The-ideals-and-realities-of-policy-making-processes-and-structures-in-Canada

pdf

School

Grant MacEwan University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

220

Subject

Political Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

pdf

Pages

Uploaded by ElderRain6320

50 Part I I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities issue of substance use and the establishment of Insite, a safe injection site, in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) in 2003. Under the Conservative federal government, Insite was defined as an illegal drug site through the lens of the Criminal Code, while the prov- incial government considered Insite to be an essential component of a harm reduction approach to drug use within a medical model. The province's position was supported by the city of Vancouver, the provincial health authority, social workers working in the field of substance misuse, and ultimately the courts. The oppositional discourses around this issue will be examined and discussed. In addition, the federal Liberals campaigned in 2015 on a policy platform that prom- ised the legalization of marijuana, in contrast with the Conservative Harper federal gov- ernment, which advocated continued criminalization, and the federal NDP, whose policies included decriminalization but not legalization (as discussed further below). The Liberals formed the government in 2015 and introduced a bill in the spring of 2017 to legalize marijuana in 2018, concomitantly with tougher impaired driving penalties. The Senate passed Bill C-45 at second reading in March 2018 and sent it to committee for further study. A final vote in the Senate passed on 19 June 2018, with implementation of the law announced to take effect on 17 October (Sapra, 2018; Scotti & Cain, 2018). Current dis- courses on the issue have now shifted into a discussion of the logistics of regulating can- nabis. Kristy Kirkup (2017), for example, details the provincial role: the provinces and territories will have to develop rules around the regulation and distribution of the drug, including how it will be packaged and sold in retail outlets. The distribution of marijuana will also have a significant effect on municipalities, which will be expected to regulate the industry through zoning laws, bylaws, and enforcement. Case Examples The Complexity of Drug Dependence As you read this chapter, you may want to consider these profiles of people involved in sub- stance use to aid in your discussion of the political realities of policy-making and its effects on individuals, families, and communities. The profiles are fictitious but representative of service users struggling with substance use and addiction. Marie is an Indigenous woman in her thirties living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (DTES). She has been diagnosed with PTSD as a result of intergenerational trauma from residential school, which three generations of her family attended. Her two children have been removed from her care and placed in non-Indigenous foster homes. She lives with Manny, also in his thirties, who arrived in Canada as a teenage refugee claimant from El Salvador. His refugee claim was successful and he is now a Canadian citizen. He has also been diagnosed with PTSD after witnessing significant violence, including the murder of family members, before leaving El Salvador. Marie has a criminal record involving shoplift- ing and solicitation offences, mostly to raise money for street drugs. Both Marie and Manny are heroin users and use the services at lnsite to access counselling as well as clean needles and a safe place to inject heroin. Neither Marie nor Manny has ever voted in a provincial or federal election, and they do not view politics as part of their everyday lives.

4 Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 51 James is a delivery truck driver in his forties who lives in Surrey, BC, a suburb close to Van- couver. He is a white male who considers himself to be a social and fiscal conservative, and he always votes in provincial and federal elections. He struggles with lifting heavy objects since he injured his spine in a car accident five years ago. His doctor has prescribed opioids in ever-increasing doses, as James has developed a significant tolerance for painkillers over the last five years. He describes his prescription drugs as a "cure" for his chronic pain, and both he and his doctor view his condition as a medical issue rather than a dependency on prescription drugs. James's doctor has warned him, however, that he is in danger of im- paired driving if his dose is increased further. Political Parties in Canada A key question to bear in mind when reading this chapter is how political parties in the municipal, provincial, and federal arenas could welcome marginalized and criminalized community members, who may feel excluded from political power and consequently disenfranchised. While all political parties in Canada focus on getting "their" voters to the polls on election day, they also draft policies that will appeal to discrete categories of voters, in terms of class, race, and gender. For example, all three major federal political parties consistentl focus on addressing middle-class concerns, often with a vague de- scription o what "middle c ass actua y mea mp e, see the e era Li eral Party website, https:11www.hberal.ca). In aadition, while some political parties advocate for building more social housing and adding resources to the health care budget to tackle mental health issues, for example, which may not necessarily be seen as middle-class concerns, failures of collaboration and co-operation between the federal and provincial governments may prevent a joint reallocation of budget and resources to tackle these sig- nificant issues. The result then becomes a shifting of blame from provincial to federal government and vice versa rather than a call to action. ,.,,...__,,o i eren iate een politica parties m Canadian landscape it is necessary to understand the different ideological underpinnings of each party, both historically and currently. While all political parties have adapted over time to significant changes within Canadian society, readers may want to reflect on the process of political change: should political parties lead change (for example, in Canada's relationship with Indigen- ous peoples) or should they simply reflect changing public opinion as it emerges? While these questions are difficult to answer definitively, and political change often involves a combination of both approaches, as social workers who work with marginalized groups in society we need to understand how political processes are influenced by many factors, including the media, lobby groups, court decisions, think-tanks, and party members. The main political parties fit more or less into three categories: conservatism, lib- eralism, and social democracy (see Chapter 3). These parties correspond in the federal system to the Conservatives, the Liberals, and the New Democratic Party (NDP). However, as Graham, Shier, and Delaney (2017) point out, political parties are held together in a complex interaction that includes differing and sometimes opposing viewpoints within each party so that no federal or provincial party in Canada represents an ideal or pure

