Canada’s bill C-65: Respect for communities is far from respectful

On June 6th the federal government introduced Bill C-65 to outline the details of what must be included in an application for a Section 56 exemption to Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. To shield clients and staff from criminal convictions, any supervised injection service must hold a section 56 exemption from Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). This section allows the federal Minister of Health to exempt a service or practice from the provisions of the CDSA in the interests of scientific research or in the public interest. Insite, located in Vancouver is North America’s only sanctioned injection site and holds an exemption.

The extensive provisions of Bill C-65 promised to make it more difficult to implement new supervised injection services in Canada because of the myriad levels of approval that service providers would need to demonstrate in their applications. The Bill creates 20 additional conditions required for applications for supervised consumption services. Entitled the “Respect for Communities Act”, these amendments essentially give police, public safety officials, and municipalities a veto over health services. The tabling of these amendments is clearly an attempt to head off applications expected within the year from a number of Canadian cities. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued the Canadian parliament during the summer effectively wiping the legislative slate clean. We anticipate that this Bill will likely be reintroduced in the fall sitting of the House.

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