The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act was enacted in 2017 to prevent opioid overdose deaths. The Act, in part, means someone released from prison seeking medical treatment after overdosing on drugs wouldn’t be arrested and sent back to prison for violating release conditions.
But if this Act couldn’t protect parolee Christopher Van Camp – who was returned to Saskatchewan Penitentiary for violating his parole after he overdosed – then who does it shield, asks Regina-based lawyer Tavengwa Runyowa, who represents Van Camp’s mother, Lauren Laithwaite, in her lawsuit against the federal government?
“On the one hand, the federal government is encouraging Canadians to report overdoses without fear of legal sanctions because of the Act, but on the other, the same federal government is stating that such overdoses amount to legal offences and the legislative protections under the same Act do not apply,” said Runyowa.
Laithwaite is suing the Attorney General of Canada, Correctional Services Canada, Alberta Health Services, Calgary Police Service, Foothills Medical Centre and City of Calgary for her son’s death June 7, 2017, in the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert. Van Camp was murdered in his cell by his cellmate Tyler Vandewater.
Van Camp was returned to prison after he overdosed on May 24, 2017, in Calgary while on parole from Saskatchewan Penitentiary. He was on life support and in a medically induced coma from May 24-28, 2017, in Calgary Foothills Medical Centre.
While in a coma at the Foothills Medical Centre, Van Camp was shackled to his hospital bed. Just two days after coming out of his coma he was arrested for breaching parole conditions for overdosing on drugs and returned to prison. He was first sent to Bowden Institution, then Edmonton Institution before being sent back to Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert.
“Despite his emaciated state from the days of being in a coma, on paralytics, and on life support, Correctional Services Canada did not use a medical transport vehicle,” said Runyowa. “Correctional Services Canada staff did not give Chris any medical attention in transit or at his final destination.”
He also said Van Camp shouldn’t have been placed in a maximum security unit for his drug addiction.
“In Alberta, where Chris was arrested, addiction is a disability,” said Runyowa. “The same applies in Saskatchewan.
“Canada’s current model of using incarceration as a substitute to addictions and mental health treatments is a costly and ineffective use of taxpayer money and resources. Keeping an inmate in custody costs on average $116,743 per year. The cost is substantially higher for high-risk offenders (maximum- security) and women. The cost to incarcerate a maximum-security male offender is $158,113 while the cost of incarcerating an offender in a women’s facility is $191,843.”
Runyowa added that almost $9 billion was spent on criminal justice interventions regarding substance use (both alcohol and drug use) in 2014. This amounts to about $252 per Canadian.
“Statistics indicate that 43 per cent of the crimes are in part attributable to substance abuse (alcohol or drugs). Almost 20 per cent of violent crimes similarly would not have occurred had alcohol or drugs not been involved.”
The country’s approach to addiction must change, said Runyowa.
“Mass incarceration alone is not an evidence-based approach and disregards the treatment dimension. And while Canada has taken steps towards supporting Canadians, such as through the implementation of the Good Samartian Overdose Act, the application of this Act must be consistent and directed to its object and purposes. It cannot be discarded when the federal or provincial governments’ failure to abide by it causes deaths or injuries to Canadians, and gives rise to legal jeopardy.”
Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act
The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act went into effect in Canada on May 4, 2017 – three weeks before Van Camp overdosed while on parole – and Runyowa maintains the government violated the Act by sending him back to prison.
The Attorney General of Canada, however, in its December 2019 Statement of Defence in response to Laithwaite’s Statement of Claim, said the Good Samaritan Overdose Act doesn’t apply to Van Camp, citing his “high-risk lifestyle” as a reason.
“Van Camp led a high risk lifestyle that put him into contact with other criminals, including criminal gangs,” reads the AG’s Statement of Defence. “The assault, on or about June 7, 2017, on his first day back at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary Maximum Unit was a direct result of his high risk lifestyle.”
Runyowa accused the federal government of “dog-whistle politics” for its Statement of Defence signalling that Van Camp deserved to be re-arrested from his hospital bed.
“By pointing to Chris’ ‘high-risk lifestyle,’ the Attorney General of Canada and Correctional Services Canada are relying on, and propagating, the very stereotypes that stigmatize people suffering from addictions.”
And, he said that response is troubling.
“Those very people who live ‘high-risk lifestyles’ are the very persons who the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act was designed to protect. They are also the very people who need the protections the most.
“By definition, people addicted to drugs tend to live high-risk lifestyles,” he added. “Given the illicit nature of many drugs, by definition, criminal elements are involved in the trade. That is exactly why the Parliament of Canada enacted the Good Samaritan Overdose Act in the first place. If opioids and other drugs were legal, there would be no point in enacting a law to protect people who overdosed from an otherwise legal activity. The Good Samaritan Overdose Act was enacted to eliminate the fear of criminal sanctions that the injurious use of illicit drugs imposed on people, including those with addictions.”
Runyowa said if there was something wrong with Chris that disqualified him from the protection of the Good Samaritan Overdose Act, his mother would like to know what that was.
“So would millions of other Canadians who will wonder if this law is reserved for a privileged club of Canadians in which people like Chris were denied membership,” he said.
Runyowa said the government’s seeming contradiction sends the wrong message to vulnerable Canadians.
“The contradiction in the Attorney General and Correctional Services Canada’s positions is especially damaging given that certain demographics who may suffer from overdoses, including the homeless, those with mental health issues, immigrants, visible minorities, and others, often have troubled or fearful relationships with law enforcement. Any indication that the federal government’s widely broadcast protections of the Good Samaritan Overdose Act may not be as universal as advertised will negatively impact the overdose fatality rate from overdoses, which is already substantial and continues to hit unprecedented numbers.
“The federal government cannot encourage Canadians to cross a legal bridge to safety when the targets of that encouragement can see that bridge is rigged with the dynamite of criminal liability, and the federal government can demolish it for arbitrary and undisclosed reasons,” added Runyowa.
David Lametti, the Attorney General of Canada, and Bill Blair, the Minister of Public Safety, were contacted for comment. They didn’t respond to the request.
Van Camp’s fatal return to Saskatchewan Penitentiary
When Van Camp arrived back at Saskatchewan Penitentiary June 6, 2017, corrections officers placed him in a cell with Tyler Vandewater. Within a few hours of being placed in the cell, Vandewater brutally murdered Van Camp. The autopsy report revealed Van Camp had 60 stab wounds and lacerations to his head, neck, back and shoulders. Vandewater also kicked and stomped Van Camp in the head.
On March 5, 2020, in Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench, Justice Brian Scherman found Vandewater guilty of second-degree murder. Vandewater will be sentenced on June 5 in Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench.