52 Part I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities ideological standpoint. All parties regularly compromise on policy issues (Graham, Shier, & Delaney, 2017, p. 74). Variants of these parties, sometimes with different names, are also represented provincially; for example, the current BC government (from June 2017) consists of a coalition between the provincial NDP and Green Party, with the former gov- erning party, the Liberals (a neo-conservative party), in opposition after 16 years in power. This chapter will concentrate, however, on the federal parties in Canada and their policies and party platforms, particularly as they relate to drug policies, to uncover the discourses that frame their approaches to policy development. The Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (https://www.conservative.ca) has undergone a series of transformations over the last 30 years, from the Progressive Conservative era (1942 to 2003), which included John Diefenbaker (1957-63), Joe Clark (1979), and Brian Mulroney (1984-93) as prime ministers, to its merger with the Alliance Party (formerly the Reform Party) to form the Conservative Party of Canada in 2003 under the leadership of Stephen Harper (Graham et al., 2017, p. 75). The Conservative Party formed government in 2006 with Harper as Prime Minister, first as a minority government then a majority, until its defeat in October 2015, when the federal Liberal Party regained power with a majority government. In the last election, the Conservative Party focused on its core message: lower taxes and self-reliance rather than investment in social programs, with marketization, free trade, and capitalism as the foundation for public welfare (Chappell, 2014, p. 107), nuclear families as the foundation of society, and a "Tough on Crime" approach to law and order (Conservative Party of Canada, 2015). Their election platform promised increased resources for law enforcement (p. 105) and stated that the Liberals wanted to make ma- rijuana available for sale in corner stores, "thereby making it accessible to our children" (p. 119). In addition, the Conservatives under Harper argued that "the Liberals and NDP would establish so-called 'safe' injection sites in our communities, bringing serious drugs into our neighbourhoods and closer to our children" (p. 119). The law-and-order approach taken by the Conservative Party fits with their core message that individuals are wholly responsible for their actions and that previous Liberal governments had created a system that focused only on "criminals" and ignored "victims" (p. 115). 1 The Conservatives also proposed toughening penalties for drug crimes in the Protecting Communities from the Evolving Dangerous Drugs Trade Act and continuing the criminalization of marijuana (p. 113). The Conservative Party platform, therefore, positioned drug use firmly within the Criminal Code and within an ideology that associated drug use with deviance. In this scenario, society (particularly children) needs to be protected from the risk of expos- ure to illegal drugs. Legal drugs, for example, prescription drugs, were only added by the Conservatives to the mandate of the National Anti-Drug Strategy in 2014 (p. 105), and the opioid crisis, which places drug use within a more complex scenario, was overlooked in the party platform. The Conservative's National Anti-Drug Strategy focused on three areas: prevention, treatment, and enforcement (p. 105). This approach included tougher penalties for drug dealers, legislation to prevent drug trafficking in prison, increased resources for law en- forcement to investigate and prosecute drug crimes, increasing awareness around the dangers of drug use, and "significant support for treatment, to help people who've fallen

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 53 prey to addiction" (p. 105). The terminology used by the Conservatives includes "addic- tion," "addicts," "drug gangs," "drug crimes," and "drug abuse" and reflects a discourse around substance use that assumes it is at best illicit and at worst criminal. Within this discourse, safe injection sites, harm reduction approaches, and a medical approach to sub- stance use are seen as ineffective and indeed immoral. The moral imperative, in contrast, is to continue to demand abstinence from those struggling with substance use, including continued criminalization in a "war on drugs" mandate. The abstinence approach places substance use within a narrative of individual failure and weakness rather than within systemic issues that marginalize individuals, groups, and communities in an analysis of race, class, and gender. This approach, of course, is reflected in the policies and legis- lation proposed by the Conservative Party. Going back to the case examples at the start of this chapter, the lens of intersectionality that social workers use to analyze societal issues would view the situations of Marie and Manny very differently from a Conservative Party approach that situates problems within the person rather than the structures of society, and emphasizes individual over societal responsibility. The Liberal Party of Canada The federal Liberal Party (www.liberal.ca), in contrast, focuses on "the middle class and those working hard to join it" (Liberal Party of Canada, 2015, p. 4), without defining who belongs to the middle class (for example, in terms of income, educational level, or job/ career). Its website aims to appeal to a broad section of the Canadian voting public, includ- ing women, immigrants, and young voters. However, former federal Liberal governments in the 1990s and early 2000s under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, rather than main- taining social programs, continued with the 1980s Progressive Conservative approach to reduce the social safety net by clawing back benefits, reducing federal transfer payments to provinces, and effectively eroding the principles of a universal welfare state (Chappell, 2014). The Liberals became what Chappell defines as " business Liberals" rather than "social Liberals (Chappell, 2014, p. 95; emphasis in original). In other words, faced with the effects of globalization, disappearing full-time permanent work, and an economy in recession, the Liberal government focused first and foremost on reducing the federal deficit and the national debt. The result was to decentralize government by reducing transfer payments and downloading responsibilities for funding post-secondary education, health care, and social programs to the provinces and/or the private sector (Chappell, 2014, p. 93). The impacts of these reductions are still felt today. After almost 10 years in opposition, the Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, ran the 2015 elec- tion campaign on a platform of optimism, focusing on inclusivity and caring (https://www .liberal.ca/files/2015/10/New-plan-for-a-strong-middle-class.pdf) in contrast to the Con- servative Party's "Get Tough on Crime" approach and the Conservatives' promise to set up a "barbaric cultural practices hotline" for the Canadian public to contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to report crimes, such as so-called "honour killings." Aujla and Gill (2014) argue that the very term "honour killing" places domestic violence within the con- cept of the "exotic other," that is, within immigrant and specifically racialized commun- ities, usually Muslim. They prefer the use of the term "femicide," which they state places the crime within the context of mainstream communities and emphasizes that the murder of women by family members is an extreme form of domestic violence. The divisiveness of

