Substance Use, Stigma and Addiction Among Men in Trades

Introduction: This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.

CCOHS is situated upon the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas. This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabek to share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. We further acknowledge that this land is covered by the Between the Lakes Purchase, 1792, between the Crown and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

Anne: Hello and welcome to Health and Safety To Go, broadcasting from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. I'm Anne Tennier, president and CEO of the Centre, and I'm joined today by Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. As the federal government's lead public health professional, Dr. Tam provides guidance to help protect the people against health threats, advance health equity, and promote healthier communities, using the best available data and evidence. Over the course of 25 years working in public health, Dr. Tam has provided technical expertise and leadership to improve surveillance of communicable diseases and opioid harms, enhance immunization programs, strengthen health emergency management, and augment laboratory biosafety and biosecurity. And as Canada's national public health leader, she helped guide Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rollout of the largest vaccination campaign in Canadian history. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you for your leadership during this very difficult period for Canadians. CCOHS has had the privilege of working with your team throughout the pandemic and beyond. Dr. Tam, it's a pleasure to have you with us.

Dr. Tam:  It’s really great to be here. Thanks for this opportunity, Anne.

Anne: And so today we're talking about an issue that is top of mind for healthcare providers, and employers and the families of the affected workers and that substance use addiction and stigma. What can you tell us about substance use and its impact, particularly among men in trades in Canada?

Dr. Tam: Well, we have a really serious Public Health crisis in Canada driven primarily by a toxic illegal drug supply. So the Public Health Agency of Canada has been collecting national-level data since 2016. And that data shows that more than 47,000 people in Canada have lost their lives from an apparent opioid toxicity death. That is 21 lives lost a day. Men make up nearly three out of four of those deaths and thirty to fifty percent of those employed at the time of death were employed in trades. So, not only do men experience the highest rates of opioid overdoses in Canada, but trades workers are also more impacted by substance use and addiction than other fields of work. And there are many reasons why men who work in trades are more affected by substance-related harms. They do really physically demanding and stressful work. So it's common for trades workers to want to celebrate or relax after a hard day's work by using substances like drugs and alcohol. Injury and pain are common in the trades, so workers often use alcohol or other substances to cope with pain. Indeed pain relief is one way people get introduced to opioids.

Men are often expected not to talk about their substance use or mental health problems. And this makes them less likely to ask for help when they need it. So, this is why the Government of Canada has made some important Investments to try and reach men working in physically demanding jobs, including trades, so that we can help encourage them to be more comfortable about asking for help and help those around them – opening up the conversation about substance use and addiction.

Anne: Now, when we talk about employers, what issues are they facing?

Dr. Tam: Well, employers, unions, health and safety professionals who support employees, do really want to talk about this complex issue but they don't know where and how to start. So they've been looking to have information packaged together and publicly made available to help prompt that conversation in the workplace, so this could facilitate and help individuals more at ease in talking about substance use and addiction. So, this is why Canada has relaunched the Ease the Burden Campaign, which shares the message that it takes strength to ask for help to reduce the stigma that's associated with substance use and seeking help. This campaign was initially launched in 2022 to raise awareness and targets men who work in trades who are disproportionately affected by substance use and addiction. To complement the advertising campaign, posters were distributed to trade schools and colleges nationally to raise awareness among students studying the trades as well. So you can't begin too early, I think, in terms of awareness building and education.

Anne: Now, it can be hard for workers to reach out. What can be done to reduce the stigma around getting help?

