MP David Wilks has introduced a new Private Member’s Bill, designated as C674, calling for the establishment of an Addiction Recovery Week in Canada.
“Speaking as a person in long-term recovery, we must remove the stigma that is attached to addiction recovery and celebrate those who have taken the long road back to prosperity and a healthy life,” he said in a statement from Ottawa. “This bill would be a significant step forward in doing just that.”
Wilks introduced the bill in the House of Commons one Thursday, May 7.
This is the second Private Member’s Bill Wilks has brought to the House of Commons since he was first elected in 2011. His first one imposed a mandatory minimum jail sentence for a stranger that kidnaps a child under the age of 16.
“Surely if we as politicians saw fit to give mandatory minimum sentencing to a person who kidnaps another person with a firearm or is connected to a criminal organization, we ought to see that kidnapping a defenceless child is in my opinion far graver than the aforementioned,” he said at the time.
That Bill passed in the House of Commons by a vote of 151 to 117 and was passed in the Senate. It received Royal Assent two years ago.
Most Private Member’s Bills die on the order paper.
Please click here to read his new proposed bill.