54 Part I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities the Conservative Party platform had an impact on voters across a number of demographics, including young and first-time voters, many of whom voted Liberal rather than Conserv- ative or NDP (Grenier, 2015). The Liberal Party platform focused on appealing to a broad range of voters: women (every new policy would be viewed through a "gender lens"); families (promise to increase daycare affordability and spaces); seniors (promise to assist veterans and protect health care); and immigrants (promise to increase numbers of family reunifi- cation immigrants). 2 These programs would be paid for by planning for deficits rather than balanced budgets until 2019. For young voters, in particular, the Liberals promised more assistance for federal student loans and the legalization of marijuana. In contrast to the Conservative "Get Tough on Crime" approach, the Liberals promised tougher criminal penalties for those convicted of domestic violence, which fitted with their women-focused approach, but no other new criminal sanctions (Liberal Party of Canada, 2015, p. 52). However, their prom- ise to legalize marijuana use was widely discussed: "We will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana" (p. 55). The preamble to this election promise was that prohibition was ineffective, costly to administer, provided funds for traffickers to finance other illegal activities, and left many Canadians with criminal records for a non-violent offence. This appeared to be a pragmatic approach to drug use rather than a moral imperative that supported Conservative prohibition measures. Legalization of other drugs was not men- tioned in the party platform. The New Democratic Party of Canada The third party in the three-way race to form government in the 2015 federal election was the New Democratic Party. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the forerunner to the federal NDP, was founded as an alliance of trade unions and farmers' co-operatives in the Great Depression of the 1930s (Graham et al., p. 75). The CCF became the NDP in 1961 under the leadership of Tommy Douglas, who stepped down from his position as premier of Saskatchewan to lead the new party, which continued its allegiance to social democratic principles and policies. The NDP has never formed government fed- erally, but it has held the balance of power, from 1972 to 1974 in the minority government of Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and during that time influenced the passage of a national affordable housing strategy and pension indexing (NDP, 2017). In 2011, the NDP under the leadership of Jack Layton became the official opposition for the first time after winning 103 seats, but the party, led by Tom Mulcair, was reduced again to third-party status after the 2015 election, winning just 44 seats. In 2015, the NOP campaign focused not so much on social democratic principles but rather on centrist policies that appeared at times to be to the right of Justin Trudeau's Liberals. For example, the NOP platform, Building the Country of Our Dreams, focused on "fiscal sustainability" and balanced budgets without cuts in service (NOP, 2015, p. 62), in contrast to the Liberal platform that promised infrastructure spending to create jobs, which they acknowledged would lead to deficit budgets. Like the Liberals, however, Mulcair also stated that his upbringing had instilled in him the core middle-class values of helping others, working together, and putting principles into action (NDP, 2017). Social democratic values were not discussed: terms such as "the working class" and "the class struggle" were absent from the platform. Instead, the NOP focused on the promise to

