Login / RegisterOpen letter: Current, former Vancouver mayors ask Harper government to back off on Insite
Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and five former mayors have issued the following open letter on Insite:
May 10, 2011
As the Mayor and former Mayors of the City of Vancouver, we are asking the federal government to reconsider its efforts to close Insite, Vancouver’s supervised injection facility.
Our support of Insite is based on its demonstration of tangible benefits for our community. The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority – to name a few – also recognize the vital health services that Insite provides, and support its continued operation.
Since opening in 2003, Insite has proven – beyond a doubt – its worth to our community. Scientific research confirms the facility reduces high-risk behaviours that lead to the transmission of deadly diseases such as HIV and AIDS. Insite has been shown to reduce public disorder, as well as increasing entry into addiction treatment and detox programs. Most recently, research released in The Lancet, the internationally respected medical journal, revealed that Insite has significantly reduced overdose deaths in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
In addition, independent research has shown that Insite saves money. Taken together, the available evidence unequivocally demonstrates that Insite is a key component of the Four Pillars approach, which includes prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement.
On May 12, the federal government will go before the Supreme Court of Canada to renew its efforts to try to close Insite. As present and past municipal government leaders, we respectfully ask the federal government to reconsider and drop its appeal of the earlier court decisions that support Insite.
Insite and its staff of healthcare professionals provide essential, life-saving benefits to vulnerable Canadians. For many, access to Insite is literally a matter of life and death. The timely and professional response of Insite staff has ensured that there has never been an overdose death at the facility, and it has increased the number of people who seek treatment options to end their use of drugs. Insite is a valued part of the community that deserves to be allowed to continue its excellent work.
Given the benefits that Insite has delivered to our community, ranging from reduced public disorder, increased use of addiction treatment services, and the prevention of overdose deaths, we urge the federal government to reconsider its legal efforts to close this vital health service.
Thank you for your consideration.
Signed,
Mayor Gregor Robertson, 2008-present
Sam Sullivan, Mayor of Vancouver, 2005-2008
Larry Campbell, Mayor of Vancouver, 2002-2005
Phillip Owen, Mayor of Vancouver, 1993-2002
Mike Harcourt, Mayor of Vancouver, 1980-1986; former Premier of BC, 1991-1995
Art Phillips, Mayor of Vancouver, 1972-1976
If the laws are wrong then of course they have to be pulled or redrafted. So, what would be appropriate would be for the feds to pledge to redraft federal law to permit Insite to operate legally, in the event that their appeal is successful.
Sadly its focus is on control and putting its own ' thumprint' on every sociable aspect of Society. i.e. decimating the Arts, closing ' Insite' at all costs without proper review and so on and on.
They don't listen , they dictate.
The don't help, they abandon.
They are spending billions on prisons and armaments rather than on education and scientific research for the advancement of the next generation.
Let's hope they remember the fact that they didn't win the popular vote, not even close.
But sadly they won't. No cooperation, unless its on their terms.
And its only just begun !!
Insite is able to operate only because they have an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, otherwise what they are doing would be illegal. The Conservatives want to end that exemption, shutting them down.
If this case goes for the Feds, the implications are thought provoking. It would set a precedent for Ottawa overriding any area of Provincial responsibility they disagree with by making them illegal under criminal law.
With respect, my impression is that Mr. Harper is a supporter decentralization of health care to the provinces. Why would he want to appeal insite on the grounds you suggest, namely, "to preserve the primacy of federal law over provincial administration of health care" ?
Harper is cutting billions from his budget. We were warned Harper would cut health care, perhaps even privatize it. Harper was a bad enough monster with a minority. With a majority, Canada will be no more.
The first thing Harper did with his breathtaking power was, give the wealthiest corporations in the world, ANOTHER tax reduction, which will come off Canadians paychecks.
Harper gave, banks, mines, huge company's, gas and oil outfits, billions of our tax dollars. I saw that motion pass, on the House of Commons TV channel. They had already got huge tax reductions. Why in the hell were they given another?
The U.S. were waiting for Harper's majority, they are working on implicating, the North American Union. (NAU). Canada, U.S.A. and Mexico are going to merge. The Federal Reserve Bank, are forcing the merge. Our new currency will be, the Amero dollar. This was Harper's evil agenda all along.
The American people, are dead set against this merger. They are saying, Harper won the election by cheating. That, I can believe, over half of Canada, did not want Harper as P.M. yet he won, impossible. The Americans also say, Harper is the most corrupt P.M. they have ever known in Canada. They say he should be tried for treason. The American people want to keep their country, sovereign and free, as do we Canadians. So, I don't blame the American people. Our country's have always been friends. I believe the Canadian people should join the American citizens, and fight this abomination. Mexico would love the merge, if the borders are open, the U.S. people say, we will all be working for $2.00 per hour. We will be overrun by Mexicans. The criminal elements of Mexico will take over.
You're wrong to say the federal government has no "primacy" or responsibility in the area of health care. The federal Canada Health Act, which enables the funding of much of our provincial health care, sets national standards for care based on the principles of accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability, universality and non-profit public administration. Provinces which violate these principles risk the loss of federal transfer payments.
The fact that the federal government holds the purse strings keeps the provinces in line.
I don't know what Mr Harper wants -- to sell Canada to Halliburton? I was simply looking at some news articles about the appeal. I haven't read the appeal itself.
The point I was (not very clearly, alas) making was: Insite is an exemption from federal drug law. The gov't doesn't want to keep up the exemption. I think that is defensible, in that, it would be better to have different drug laws than a law that you then suspend in order to administer this civic/provincial island, Insite.
Alternatively I'm not at all fussed if the Supreme Court strikes the law down. It is a weird law.
These people need real help. They need to be rounded up and shipped off to hard labour in the Arctic. Harper is right. It is called tough love.