PHS Community Services Society

Foreign tourists could be required to disclose 5 years of social media histories under Trump administration plan The Customs and Border Protection proposal would apply even to countries that don't require visas to enter.

Requiring foreign visitors to hand over 5 years of social media isn’t “security,” it’s unchecked government control.

All-seeing surveillance systems don’t make us safer. They are in direct opposition to our civil liberties.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

Criminalising drug use doesn’t make communities safer. It pushes people into unsafe conditions and limits access to healthcare.

CPHI #Nigeria documents the harms of punitive drug laws and shows how health-based approaches can save lives. Learn more: bit.ly/4pr2Oph

Drug alert issued Dec 2, 2025: by @vchhealthcare.bsky.social for Powell River/qathet Red chunks sold as down found to contain fentanyl, benzodiazepines, and medetomidine.

Stay safe and stay connected, friends ❤️

“Moral Bankruptcy” as WHO Opts to Maintain Global Coca Prohibition - Filter The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease a strict global ban on the coca leaf—a prohibition, campaigners ...

"The World Health Organization had a historic opportunity to ease a global ban on the coca leaf," reports @matthabusby.bsky.social. "But the agency has chosen not to do so."

The December 2 decision goes against the findings of the WHO's own expert review, which detailed harms of prohibition:

Les Leyne: Addictions workers push back against involuntary care Some of the addictions workers the NDP says it is trying to protect say they will refuse to implement the “violent expansion of involuntary treatment.”

www.timescolonist.com/opinion/les-...

"The 'deemed consent' section is a central part of the case, on which arguments closed just two weeks ago. Now the amendment (Bill 32) voids it, just as the judge begins deliberations."

Drives me crazy when #harmreduction and #addiction treatment are put forward as diametrically opposed choices, as if we can pick just 1. Even if treatment is the goal, engaging in harm reduction services increases the odds of starting and completing treatment. Assuming people can get access!

Comment: We are all responsible for the toxic drug crisis Whether we intend to or not, whether we perceive it or not, we can be quite awful to each other. This awfulness has consequences.

"How then do we feign ­surprise when suffering people end up addicted to opiates — drugs created specifically for just one purpose: To kill pain?"

Bill Stacey on society's hypocrisy over addictions: drugs to ease pain that the average person is eager to inflict.

Read it:

Giving Tuesday is next week – Tuesday, Dec. 2 – and we’re 60% of the way towards our goal to support seniors in crisis.

Double your donation now: tinyurl.com/26waj533

Thanks to a gift-matching donor who's ready to match up to a total of $10,000, your donation will go twice as far!

“This young lady, she lost her life way too early and she was a really great person” - Smokey D.

The Downtown Eastside graffiti legend was in Brookswood, Langley to paint a memorial for 24-year-old Breallan Dawne Franks.

Read on: tinyurl.com/yzws2xu9

Vancouver Island cities prepare shelter plans as icy weather approaches | Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper With snow on the mountain tops and cold, wet nights chilling city streets, Vancouver Island’s most vulnerable will be seeking out a warm place to sleep. The helping agencies of Vancouver Island’s urba...

"The helping agencies of #VancouverIsland 's urban centres are preparing to open their #warmingcentres and #extremeweather #emergencyshelter beds...there will be 771 extreme-weather response ( #EWR ) #shelter spaces provided." #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada www.hashilthsa.com/news/2025-11...

Philly nonprofit's ‘friendsgiving’ brings holiday spirit to city’s most vulnerable Kensington-based Prevention Point Philadelphia served more than 630 people, including those isolated from family while suffering from addiction, homelessness or both.

🧵 #HarmReduction is community, care, & unconditional love. This holiday season, like every other time of the year, harm reductionists are caring for people across communities to save lives, support individuals' health needs, provide food, connect folks to housing..

bit.ly/HarmReductionFriendsgiving

Motion to close Nanaimo’s Overdose Prevention Site withdrawn – The Discourse. New motion will ask province to reexamine its policy on responding to the overdose crisis.

“He’s telling the public that keeping people alive is the problem, and that narrative justifies cutting or opposing services that prevent death."

"That narrative pushes people back into alleys, cars, tents and single rooms where there is no one there to intervene.

BC Cities Declared Housing Is a Human Right. Now What? | The Tyee Some municipalities are still voting against policies that could help end homelessness. Here’s a better way forward.

"In the current housing crisis the right to housing is violated every day.

"Examples include shutting down a renters’ advocacy office, freezing funding for new supportive housing in the DTES, demolishing tiny homes and withdrawing support for modular housing"

thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025...

A heartfelt thank you to the Vancouver team at Definity Insurance. Your generosity shines bright this season.

They stopped by our Osborn Shelter with a donation of warm clothing gathered during their annual winter PHS clothing drive.

These items make an immediate difference for people suffering

Colorado's Harsher Fentanyl Laws Aren't Working, Report Says Despite 2022 legislation that made possession of small amounts a felony, opioid overdose deaths are still rising

Yet another study with the same finding: Increased #fentanyl possession criminal penalties did not change the preexisting trends for overdose deaths in Colorado, and may have contributed to an increase in #overdose deaths among the state's Black population. #crime
www.westword.com/news/colorad...