4 I Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 55 reduce poverty, remake relationships with Indigenous peoples, sustain the pu�lic health system, create good jobs, enhance environmental protections, and introduce $15-a-day daycare. The NDP discussion of crime and security issues is similarly positioned as centrist or steeped in liberal values rather than leftist in approach. Graham, Shier, and Delaney (2017, p. 72) argue that classic social democratic ideals are no longer represented in the policy pronouncements of the NDP. For example, the 2015 platform addressed commun- ity safety issues by promising to add 2,500 new RCMP officers to the national force while concomitantly funding crime prevention programs and victim assistance programs (NDP, 2015, p. 40). In addition, the NDP promised to decriminalize the possession of marijuana for personal use (p. 40). This policy was quite different from the Liberal Party's election pledge to legalize marijuana. The NDP would leave marijuana as a prohibited drug in the Criminal Code, while the Liberals aimed to remove marijuana from criminal sanction. The NDP platform did not address safe injection sites, treatment facilities, or the relaxa- tion of criminal sanctions for drugs other than marijuana. The underlying premise is that illicit drug use should continue to be regulated through the Criminal Code and criminal sanctions rather than through the health care system, which focuses on harm reduction and treatment options. Policy Implications of the 2015 Federal Election Overall, the Conservatives in 2015 ran on a very different and opposing platform to those of the Liberals and NDP in terms of social issues. The Liberal and NDP platforms were fairly closely aligned, mainly because the NDP moved further towards the centre rather than maintaining a classic social democratic manifesto, which would focus on full employment, market regulation through government intervention, and supporting the social safety net so that greater social and economic equality can be achieved Youth vote(%) Seats won 45 184 □ Liberal Party New Democratic Party □ Green Party ■ Conservative Party ■ Bloc Quebecois Figure 4.1 Federal Election Youth Voter Turnout by Party by Seats Won Source: Data compiled from http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-201 S; Colette (2016).

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

56 Part I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities (Graham et al., 2017, p. 72). In addition, the Conservatives seemed less interested in gaining new voters and more interested in ensuring that their base support (around 40 per cent of Canadian voters) would get out and vote in enough numbers to ensure at least a minority Conservative government. However, according to Kashani (2016) in an analysis of voting strategies, there were five million unaligned voters in Canada in 2015, including voters who did not vote in 2011 and new voters. This large section of the electorate can change the outcome of an election, and when the impact of strategic voting is added into a volatile election campaign, that is, voter choice determined by an "Anybody but Harper" approach, there was a significant shift in outcomes. Overall, the Liberals were elected in a shift of 1.4 million votes from the NDP to Liberal candi- dates (Kashani, 2016). 3 This shift in voting preference led to the formation of a majority Liberal government, with the Conservatives moving to official opposition and the NDP reduced to third-party status. Major Influences on Policy Development As the section above outlines, political party platforms differ substantially in terms of priorities, approaches to social problems, and ideas about how to solve them. These dif- ferences lie at the heart of the ideological distinctions among the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP. The party manifestos, which include policy processes, are developed in conjunc- tion with party members, party politicians, think-tanks, experts, research, Royal Com- missions, public opinion, and other formal and informal influences. However, Westhues and Kenny-Sherber (2012) argue that the party leader has the most significant influence on policy development within the political process, although cabinet ministers and MPs also contribute to policy. One question to consider again is what influence Marie and Manny or, for that matter, James (in the case examples at the start of the chapter) could have on the development of policy within a party political framework. Also, you might want to consider the possible influence of social workers on policy development, as experts in a particular field as either practitioners or researchers. Think-Tanks Most writers in the field of policy development describe a number of groups that influ- ence policy (Chappell, 2014; Graham et al., 2017; McKenzie & Wharf, 2015; Westhues & Wharf, 2012). For example, McKenzie and Wharf (2015) detail the different approaches to policy formation, from think-tanks (over 100 in Canada) to social movements and ad- vocacy groups. There is a great deal of variety in the ideological approaches of think- tanks in Canada, from neo-conservative (e.g., the Fraser Institute) to left of centre (e.g., the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). These groups are generally aligned with political parties, and they provide research and policy briefs to the public as well as to politicians. In addition, some think-tanks, such as the Caledon Institute on Social Policy and Canadian Policy Research Networks, influence policy through their deep connections with the federal government and knowledge of how government operates (McKenzie & Wharf, 2015). This knowledge ensures that they can influence policy through the identifi- cation of emerging issues and offer possible solutions.

wt 2w rt ·teer 4 Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 57 Royal Commissions Other formal avenues that influence policy development include Royal Commissions, which can have a significant impact on government funding and policies. McKenzie and Wharf (2015) discuss the impact of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996), which heard evidence from Elders, experts, researchers, and others to develop an understanding of the effects of government policies on Indigenous groups through a lens of colonization. More recently, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015), which came out of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agree- ment, made 94 Calls to Action to change the relationship of Indigenous peoples with the federal government, and many of these Calls to Action involve areas of concern to social workers (see Chapter 6 for further discussion of the historical and modern policies of colonization). 4 Lobby Groups Aspiring or retired politicians often work for lobby groups and think-tanks, where they build up their credentials and public awareness of their positions. Stephen Harper, for example, was the president of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC) from 1997 to 2002 after he resigned his parliamentary seat as a Reform MP. He returned to federal politics to lead the Reform Party, then the Alliance Party, and finally the merged Progressive Conservative Party and Alliance Party, renamed the Conservative Party. The NCC is a right-wing lobby group, founded in 1967 by Colin Brown in oppos- ition to medicare (Harper Index, 2015). According to the NCC website (http://nation- alcitizens.ca), the organization was "founded in 1967 with the express goal to stand up for Canadian taxpayers and to champion small-c conservative values. The National Citizens Coalition is made up of a dedicated group of people working together to ensure the continued success of Canada's largest non-partisan organization." How- ever, a more accurate description of its mandate is that it champions right-wing causes through its opposition to the funding of what it calls "special interest groups," for example, women's groups, social science research, and the arts. Right-wing ideological approaches deny that systemic injustice based on race, ethnicity, sexual identity, or gender exists. Instead, the emphasis on individualism versus collectivism positions responsibility for poverty, racism, and misogyny within individual failure to compete successfully in a capitalist society. 5 Social Movements More informal approaches to policy development include social movements, particularly when they gain momentum through broad public support, for example, Campaign 2000 (McKenzie & Wharf, 2015). The Campaign 2000 policy started in 1989 after widespread public concern about the numbers of children in Canada living in poverty brought pol- iticians together to pass an all-party resolution to end child poverty by the year 2000 (Campaign 2000, 2017). Although the goal has not been met to date, the organization that grew out of the campaign continues to raise awareness of the issue (according to the Campaign 2000 website, 1.34 million children are currently living in poverty), including