Dr. Tam: Yes it can be really, really difficult. Some workers avoid asking for help because they fear they’ll be judged, they fear they'll get into trouble at work, or be seen as weak by others. So we know it takes strength to reach out for help. We can however, ease the burden by reducing stigma and ensuring that workers feel safe and supported to ask for help if they're struggling. So, if you want to help someone who may be struggling with substance abuse, there are a number of things you can do. First of all, be respectful, open and be patient because people may be afraid to talk. Share that it takes strength to ask for help. Help explain that addiction is not a choice or personal failure – it actually changes your brain. Remember that people dealing with addiction deserve the same care as those with any other medical condition. You can also help by directing them to free resources to get expert advice and support or someone to talk to. If you yourself are struggling with substance use, know the addiction is not a choice. It changes your brain and makes it hard to stop using even when you want to. Talk to someone you trust – a friend, a health professional, a union rep or employee assistance program. Help is available. You can access free resources, including confidential professional advice and support from anywhere. Know that there is hope, life can get better if you get the right support.

Anne: That's so true. Now, what can employers who are in the trades do to help workers? Are there some specific resources that are out there?

Dr. Tam: Yes. Absolutely. There are resources and amongst the available resources is Health Canada's communications toolkit for employers of men working in trades. It’s a toolkit containing communication products to help them talk to their employees about substance use and addiction. The goal is to ensure that workers feel safe and supported to reach out for help if they are struggling with substance use and addiction, and to reduce stigma around getting help. It’s a really useful toolkit everyone should check out. It’s available on the Government of Canada website with a template email that you can adjust and send, poster presentations and PowerPoint presentations, social media content that you can adapt and website content as well. And these messages will help employers be more comfortable and help them in speaking about this topic and help workers be more comfortable about asking for help should they ever need it and help everyone in the workplace open up a conversation. And we hope that using this toolkit can support employers, unions and safety workers in their communication and make employees feel that they won't be judged or get into trouble for their substance use. And that asking for help is a sign of strength.

Anne: So true. I mean, just getting started is one of the challenging places. What do you envision for your campaign and how it can help employers and workers?

Dr. Tam: Yeah you’re so right that getting started is really, really difficult. So that's why we have re-launched the Ease the Burden Campaign. In fact the campaign started in 2021 to 2022 and was focused on men in physically demanding jobs. It ran for two years and based on some of the data and the feedback that we got we relaunched the campaign in 2024, 2025 to showcase not just construction, but additional trades such as forestry, mining and transportation. The campaign web page also now includes resources on how to talk about drugs and alcohol with a loved one. The 2024-2025 had two phases a summer phase and a fall phase. Both have been really successful and well received. The summer of phase of the campaign for performed really, really well. The ads were seen 40 1.7 million times, so really successful. So, the fall phase, we hope has continued to raise awareness and direct people workers in trays to these helpful resources.

Anne: that's great engagement there. Anything else you'd wish to add about substance abuse addiction and stigma among men in trades?

Dr. Tam: Yes, we just had the National Addictions Awareness Week, the week of November 25th. And every year, this is the time to learn about substance use and the challenges men in trades are facing and encouraging them to reach out for help. But I think awareness has to continue throughout the year, we have to keep going, because this issue isn't going away. I'd also like to recommend that everyone have a naloxone kit on hand. Naloxone is a very fast-acting medication, used to reverse very quickly the effects of an opioid poisoning. And it's easy to use, there’s instructions in the kit, so please carry one around. You never know when you might be to save someone's life. The other message, in fact it's a number that I want people to remember: 988. So that is the Suicide Crisis Helpline. The holiday season, can be actually quite a difficult time for some people, and the Government of Canada and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health launched 988 a year ago, which has also been very very successful in terms of the number of people who reached out to that helpline. The helpline is available. You can call or text 988 to access 24/7, 365 days of help. It is trauma-informed and culturally appropriate suicide prevention support in English and French regardless of where you live. So remember 988, and spread that number around to anyone that you know, because you never know, you can't tell sometimes if someone may be thinking of suicide.

Anne: Great. Thank you, tremendous resources and reminders in fact. Dr. Tam. Thank you for sharing your time and expertise with us today. And for more information on substance use, stigma and addiction in the workplace. Visit our website CCOHS.ca.

Thanks for listening,