent to me from Katherine Steinhoff. Like thousands of Canadians, Katherine's life was forever changed when she lost her son to an accidental overdose. Tragically, the overdose epidemic has touched too many people in my riding of Hamilton Centre, in Katherine's hometown of Ottawa, and in communities from coast to coast to coast. This petition calls for Canada to declare the overdose crisis a national health emergency, develop and properly fund an overdose action plan, decriminalize possession for personal use, and reform flawed drug laws and policing.

*June 7, 2021 - Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC): Mr. Speaker, today I am presenting one petition on behalf of the constituents of Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. The petitioners outline that every two hours there is a death from opioids in Canada. The opioid crisis is out of control. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to take steps to end the overdose deaths and injuries, provide supports for recovery and play a larger role in funding such supports. (A big thank you to Julie Jones for working on this petition)

*June 16, 2021 - Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from Moms Stop The Harm stating that the opioid crisis is one of the most deadly public health emergencies of our lifetime, with a death taking place on average every two hours and a death toll of almost 15,400 over the past four years alone, and that the overdose crisis continues to rage.
The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency; take steps to end the overdose deaths and overdose injuries; immediately collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive pan-Canadian overdose action plan; ensure that any plans consider reforms that other countries have used, such as legal regulation of drugs to ensure safe supply, decriminalization for personal use and changes to flawed drug policy and policing; and ensure that this emergency is taken seriously, with adequately funded programs and support. (A big thank you to Anna Maria Iredale for working on this petition)

*April 6, 2022 - Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table a petition today related to the toxic drug supply and the 27,000 deaths that are mounting in this country because of the lack of action. The petitioners specifically call upon the Government of Canada to declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency. They call on the government to take steps to end the overdose deaths due to a poisoned drug supply, and they want the government to immediately collaborate with the provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive strategy and action plan to address this crisis. They want that plan to ensure there is regulation of drugs and ensure we have a safe supply. They also want decriminalization for personal use and changes to flawed drug policy and policing. This emergency should be taken serious with adequately funded programs and supports. This is the eve of a budget. I am honoured to table this petition today.

*April 7, 2022 - Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP): Madam Speaker, it is my honour today to stand on behalf of hundreds of Canadians who have called on the government to deal with the opioid crisis in Canada. The opioid crisis is one of the most deadly public health crisis emergencies of our lifetime. In Alberta, there was a 229% increase in the number of deaths that occurred between January 2020 and January 2021. The people who have signed this petition ask that steps are taken to end overdose deaths and overdose injuries, to collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive pan-Canadian overdose action plan, and to ensure that any plan considers reforms that other countries have used, such as legal regulation of drugs to ensure adequate safe supply.

*February 8, 2023 - Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP): Madam Speaker, I am presenting three petitions today. I am honoured to present a petition on behalf of constituents who remind us that the toxic drug supply and overdose crisis is one of the most deadly public health emergencies of our lifetime and that, on average, someone dies every two hours. The petitioners call on the government to declare a national public health emergency and develop a pan-Canadian overdose action plan. They talk about other reforms, including decriminalization, flawed drug policy and policing reforms, and the need for funding for programming and supports.

*March 8, 2023 - Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am rising because people in my riding of Victoria are drawing attention to the fact that the overdose and toxic drug supply crisis is one of the most deadly public health emergencies of our lifetime, with over 20 deaths per day. People are calling on the government to declare the overdose crisis a national public health emergency and take immediate steps to end overdose deaths. This would include working with provinces and territories to create a pan-Canadian action plan and ensuring that plan considers reforms that other countries have used, such as legal regulation of drugs, safe supply, decriminalization, and changes to flawed drug policies in policing. Petitioners call on the government to ensure this emergency is taken seriously with adequately funded programming and supports.

*March 31, 2023 - Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP): Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to table these petitions. I speak on behalf of Canadians who are calling for action on the opioid crisis. It is no secret to Canadians that the opioid crisis is one of the most deadly crises we are facing in Canada. During the period between January 2016 and March 2020, over 30,000 Canadians died to the opioid epidemic. These petitioners are calling for an end to the overdose crisis, ensuring that we have legal regulation of drugs, and ensuring the decriminalization of personal to end the stigma and save lives because we cannot, in fact, treat those who are dead.

*April 18, 2023 - Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP): Madam Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition mere days after the seventh anniversary of British Columbia's announcement of a public health emergency regarding the toxic drug crisis. This petition was led by Moms Stop the Harm. I want to thank the moms. I want to thank the dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, children and community members of those who have lost loved ones due to the toxic drug crisis. They are calling on the government to act, to join British Columbia in taking action in what is one of the most deadly public health emergencies in our lifetime and which is claiming approximately 21 deaths and lives every day. The undersigned call upon the Government of Canada to declare the toxic drug crisis a national public health emergency. They want the government to take steps to end the toxic drug deaths and overdose injuries immediately and collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive pan-Canadian overdose action plan, including treatment on demand, decriminalization, provision of a safer supply of substances and investments in education recovery. They want to ensure this emergency is taken seriously with adequately funded programming and supports.