58 Part I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities asking voters to lobby their MPs and releasing an annual report card on the progress (or lack of it) in eradicating child poverty. The organization has over 120 partners at all levels of government who assist in raising awareness of the issue locally, provincially, and nationally. The Role of the Media Finally, the media disseminate policy information through news stories, editorials, and opinion pieces in newspapers, at online sites, and on television. While the influence of media on policy formation may not be direct, politicians and political parties are careful to include media briefings when releasing new policies. Given the concentration of media ownership in Canada, a plurality of political views is more often found on the Internet than in newspapers, which tend to endorse either the Liberal or Conservative Party in general elections (see Chapter 2 for further discussion of news discourse about social policy). The Process of Policy Development Policy development within the political context is a complex process that, although often delineated in stages (Chappell, 2014; McKenzie & Wharf, 2015; Westhues & Kenny- Sherber, 2012), is rather a fluid and reflexive exercise in determining what constitutes a problem and whether or how it should be addressed through public policy. Chappell (2014) lists the process as starting with the identification of a problem, then developing an under- standing of it, followed by consultation processes with stakeholders, and then formulation, implementation, and evaluation of the new policy. Within the stages approach, however, a number of questions arise. In the first instance, the identification and naming of a problem needs to be deconstructed in terms of language and the concepts used to name an issue. In the Conservative Party manifesto, the perceived problem of " drug addiction" would be met with criminal sanctions as a means not only to punish "criminals" but also to act as a deterrent to illegal drug users in general. The NDP approach shifted the narrative to one of decriminalization, which would still not address the issue of drug use within a medical model. The Liberal Party focused on legalization, which would shift the discussion back to harm reduction within a medical model, but the only drug to be removed from the Crim- inal Code is marijuana. In all these examples, the issues of drug dependency, substance use, harm reduction, and safety for intravenous drug users are not addressed. Similarly, when formulating and implementing policy, the initial definition and lan- guage used to name the problem shape the eventual determination of the political process to develop a specific policy to address the problem. Within the ideological confines of political parties, it is difficult to challenge fundamental principles about the relationship of individuals, groups, and communities to the state. Using an intersectional approach to the analysis of social problems and policy-making, and using drug policy as an example, the individualistic approach of the Conservatives led to the development of a policy in the Conservative platform that placed drug use firmly within the purview of the Criminal Code, regardless of considerations of race, gender, and class. However, as the case study of Insite (below) illustrates, drug policies and prohibitions have been developed directly along these lines, as illegal drug users (often poor, racialized, and female) end up crim- inalized in the sex trade in order to afford to buy illegal substances. The NDP and Liberal

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 i Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 59 parties had more nuanced approaches to the criminalization of substance users, and their policy proposals appeared less punitive and more concerned with not subjecting large seg- ments of the Canadian public to criminal sanctions over marijuana use. The decriminaliz- ation of other drugs has been rejected as a possible policy development by the three main federal political parties, which illustrates that none of these parties use the lens of gender, race, and class in analyzing this complex issue. The difference between the approaches of the three parties in their policy manifestos, while substantive, is also an indication of the difficulty in taking a truly innovative policy stance to substance use within a mainstream political party, for example, the decriminalization of all drugs. Governing in Parliament Once a political party has won sufficient seats to form a majority federal government (cur- rently 170 of 338 seats), the realities of governing influence which policies from the party manifesto are prioritized and which will be delayed (or eventually dropped) from the gov- ernment's agenda. As Canada is a federal state, powers are shared and divided with the 10 provinces and three territories, and the two levels of government have separate and dis- tinct powers, which do, however, overlap at times (Graham et al., 2017, p. 46). Jurisdiction over criminal matters rests with the federal government, for example, but federal transfers and equalization payments from the federal government provide funding to the provinces for social welfare programs, including health care. When federal transfers are reduced in the name of deficit reduction, as they have been since the 1980s, provincial governments face budget restraints and tend to download the reductions to municipal governments, which are consequently limited in the responses they can make to address social issues within their communities (p. 47). 6 Canada relies on the Westminster model of government in which the Prime Minister and cabinet constitute the executive branch, the House of Commons and the Senate make up the legislative branch, and federal and provincial courts make up the judicial branch of government (McKenzie & Wharf, 2015). Canada is a constitutional monarchy, with the monarch (at present 92-year-old Queen Elizabeth II) as head of state, and the Queen's repre- sentative in Canada, the Governor-General, provides royal assent to legislation passed by the House of Commons and the Senate. Although governments can be defeated on confidence votes (usually those involving finance, for example, the budget), majority governments are rarely at risk of losing confidence votes because MPs are obliged to vote along party lines. Minority governments may have to make agreements with other parties in the House of Commons to pass legislation and move ahead with the government's policy agenda. Policy implementation through the political process includes a number of steps that, when successful, lead to the enactment of policy through legislation. McKenzie and Wharf (2015) document the stages of policy development in Parliament, from initial development by a department tasked with putting political policy into action to ministerial and cabinet approval before the bill is drafted. At first reading, the name of the bill, with a short introduction, is introduced by the relevant cabinet minister to the House of Commons. At the second reading, the bill may be sent to committee for review and revision after debate on its merits in the House.

