UCP Plan to Improve Community Safety and Well-being
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Summary
Learn English with United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith. She speaks to First Nations leaders, family members, and young people who have experienced life and addiction to addictions. She also sets out a plan to improve public safety by addressing the challenges of mental health and addiction.
Transcript
00:10:36.720
Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge that we are here today
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on traditional Treaty 7 territory, and we are honoured
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to be joined by First Nations leaders from across Alberta.
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With us today is Chief Roy Whitney of the Satina Nation,
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Councillor Martin Heavyhead of the Kainai Nation,
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who is also the chairperson of the Blood Tribe Department of Health and Charles Weaselhead,
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former Kainai Chief and Treaty 7 Grand Chief and Vice Chairperson of the Blood Tribe Department
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of Health. Thank you all for coming and joining us here to talk about the important issues of mental
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health and addiction. Also here today is our United Conservative Party leader Danielle Smith
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and lastly we are joined by several family members and young people who have experienced life
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and addiction. We will have the privilege of hearing some of their stories shortly.
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This election is about choosing the Alberta we want moving forward. Albertans have an opportunity
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to choose to continue on a path of hope, wellness and recovery with the United Conservative Party or
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to return to the multiple failed policies of the past with the NDP. Right now there are far too
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many Albertans suffering the consequences of untreated addiction and mental health issues
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and the death and destruction these challenges bring.
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And at the same time, because these issues have been left untreated for too long,
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our communities are suffering from the social and public safety consequences they bring.
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From our large urban communities in Calgary and Edmonton to our smallest villages and towns,
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there isn't anywhere that has been left untouched by the chaos of addiction
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Our United Conservative Party has a strong vision for the future.
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A re-elected, united Conservative government will take a fair, firm, and compassionate approach to these issues.
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Fair to the communities, families, and businesses suffering the consequences of addiction, drug use, and untreated mental illness.
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and compassionate to those struggling with the challenges
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who need treatment and support to save their lives and recover.
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I'd like to invite United Conservative leader Danielle Smith
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forward now to share the next steps of our plan
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to improve public safety by addressing the challenges
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I see one of our friends in the media was having trouble with audio.
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Albertans have been blessed that this province has been able to emerge out of the pandemic
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But the sad reality is that despite the opportunity created by a booming economy,
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Alberta is also grappling with the effects of untreated mental health issues and the ongoing addiction crisis that jurisdictions are experiencing all over North America.
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People struggling with addiction are on our streets and no family is being spared.
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Each and every one is someone's son, daughter, husband, wife, mother, or father.
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They are our fellow Albertans who are caught in the grips of a deadly and destructive illness that is destroying their potential and endangering their lives.
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They all deserve the chance to change their lives for the better.
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Far too often this addiction crisis has led to social disorder and out-of-control violence that has seemed to have gotten worse.
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It is the number one job of a government to ensure that people are safe when they walk down the street.
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They shouldn't have to look over their shoulders in their own communities.
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People have a right not to be randomly grabbed, punched, kicked, or spit upon, or heaven forbid, stabbed.
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Nobody taking public transit should fear getting thrown onto the tracks.
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And kids should be able to go to school without being exposed to the secondhand smoke of deadly and dangerous hard drugs.
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People laying on the streets, a danger to themselves and others who just happen to be walking by.
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Last week I announced the United Conservative Party
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and a number of measures to improve public safety.
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and support so they can achieve their potential
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and so what's happening on the streets doesn't continue.
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When we look at what's happening in our communities
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with addiction and the crime and social disorder it's causes,
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about how to help people who suffer from mental illness
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and addiction, especially when it crosses the line
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and impacts other people's right to be safe in our province.
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United Conservatives have a clear plan to address these challenges and we will put the resources in place to deal with it.
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When the UCP government arrived in office, the publicly funded addiction care system was capable of treating 19,000 people a year.
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We added 10,000 additional fully funded treatment spaces.
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The NDP was charging user fees of $40 per day for people to access our publicly funded addiction treatment system.
