Donate

Category: Advocacy

  • URGENT APPEAL: Supporting people who use drugs and frontline workers during COVID-19

    URGENT APPEAL: Supporting people who use drugs and frontline workers during COVID-19

    We’re now witnessing two public health crises collide: the devastating COVID-19 pandemic and the unrelenting drug poisoning crisis that is causing so many deaths. Caught in the crosshairs of this unprecedented disaster are people who use drugs and the frontline harm reduction and healthcare workers who support them. Unlike many of us, they do not have the option to stay home and self-isolate, because many may not have a home, and others are performing critical work saving lives each and every day.

    During this time of crisis, let’s help the people saving lives in desperate need of support. We’ve selected five organizations across Canada you can assist through donations of supplies and money. Please give where you can.

    AIDS Saskatoon

    This life-saving organization provides education, advocacy, support and outreach services for people living with and affected by HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis C in central and northern Saskatchewan. Donate here.

    Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society (Vancouver, BC)

    You can donate to the Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society here. The Overdose Prevention Society is in need of thermometers, soap, baby wipes, vitamins, and healthy food.

    Toronto Overdose Prevention Society (Toronto, ON)

    The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society accepts donations through their gofundme link or by direct e-transfer to [email protected]. They are also in need of personal protective equipment (PPE) – gloves, face masks, and hand sanitizer.

    Boyle Street Community Services (Edmonton, AB)

    Since 1971, Boyle Street Community Services has been supporting people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Edmonton. You can donate to them online here.

    Turning Point Society (Red Deer, AB)

    A room with individual stalls

    For over 30 years, Turning Point Society has been responding to the health needs of communities using a harm reduction approach. The organization is in urgent need of masks and hand sanitizer. You can also give online here.

    Other Resources

    The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief the flaws in our system of laws and policies around marginalized communities. At this time of crisis, please keep the health and wellbeing of those on the frontlines and individuals without shelter and resources in your hearts. 

    Stay safe, and please give generously where you can.

  • OPEN LETTER: Calling on the Alberta Government to retract supervised consumption site report

    OPEN LETTER: Calling on the Alberta Government to retract supervised consumption site report

    Download Letter

    We, the undersigned scientists and scholars, produce methodologically-sound research and knowledge. We declare, clearly and unequivocally, that the findings contained in Albert’s SCS report were produced using unsound research methods and deficient analytic procedures.

    Alberta’s SCS review does not satisfy the minimal standards for a credible evaluation or a quality study. The report lacks validity and reliability and, therefore, should not be used to inform public policy.

  • OPEN LETTER: International Narcotics Control Board must call on the Sri Lankan authorities to halt imminent executions for drug-related offences

    OPEN LETTER: International Narcotics Control Board must call on the Sri Lankan authorities to halt imminent executions for drug-related offences

    HRI open letterDownload Open LetterHRI open letter

    “Executions for drug offences are prohibited under international human rights law, as drug offences do not meet the threshold of ‘most serious crimes’ to which Article 6.2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights mandates that capital punishment be restricted, in retentionist countries. The INCB has repeatedly called on states that retain the death penalty for drug offences to commute all existing death sentences, and to consider abolishing the death penalty altogether”

    Source: Human Rights International

  • OPEN LETTER: Calling on Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General to implement a public safety approach to policing

    OPEN LETTER: Calling on Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General to implement a public safety approach to policing

    Download Open Letter

    “Your ministry and the Province bear responsibility to ensure the health and safety of people who use drugs. People continue to die as a result of a toxic drug supply, and the crisis continues to be exacerbated by the criminal enforcement of low-level drug offences, such as possession for personal use, and lagging health services and supports.”

  • Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and Pivot Legal Society successfully defend supervised consumption at Federal Court of Canada

    Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and Pivot Legal Society successfully defend supervised consumption at Federal Court of Canada

    The precedent-setting decision protects public health and harm reduction efforts from unnecessary barriers and interference from third parties

    Vancouver, BC – This week, the Honourable Justice Mosley released his decision on a judicial review application brought forward by Edmonton’s Chinatown and Area Business Association (CABA). CABA challenged the approval of three desperately-needed supervised consumption sites in downtown Edmonton, asserting that it was not adequately consulted in Health Canada’s decision to approve the services.

    In December 2018, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC), represented by Pivot Legal Society’s Caitlin Shane and Ethos Law Group’s Monique Pongracic-Speier (QC), intervened in the case, arguing that CABA and other third parties do not have a mandatory right to weigh in on the approval of consumption sites in Canada. Instead, public health and safety should be the principal concern of the government in considering applications, as this would best protect the Constitutional rights to safety and security for people who use drugs accessing life-saving services.

    Justice Mosley agreed with our arguments and dismissed CABA’s application, citing directly from our submissions. In his decision, he writes:

    “The process [to approve a supervised consumption site] is both discretionary and non-adjudicative. The principal and mandatory focus of the legislation is on the question of whether [approval] would provide public health benefits. Any consideration of negative impacts on the local community is secondary and discretionary.”

    “This is a precedent-setting decision helping people to save lives amid a national health crisis,” said Donald MacPherson, Executive Director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. “Justice Mosley’s decision means that frontline healthcare providers wishing to offer life-saving supervised consumption services can do so without unnecessary delays. It restores public health as the key concern for approving these sites.”

    The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and Pivot Legal Society argued that allowing community groups extraordinary consultation privileges would create new barriers to supervised consumption services. The Federal Court of Canada agreed, and the Constitutionally-protected right to health services for people who use drugs rightly took precedence. We are encouraged by the Court’s findings.

    Contact

    Peter Kim
    Strategic Communications Manager
    Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
    [email protected]
    604-787-4043

    Download PDF Version of Media Release

    – 30 –

    About the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition

    The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) is a coalition of 60 organizations and 7,000 individuals working to support the development of progressive drug policy grounded in science, guided by public health principles, and respectful of human rights. The CDPC operates as a project within Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences. The CDPC seeks to include people who use drugs and those harmed by the war on drugs in moving toward a healthier Canadian society free of stigma and social exclusion.

  • OPEN LETTER: City of Ottawa must support overdose prevention sites

    OPEN LETTER: City of Ottawa must support overdose prevention sites

    Download Open Letter

    “The toxic drug market has created a need to urgently re-orient our harm reduction efforts across the country. We hope that Ottawa develops a robust response to the overdose crisis in the coming months
    and will applaud all efforts to do so.”