60 Part I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities • The third reading takes place and a vote is held when the committee (which involves representation from all parties) makes its report to the House. • The bill receives royal assent and becomes law when it has been passed by the House and Senate. The final act may be substantially different from the original draft, as amendments and changes may have been made after debate and at the committee stage. As this demon- strates, there are a number of checks and balances involved in enacting policy, including both political and bureaucratic processes, which should allow for a thorough review of the implementation and effects of a new policy. In addition, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau made a policy promise in the Liberal election platform to include a gender lens for analysis of policies and legislation: "Public policies affect women and men in differ- ent ways. We will take these differences into account when making decisions in Cabinet. We will also ensure that federal departments are conducting the gender-based impact analyses that have been required of them for the past 20 years" (https://www.liberal.ca/ realchange/gender-impacts/). According to the Status of Women Canada website, "all policies, programs and legislation will include consideration of the differential impacts on diverse groups of women and men" (www.swc.cfc.gc.ca/gba-acs/index-en-html). This policy follows the Action Plan on Gender-based Analysis (2016-2020) recommendations, but it was originally developed in 1995 to advance gender equality in Canada. Case Study: Insite This case study provides readers with an example of how critical policy initiatives are de- veloped in a complex collaboration between all levels of government, with proponents and opponents using legislative approaches and the court system to fulfill or overturn policy direc- tives. The overarching federal Conservative Party ideology that places Insite within a criminal discourse is set against the federal Liberal Party, the BC provincial government, the city of Van- couver, health professionals, researchers, and others who view substance use within a medical discourse of harm reduction. Use of the "deserving/undeserving" trope, however, still domin- ates public discussion of social policy throughout Canada and on all social welfare topics. Background Insite, North America's first supervised injection site, has been operating in the Vancou- ver Downtown Eastside (DTES) since 2003. No official sites exist in the United States or Mexico, but 92 such sites are located in 61 cities around the world (Jozaghi, 2016). In- site's history has been one of support and opposition involving all levels of government, and this safe injection site has relied on the work of community activists and researchers, legislation, and successful court challenges. Located in one of the poorest postal codes in Canada and home to a high number of street-involved individuals living with illegal drug use, Insite has offered a safe site for injection drug use and has operated from a harm reduction approach. This approach involves connecting users to resources and a continuum of care for coexisting health and mental health issues, including detox and recovery.i Insite does not supply people with illegal drugs-individuals bring the drugs they need for their personal use (Vancouver Coastal Health, 2017a).