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The United Conservative government eliminated that fee.
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This means that Alberta's addiction treatment system now provides detox treatment and recovery services for up to 29,000 Albertans every year, fully funded and free of charge.
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While our drive to build a world-class addiction care system is recognized around the world,
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We must assertively drive forward with these plans.
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And that's why a re-elected United Conservative government will build over 700 new publicly funded
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addiction treatment beds across Alberta with 11 new treatment centers.
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We call these centers recovery communities with free admission to any Albertan who needs it.
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Too many of our First Nations friends are suffering and I will not stand idly by while the federal government does little to help.
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I want to be a strong advocate and you have my commitment that we will be there for each other and we will walk this road together.
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We are also proud that a re-elected United Conservative government will build four of these recovery communities in partnership with First Nations, including the Kainai Nation, the Enoch Cree Nation, the Siksika Nation, and the Soutina Nation.
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These partnerships are an essential step forward in our shared journey of reconciliation.
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We are counting on you to show us the way in using trauma-informed and land-based healing.
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Together we can be an example of real healing and reconciliation for all nations in all of Canada to witness.
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First Nations governments are struggling as I mentioned as well.
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More must also be done for mental health and that's why a re-elected united conservative government will address the lack of inpatient support for mental illness in Alberta by building five new 75 bed mental wellness centres that will provide a total of 375 new inpatient mental health beds.
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And voluntary treatment will always remain our top priority.
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they should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
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Having an illness does not absolve anyone of their criminal responsibility.
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People who are an imminent danger to themselves and others.
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Who need a more assertive intervention to ensure they get better,
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to save their life and to keep our communities safe.
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addiction, get healthy and have the opportunity to have a new life.
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The act would allow for a family member, doctor, psychologist or police officer
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to make a petition to a specially appointed non-criminal judge to issue a treatment order.
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The court would be able to divert an addict who is in imminent danger to themselves or
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others to treatment instead of jail. This step would be a last resort in order to save lives
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and to prevent the overdose deaths, assaults and attacks happening in Alberta as a result of drug use.
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If someone is an imminent danger to themselves or others, we will do whatever we can to save their life and help them get better.
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And that begins with getting them out of harm's way.
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We need to ensure Albertans don't have to worry about random acts of violence when they're walking down the street or taking transit.
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This is about saving lives and keeping our communities safe.
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The Compassionate Intervention Act will allow us to save the lives of addicts who are at risk of dying from an overdose
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and to protect those who are at risk of being randomly attacked in our communities.
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It's not looking the other way and hoping for the best.
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Rather, it is, and it's not about hiding the issue.
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Rather, it's addressing the challenges and confronting the problem head-on.
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Our United Conservative Party has a bold vision and plan to address the mental health and addiction
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We stand for safe, effective, and accessible treatment for all.
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We stand for helping those who are struggling to achieve recovery.
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We stand for achieving life-saving services on demand when they are needed.
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We stand for partnerships with First Nations and walking this journey together.
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We stand for a parent's right to save the life of their child.
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But they don't want to talk about their plan during this election.
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They don't want to talk about their plan to distribute and supply drugs to addicts, just like in Vancouver, at taxpayer expense.
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They don't want to talk about their plan to put supervised consumption sites in communities all around Alberta.
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They don't want to talk about their time in government when they charge people $40 per day user fees to access care.
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They don't want to talk about their candidates wanting to defund the police.
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all hard drugs like we're seeing in British Columbia.
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or looking the other way and hoping for the best.
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We believe some people just need an opportunity
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treatment and recovery, and will do whatever it takes to keep Albertans safe.
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I'd now like to ask if any of our chiefs would like to say a word.
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I've met the Premier and I've worked with the Premier, and I will say they have a good action plan.
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You know, we're working with the province of Alberta to make Sixi Gai safe.
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Looking on the stage, this is an Alberta worldwide pandemic.
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And, you know, every day we have people from Sixi Gai and other First Nations that are passing away.
00:26:05.440
People from Calgary, Red Deer, every city in Alberta are passing away every day.
