A landmark piece of Canadian legislation has cleared the House of Commons with unanimous support. Bill C-240 would give people serving federal prison sentences access to addiction rehabilitation programmes. It now moves to committee for further examination.

Kelly DeRidder, the MP for Kitchener Centre, introduced the bill to embed structured rehabilitation into the corrections system. The goal is to give incarcerated people a genuine opportunity to address substance use disorders and break cycles of reoffending.

A Personal Story Behind the Policy

DeRidder’s advocacy for addiction rehabilitation draws on lived experience that few MPs can claim. She once slept rough on a park bench in the very community she now represents. That journey from homelessness to elected office has shaped a conviction that recovery is possible for anyone given the right support.

She has spoken publicly about a man on parole from Sudbury, who told her that 100 per cent of his criminal history connected directly to his addiction. Corrections researchers across Canada broadly recognise this pattern.

The Scale of the Addiction Crisis

Canada is in the midst of a drug-related public health emergency. Around 22 people die from addiction-related causes every single day. Moreover, that toll extends far beyond the individual. Families lose parents, children, brothers and sisters. Emergency services and hospital departments also bear enormous costs in communities where treatment options are absent. Indeed, some estimates suggest addiction-related calls account for a significant share of emergency service demand in affected areas.

A particularly troubling problem sits at the heart of the corrections system. Some people enter prison without a substance use problem and leave with one. Drugs reach prison populations, and without treatment infrastructure, addiction takes hold in custody rather than getting addressed there. Consequently, the corrections system can worsen the very problems society needs it to help solve.

The economic toll is also mounting. Without addiction rehabilitation as a real pathway forward, business districts in smaller cities continue to hollow out. Visible, untreated addiction reduces foot traffic and deters investment.

Addiction Rehabilitation: What the Bill Would Change

Bill C-240 seeks to bring addiction rehabilitation back as a formal part of the corrections experience. The legislation frames custody as a genuine opportunity for recovery. Incarcerated people would gain access to counselling, treatment programming, and professional support.

Advocates are clear this is not a soft-on-crime position. It is, however, a pragmatic one. A person leaving prison without addressing an underlying addiction is far more likely to reoffend. Rehabilitation in prisons, in this framing, is public safety policy as much as it is compassionate care.

DeRidder has pointed to organisations such as Bruce Oak Recovery as evidence that intensive support programmes produce real results. The model operates on the principle that recovery is not just possible but probable. The missing ingredient, supporters say, is access. Currently, that access is largely absent from the corrections environment.

Parliamentary Progress

Unanimous passage through the House of Commons is rare on any contested policy area. Yet Bill C-240 achieved exactly that. It now moves to committee, where expert witnesses and submissions will shape any amendments.

DeRidder has remained consistent throughout the process. She has rejected the idea that simply managing people in active addiction constitutes adequate policy, insisting that addiction rehabilitation must remain the goal. Her position is that every person caught in the grip of addiction can recover and deserves a real chance to do so.

“Recovery is not just possible, it’s probable,” she has said, citing Bruce Oak Recovery, “but only when we have the proper supports in place.”

The Broader Context

Bill C-240 sits within a wider debate about how Canada funds its addiction response. Critics of current federal spending note that mental health and addiction programmes in the national budget remain minimal. Furthermore, existing support streams face a scheduled wind-down in 2027, with no confirmed replacement funding yet in place.

In that environment, embedding addiction rehabilitation into corrections creates a treatment touchpoint for a population that community health services often fail to reach. Many people cycling through the federal system carry untreated addiction into and out of custody. If the bill passes into law, it would create a legal obligation to provide rehabilitation in prisons rather than leaving it to individual facility discretion. For thousands of Canadians in that position, the difference could be life-changing.

Source: dbrecoveryresources