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New West-led National Recovery Month motion adopted in Parliament

Members of Parliament unanimously adopted New Westminster-MP Peter Julian’s National Recovery Awareness Month motion
Recovery Day 1
An Overdose Memorial Tree at the Recovery Day 2022 festival served as a poignant reminder of lives lost.

The House of Commons has unanimously adopted a National Recovery Awareness Month motion put forward by New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian.

Julian said all Members of Parliament supported the motion which would designate every September as National Recovery Awareness Month.

“It’s been a long and difficult fight to get a unanimous consent support. It is vitally important that we designate every September as a National Recovery Month to recognize and support Canadians recovering from addiction and to demonstrate that recovery from addiction is possible, attainable and sustainable,” Julian said in a news release. “I want to thank the recovery community and organizations across Canada who have been working so hard to promote and collect thousands of petition signatures.”

In 2020, representatives from the recovery community launched an online petition to the House of Commons in support of Julian’s motion to designate each September as National Recovery Awareness Month. The petition called on all Members of Parliament to support this non-partisan motion.

“On behalf of Recovery Month Canada, thank you to MP Julian for his tireless efforts to advocate for declaring September as the National Recovery Month,” said Giuseppe Ganci, director of community development for the New West-based Last Door Recovery Society. “Activists, like myself, across Canada are excited to see that Canada recognizes and supports those who are recovering from addiction.”

Ganci is chair of the Recovery Day BC Society’s board, which recently organized the Recovery Day 2022 street festival in New Westminster. The Sept. 10 event drew thousands to uptown New West and featured more than 200 information booths and vendors, including recovery organizations, service groups and food trucks.

The 2020 petition outlined a number of reasons MPs should support the Recovery Month motion, including: connecting people to the community is key to successful long-term addiction recovery; and supporting the community plays a significant role in helping the community at large to learn about recovery, save lives with inspiration and educate people on how to access the health care system. It noted that recovery service providers across Canada are working together to overcome addiction and Recovery Day events are held across Canada in September.

“Your support would demonstrate your commitment to raising the awareness that recovery from addiction is possible, and your goal to foster healthy people and communities,” said the petition.