The MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan is pushing the province on the opioid overdose crisis in Northern Ontario.
Judith Monteith-Farrell is bringing a petition to Queen’s Park in the hopes of getting it declared as a public health emergency.
The declaration would trigger funding for comprehensive, evidence-based local health and community initiatives such as harm reduction strategies, awareness programs, anti-stigma training, residential treatment, and overdose prevention services.
“There are proposals for beds, facilities that are in the hopper. Also, ensuring stable funding for the organizations that are trying to provide services.”
She adds, “They don’t know if they are going to get funding or not and it’s a real mishmash of services but what we have is also a lack of services. But, what are they doing to address this lack of treatment beds and we know that is something that is really crucial.”
Monteith-Farrell stresses, “Look at those numbers, look at the obituaries and listen to those families because I know they have reached out to the government to say this is not good enough, we need to protect people. We need them to keep them alive and we need to stop the deaths in Northern Ontario.”
You can sign the petition here.
