Claire Rattée@ClaireRattee
Before anything else, it’s important to be clear about how this government viewed Dr. Julian Somers.
In their own words from a letter sent to him in 2021:
“I want to thank you for the long-standing partnership… What we have been able to accomplish together over the last nearly 20 years has truly been remarkable…”
This was a trusted advisor whose research helped inform government policy for decades.
But that same letter goes on to state:
“All data must be destroyed and all media storage devices that housed Ministry data must be sanitized. This includes all backup copies, uploads and data on any media devices.”
Yesterday, the Minister told the House that this data was not destroyed. I spoke to Dr. Somers today and he told me that the data was NOT transferred, and was in fact destroyed.
Both of those statements cannot be true.
This is about the integrity of the evidence behind major addiction policy decisions, and whether British Columbians are being told the truth.
That’s why I raised a question of privilege, and tabled the letter and supporting information. Now we wait for the government’s response. If the data is in fact still available, we deserve the opportunity to review it and utilize it to assess our current approach.