"The new housing project will include 20 self-contained units in substance-free surroundings for people who have completed early-stage #recovery and are ready to prepare for independent living." #Victoria #VancouverIsland #BC vicnews.com/2025/11/19/d...

Stripping Away Rights Using the Notwithstanding Clause. - Alberta Views After a week of rancorous debate, Klein announced he would not invoke the notwithstanding clause on the landmark gay rights decision...

Why shouldn’t governments invoke the notwithstanding clause, if there is no political cost or moral hazard? If voters don’t hold them accountable? If we just shrug and turn the page? #ableg #abpoli #abheritage #Alberta #DelwinVriend #LeilaniMuir

Harm Reduction Outreach Needs to Get Comfortable With Booty-Bumping - Filter A few years back I had an outreach-based job doing hepatitis C testing and treatment, with participants who were often ...

"The most common mistake I’ve seen over the years is telling people it’s important to use sterile water. It’s not. We figure that even if giving people this advice isn’t entirely necessary, it at least can't be wrong. But it is."

Our Alexander Street Community kitchen is producing more nutritious meals than ever before after upgrades.

Having been in daily use since 2015, it was showing considerable wear and tear.

Fortunately, the Al Roadburg Foundation stepped up to the plate with funding for upgrades.

Thank ewe to Baaad Anna’s Yarn Store (2667 East Hastings St.) for their longstanding support of people struggling in the Downtown Eastside.

The store invited customers to make and donate socks for PHS shelter guests during their Socktober Challenge, collecting 435 pairs.

A free event is lighting up Blood Alley this weekend only. (And other Vancouver locations.)

In conjunction with Gastown BIA we're hosting an interactive digital media installation behind The Stanley. It's part of the Lumière Festival, and runs until Sunday, Nov. 16.

www.lumiereyvr.com/lumiere-2025

SRO set to close in the Granville Entertainment District in 2026 A plan to move SROs out of the Granville Entertainment District is starting at the Luugat in the former Howard Johnson Hotel in downtown Vancouver.

“In 2010, when the Olympics came to BC, they did move people out of the Downtown Eastside” - Guy Felicella.

“I’m often concerned with… FIFA coming here as well, if this is part of it. I know they say it isn’t, but one would have to assume that that’s on their radar as well.”

They’re at risk of dying from opioid overdose. The government cut funding that could help them | CBC News As deadly drug overdoses climbed across Canada, decision-makers faced political backlash for funding programs that gave drug users prescribed opioids and, against their own experts’ advice, scaled bac...

“The fifth estate obtained internal Health Canada reports that reveal the federal government was advised by its own experts to expand access to a greater range of safe and regulated drugs for people across Canada.”

From CBC: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

YouTube video by Charlie Angus ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN CANADA - A WARNING!!

It's time to talk about income inequality in Canada. We can't build a truly democratic nation when so many people are relying on food banks and can't afford where they live.
Inequality is a breeding ground for extremist ideologies.
@meidascanada.ca @meidastouch.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7h7...

"A Baker’s Dozen," Nanaimo playwright tackles mental illness at OV Arts Centre — CHLY 101.7FM: Listener Supported in Nanaimo BC. A new play coming to Downtown Nanaimo’s OV Arts Centre is looking to tackle the tough realities of living with mental illness, addiction, and intergenerational trauma.

"A new play coming to Downtown #Nanaimo 's OV Arts Centre is looking to tackle the tough realities of living with #mentalillness, #addiction, and #intergenerational #trauma." #VancouverIsland #BC @chly.ca www.chly.ca/local-news/2...

Stephen Ruben never thought he'd end up homeless and sheltering under a tarp in his retirement.

“I’m 66 years of age, no safety net for me at all. . . 44 years, and this is what I have for that,” he said.

tinyurl.com/5468pau5

Special thanks to the team on the CBC show Allegiance who donated clothing from the production earlier this week.

These items will be shared with people in the Downtown Eastside who are in need - people using our shelters and those coming up to the door asking for help because they are cold and wet

“What’s killing people? It’s not decriminalization, it’s not prescription programs, it’s the unregulated toxic drug supply fueled by organized crime” - Guy Felicella.

“There’s a lot of counterfeit drugs on the street, a lot of counterfeit prescription drugs on the street."

tinyurl.com/4a3s754v

Screenshot of a magazine cover with a person with pink hair and black rimmed glasses smiling MEGAPHONE change that works November 2025 $5 The Living Room of the DTES The Shift's Jathinder Sandhu explores how the Carnegie Community Centre grew from a small museum to a vital hub that stands as a symbol of fierce activism and pride

The November issue of @megaphonemagazine.com is now available around Vancouver from your favourite vendors 🎁 This month in my column I featured Holiday Hamper campaigns.

megaphonemagazine.com/find-a-vendor/

Landmark Ruling Fortifies Canada’s “Good Samaritan” Overdose Law Harm reductionists see the decision, protecting people from possession arrests at overdose scenes, as a vital win in a worsening landscape.

“Politicians need to do better, and this case is really, really clear on that.”

Harm reductionists explain a key victory, as a Supreme Court of Canada ruling affirms protection from possession arrests for people at an OD scene.

@maddidellplain.bsky.social reports: