The Municipality of North Cowichan has followed the City of Duncan’s lead and voted to support major changes to Canada’s drug laws at the council meeting on April 5.
But, unlike Duncan’s council which unanimously voted in support of Bill C-216 at its last meeting, there was some dissension among North Cowichan’s council members on the issue.
RELATED STORY: DUNCAN’S COUNCIL CALLS FOR RADICAL CHANGE TO CANADA’S DRUG LAWS
Bill C-216 is a private members bill that was recently introduced in Parliament by Gord Johns, MP for Courtenay-Alberni and the NDP Critic for Mental Health and Addictions.
The bill, also known as the Health-based Approach to Substance Use Act, aims to decriminalize drug possession for personal use and expand access to harm reduction, treatment and recovery services.
North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring said he can’t support the motion.
“This, to me, is not the solution,” he said.
“I’m sick and tired of hearing we can’t enforce our way out of this. We’ve never tried enforcement. Just go to the streets and see what’s actually happening.”
Coun. Tek Manhas said he agreed with Siebring.
“Treatment? Yes. Health care? Yes. But I’m adamantly against decriminalization,” he said.
Johns visited the Cowichan Valley on March 10 on his first stop in a national tour to gather support for Bill C-216.
He said at the time that during the past six years, almost 25,000 Canadians have died of apparent opioid overdoes due to a toxic drug supply.
RELATED STORY: NDP MP TOURS DUNCAN IN 1ST STOP ON DRUG CRISIS WAR
“We have to deal with this issue as it’s costing more and more lives, including the lives of loved ones,” Johns said as he and Alistair MacGregor, MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, met with business owners along the Trans-Canada Highway corridor to discuss the problems dealing with drug issues in the area.
Afterwards, MacGregor sent a letter to the councils of Duncan and North Cowichan asking that they support Johns’ bill.
“Across Canada, from big cities to smaller communities, families have suffered the devastating impact of losing loved ones to an increasingly toxic street supply of illicit drugs,” MacGregor said in the letter.
“For too many years, we have watched this crisis consume record numbers of lives in our province of British Columbia. It is time for the federal government to step up and address this with bold new policy. With this bill, my NDP colleagues and l are calling for an evidence-based approach that stops treating drug users as criminals and instead helps them get the help they need.”
North Cowichan Coun. Debra Toporowski questioned Siebring’s lack of support for Bill C-216, stating that just saying it isn’t going to work doesn’t seem to be a very productive way forward with the issue.
“These are people’s cousins, sisters and brothers who are suffering and need this help,” she said.
“It’s not perfect and it’s not going to be perfect.”
Council voted 5-2 to support the bill, with Siebring and Manhas opposed.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter