Opinion: Alberta's compassionate intervention legislation not necessary

Opinion by Murray Billett

Edmontonians gather outside the Alberta Legislature during a rally calling for the Province to move to a safe supply and safe consumption model instead of forced rehabilitation for Albertan's experiencing drug addictions, in Edmonton Monday June 26, 2023

. Photo by David Bloom© Provided by Edmonton Journal

The mandate letter from Premier Danielle Smith to Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams with respect to the UCP proposed draconian “Compassionate Intervention Legislation” is sure to fail.

Smith’s letter to arrest addicts sets the stage for another fiasco, yet Minister Williams “believes they are on the right path.”

Canadian history has taught us this type of law will surely fail, plus, will inevitably end up in yet another pricey, taxpayer-funded, Judicial charter challenge.

Astonishingly, the UCP solution to this complex disease is to criminalize, arrest and force intervention upon addicted Albertans. No promise of successful sustained sobriety, and no assurance that they may return to previous behaviours. How many times can one be arrested? How long can they restrict their freedom or keep them detained or under arrest? What criteria or thresholds to arrest would apply?

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Would the addicted professional be arrested when their behaviour and actions put themselves or others at risk be arrested promptly? Perhaps the focus might apply to those who are down on their luck, homeless and surviving on our streets doing what they can to survive. So many unanswered questions that with a process that will lead to additional impacts on policing time, Mental Health court and lawyer’s time, jail/prison time as the circularity of addiction continues.

A typical UCP “tough on crime” disingenuous attempt at arresting and forcing intervention upon a population that has been dismissed and diminished and mistreated for decades.

If the Minister did a modicum of research, he would find a series of similar failures. Forced intervention isn’t new to Canada. In Nova Scotia in 1908, the first “eugenics movement” in the country when the “League for the Care and Protection of Feebleminded Persons” was established. The Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act passed in 1928 and incredibly not repealed until 1972, in the terminology of the day, as “a mental defective”. It was part of a misguided program overseen by the now defunct Alberta Eugenics Board (1928-1971) to stop the transference of biological defects to the next generation of deviants, all of which failed with enormous emotional and financial ramifications.

As a former member of the Edmonton Police Commission and former member of the Alberta Review Board, I am all too familiar with profound complex care protocols with respect to mental health and addiction. The Alberta Review Board, the current jurisdiction that manages people that are at risk to themselves and/or to others, has been in place for decades. Why would the Premier want to duplicate services and legislation that already exists?

Now in 2023 the UCP with their wayward moral compass spinning out of control, believe forced intervention is a logical solution.

Addiction is not a crime, never has been, it’s not a moral failure, nor lack of control or character. Addicted people exist in every aspect of society, rich or poor. The addicted mind will choose self-medicating in all its forms. Anything to quiet the mind and sorrow to avoid the pain of the profound complexities of life. Those facing addiction have few alternatives or resources when current addiction centers cost tens of thousands of dollars. None of them with guaranteed recovery, just like the proposed legislation. In reality the staggering failures in addiction treatment is decades of minimal government funding that has led to today’s realities. Arresting addicted people might look appropriate to some, while in reality criminal/compassionate intervention is not necessary nor a solution.

Our diverse Alberta families deserve better.