Health Committee on June 17th, 2024

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Oddly enough, it's stated that Health Canada licences are for research purposes only, as you attempted to say. However, the CEO of Sunshine Labs—

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

I did say that. It was not “attempted”.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

—says, “Since inception, we have been proactively pursuing amendments to our Dealer's License to include MDMA, Coca Leaf, Cocaine, Opium, Morphine, and [heroin] to position ourselves as a legitimate safer supply partner.”

Have you or your officials had meetings with this company?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Jennifer Saxe can answer with regard to meetings.

[Jennifer Saxe, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Department of Health]

We have met with Sunshine Labs. Sunshine Labs is a licensed dealer. However, they published misinformation.

We followed up last spring when that misinformation regarding selling to the public was published. They are not authorized to sell to the public. Licensed dealers can conduct certain activities with controlled substances for medical and research purposes, depending on the substance and depending on their licence.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Don't you think it's very concerning for Canadians that a former medical officer of health in B.C. set up a company to import heroin into this country? Now the current minister of health there—with your co-operation, Minister—is attempting to legalize other substances in this country.

Is that not concerning to you? Should Canadians be concerned about that? I know I am.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

I think it's important to address the facts with regard to Fair Price Pharma, not speculate.

Dr. Perry Kendall is an esteemed and well-respected physician. Fair Price Pharma is an early-stage company looking at research potential in addressing substance use and addiction. It consults with Health Canada on what the proper channels and regulatory bodies are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Dr. Ellis.

Thank you, Minister.

Next, we have Ms. Sidhu for six minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the minister and all the officials for being here with us today.

First, Minister Saks, I believe you wanted to add more information with regard to Dr. Ellis's question. I would like to give you a few seconds to answer that.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Through you, Mr. Chair, to clarify, any company that seeks to engage with Health Canada with regard to an inquiry on licensing or permitting in what is an extremely rigid regime—with which we must comply, according to international treaties with the INCB—is required to comply with all regulatory standards in place.

They can import or export only for medical treatment use or research.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

Minister Saks, my next question is this: Recently, I had a meeting with my youth council. They clearly told me about the need to have mental health tools available to them.

Could you expand on our youth mental health fund program? Could you also talk about increased funding for the recently announced integrated youth services collaboration centre?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you to the member.

Through you, Mr. Chair, I'd like to say that the integrated youth services program is a hallmark of what we can do to help youth in every part of this country and meet their needs in the community with a full range of services, including primary care, counselling and support for families.

With regard to the youth mental health fund, we are very excited to be working with a youth-led and expert-led consultation process right now. This will be a “once in a generation” investment in our young Canadians. We know mental health challenges have been growing among our youth. We also know we need to meet them where they are, so we can offer them the services they need and deserve in order for them to succeed and thrive. We know that when our young people thrive, Canada will succeed. This is exactly why these investments are needed at this moment, particularly after COVID.

With regard to recent investments, we've been building out the integrated youth services program for quite a number of years. There are now 48 hubs throughout the country, gathering data and knowledge and working with youth every single day. Now we have made a $59-million investment to “network the network”, so knowledge exchange, increased support and an evidence-driven approach to addressing youth mental health, wellness and well-being will be the future for young Canadians.

I would like to defer—

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is for Ms. Jeffrey.

Could you please talk to this committee about the work of your department in implementing the national framework for diabetes?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Can you specify to whom that question was directed, Ms. Sidhu?

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

It was for PHAC, Minister.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Ms. Nancy Hamzawi is here on behalf of PHAC. Perhaps she can answer your question, if you don't mind repeating it.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Could PHAC tell us what's happening with the implementation of the national framework for diabetes?

[Nancy Hamzawi, Executive Vice-President, Public Health Agency of Canada]

Back in October 2022, the framework for diabetes in Canada was released, marking a major milestone to better support Canadians. Through budget 2021, the government committed $20 million to research through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research partnership to defeat diabetes, including $15 million matched by the JDRF.

Since February 29, you all have been having discussions on Bill C-64 around national universal pharmacare, with diabetes being a very important pillar to that bill.

Thank you very much.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Could you expand on the conversation with the provinces and territories as they work on implementing their own plan in aligning with this?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

We work very closely with our colleagues in the provinces and territories. We have a public health network, as well as the council of deputy ministers, ultimately leading to support for the ministers across the country. We've had several conversations and have exchanged best practices and experiences to make sure we have that coverage from coast to coast to coast.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

I'll come back to Minister Saks. Can you talk about the bilateral agreement with the provinces and the historic investment in mental health care, and elaborate on that?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Over the past year, with Minister Holland, we've signed 26 agreements in total for provinces and territories, totalling $200 billion in investments into the health care of Canadians. Part of that work was based on four key principles, one of them being mental health and substance use. The cumulative result of that has been that, with those agreements, over a third of the funds allocated across provinces and territories is dedicated to mental health and substance use services.

As I said in my opening remarks, the federal government is a partner with provinces and territories, understanding that their jurisdiction is responsible for delivering health care services, mental health services and substance use services. We work with them to support them in what they need for their communities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Minister, welcome.

I would like to address the toxic drug crisis.

The last time that I asked you questions, we talked about the amount of drugs seized by the RCMP. According to certain allegations, some of the drugs seized were counterfeit. However, they came from a diversion of drugs used in supervised supply programs. At the time, you didn't have all the answers to my questions.

Could you shed light on the outcome of this seizure and the source of these drugs?

Were you able to obtain these answers?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

As the member knows, diversion of all drugs is illegal, whether they are ADHD medication, hydromorphone or oxycodone, which was also commented on recently in the media. All prescribed drugs that are not used for their intended use by their intended user are illegal.