Saskatchewan tables involuntary drug treatment bill as fall session ends

Saskatchewan's government introduced its involuntary treatment bill Friday on the final day of its fall sitting with critics wondering how it will all play out.

As the province wraps up its fall session, it wasn’t done introducing new legislation.

The government of Saskatchewan used its final day of sittings for this year to put forward its highly anticipated involuntary drug treatment proposal.

The Compassionate Intervention Act, Bill 48, would allow those with addictions to receive treatment against their choosing and comes months after the idea was first floated ahead of the start of the fall session in October.

Premier Scott Moe says the introduction of the bill right before the end of the fall legislative sitting was done on purpose.

“It’s so that we now have the winter and the spring session to work through some of those operational questions that are there with those that are directly supporting people in their recovery journey,” Moe told reporters following Friday’s sitting.

Under this legislation, recovery orders can be requested by family members, referred to by medical professionals or can come from police intervention. However, anyone under the age of 18 cannot be forced into involuntary drug treatment.

Patients who are given recovery orders will then be assessed by a hearing panel and can appeal the panel’s decision through the Court of King’s Bench.

Saskatchewan’s justice minister, Tim McLead, says this legislation is intended to address a “very select number of people” whose intoxication has “gotten them to a place where they lack the necessary capacity for their own care and they pose a threat to themselves or others.”