Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks responded to the Conservative leader’s support of involuntary addiction treatment for minors and prisoners by saying there is a shortage of associated beds in Canada.
“What we know right now is that jurisdictions across this country do not have enough treatment beds available for individuals to choose to access at this time, they do not have enough services and supports in the treatment space. I’m focused on that,” she said during a press conference in Ottawa on Oct. 11.
Saks said the federal government has
signed $200 billion in bilateral agreements with the provinces over the next 10 years that includes mental health and substance abuse supports, and that Ottawa will continue working with them to “make sure that they have access to those treatment beds.”
Since health care is a provincial responsibility, it’s up to the provinces to “outline the policies that they see fit,” she said.
During a press conference a day earlier, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he supported mandatory drug treatment for children and prisoners who are “found to be incapable of making decisions for themselves.” As for involuntary adult treatment, the Tory leader said he was “still doing a lot of research on how that would work.”
Poilievre cited the story of Brianna MacDonald, a teenage girl from Abbotsford, B.C.,
who died of a suspected overdose in a homeless encampment after stopping treatment, despite her parents wanting
her to continue the process. “There’s no question in my mind that she should have been in mandatory, involuntary psychiatric and substance abuse treatment, rather than in a homeless encampment in a tent,” Poilievre said.
In July, Poilievre said he was open to involuntary treatment for drug addiction, but that he would need to study the issue further before making a decision. “I don’t know if you can take someone off the street who has not committed a prison offence and successfully rehabilitate them. If we can, I’m open to it, but I’d need to see more evidence at this point,”
he told reporters.
Saks said Poilievre’s latest comments on involuntary treatment for drug addiction don’t reflect policy but his own perspective based on “a very polarized and a lack of evidence-based view of what we know works.”
Pressed by reporters on whether she supported involuntary treatment, Saks said she had not seen “enough of scaling to need of treatment by provincial and territorial jurisdictions to meet the moment,” and she wanted to see the provinces use the $200 billion that has been committed before talking about those measures.
Provinces Considering Involuntary Drug Treatment Legislation
Several provinces have been considering compulsory care for mental health and addictions as a way to deal with the country’s growing overdose crisis. Last year, the Alberta UCP government introduced the
Compassionate Intervention Act, which would allow family members, doctors, or police officers to petition a family court for a treatment order when someone “is a danger to themselves or others” due to active drug addiction. That order would require the person to enter into addiction treatment in some cases.
Alberta NDP Mental Health and Addictions Critic Janet Eremenko accused the UCP
in a statement at the time of refusing to consider harm reduction measures and pushing forward with a “forced treatment approach, which evidence shows is not effective.”
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has also
floated the idea of using the charter’s notwithstanding clause to implement similar legislation to allow authorities to force certain people into drug treatment programs. While that bill was originally scheduled to be introduced in May 2024, the government has delayed the plan.
The notwithstanding clause, or
Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, gives the provinces the power to override certain parts of the charter by using the notwithstanding clause. Some legal scholars have raised concerns about the clause’s increased usage by premiers in recent years.
British Columbia also
said in September that it would use the province’s Mental Health Act to open secure facilities for involuntary care for those with severe addictions who are mentally ill.
“British Columbia’s Mental Health Act allows us to admit and treat people with serious mental health issues who are a risk to themselves or others. People who are certified under the Mental Health Act will be treated involuntarily for a mental disorder,” the BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services
said.