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so we cannot idly sit by as the premier mentioned and just hope this goes away we have to meet this
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head on and we know we're in we're in collaboration as we speak now of um trying to develop
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partnerships where we can work together not just for the benefit of 60 guy but the benefit of all
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alberta so i just wanted to say thank you premier for uh you and your team and the work you've done
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Premier, I'd like to thank you for your forward thinking
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that your government is talking about here today.
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to be engaged in supporting and helping the parents,
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as well as ensuring that it's a safe place for us all to live.
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I truly appreciate your announcement here today
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I don't know, Chief Weaselhead, if you wanted to add now
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the Blood Reserve, the Blood Tribe Department of Health.
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I want to say that this is, I think this is the third time
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we've declared a state of local emergency in regard to drugs.
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Back in 2018, we declared a state of local emergency.
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again in 2020 and again in 2023 and it's an ongoing problem that had been put onto the
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back burner because of the pandemic, the COVID pandemic. But now we have to deal with it again
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and we're trying to deal with it as best as we can.
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The government of Alberta had come to us some time ago
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and we've been working with them for quite a while now.
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Some of them are on to other drugs like suboxone.
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And I think we're fully behind the recovery method
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We're trying to get as much funding as possible
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is completed for us, our construction manager has been appointed. And so we are moving forward
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as quickly as we can. As we speak, our young people and our people that are inflicted with
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addictions are dying left and right. Being one of the largest communities in Canada, we have a large
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We're now going to hear some remarks from parents
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I am the mom of someone who struggles with addiction.
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My son is alive today due to assertive intervention
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when he could no longer make decisions to keep himself safe.
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By the age of 17, he had been admitted to mental health boards 14 times,
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stayed at six group homes and a court-ordered stay at the safe house.
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He had overdosed multiple times as addiction took control of his and our lives.
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our hearts said goodbye to him twice as he was resuscitated and placed on life support.
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the pain was unbearable his addiction made him a danger to himself
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despite everyone's best efforts his struggles were beyond treatment and he was sicker than
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the system could handle after seven terrifying years of consuming worry for us his loving family
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not knowing daily if he was alive or dead intervention was our only option it is hard
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to understand the anguish of this journey until you love somebody who struggles with addiction
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it took its toll on all of our family it should never have come to this
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ours is just one of many stories that these families behind me have suffered through
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for all of us and many more our community many more in our community intervention was the solution
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we are the lucky ones with access to assertive intervention and the carer provided
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it gave our family hope in a way that we never thought possible on the desperate days of this
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journey when we did not know our next steps it has without question saved our son it has provided a
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space where it was safe for him to be vulnerable with his pain and in turn to recover from his
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addiction with dignity something i believe everyone deserves today we proudly watch him
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become the healthiest version of himself living in recovery intervening with the right treatment
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not only saved him it saved our family because we never would have recovered from losing him
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i share our story today for anyone that has been touched by addiction i want you to know that there
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can be a solution from the dark days of watching loved ones suffer the success rate of recovery
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based on compassion is astounding it has given our families opportunities that we never thought
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were possible and we are truly grateful today i stand here with the village because our children
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deserve the power of our unity our backgrounds and stories may be different but each of our
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loved ones is equally deserving of a full life family should not have to suffer like this and
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feel ashamed while already dealing with heartbreak it's time for loved ones to have a say and for
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those struggling to be given the dignity to find their true selves again it's time to restore our
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I'm here today to share my family's story also.
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It involves my two daughters, one of which is here today.
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and emerged as shining examples of courage and strength.
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And it tears apart families and it shatters dreams.
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When my daughters fell into the grip of addiction,
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their relationships, their dreams for their future.
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My daughters were literally dying in front of my eyes.
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including a suicide attempt and multiple overdoses,
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that they were in control of their drug use
1.00
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The disease of addiction had completely hijacked their minds.
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Every morning that I opened their bedroom doors,
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I know that my daughters would not be alive today
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if it wasn't for a judge granting me an emergency order
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Today, I'm proud to say that my daughters have emerged
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from the depths of addiction as resilient warriors.
