Bereavement day bill closer to passing

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This article was published 28/04/2022 (1620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Supporters of a bill that would establish a special bereavement day in honour of Manitobans who have died from drug use are hopeful it will pass in time for it to take place this year.

Second reading of Bill 234 — proposed legislation to make May 7 a provincial day of bereavement for families who lost loved ones due to overdoses — received unanimous support during Thursday morning’s sitting of the Manitoba legislature. It will head to committee for analysis before returning to the floor for a third reading and potential royal assent.

This is a bill brought forth by families and loved ones of those who have died from drug use, said Bernadette Smith, NDP critic for mental health and addictions.

“I’m so glad the government decided to do the right thing and bring this bill forward,” she said. “For the most part, they [Progressive Conservative MLAs] were supportive. They know it’s the right thing to do. They’ve also had people they know that have been touched by this, and a lot of these folks have reached out to them as well.”

Members acknowledged and thanked the people watching in the gallery who were family and friends of people who died after an overdose.

No one from that group was available for comment Thursday.

The date of May 7 isn’t an accident, Smith said. This is to give families grieving their loss some recognition. Families approached Smith last June about the bill, and there are a lot of recognized holidays where families may be spending them grieving lost loved ones.

It won’t just be a bereavement day for mothers, Smith said. It will encompass everyone in Manitoba.

A day of bereavement is as much about understanding the breadth and depth of addiction as it is about honouring families. It’s a complicated issue, she said.

There were more than 400 drug-related deaths in Manitoba last year — more than double the historical average of 200, The Canadian Press reported earlier this month. In 2020, 372 people died from fatal overdoses. There were 200 deaths in 2019 and 202 the year before.

While some fatal overdoses are accidental, others are intentional because users couldn’t get the help they needed and lost hope. Families also have trouble getting help because of either long wait lists, dealing with judgment and stigma or just keeping track of where their loved ones were as they struggled to control their addiction.

With this bill, there could be real changes to people’s mindset over addiction as it will encourage the public to think about what addiction is and how it affects people.

This bill is getting support, but there are still challenges ahead for related legislation.

One piece of legislation, Bill 217, The Fatality Inquiry Amendment Act (Overdose Reporting), is calling for changes in how suspected substance-related deaths are handled and classified. There hasn’t been much movement on that bill, Smith said. A sticking point for the PCs has been how often medical examiners should be filing overdose statistics, which the bill proposed every three months.

The PCs have been asking why can’t it be sooner, but Smith said they are going by what the medical examiners say will be a more accurate frame to collect data.

“We are going by what the experts are telling us needs to be done,” she said.

During debates, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sarah Guillemard said she was open to investigating another proposal brought forth by Smith: safe consumption sites.

“I think if they’re used in conjunction with strong core services, there can be a place for that — connecting those who are struggling with substance use with resources to help them to move away from the substances and more towards healing and healthy living,” Guillemard said.

“We need to consider strategies that have worked in other jurisdictions. There is nothing that is off the table.”

The Sun contacted Westman advocates for comment, but they were unavailable Thursday.

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