The plan to prevent another meth epidemic in the evacuated communities.

Wednesday May 23, I asked in Question Period what the government was doing to prevent triggering another methamphetamine epidemic in the communities which are being evacuated this year. My question and the Minister's answer is below.

Community Evacuations - Prevention of Meth Epidemic

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, we are about protecting a community which is in a pretty desperate situation right now.

Large numbers of people have been and are being evacuated from Sapotaweyak, from Little Grand Rapids, from Pelican Rapids and from Kinonjeoshtegon, and potentially from other communities like Pauingassi.

Last year, when people were evacuated, it triggered the meth epidemic which we are still dealing with in these communities because evacuees were preyed upon by drug dealers.

I ask the Minister of Health: What measures are being taken today to prevent meth epidemics in communities being evacuated this year?

Hon. Ron Schuler (Minister of Infrastructure): Well, again, Madam Speaker, the minister raises another very important and serious issue.

When we do bring individuals into the city of Winnipeg, they are often vulnerable to individuals in the city and the kind of product that they want to push upon them.

We have met extensively with the Red Cross. We've met with the federal government through INAC and Emergency Measures, and they do have a plan in place. However, Madam Speaker, I don't think it would be worthwhile to lay out that plan and allow everybody who might want to have access to these individuals know what our plan is.

I want to assure members and I want to assure all Manitobans we do have a plan in place to protect these individuals when they come to the city of Winnipeg.

Comments

Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it. The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives. The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support). It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive

Manitoba Liberal accomplishments

Examples of Manitoba Liberal accomplishments in the last three years Ensured that 2,000 Manitoba fishers were able to earn a living in 2020 (To see the full story click on this link ). Introduced a bill that includes retired teachers on the Pension Investment Board which governs their pension investments. Introduced amendments to ensure school aged children are included in childcare and early childhood education plans moving forward. Called for improvements in the management of the COVID pandemic: · We called for attention to personal care homes even before there was a single case in a personal care home. · We called for a rapid response team to address outbreaks in personal care homes months before the PCs acted. · We called for a science-based approach to preparing schools to improve ventilation and humidity long before the PCs acted. Helped hundreds of individuals with issues during the pandemic including those on social assistance

The Indigenous Science Conference in Winnipeg June 14-16

June 14 to 16, I spent three days at the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference. It was very worthwhile. Speaker after speaker talked of the benefits of using both western or mainstream science and Indigenous science. There is much we can learn from both approaches. With me above is Myrle Ballard, one of the principal organizers of the conference. Myrle Ballard, from Lake St. Martin in Manitoba, worked closely with Roger Dube a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others to make this conference, the first of its kind, a success. As Roger Dube, Mohawk and Abenaki, a physicist, commented "My feeling is that the fusion of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science methodology should rapidly lead the researchers to much more holistic solutions to problems." Dr. Myrle Ballard was the first person from her community to get a PhD. She is currently a professor at the University of Manitoba and the Director of Indigenous Science

The Gerrard Report

Search This Blog