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to incredible personal growth and lasting recovery.
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They spend much of their time giving back to their community
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youth in treatment their journey has taught us invaluable lessons it has shown us the importance
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of understanding acceptance and unwavering support in the face of addiction it has reminded us that
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recovery is not an individual effort but a collective endeavor that requires love and
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dedication and a community willing to step into someone's addiction as i look at my daughters now
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i see two strong vibrant young women who have reclaimed their lives their journey continues as
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they embrace each new day with gratitude purpose and a profound appreciation for the second chance
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that they have been given we've all come to know that addiction is not a moral failure it is an
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illness and my girls just need it to be helped long enough to remember who they really were again
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i'd like i'd like to acknowledge that we are sharing the stage with these chiefs and elders
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I recognize your long-standing history with what it means to bring the suffering members of your
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community into a circle of wellness so that they can remember who they are again because of your
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compassion. It's not about a quick fix. It's about the long game and it's the courageous and fiercely
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loving thing to do. Thank you for going first and helping us to remember the ancient wisdom of your
00:38:38.480
I am not so special, and our windfall of being granted an order for long-term treatment shouldn't be either.
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Every parent out there deserves to have the ability to save their child's life, no matter what it takes.
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If anyone has some Kleenex, I think there's a few of us up here who might need it.
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Good morning everyone. My name is Abby and I'm an addict living in recovery. I stand before you
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today as a living testament to the power and the importance of a family's intervention.
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My family saved my life and I am forever grateful for it. Before my parents intervened, I was
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struggling with addiction for a total of six years. It had started with the use of marijuana
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at 12 years old and quickly progressed to using methamphetamines and opioids at the age of 14.
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I was lost, alone, and hopeless. I experienced multiple overdoses, suicide attempts, trips to
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the police station, and psych ward. These visits were short and provided only a temporary solution.
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I had hit rock bottom and I didn't know how to get back up. I truly believed I wasn't going to
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make it past 16 years of age. I hated anyone or anything that stood between myself and my drug use
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and I was a danger to myself and others living in a world of darkness without a way out.
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Then something miraculous happened. At the age of 16 my family or my family finally experienced
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enough pain and had the courage to step into my addiction and get a court order that placed me
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into detox before entering a long-term treatment program. My parents were scared for my life and
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had no other choice. I made multiple stops in the road before this, and this final intervention
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saved my life. It allowed them to show me the love and support I needed to overcome my addiction
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and gave both them and myself the tools and the support to recover. I'm proud to say that I'm now
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19 years old with three years of sobriety, attending school and working towards a degree in nursing.
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I have a great relationship with my family and friends, and I can now live life on life's terms
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without the use of drugs and alcohol without them making the decision to intervene i believe i would
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be dead i'm here today sharing a bit of my story because i know that there's plenty of people out
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there that are struggling hopeless praying for a solution i am living hope and i am so grateful
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for the opportunity that was given to me because of their actions and because of the hope that
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others had for me i am here today standing before you forever grateful and alive thank you
00:42:17.080
good morning everyone my name is amelie and i have the disease of addiction
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i'm here today to be an example of the impact that co-ordered intervention can
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have on a life growing up my home life was incredibly chaotic to escape it at the age of
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12 i started using drugs i quickly became addicted my grades began slipping and i found myself in
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legal trouble the addiction had taken over my life to the point where i was on the brink of death
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by the time i was 15 i was overdosing every other week and had no regard for my own life
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thankfully my mother intervened and got a court order for me to be sent to detox
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i then went into a treatment program focused on abstinence which ultimately saved my life
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without this intervention i'm certain that i would be dead
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today i am full of gratitude that my family was able to step in the way of my disease
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i live an incredibly rewarding life that would not be possible without this court-ordered
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after I spent seven years homeless on the streets
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My wife and I are now raising my sister-in-law's
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As an Indigenous person, I have been advocating
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As a person in recovery and as a person who has lost far too many friends and family to the illness of addiction.
