September 24 - 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 - 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.

During the debate on the Speech from the Throne:

-NDP MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) said, “…the biggest issue facing my community right now has to be the opioid crisis, hands down… Unfortunately, there was only a single reference to the opioids crisis. "It is really unconscionable, given the public health crisis we are facing, especially in communities like mine, that only a passing reference was made…”

-Later, MacGregor also asked, “…Why has the Liberal government refused to call the opioid crisis a national health emergency? Why is it not heeding calls of organizations like the chiefs of police to decriminalize this? Why is it not providing the federal resources that so many communities across the country need to finally get a handle on this crisis?”

-When NDP MP Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay) asked whether the hundreds of thousands of people being poisoned by fentanyl would benefit from a safe supply and decriminalization, Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan said, “…We must work together. This does not take one simple fix. It is a very complex problem. Our government has taken numerous actions, and we must work together to do more.”

-Conservative MP Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country) remarked, “…First responders are dealing with overdoses continually, every day, and the government said that it will “continue to address the opioid epidemic tearing through communities”. What does this mean? There are no actions or policy ideas” When asked for her own views on declaring a public health emergency and decriminalizing possession for small amount, Gray did not respond directly but stated “…A lot of what I hear in my community is that the focus is solely on harm reduction. This is absolutely a part of dealing with the situation, but there are so many other ways that we could be dealing with this. We could do it through recovery and treatment facilities, for example, but this is not being focused on at all. It was actually in the last Conservative election platform.”

-Conservative MP Marc Dalton Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge) asked, “How do the member and New Democrats feel about the Liberal government placing more emphasis on recovery and treatment than primarily on safe injection sites?” NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver-Mount Pleasant) responded by saying “…The federal government has refused to act on this in a comprehensive way. No one ever suggested harm reduction and decriminalizing are silver bullets; we need all of those."

-Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches—East York) said, “… we have listened to public health experts to save lives in this pandemic and need to continue to heed their advice to address the opioid epidemic. That work should include a federal task force to reset our national drug strategy, which has been called for by police chiefs, and action toward decriminalization and safer supply projects…Every serious person who has looked at this issue has said the current drug prohibition framework is killing people and that we need drug policy reform to save lives. I hope we have a serious conversation about this and put the politics aside to save lives going forward in the same way we have put politics aside in the course of this pandemic…”

-NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay) stated, “…In the midst of the pandemic, we are dealing with the other great pandemic: the opioid crisis. It has been a disaster…We have to be ready to work together to get through this, but that means the Liberal government has to move on from positive words. They think if they say positive words, they get positive results, but that is not how it works. Positive words mean action. Action means we have to get the money out now to address the opioid and homelessness crisis…”

-Green Party MP Paul Manly (Nanaimo—Ladysmith) said, “…We have an opioid crisis in this country. Thousands of people have died from drug poisonings. Addiction is a health and social issue. Our public health officers are telling us to follow evidence-based solutions to this crisis. We need to listen…”

October 22 - Mr. Todd Doherty (Cariboo—Prince George) was the only one to raise the overdose crisis in House of Commons last week, after days of silence from MPs on this urgent matter:

When Canada was being thrust into the first wave and we had a shortage of personal protective equipment, why did our Prime Minister and the government ship tonnes of personal protective gear? Why, when we are thrust into an opioid crisis, has the government not done anything about that? Canadians, and the health and safety of Canadians, should always remain the first priority…”The COVID-19 pandemic is discussed each day. MSTH does not understand why our other great pandemic is not raised every day! That MPs take the overdose crisis more seriously by participating in our petition to the Government of Canada.

During question period, Conservative MP Todd Doherty (Cariboo-Prince George) mentioned that the overdose crisis has impacted his family and said “This is a national health care crisis. Why is the Prime Minister missing in action?” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was deeply sorry to hear about his colleague's and family's loss. Trudeau also stated, “To help people with substance use disorders, we have made it easier to access medication like Suboxone and Methadone. We have made it easier to set up overdose prevention sites. We have supported community-based products through the substance use and addictions program. We will continue to rely on science. We will continue to listen to experts. We will continue to use harm reduction and safe consumption sites as a way to move forward in protecting vulnerable people and respecting public health advice.”

October 26 - Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, we are only in October and already the drug overdose deaths in the Okanagan have surpassed that for the entire year of 2019. Unfortunately, the numbers are similarly surreal across British Columbia. One does not have to look far to find someone in my community who has a family member who has, unfortunately, fallen victim to addiction. This is a crisis and we need action now. Why is the health minister continuing to drag her heels in taking action on addiction and recovery?

Response: by Hon. Patty Hajdu (Minister of Health, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, my heart goes out to the member opposite. I do not think any of us in this room can say we are not touched by someone who struggles with substance use or mental health issues. That is why we have taken this issue so seriously. In fact, with regard to the opiate overdose crisis, it is this government that restored harm reduction to Canada's drug strategy, that brought back compassion to an approach to supporting people who use substances to recover, to ensure that people could access a safer supply of substances and use substances in a way that could connect them to resources and begin that hard process of recovery. This is not an easy problem, it does not have an easy solution, but we are working very hard with in particular B.C. and all of the provinces and territories.

Other highlights:

-Liberal MP Arif Virani (Parkdale-High Park) made a statement in the House, saying “…Opioid overdoses are now responsible for more deaths in the country each month than COVID-19…Our government is investing $9.5 million to ensure the safe supply of opioids. This approach, coupled with supports and treatments for substance use addiction, will help save lives and improve public health...”

-NDP MP Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford) also made a statement. He said, “In B.C. alone this year, we have already lost 1,000 lives, five times more than have been claimed by COVID-19. Despite these statistics, the Liberals only gave the opioid crisis a passing reference in the throne speech. The government continues to avoid declaring a public health emergency, continues to ignore experts who are calling for decriminalization, and continues to fail the communities bearing the brunt of this crisis.