By Cheryl Jahn

Council “miffed” at federal opioid response letter

Jul 29, 2021 | 3:38 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Council is upset with a response from the federal government to a letter from Mayor Lyn Hall seeking a declaration of emergency for the opioid crisis.

The letter was sent to federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu in March, stating that, given the fact the opioid crisis “is one of the largest public health emergencies of our lifetime, with a death about every two hours on average and a death toll of over 16,360 since 2016,” a national public health emergency should be declared.

The response came from the Executive Director of the Opioid Response Team.

Tax season

Days away from deadline, 1 in 4 Canadians still haven't filed taxes

9h ago

Chetwynd wildfire

"Really quite terrified:" Chetwynd reacts to ongoing fight against wildfire

10h ago

Hospice looks to expand into palliative care

11h ago

In it, Jennifer Novak writes: “Concerning the declaration of a national public health emergency, the federal government has publicly recognized and committed to responding to the opioid overdose crisis and is already using the broad range of powers at its disposal. Declaring a public health emergency and invoking the federal Emergencies Act, to manage critical situations of a temporary nature, would not provide any additional measures that would support our immediate or longer-term response efforts.”

It was not the response Council expected.

“For us to send a letter from Council is a big deal,” says Councillor Cori Ramsay. “It has all of Council’s sign-off, saying ‘We really want the federal government to declare a crisis because every community across Canada is dealing with this right now.’ And to get a response back that says ‘We don’t declare emergencies for things that are temporary in nature’ was a really big slap in the face from the feds.”

She says the Province has been very accommodating in working with municipalities.

In the meantime, though, she is hoping the mayor will ink a firmer letter.

“I’m hoping that we’ll be able to send back to the minister, letting her know our disappointment in the response.”

And Councillor Murry Krause was equally upset at the tenor of the letter and its dismissive nature.

“We’re going to be working with the mayor to make that the letter is more strongly worded. That was the direction from Council. And that letter gets distributed to all the local governments in the province so we can maybe get some momentum going in pressuring the federal government into doing something significant.”

Ramsay says, with suggestions of a federal election in the near future, help to local governments on the opioid crisis may be more forthcoming.