441-00793 (Health)

1.    Bill C-5, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was introduced on December 7, 2021. The Bill proposes amendments to ensure that responses to criminal offences are fair and effective, while ensuring that public safety is maintained. The proposed amendments to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) reinforce the Government’s commitment to address the ongoing opioid crisis. They would provide space to treat simple drug possession as a health issue, rather than as a criminal one, by requiring police and prosecutors to consider doing nothing, issuing a warning and diverting people to treatment programs or other supportive services, when appropriate, instead of charging and prosecuting someone for this conduct. The Bill would support police and prosecutors by enacting for the first time in the CDSA a declaration of principles to guide them in exercising discretion.  

2.    As passed by the House of Commons, Bill C-5 would further address the stigma associated with simple drug possession by: (1) limiting the kind of information that may be kept in the police record of warning and the use that can be made of such records, as well as to whom these records may be disclosed; and, (2) providing for sequestration of past and future records of convictions for this offence after a certain period of time. 

3.    The 2018 Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act provides that the Governor in Council may list an offence as eligible for expungement if the activity no longer constitutes an offence, and the criminalization of the activity was historically injustice. Bill C-5 does not propose to decriminalize simple drug possession. 

The Government continues to deliver on its promise to work toward removing the stigma associated with convictions for simple possession of drugs.

Originally introduced in Parliament on December 7, 2021, Bill C-5, an Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), was amended in September to address concerns about the ongoing stigma associated with a record of convictions for simple possession of drugs. It now specifies that past and future convictions for possession of controlled drugs must be kept separate and apart from other criminal convictions after a certain period of time. This amendment is consistent with the underlying objective of the Bill to address the negative consequences associated with simple possession. The amendment acknowledges the calls from public health organizations and those who work with individuals with addictions. It helps address barriers to successful reintegration into society and also helps address a contributing cause of the ongoing opioid crisis, namely the stigmatization of people who use drugs.

Criminal records have a lasting impact on the ability of rehabilitated individuals to successfully reintegrate into society after overcoming personal challenges in their lives. Treating simple possession of drugs as a health and social issue means eliminating the stigma associated with convictions for simple possession.

The toxic illegal drug overdose crisis is one of the most serious public health threats in Canada’s recent history, which is having devastating impacts on individuals, friends and families, and communities across the country. The Government recognizes that substance use is a health issue, and is committed to a public health approach to address the crisis.

The federal government is supporting policies and approaches that divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and toward appropriate health service and social supports, when needed. For example:

• The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act was passed into law in May 2017, providing some legal protection from simple drug possession charges for individuals who seek emergency help during an overdose.
• In November 2022, Bill C-5, which made legislative amendments to the Criminal Code and to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), received Royal Assent. Among other measures, Bill C-5 encourages the use of diversion measures for personal drug possession offences, such as referral to health and social services, rather than laying a criminal charge. These amendments repealed mandatory minimum penalties for certain offences in the CDSA to reflect the Government’s public-health-focused approach to substance use.
• These measures are consistent with the August 2020 Guidelines issued by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to prosecutors directing that alternatives to prosecution should be considered for the personal possession of drugs, except where public safety concerns arise.
• Additionally, to help decrease stigma during police interactions with people who use drugs, in September 2020, Public Safety Canada launched an online training module specifically designed for law enforcement members. The training raises awareness of the harms associated with substance use stigma and provides frontline law enforcement members with practical tools to support their interactions with people who use drugs.

In May 2022, at the request of the Province of British Columbia, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions granted a time-limited exemption under the CDSA so that adults 18 years of age and older in the province will not be subject to criminal charges for personal possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs. Instead, where appropriate, individuals may be provided with information regarding local health and social services. Upon request, they could also receive assistance to connect with those services. British Columbia requested this exemption, and it is an additional way that the federal government is supporting the province’s comprehensive approach to the overdose crisis. This time-limited exemption will be supported by rigorous monitoring and a third party evaluation to gather evidence and data on its impacts and outcomes. The results will help inform Canada’s comprehensive approach to addressing substance use harms. We have also received a request from Toronto Public Health and we are working with them toward a complete exemption request. Our government will continue to work in close partnership with various jurisdictions or organizations that submit an exemption request so that the requests address both the public health and public safety objectives of the CDSA.

We continue to work with willing jurisdictions to use all tools at our disposal to address this crisis, including approaches to redirect people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and towards health and social services.

