Vancouver your MAYOR spread a fake rumour into Chinese-language media that a city councillor recently sold drugs on a street corner.
You are led by someone ready to divide the community over libellous fabrications as MAYOR.
Don’t let this have a single day of refuge outside the news cycle.
“there is no evidence of acute medical conditions resulting from passive exposure to fentanyl or methamphetamine (such as from touching contaminated surfaces or inhaling second-hand smoke)”
02.03.2026 00:07 — 👍 16 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
this is the second consecutive cheque issue day that has set a *New Record* for overdose calls in the province.
nanaimonewsnow.com/2026/02/27/n...
‘Alberta model should be the Canadian model’: Barrie mayor praises Alberta on how provinces handle homelessness
Barrie Ontario’s mayor is Alex Nuttall and he apparently likes seeing unhoused people lose their limbs to frostbite amputations, and other horrors.
In case you need it
Email officeofthemayor@barrie.ca
Phone 705-792-7900
All health care workers deserve to be fairly compensated
But we need to be clear: this 22% increase will not likely increase access for Albertans by expanding services, it is for increased compensation
Where is the plan to increase access?
#abpoli
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber...
April 16, 2024
@godfrey.bsky.social
vancouversun.com/news/vpd-dep...
“It definitely speaks to policy being driven by electioneering, vote-mongering, that kind of thing, as opposed to following the evidence,” he said. “It also speaks to this kind of general unwillingness to defend their own policies when they’re perhaps viewed as controversial by some people.”
18.02.2026 16:40 — 👍 19 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 1while the BCNDP was caving to the diversion moral panic and severely limiting its safe supply program, the public safety ministry was acknowledging in budget preparation documents that hydromorphone only accounted for 0.3% of VPD drug seizures by weight
18.02.2026 16:43 — 👍 56 🔁 42 💬 1 📌 1
This is an outrageous scandal that cont to have profound consequences.
Five people die every day
A forever emergency
A mass murder based on public policy built of lies
get angrier
Incredible victory! After years of organizing across Canada, Scotia Bank has divested from Elbit Systems!
Elbit is Israel's largest weapons company, arming the occupation and genocide of Palestine.
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
wow this is a huge deal
wow
WOW
Harm reduction services, including syringe service and fentanyl testing programs, are proven to save lives.
As a federal court recognized, people with substance use disorder have a right to these services under disability law.
"According to reports from the community, the coalition and a site visit by The Discourse, the sites appear to be surrounded by pooling water and there is evidence that other sections were at one time impacted by rainfall."
words to the city from @nurseranger.bsky.social :
People who were living in tents on the street were displaced to a marsh.
thediscourse.ca/cowichan-val...
I told you this would get unthinkably worse, that the unregulated drug supply would only get more volatile & dangerous, that this nightmare would never end until government makes the necessary market intervention & replaces the entire drug supply with regulated substances accessible throughout B.C.
11.02.2026 11:33 — 👍 41 🔁 15 💬 1 📌 0
‘No one in our community is disposable’: Island Health and community call on North Cowichan to rethink sheltering sites
@thediscourse.ca
#bcpoli
thediscourse.ca/cowichan-val...
“Anti-Indigenous racism on rise in the Cowichan Valley”
“From posts and comments on social media, to remarks made by fellow shoppers in local stores, to being shouted at from passing vehicles, the negativity directed at our citizens is unfounded and wrong”
www.timescolonist.com/local-news/a...
You can also demand:
-A community Housing Justice meeting be convened that includes encampment residents and others affected by the issue at hand
You can also write a letter to the editor in the local news + tell these decision makers that you, a voter, does not support forced displacement.
You can advocate for immediate action by emailing council@northcowichan.ca demanding:
-alternative sheltering/camping options be made available NOW
-funding for local outreach and support teams
-ceasing any further sweeps/displacements
Local residents should reach out to their city councils, reject their false dichotomy of “displacement or status quo” and demand solutions that are grounded in human rights and evidence.
We can all be safe. We can all have a home.
