Policies - Health and Healthcare

A New Foundation — Ban Harmful & Pseudoscientific Autism “Therapies” — Controlled Substances — Family Planning — Legalizing Homegrown Cannabis — Prohibiting Sex-Normalizing Procedures — Daylight Savings Time

Health and Healthcare – A New Foundation

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

Manitobans continue to suffer from high rates of preventable chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, especially prevalent in our Indigenous communities;
Infectious diseases, as seen with COVID-19, have also had dramatic impacts on Manitobans’ health and on the healthcare system¹;
Healthcare costs in Manitoba, as across Canada, continue to rise, outpacing available resources, with additional strains from an aging population and increasing rates of opioid and other addiction;
The effects of the Climate Emergency will increasingly exert pressure on Manitobans’ health and our healthcare system, from emerging pathogens originating in newly invasive species to stressors on our air, water and food supplies to the dramatic impacts of increasingly powerful storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires²;
The typical approach of focusing on downstream solutions with reliance on hospitals, critical care, and expensive drugs is far more costly than upstream, proactive solutions emphasizing social determinants of health, especially eliminating poverty;
Knowledge and solutions exist with the very people who provide service in healthcare who are under-consulted and over-worked;
Wisdom exists across our communities, especially with our Indigenous elders, where Manitobans themselves can provide valuable insight into improving health for all; and
Much work through commissioned reports including Lalonde³, Epp⁴, and Peachy⁵ have already provided invaluable insight into upstream approaches to health and preserving and enhancing our universal healthcare system;

Be it Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba will

Emphasize upstream, preventative approaches to health, with a focus on the social determinants of health and the potential impacts of the Climate Emergency; and
Encourage and support the development of Citizen’s Assemblies on Health and Healthcare, comprised of healthcare professionals, administrators, and academics, but also citizens drawn from a wide range of communities, disciplines, and experience, especially from our Indigenous communities.

References

Healthcare – Ban Harmful & Pseudoscientific Autism “Therapies”

Date of Approval: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

An estimated 15-20% of the world’s population exhibit some form of neurodivergence¹ and nearly 2% of the world’s population is Autistic;
Autism and other forms of Neurodivergence are neuro-developmental differences that cannot be cured² or effectively/permenently “treated,”
Autistic and Neurodivergent individuals are people who deserve respect, human rights, and accomodations to participate in society as their true selves;
Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI), two popular and often publicly funded methods of “treating” Autism are based in the same psuedoscientific “research” and methodologies as queer conversion therapy³;
Although violent punishment for Autistic behaviour is now less frequently advocated under ABA/IBI guidelines, it is still practiced⁴;
Even “Gentle,” or solely reward-based ABA/IBI methods are based in the false ideas that Autistic and Neurodivergent traits are inherently bad, undesirable, abnormal, in need of “correcting,” and possible to permanently “correct”⁵;
Although Autistic and Neurodivergent patients may learn to exhibit more Neurotypical behaviours through ABA/IBI, they are simply learning to “Mask” their Neurodivergent traits behind a Neurotypical facade, an act which is often emotionally draining or even physically painful for Neurodivergent individuals⁶;
Forcing Neurodivergent individuals to painfully go against their natural traits to conform to neurotypical capitalist societal norms is harmful, often traumatic, arguably eugenicist, and overall just wrong;
Forcing these experiences on children in particular ought to be considered abuse; and
Given that “Respect for Diversity” is a core value of the Global Greens Charter, Greens should universally advocate respect for and celebration of Autistic and Neurodivergent individuals and their traits and actively work to build a world more accessible to them;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

Introducing legislation to end the practice of harmful and/or pseudoscientific autism “therapies” in Manitoba, such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) & Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI);
Calling a public inquiry into the history and impacts of harmful and/or pseudoscientific Autism “therapies” in Manitoba and working with those impacted to provide reconciliation;
Requiring reasonable, modern, patient-centred informed-consent procedures for any individual to undergo “therapies” for or participate in studies of Autism or other forms of neurodivergence and prohibiting parents or guardians from forcibly enrolling minors in such therapies;
Restricting the use of the term “cure” by practitioners offering “therapies” for or seeking participants for studies of Autism or other similar forms of Neurodivergence, notwithstanding a significant change in the scientific consensus on the nature of these conditions;
Eliminating all public funding for practitioners, studies, non-profits, and other such entities which advocate or actively work to cure or eliminate Autism and/or other forms of neurodivergence, and
Working with neurodivergent individuals to implement policies to make healthcare, and Manitoban society in general, less hostile and more accessible to Autism and Neurodivergence.