The Government of Canada is supporting policies and approaches for greater access to pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to the toxic illegal drug supply. As of December 2022, Health Canada has supported 28 safer supply pilot projects across Canada through the Substance Use and Addictions Program, representing total funding of over $77.8 million. This includes supporting a range of service delivery projects in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, research/knowledge transfer and exchange projects, and a National Safer Supply Community of Practice to help share knowledge amongst stakeholders. 

We are also helping to build the evidence around safer supply, including:

• supporting a preliminary qualitative assessment of 10 safer supply projects, conducted by an independent contractor; and,
• funding an arms-length evaluation of 11 safer supply pilot projects funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and carried out by the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM).

The Government engages with people with lived and living experience (PWLLE) and organizations that represent them, including: regular bi-lateral meetings with key organizations, participation on projects teams, facilitating PWLLE engagement in government and ministerial events and meaningful consultations in order to better understand their perspectives of substance use and on-the-ground realities (e.g., roundtables, Knowledge Exchange Series, etc.). Recently, Health Canada has established the PWLLE Council, the Expert Advisory Group on Safer Supply and the Expert Task Force on Substance Use as part of this engagement strategy.

We have established federal, provincial and territorial governance tables, including the Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee on Substance Use (formerly Problematic Substance Use & Harms), and the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Assistant Deputy Minister Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use to facilitate ongoing collaboration and consultation with provincial and territorial partners.

Our Government also made a number of regulatory changes at the federal level to help improve access drug treatment and safer supply programs, including:

• issuing a class exemption (an exemption for a group of individuals, such as pharmacists, to authorize specific activities with controlled substances) to make it easier for patients to access the medications they need;
• approving injectable hydromorphone as a treatment option for patients with severe opioid use disorder;
• approving diacetylmorphine as a new treatment option for patients with severe opioid use disorder, as well as facilitating the prescribing and dispensing of methadone and diacetylmorphine; and,  
• authorizing nurses who provide health care services at a community health facility to conduct certain activities with controlled substances.

Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have been working with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous communities and other partners, including researchers, advocates and people with lived and living experience, so that people who use drugs can continue to access the treatment, harm reduction and other services they need.

Health Canada has supported the rapid expansion of supervised consumption services across Canada. Since January 2016, the number of federally approved supervised consumption sites (SCS) offering services grew from 1 to 39. Health Canada also proactively issued exemptions that allows provinces and territories to establish new temporary Urgent Public Health Need Sites – also known as overdose prevention sites – within existing supervised consumption sites, shelters or other temporary sites, as needed. Urgent Public Health Need Sites, unlike supervised consumption sites, are temporary locations that can be set up rapidly to address the overdose crisis. Both share the goal of reducing overdose deaths.

Since 2017, the Government of Canada has committed more than $800 million to address the toxic drug and overdose crisis and responded quickly to implement a wide range of measures to help save lives and meet the diverse needs of people who use drugs. A significant part of the federal investments to address the overdose crisis have focused on increasing access to urgently needed treatment and life-saving services, including harm reduction. For example:

• $150M through Budget 2018 to an Emergency Treatment Fund (ETF) for provinces and territories to implement multi-year projects that improve access to evidence-based treatment services to help address the overdose crisis (cost-matched by provinces and territories for a total investment of over $300M).
• Nearly $350M for the Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) through Budgets 2017-2022 to provide funding to other levels of government, community-led and not-for-profit organizations in Canada to support projects aimed at prevention, harm reduction, and treatment.

Federal investments have also been targeted towards awareness, prevention and stigma reduction activities to address the overdose crisis. Over $22.8M has been invested in public education activities, including:

• “Know More Opioids” awareness program, which aims to engage teens and young adults on the facts surrounding opioids, ways to reduce risks and the harms of stigma;
• National advertising campaigns to reduce stigma around opioids and substance use, and raise awareness of the Good Samaritan law; and,
• “Ease the Burden” public education campaign to reduce substance use stigma surrounding help-seeking and encourage people to get help, especially for men in physically demanding jobs, who have been highly impacted by the opioid overdose crisis (since 2016, three out of four opioid-related deaths are men, and 30% to 50% of those employed worked in trades at the time of their death).

Under the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS), the Government of Canada shares the commitment of Bill C-216 to a public health approach to substance use; however, it could not support this Bill as written. Health Canada continues to advance work in support of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions’ mandate to “advance a comprehensive strategy to address problematic substance use in Canada.”

The Government of Canada is committed to continued collaboration between jurisdictions, health providers, people with lived and living experience, stakeholders and partners, such as community-based organizations, to reduce the harms associated with substance use and providing people with the culturally appropriate and trauma-informed support they need.