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All right, I'll now pass it over to Becca and we'll do a question and answer.
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Before we get to the Q&A, if anybody needs a rest and you have to exit the stage, feel free to do that.
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I will ask the speakers to stick around because there might be some questions that go to you.
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and anybody that spoke today is available for questions.
00:46:13.740
Any thoughts on the constitutionality of the Compassionate Intervention Act
00:46:18.180
and alternatively the constitutionality of legalizing drugs in Lower East Hastings?
00:46:24.040
Well, I would tell you that we already have a pathway to get treatment orders.
00:46:36.980
We want to make sure that we have an appropriate process
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that if a person is causing harm to themselves or others
00:46:48.960
rather than go to jail, they'll go into a treatment path.
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We think that this is exactly what we need to do
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to protect the life, liberty and security of people
00:47:00.960
When it comes to what they call safe supply, I would just point you to a recent article by Adam Zeebo in the National Post where he has documented very clearly what the impact is of giving powerful opioids in Vancouver.
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In Vancouver, the drug they're handing out, it's called hydromorphone, it's five times more powerful than heroin.
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Addicts are crushing it up and injecting it into their arms.
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We're getting major infections and some of them are dying.
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Rachel Notley has gone on the record saying she supports safe supply.
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It means using taxpayer dollars to give hard drugs to individuals.
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They will either inject them and hurt themselves
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or they'll go out and sell them so that they can get fentanyl.
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It increases the supply of unsafe, harmful, destructive,
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the approach we've taken with the Alberta model
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It gets people into recovery and on that pathway.
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and they're not able to make decisions in their own interests
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to be able to make decisions in their own interests
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And so I feel very confident that what we would be doing
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would be fully compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
00:49:24.580
So I'm Mike Ellis. I worked the streets for over a decade.
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I was that police officer that attended their homes where they were crying, saying they didn't know what to do.
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I've had mothers cry in my arms because they didn't know what to do with their children.
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Are we going to condemn a 12-year-old to a life of palliative care?
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And by giving them drugs, giving them a safe place to use these drugs, we have hope.
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Hope to these young kids, the kids that were back here.
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Hope to these parents so that those children will have something more than the continual and perpetual state of abuse.
00:50:15.440
That's not a life, to be given drugs and then given a safe place to use them
00:50:21.300
and then given a naloxone kit and then sent on their way and then use the drugs again.
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That's what they're doing in east side of Vancouver.
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The junior highs, the high schools, the post-secondaries.
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The only people benefiting from this are the drug dealers.
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The only people being disadvantaged by this is the rest of society and, quite frankly, the law enforcement community.
00:51:03.380
I wanted to actually ask one of the people in recovery a question, maybe Abby, if you wouldn't mind.
00:51:11.300
uh premier smith has just spoken extensively about the constitutionality of this i'm wondering what
00:51:16.500
your response to be would be to someone who says that to force an addict into treatment is inhumane
00:51:25.860
yeah um i i think for myself um i i thought going into treatment not under obviously my own well
00:51:34.740
was inhumane um but to be quite frank and honest the only reason i thought that was
00:51:40.260
because i wanted to continue doing what i was doing um which was using drugs right i like i
00:51:45.780
said i didn't want anyone or anything to get in the way of me and my drug use and to be honest i
00:51:50.900
don't think any addict would want that right um because i mean in an addiction it's a disease
00:51:58.260
it's a brain disease um it's a it's a mental health mental health issue and i think for myself
00:52:05.940
and speaking for um some other people here in recovery i needed that intervention regardless
00:52:11.940
of in the moment if i thought it was inhumane or not because i know um afterwards after leaving
00:52:18.740
treatment after being recovered and becoming sane again um i was extremely grateful and i know
00:52:25.940
there's a lot of other people that were extremely grateful to be given that opportunity rather than
00:52:59.920
the treatment order, the approach that we want to take would be that we would go before
00:53:04.500
a judge. So it would be a judicial order. There would, when you go before, sorry, it's
00:53:10.040
a non-criminal judge that would issue the treatment order and the court would have a choice
00:53:15.520
to be able to divert an addict who's an imminent danger to themselves or others to treatment
00:53:19.440
instead of jail. I think when a person gets to this point, there really is only a few
00:53:25.920
There is jail, there is treatment, and there is
00:53:41.940
What I heard from the parents is why should they
00:53:44.940
be the few lucky ones that managed to get this?