References

Healthcare – Controlled Substances

Reviewed: 25 November 2022
Approved: 12 February 2023

Whereas:

The term “ controlled substances” refers to the drugs and substances whose possession, cultivation, distribution, import, and export are controlled and defined by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act^{1, 2};
The Green Party of Manitoba neither condemns nor condones the use of controlled substances;
People choose to use substances for many different reasons, including to cope with pain or to increase pleasure;
The Green Party of Manitoba believes that the decision to use substances rests solely with each individual, given age of majority and competence to make an informed decision;
Substance abuse has high social costs, including mental health issues, family breakdown, child abuse, homelessness, poverty, and marginalization, all of which hinder the ability of persons to seek appropriate care and increase the risk of negative outcomes³;
Substance abuse has high economic costs including lost productivity, criminal justice costs, and critical healthcare costs, exacerbated because the risk associated with possession prevents persons from seeking early care;
Incarceration for drug possession is costly and harmful to individuals and families, prevents access to mental health and addiction recovery services, and disproportionately affects Indigenous and other marginalized communities⁴;
The money spent on incarceration, averaging $125,000 per year per inmate in 2021⁵, could be more effectively spent on community care and support programs;
Many of the harms associated with substance use stem from the criminality of substance use and the associated stigma.
Overdose prevention sites have been shown to reduce harm from disease transmission and overdose-related deaths, and provide opportunities for healthcare and social services outreach;
Unregulated drug supply is causing widespread harm and death;
Access to a safe supply and safer drug use equipment has been shown to reduce harm and is supported by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority⁶; and
The Green Party of Manitoba supports the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba:

Advocates the Federal government decriminalize possession of controlled substances for personal use;
Acknowledges that the unauthorized distribution and sale of controlled substances should remain a violation of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act;
Supports the establishment of overdose prevention sites and a legally regulated safer drug supply;
Supports the use of taxes raised from the sale of all controlled substances, in part, to fund education and health services to prevent and treat substance abuse;
Encourages developing these services, in addition to addressing the social and economic conditions underlying substance abuse; and
Supports increasing the accessibility of safer drug use supplies, including, but not limited to, naloxone, drug checking equipment, glass pipes, and needles.

References:

Healthcare – Family Planning

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

A person has the right to receive an abortion in the health care facility of their choice without financial or other penalty; and
Currently there is limited access to abortion services, forcing many Manitoba residents to travel long distances to access abortion services;

Be it Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

Full public funding for abortion services;
Every regional health authority should be legally required to offer abortion services within its geographical boundaries;
Education on family planning programs;
Conception products and planning services should be entirely publicly funded under Medicare and Pharmacare; and
The provincial government should require all Manitoba pharmacies to provide access to contraception and abortion products, such as the ‘morning after pill’ and the ‘abortion pill’.

Healthcare – Legalizing Homegrown Cannabis

Healthcare – Legalizing Homegrown Cannabis

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

When the Canadian government legalized possession for personal use of Cannabis in 2018, the laws provided for individuals to grow up to four plants for personal use and to share with others¹;
Illicit trade still makes up 30 to 50%² of Canada’s cannabis market losing the ability to control the quality of the cannabis;
Federal laws make provision for cannabis retailers to sell seeds and seedlings³; and
Manitoba is one of only two provinces, the other being Québec, which have not followed the federal guideline allowing for growing cannabis for personal use;

Be it Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba will:

Legalize the growth of cannabis plants for personal use, in harmony with federal laws.

References

Healthcare – Prohibiting Sex-Normalizing Procedures

Approved: 27 February 2022

Whereas:

Subjecting intersex children (also referred to as persons with DSDs – disorders or differences in sex development) to unnecessary surgical and medical intervention is a common practice affecting between 30-80%¹ of intersex children;
These procedures often result in irreversible and life-altering damage;
Many intersex adults who have undergone such medical interventions have expressed significant mental and physical suffering as a result including perpetuated anti-intersex stigma;
These procedures are often performed on individuals without their consent because the child is too young to be properly informed and/or because parents and medical professionals deem it best not to inform the child;
Some medical professionals have mislead intersex children and/or their parents into thinking that these so-called ‘sex-normalizing’ interventions are necessary or ‘best’; and
Complete disclosure and informed consent result are ideal conditions for medical intervention;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

Prohibiting medically unnecessary non-consensual surgeries on intersex children;
Mandating appropriate training of medical professionals on malpractice relating to such non-consensual, so-called ‘sex-normalizing’ procedures; and
Investigating past instances of unnecessary non-consensual surgeries on intersex children to make amends and implement a patient-led response going forward.

References

Egale Canada: Egale Canada urges the Federal Government to meet domestic and International Human Rights requirements of Intersex People on International Intersex Awareness Day

Public Health – Daylight Savings Time

Approved: 28 May 2023

Whereas:

Canada and the United States are among the relative few jurisdictions in the world to observe Daylight Savings time or Summer time;
The semi-annual transition from Daylight time to Standard time and vice versa each year is associated with significant increases in suicides¹, traffic accidents², workplace injuries³, overall unhappiness, and lost productivity;
There is an increasing public desire and pan-american movement to move either to permanent Daylight Savings time or permanent Standard Time;
Both the establishment of Daylight Savings Time in the first place and many modern movements to move to it permanently are mostly justified in economic terms and give little consideration to public health;
Were Manitoba to shift to permanent Daylight Time, sunrise would fall as late as 09h30 in mid-winter in Winnipeg and even later further north, forcing workers and students to awaken and commute to work or school entirely in the dark;
Standard time, although only one hour earlier, is better aligned with the sun and our natural circadian rhythms; and
The current scientific consensus⁴ is that Daylight Savings time causes a significant detriment to public health and mental health and that switching to permanent daylight time, rather than permanent Standard Time, would pose an even greater risk;

Be It Resolved:

The Green Party of Manitoba supports:

Abolishing Daylight Savings time in Manitoba and permanently observing Central Standard Time (UTC–06:00); and
Working with neighboring jurisdictions to encourage their governments to implement similar legislation for ease of trade.

References