Latest news with #Ya'araSaks
Global News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Canada election 2025: York Centre
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook York Centre is a federal riding located in Ontario. This riding is currently represented by Liberal MP Ya'ara Saks who first took office in 2020. Saks collected 17,430 votes, winning 47.29 per cent of the vote in the 2021 federal election. Voters will decide who will represent York Centre in Ontario during the upcoming Canadian election on April 28, 2025. Visit this page on election night for a complete breakdown of up to the minute results. Candidates Liberal: Ya'ara Saks (Incumbent) Conservative: Roman Baber NDP: Yusuf Ulukanligil
Associated Press
07-03-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Statement from the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health on the toxic illegal drug supply and overdose crisis
OTTAWA, ON, March 7, 2025 /CNW/ - Canada is facing a tragic public health crisis that has left no community untouched. The toxic drug and overdose crisis is being driven by a dangerous, illegal drug supply. The devastating impacts are seen and felt among our families. Every loss of life to this crisis has a tragic impact on friends, families, and communities. The national data released today shows a 12% decrease in overdose deaths. Deaths from January to September 2024 were lower than the same period in 2023. This is the third quarterly release in a row that shows a decreasing trend. There are several factors that could be contributing to this reduction, including expanded naloxone distribution. Naloxone kits have successfully reversed thousands of overdoses across Canada. It is important that Canadians can access naloxone and know when and how to use it. This reduction can in part be attributed to a wide-range of investments to directly address this public health crisis. Prevention, education, and awareness efforts are an important part of our approach to addressing it. The Know More Opioids campaign is educating and engaging young people on the risks of opioid use, how to use naloxone, and the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act. To assist municipalities and Indigenous communities in rapidly responding to their urgent needs, we are providing $150 million through the Emergency Treatment Fund. The fund will provide for a wide range of urgent interventions to bolster local capacity to support the most affected communities. All orders of government must work together to ensure health and social supports are available – so people get the help they need. We must continue to invest in comprehensive action including prevention, harm reduction, enforcement, and treatment and recovery. Addiction may look different for everyone. People who are struggling must have access to a range of health care supports and services. To address this crisis, we need to tackle the problem from all angles. All order of government and communities need to work together on multi-faceted solutions that connect people to care and protect our communities. While the decreases we are seeing are encouraging, we will continue to monitor the trends closely and adapt our response to this crisis to protect the health and safety of our communities. The Honourable Ya'ara Saks, P.C., M.P.
Associated Press
04-03-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Combatting fentanyl production and supporting law enforcement action
OTTAWA, ON, March 4, 2025 /CNW/ - Canada is taking significant action to stop the production and devastating impacts of illegal fentanyl and other illegal drugs on public health and public safety. Health Canada plays a critical role in supporting Canadian law and border enforcement in their activities to counter the global drug threat and is taking concrete action to keep communities safe on both sides of the border. Today, the Honourable Ya'ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, announced new drug testing labs and a dedicated, full-time team focused on combatting illegal precursor chemicals and drug production. The Federal Government is actioning this by investing $30.7 million to launch a Precursor Chemical Risk Management Unit (PCRMU) and $48 million to establish the Canadian Drug Analysis Centre (CDAC). The PCMRU will strengthen our ability to support law and border enforcement in stopping the production of illegal drugs and the importation of chemicals used to make them, including through 20 full-time employees. The CDAC will significantly expand our drug testing lab capacity and analysis capabilities including through new dedicated lab spaces in Toronto and Vancouver. As a result, the new lab could analyze up to 2000 illegal drug samples per year and trace the place and source of production of these samples. Such intelligence will be used by law enforcement and public safety partners to strategically target organized crime. These efforts will be supported by 26 additional full-time employees. We are working closely with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to enhance existing collaboration and information sharing between our governments. These actions will spearhead activities with allies, working collectively to protect communities from the scourge of illegal drugs, like fentanyl. Quotes 'Fentanyl is a threat to our communities and public safety. We need to do everything we can to strengthen law enforcement's capacity to combat the devastating impact of illegal drugs. The Precursor Chemical Risk Management Unit and the Canadian Drug Analysis Centre are new tools as part of Canada's border plan to support law and border enforcement in detecting and disrupting the illegal fentanyl trade. This is an important step in addressing the overdose crisis and keeping communities safe.' The Honourable Ya'ara Saks Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health 'A stronger, tougher, and more comprehensive approach towards precursor chemicals plays a critical role in breaking the supply chains used by criminal networks on both sides of the border. The CDAC and PCRMU, combined with other significant measures that bolster law enforcement capabilities, will help us protect our communities, prevent overdoses, and save lives.' Kevin Brosseau Canada's Fentanyl Czar Quick Facts Health Canada plays a critical role in supporting Canadian law and border enforcement in their activities to disrupt the global drug threat and is taking concrete action to keep communities safe on both sides of the border. Canada and the US have one of the closest and most respected relationships in the world and we continue to work together to protect the security of our shared border while facilitating the secure transfer of services and goods. The PCRMU has already rapidly advanced a number of targeted regulatory actions. This includes a Notice of Intent to enhance oversight of precursor chemicals and drug equipment and increase regulatory flexibility and agility. As well as a Ministerial Order to rapidly schedule three new precursor chemicals (phenethyl bromide, propionic anhydride and benzyl chloride) and the drug, carisoprodol.
