The vast majority of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals on Wednesday voted against a bill to nationally decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs, with the prime minister arguing that it should be done in stages rather than wave a “magic wand.” » pan-Canadian.
The day before, the federal government announced that it was giving its approval so that British Columbia could stop imposing criminal offenses for the possession of quantities of drugs of 2.5 grams or less.
A motion to advance a similar initiative, but of national scope, Bill C-216 proposed by the New Democratic Party (NDP), was defeated.
Only 71 MPs voted in favor and 248 voted against. The New Democrats had the support of the few Liberals — such as the member for the Montreal riding of Hochelaga, Soraya Martinez Ferrada — as well as all the Bloc and Greens. This was insufficient to make Bill C-216 survive, which thus came up against opposition from the rest of the Trudeau team as well as from the Conservatives.
The Prime Minister maintained, Wednesday morning, that he advocates a gradual approach to follow up on each of the requests for decriminalization that may arise and aimed at responding to the crisis of overdoses by opioids.
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“It takes support. It takes a complex approach and (now that we will have) that in British Columbia, we are ready to look elsewhere in other jurisdictions that want to do it, ”he said in a press scrum.
“You can’t just wave a magic wand and say, ‘OK, there you go, problem solved.’ Nope ! We know that it takes support, provincial investments, health systems (ready and) an integrated approach, ”he added.
The City of Montreal declared itself in favor of decriminalization, in January 2021, through a motion adopted by city council. In a statement sent by email, the office of the mayor, Valérie Plante, reiterated this position.
“When we deal with consumer issues from a public health perspective, we create a climate of trust that promotes rapid interventions and reduces the risks for consumers,” it says.
The government of François Legault, however, signaled Wednesday that decriminalization was not in its boxes.
“Blood on the hands”
Already on Tuesday, the NDP was urging the Liberals to vote for its Bill C-216 to respond to the opioid overdose crisis, which, the party argued, is national in scope. According to the most recent data shared by the federal government, approximately 27,000 Canadians lost their lives for this reason between January 2016 and September 2021.
“How are you going to be able to sleep at night?” “, had launched Gord Johns, NDP critic for harm reduction and sponsor of the bill, to the Liberals who were about to vote against it.
He added a layer on Wednesday, arguing that they were going to have “blood on their hands”, which his leader Jagmeet Singh also said alongside him.
The leader of the NDP believes that the gradual approach advocated by Mr. Trudeau makes “no sense”.
“We decided to have federal laws on the Criminal Code. It is a federal law, which means that we should not have different laws in the different provinces or territories, particularly on this question of personal possession of drugs, ”he said.
In the House, Prime Minister Trudeau retorted that the NDP’s approach was “not responsible”. ” [Il faut] work with partners to move forward as we are doing in British Columbia. We are open to doing it elsewhere, but it takes partnerships to do it. »
This argument made the general manager of the Montreal organization Dopamine, Martin Pagé, jump.
“To think that there is no networking is not to know the reality here and in my opinion it is a lack of courage,” he reacted in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Mr. Pagé mentioned that links are already in place between the community and public health stakeholders, adding that he feels a real openness on the side of law enforcement.
“Police on the street, like many actors, feel helpless right now. I think there is momentum to move forward. I don’t understand why we are resisting. »
For the organization established in the Hochelaga district which accompanies drug users, the outcome of Wednesday is interpreted as a maintenance of the status quo and a disconnection of political decision-makers from the reality on the ground.
The representative for Quebec of the association Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH), Isabelle Fortier, believes that the step-by-step approach put forward by Mr. Trudeau does not respond to the urgency of the situation.
“If we wait to see how it goes in British Columbia, (that brings us) in maybe three, four, five years,” she said.
“We can’t wait five years. It’s happening now. Among other things, the number of deaths has doubled within two and a half years, ”insisted the representative of the group including relatives of people who died of overdoses.
In his opinion, the federal government must move forward with “clear guidelines” and “the rest will follow”. Ms. Fortier added that decriminalization would pave the way for other significant actions to stem the crisis.
“There is little openness to what will come next, that is to say access to drugs that will be safe, the diversification of access to care and therefore not just abstinence treatments, but all harm reduction and treatment approaches that would be funded accordingly,” she summarized.
Both MSTH and Dopamine were consulted by the NDP when it was crafting its Bill C-216.