Une traduction du résumé et des points clés sera bientôt disponible.
Canada’s toxic drug crisis is a severe, unrelenting public health emergency. Despite its broad impacts, governments have not adequately informed or consulted Chinese language groups about policy responses to illegal drug use. This oversight is a continuation of the injustices endured by Chinese immigrants who were excluded from the benefits of full citizenship status for much of Canada’s history.
More recently, governments’ failure to engage Chinese language groups about drug policy decisions has created an information vacuum – one that bad faith actors often fill with mis- and disinformation. This dynamic creates barriers to evidence-based drug policy reforms. In Vancouver’s Chinatown, it also prevents Chinatown residents and people who use drugs from forging bonds of solidarity as they resist shared experiences of government displacement and neglect.
To begin to address this gap, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and Yarrow Intergenerational Society hosted four in-person engagement sessions with Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking seniors in Vancouver’s Chinatown in 2025. We approached this project with the intention of fostering open, reciprocal, fact-based dialogue about Canada’s drug policies with Chinese language groups.
The detailed project report outlines the specifics of our process, observations and lessons learned. Of note: this report is specific to the context, history, relationships, and dynamics of groups of seniors in Chinese language communities in Vancouver’s Chinatown. That said, we intend to expand on this work through a forthcoming methodology guide and further learning opportunities. By sharing this report with its initial reflections and takeaways, we aim to offer what we have learned so far, with the hope that those engaging in similar work can apply these insights as is helpful.