4 Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 61 Since its opening, Insite has been the focus of more than 50 peer-reviewed studies-all of which noted only favourable effects. These effects include cost-saving service delivery, reduction in drug overdoses and emergency service utilization, decline in the number of publicly discarded syringes and syringe-sharing occurrences, no increase in drug traf- ficking or drug-related crime, increased follow-up with treatment referrals, reductions in public drug use, and enhanced public awareness (Jozaghi, 2016). In addition, Insite has also facilitated its service users in participating in community advocacy and transform- ation processes, thus becoming "safety and educational ambassadors within their own communities" (Jozaghi, 2012, p. 1159). Over its 15-year history, over 3.6 million injection visits were supervised at Insite with more than 6,400 overdoses prevented, resulting in zero deaths (Vancouver Coastal Health, 2017b). 8 Insite's existence has evolved through three general phases: initial coalition-building and emulation of successful harm reduction policy; research generation and dissemina- tion; and political strategizing (Fafard, 2012). In the decade preceding Insite's inception, public health officials, community groups, and politicians at various jurisdictional levels sought to shift public opinion to the benefits of harm reduction and, in the DTES, emu- late strategies used in several European cities that reduced deaths due to injection drug use. Once operational, Insite became a site for harm reduction services, and due to its exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act it became the focus of ongoing research led by the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for HIV/AIDS. Despite its docu- mented efficacy, opposition based on '"politics' and 'ideology' rather than science" from the then federal Conservative government required Insite to focus on political strategizing and to pursue court challenges (Fafard, 2012, p. 907). Levels of Decision-Making and Policy-Making Processes: Municipal, Provincial, and Federal In the late 1990s, public health officials noted the increased rate of HIV and heroin-related deaths in the DTES. In 1995, the Chief Coroner for British Columbia headed a task force looking into the deaths due to heroin use and released a report calling the war on drugs "an expensive failure" (British Columbia, 1994, p. vi). The Chief Coroner called for an anti-drug strategy framing drug use as a social and health issue rather than one of crime, and called for the decriminalization and legalization of drug use. As the number of people dying from overdoses increased, the Vancouver Chief Medical Health Officer de- clared a public health emergency in the DTES in 1997, and the following year the British Columbia Provincial Health Officer called for harm reduction strategies. In 2000, and following the lead of Vancouver, the provincial and federal governments signed on to the Vancouver Agreement, making harm reduction one of the four pillars (harm reduction, prevention, treatment/rehabilitation, and enforcement) of its new anti-drug strategy. The support for harm reduction increased later in 2000 when the federal Liberal Party, which signed the Vancouver Agreement, won a second term, and again in 2002, when the newly elected Mayor of Vancouver and British Columbia's most recent Chief Coroner won on a platform highlighting the need for a supervised injection site (Dooling & Rachlis, 2010; Fafard, 2012). In addition to the multi-level governmental support, community initiatives were in- strumental in the years leading up to 2003 in raising public awareness and leveraging

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

62 Part I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities government support. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) formed in 1997 as an advocacy group for drug users as well as for the establishment of a supervised injection site. In addition, the Vancouver health authority-Vancouver Coastal Health- funded VANDU and a number of community service organizations involved in reducing health risks to drugs users, helping to establish the harm reduction coalition. The coali- tion grew to include academics, journalists, citizen groups, and numerous police officers. In 2000, a conference brought coalition members and politicians together to discuss new approaches and strategies in harm reduction (Dooling & Rachlis, 2010). The government and community support for a supervised injection site was not, how- ever, without opposition. A business and police coalition hosted their own conference chal- lenging harm reduction as a strategy and, while many Vancouver police officers supported harm reduction initiatives, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were staunchly op- posed (Dooling & Rachlis, 2010). Despite this opposition, the federal government granted Vancouver Coastal Health a three-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, to run and evaluate a pilot supervised injection facility. Insite opened in September 2003 and within weeks was running at near capacity (Dooling & Rachlis, 2010; Fafard, 2012). Opposition to Insite that began in Vancouver increased once the federal Conservative Party took power in 2006. The Harper government promised a tougher stance on drug use, eliminated harm reduction as a pillar from its new National Anti-Drug Strategy, and threat- ened to close Insite. Consequently, Insite's exemption was only temporarily renewed for 15 months, to the end of 2007 (Fafard, 2012). At the same time, the RCMP and the Canadian Police Association called for a halt of all research on Insite with the then federal Health Minister, claiming that existing Insite research left critical new questions unanswered. Funding to the Insite research cohort stopped and a new advisory committee was struck, excluding many university research groups, including the British Columbia Centre of Excel- lence for HIV/AIDS, from participating. 9 Amid the ongoing threats to close Insite, in October 2007 a second renewal extended Insite's temporary exemption to June 2008 (Small, 2010). Legislation The 1996 Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is the federal drug statute con- trolling the possession and use of illegal substances. Section 56 allows the federal Minister of Health to grant an exemption "necessary for a medical or scientific purpose or [that] is otherwise in the public interest" (Canada, 2017, p. 53). The 2002 exemption placed restric- tions on Insite's operations, including limiting its capacity and prolonging wait times, but protected Insite staff and drug users from being criminally prosecuted for possessing and administering drugs (Small et al., 2011). The exemption contained the condition that rigor- ous scientific evaluation of Insite's effect be ongoing (Jozaghi, 2016). Section 56.1, referring specifically to the exemption for supervised consumption sites, was added in 2016. Court Challenges Facing the threat of imminent closure, proponents of Insite took the federal government to the British Columbia Supreme Court in late 2007. In 2008, and one month before In- site's final exemption was to expire, the BC Supreme Court ruled that the closure of lnsite, under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, was unconstitutional-the closure would

