REGINA — On the final day of the Legislature sitting before the winter break, the government introduced its long-discussed compassionate care legislation.
According to the province, the legislation would allow for involuntary addictions treatment and aims to support individuals with severe addictions who are not capable of seeking help on their own.
"The Compassionate Intervention Act will allow for involuntary addiction treatment in Saskatchewan. Individuals struggling with addiction need our support to find their path to recovery. They need a safe space, support, and above all, they need compassion," said Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Lori Carr.
"The Compassionate Intervention Act will allow us to put families first by providing medical care and treatment. These are parents, children, brothers and sisters who are simply unable to seek help on their own because of their severe addiction."
According to the province, there will be strict criteria before individuals can be subject to an addiction assessment under the Compassionate Intervention Act. Individuals could only be brought to a Compassionate Intervention Assessment Centre by police or a peace officer, referred by a medical professional, or through a judge’s warrant.
Family members would be able to request treatment for a loved one through the court, and law enforcement could intervene if a person is putting their own life or the lives of others at risk.
Carr said the legislation includes necessary safeguards, including the right to refuse treatment, free legal representation, timely review by a panel, and appeal rights to protect individual freedoms.
Carr said the act was developed through the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General. "It focuses on promoting meaningful, long-term outcomes within a recovery-oriented system of care that will reflect the same holistic approach offered within a voluntary system."
Carr added they will be "seeking further feedback from stakeholders, partners and the public on how the legislation will be implemented to ensure that we deliver appropriate care as effectively as possible. Our goal is simple. We want to save lives, heal families and promote safe communities."
At the moment, addictions treatment is voluntary, and the government says compassionate care spaces would be created separately from existing voluntary spaces.
Carr said the province is currently establishing 500 additional voluntary beds on top of the beds already in place.
"We have 281 of those working towards that 500 goal," said Carr. "But these spaces would be over and above that. They would be separate because they're different than the voluntary piece."
How many spaces will be needed is still being determined. "As we move forward and have more collaboration with stakeholders, we'll look at what that looks like," Carr said.
The need is different because "the facility itself will be different than a voluntary treatment centre," Carr said.
"It's involuntary, so different safeguards will need to be put in place. People just can't leave because it's involuntary. So different ways the facility would be set up because it would be secure."
The NDP has already raised concerns about the legislation. NDP mental health and addictions critic Betty Nippi-Albright pointed to long waitlists for voluntary treatment.
"We do not have voluntary treatment beds available today," Nippi-Albright told reporters. "People are still waiting to get into detox, to get into in-patient treatment, so we don't have spaces today for individuals that want to get help for their substance use disorders."
Nippi-Albright also said involuntary treatment "has to be the last resort."
"A massive expansion of in-patient treatment must happen, more than the 500 beds that have been promised. People have been dying every single day… what we need today is treatment beds that are available today. Not in two years, not in three years."