00:53:47.940
Why shouldn't we, for all those who are facing a
00:53:50.940
situation where there are harm to themselves or
00:53:55.920
order to be issued by a court in all cases and that's what we'd be doing.
00:53:58.640
Tyson Fedora with CTV and thank you everyone for sharing your stories today.
00:54:04.480
Very moving. Leader Smith, a little off topic but a bit on topic as well.
00:54:08.880
As we know the Prime Minister is in the province today in Edmonton visiting with the military
00:54:12.960
in regards to the wildfire situation. I just wanted to know if you've had any direct
00:54:17.280
conversations with him, if you were maybe invited to meet with him while he's here in the province
00:54:21.920
speaking about the wildfires and potentially even speaking about this with him as well and see what
00:54:26.980
the federal government could potentially do. I have had a conversation with the prime minister
00:54:31.860
was a lengthy one at the beginning of the wildfire crisis and he offered we went through the letter
00:54:38.880
that we had written to him about all of the ways in which he'd be able to assist with that
00:54:42.380
and he's he's he's assisted us in everything that we've asked for so I suspect that he's arriving
00:54:53.700
that the federal government is going to have to be called to do.
00:55:16.940
So Little Red River Cree Nation has 3,500 people
00:55:29.020
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation as well, 36 homes that
00:55:43.940
his help will be needed on the rebuilding so i'm glad he's here to to see the um uh to see the
00:55:49.940
situation for himself hi hi adam with global news um this announcement comes on the same day that the
00:55:58.980
city of calvary released their survey of voters what the issues that matter to them mental health
00:56:04.580
and addictions being one of them public safety especially in the downtown core another and
00:56:08.420
affordable housing all kind of part of this kind of nuanced situation so my question is how does this
00:56:14.020
fit into that continuum and to making sure folks have the help they need after um treatment affordable
00:56:19.940
housing and things along those lines uh in response to what calgarians say is on their minds in this
00:56:24.340
election it it absolutely is a continuum it's why we've invested for the last four years in this
00:56:29.460
recovery oriented system of care building recovery communities increasing our treatment capacity
00:56:37.300
so people could get a replacement to hard drugs.
00:57:03.300
the five different types of individuals that we're seeing on the streets. And there goes the
00:57:10.740
continuum to the guys who are committing the crime, who are involved in gang violence, who are
00:57:18.500
dealing and getting people addicted, who are causing harm, who are committing crimes, all the
00:57:23.540
way to the poor souls who are just suffering through addiction. And so we know we have to deal
00:58:02.300
This is what the recovery communities are all about.
00:58:13.800
get them onto some kind of replacement therapy,
00:58:16.180
get the mental health and serious therapy treatment
00:58:18.720
that they need, reconnect them to family and friends,
00:58:21.620
get job training skills so that not only are they
00:58:24.380
able to take care of themselves when they get an
00:58:26.160
They know how to grocery shop, they know how to cook
00:58:31.000
and then also have the wraparound supports at the end.
00:58:32.860
So I would say that when somebody has gotten to the point
00:59:15.640
because Rachel Notley was the worst premier
1.00
00:59:23.620
183,000 jobs were lost during her four years in government.
00:59:30.480
Investment was leaving this province in droves.
00:59:36.020
We saw a massive increase in the amount of drug addiction,
00:59:43.880
Our downtowns in both Calgary and Edmonton have been emptied out
00:59:47.340
causing major financial crises to our two cities.
01:00:03.960
those dollars for the things that we care about.
1.00
01:00:06.940
going to keep on talking about why we need to move
01:00:13.920
Anybody with questions can reach out to my office.