4 Murphy/West: The Ideals and Realities of Policy-Making Processes and Structures in Canada 63 undermine the right of drug users to life-saving health care under section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Jozaghi, 2016; Small, 2010). Whereas health care is designated as under provincial jurisdiction in the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly known as the British North America Act), and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is federal, the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms was ruled to give users of Insite, as a provincial health facility, the right to life-saving health care (Dooling & Rachlis, 2010; Small, 2010). British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Ian Pitfield stated, "I cannot agree with the submission that an addict must feed his addiction in an unsafe environment when a safe environment that may lead to rehabilitation is the alternative" (Dooling & Rachlis, 2010, p. 1443). The federal government appealed the BC Supreme Court's ruling, and in 2010 the BC Court of Appeal upheld the 2008 ruling (Jozaghi, 2016; Small, 2010). The federal government appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2011 and lost again, with the Court ordering the Health Minister to grant the waiver for Insite to remain open. The ruling stated: "On future applications, the Minister must exercise that discretion within the constraints imposed by the law and the Charter, aiming to strike the appropriate balance between achieving public health and public safety" (Jozaghi, 2016, p. 226). Having lost a third time, the Harper government responded by introducing Bill C-65, now Bill C-2. The 2015 bill posed a significant barrier for the approval of any additional sites. Bill C-2 amended the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act by adding the adherence to 26 conditions before any new site could be granted an exemp- tion (Jozaghi, 2016). After the federal Liberal Party won in 2015, a significantly streamlined Bill C-37 amended section 56.1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Bill C-37 allowed the opening of additional safe injection sites across Canada and reduced the conditions from 26 to five: evidence of effect on crime rates, assessment of local needs, outline of regulatory structure, resources for sustainability, and evidence of support and opposition (Pacey, 2016). Current Situation Even with the more accessible conditions, advocates for safe injection sites are concerned that Bill C-37 does not include mechanisms to accelerate approvals in times of crisis, and that the bill is framed under law enforcement rather than a harm reduction approach. Significant time and resources will still need to go into gathering evidence for the five criteria, resources that could provide desperately needed services that community groups without legal pro- tection are currently covering (Pacey, 2016). In response to the burgeoning fentanyl crisis, British Columbia declared a public health emergency in April 2016, stating the numbers of people dying from overdoses had accelerated (Vancouver Coastal Health, 2017b). In 2015, 151 fentanyl-detected deaths were identified in the province, in 2016 the number ballooned to 657, and in 2017, 1,210 died from fentanyl-related overdoses (British Columbia Coroners Service, 2018). Even with the addition of five unofficial community-run pop-up injection tents appearing in the DTES, Insite was not able to meet the escalating crisis. As a result, in July 2017, a second supervised injection site opened in the DTES. Across Canada, the fentanyl crisis has put pressure on Health Canada to respond. As of July 2018, Health Canada (2017a) had approved 30 additional supervised consumption sites 10 in Kamloops, Kelowna, Surrey, Victoria, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. An additional 10 applica- tions to expand services to Grand Prairie, Medicine Hat, Hamilton, London, and Thunder Bay were pending approval (Health Canada, 2018) at the time of writing, but Manitoba, Sas- katchewan, Nunavut, Yukon, NWT, PEI, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland

64 Part I I Social Policy Processes, Issues, and Realities and Labrador still do not offer supervised consumption sites. In addition, Health Canada listed seven applications awaiting approval for sites in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, and Ottawa. All sites continue to require obtaining exemptions from the federal Controlled Drug and Substances Act (Health Canada, 2017a; Hutchinson, 2017). How the Cannabis Act (2018) or the legal control over the "production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis across Canada" will affect supervised consumption sites remains to be seen. Challenges and Opportunities for Social Workers to Become Agents for Change The role of social workers in a variety of practice areas, for example, health care, family sup- port, and child welfare, opens up opportunities, along with challenges for them to advocate for social change. Social work practitioners have critical insight from their front-line work, and their experience in working with substance use, for example, gives them knowledge, training, and an in-depth understanding of the issues. In addition, the Canadian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics defines social work values of supporting self-determination of service users and working towards social change. One of the ways to do this is to forge alliances with service users to support changes to policy in grassroots action campaigns. The lived experi- ences of service users and the practice experience of social workers can be valuable means of supporting changes to social service policies. In a political climate in which substance use is deemed to be a criminal matter as opposed to a health care issue, there is a need for distinct voices to reframe the discourse to one that is anti-oppressive and multi-faceted in its approach. Social Policy Change in Action Profile of a Social Worker I nvolved in the Political Process Margaret Mitchell (1 925-2017) was an NDP MP from 1979 to 1 993. Before entering politics, she was a social worker in Vancouver, working with abused women and children living in poverty. In 1982, with Pierre Trudeau as Prime Minister leading a majority Liberal government, she rose in the House of Commons to raise an issue of national importance and urgency: "The parliamentary report states that one in ten Canadian husbands beat their wives regularly", I began. Before I could continue, an uproar of male shouts and laughter erupted, making it impossible for me to be heard . . . . My angry questions topped the TV news that evening. Women's groups across the country rallied. They mounted a major protest, helping to raise awareness of violence against women among pol- iticians and the general public. In the months to come, both federal and provincial politicians responded with progressive change. RCMP and local police forces trained officers to respond to domestic violence, and more charges were laid. More funds were allocated to establish transition houses for women to escape violent partners and find new circumstances. Educational programs made the public more aware that violence was not to be tolerated. (Mitchell, 2008, p. xiii)

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version