CBC
03-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Ottawa spends over $3 million on mental health, addictions support in northwestern Ontario
The federal government is spending more than $3 million to support mental health and addictions outreach efforts in northwestern Ontario. Ya'ara Saks, federal minister of mental health and addictions and associate minister of health, made the announcement on Friday in Thunder Bay, Ont., at City Hall. The city has the highest opioid-related death rate in the province, according to the latest information from the Office of the Chief Coroner. At a rate of 78.16 deaths per 100,000 population in the first half of 2024, that's more than five times the provincial average of 15.7 deaths per 100,000 population. As the region's only supervised consumption site, Path 525, closes at the end of March in Thunder Bay, a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub is slated to open in its place. "I know how much this community cares about saving lives and being on the front and centre in northern Ontario of the overdose crisis in the illicit toxic drug supply that is harming so many communities," Saks said. "There's too many Canadians who lost their lives to this tragic and unrelenting public health crisis that has touched the lives of too many families, friends, neighbours and loved ones." More than $838,000 is going to the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northwestern Ontario (EFSNWO) through the Substance Use and Addictions Program. In addition, three other projects are getting funding from the Emergency Treatment Fund: $237,960 for the City of Thunder Bay and NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC) to expand mobile outreach services and create an encampment response team. $1,909,367 for Marten Falls First Nation to provide a mobile response unit for crisis outreach, counselling, culturally-relevant programming, and connections to treatment. $141,875 for Beendigen Inc. to purchase a community mobile unit to offer harm reduction services. In all, the Emergency Treatment Fund includes more than $11 million for 14 projects across Canada, Saks said. More than 350 project applications were received, over 70 per cent of which came from Indigenous communities. "Meeting people where they are at with programs and projects that make sense, that open doors, that help people when they need it in that moment," said Saks. "Because if it's not today that we help them, if it's not today that we don't talk, that we don't reach out to them, what will happen tomorrow?" Outreach work and on-site support Rilee Willianen, the city's encampment response lead, said the new encampment response team will allow the city to lead outreach efforts in tent communities, supporting its human rights based approach to homelessness. "[It] will connect with the folks who are living in the encampments and build relationships with them so eventually, they can be in a place to improve their circumstances," Willianen said. "This funding will help support us to do that, which will help us then to address encampments, which also then helps to address public health and public safety concerns." While a number of organizations provide support at the city's encampments already, Willianen said having the city partner with NWCHC allows it to expand its involvement in an effective and appropriate way. "One of our benefits as a smaller community is that we all work really well together, so this is just a further demonstration of how important it is to work together and to continue doing that work in a good way." As for the EFSNWO, executive director Lindsay Martin said the funding is supporting the operational costs of hiring more staff; namely, a substance use health co-ordinator, two full-time peer support workers and one part-time peer support worker. The organization supports women and gender-diverse people who are involved in the criminal justice system, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, mental health or addiction issues. The staff members will be situated at EFSNWO's transitional housing units to provide on-site support, Martin said. "It will be really impactful to help support the key population of those leaving incarceration and those who are unhoused and to be able to support them on their substance use journey in an alternative sort of non-clinical type of way," they explained. The organization takes a harm reduction approach to addiction, which means supporting people who are in active addiction by reducing the harms around substance use. Examples of this are providing new needles, sterile drug equipment, and naloxone kits which are used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. While the province has scaled back harm reduction with the upcoming closure of supervised consumption sites — as HART hubs will not allow supervised drug consumption, needle exchange or safer supply programs — Martin said it's an integral part of addiction services. "It's really key to be able to support them wherever they're at on their journey and not always directing somebody into a formatted, prescribed, forced recovery process when they're not necessarily ready," said Martin.
