Judith-Monteith Farrell will push the province on the opioid overdose crisis in Northern Ontario.
The Thunder Bay-Atikokan NDP member 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.
“Looks at the numbers, look at the obituaries and listen to those families,” Farrell stressed. “I know (the families) have reached out to the government to say that this is not good enough, we need to protect people, keep them alive and put an end of the deaths in Northern Ontario.”
Farrell took part in the Fall Overdose Awareness Walk on October 23, which was conducted in memory of everyone the community has lost to overdose.
Officials with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre indicate that between 2019 and 2020, there was a nearly 40 per cent increase in deaths in Thunder Bay tied to both prescription and non-prescription overdoses.
You can sign the petition here