We must advocate a better way forward—if you are uncomfortable with visible poverty then put your energy towards:
-pushing for more shelter spaces
-advocating for universal basic income, rental supplements, rental market controls, modular housing
-improving the material conditions for everyone
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can create safety for everyone in our communities.
Housing is a basic human right.
There are solutions that are “more humane, and healthier than addressing homelessness through the lens of criminal justice.”
www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...
Also lol at this faux-outrage. Good work to the medical health officer.
“I was a bit surprised that we did receive that letter and didn’t have an opportunity to have a dialogue with the chief medical health officer in advance of receiving it and in advance of it becoming an issue in the media,”
So you worsen conditions and escalate risk, pushing people into harder to reach locations, disconnecting them from community and health services.
That’s structural violence.
And people in power know this. They have deemed the harms acceptable.
The argument that the surge in drug poisonings following the decampment was caused solely by a bad batch of drugs is ludicrous and lazy.
Forced displacement exacerbates risk—in the context of a toxic unregulated drug supply, that means a bad batch of drugs has a higher probability of killing.
3. Forced evictions violate human rights Removal of encampments without adequate alternative housing is a form of forced eviction and is a gross violation of human rights. B.C. courts have held that there is a constitutionally protected right to shelter in public parks, at least during nighttime hours, when there are insufficient shelter spaces available or when those spaces are inappropriate for the residents of the encampment. This applies whether there are not enough beds, or whether the beds available are not truly accessible to those sheltering in parks. The Court has also recognized in some circumstances that "there is a legitimate need for people to shelter and rest during the day and no indoor shelter in which to do so.' »11 Similarly, under international human rights law, the removal of homes-regardless of the material with which they are constructed-is prohibited without meaningful engagement with the residents to find adequate alternative housing.½ In addition, deteriorating health and safety conditions within an encampment should not be used to justify forced eviction when this deterioration could have been avoided through timely, proactive action by a local government. The solution to health and safety concerns in encampments is for governments to provide for residents' health and safety needs until adequate housing is available. For example, if propane tanks in tents are creating a fire hazard, government can create centralized and supported spaces for cooking Forced eviction is isolating and traumatizing for encampment residents and may exacerbate gender-based violence and the risks from a toxic drug supply.4 Furthermore, unless governments address the underlying causes, encampments will return.
British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (2023):
“Forced eviction is isolating and traumatizing for encampment residents and may exacerbate
gender-based violence and the risks from a toxic drug supply.“
bchumanrights.ca/wp-content/u...
Principle 5: Ensure that relocation is human rights compliant Considerations regarding relocation must be grounded in the principle that "the right to remain in one's home and community is central to the right to housing."2 Meaningful, robust, and ongoing engagement with residents is required for any decisions regarding relocation. Governments must adhere to the right to housing and other human rights standards when relocation is necessary or preferred by residents. In such cases, adequate alternative housing, with all necessary amenities, must be provided to all residents prior to any eviction. Relocation must not result in the continuation or exacerbation of homelessness, or require the fracturing of families or partnerships.
“Relocation must not result in the continuation or exacerbation of homelessness,”
“International human rights law does not permit governments to destroy peoples’ homes,
even if those homes are made of improvised materials and established without legal
authority.”
Principle 3: Prohibit forced evictions of homeless encampments International human rights law does not permit governments to destroy peoples homes, even if those homes are made of improvised materials and established without legal authority. Governments may not remove residents from encampments without meaningfully engaging with them and identifying alternative places to live that are acceptable to them. Any such removal from their homes or from the land which they occupy, without the provision of appropriate forms of legal protection, is defined as a 'forced eviction' and is considered a gross violation of human rights. The removal of residents' private property without their knowledge and consent is also strictly prohibited. Common reasons used to justify evictions of encampments, such as 'public interest,' 'city beautification', development or re-development, or at the behest of private actors (e.g., real estate firms), do not justify forced evictions.
“Any such removal from their homes or from the land which they occupy, without the provision of appropriate forms of legal protection, is defined as a
‘forced eviction’ and is considered a gross violation of human rights.”
Cover page for the national protocol for homeless encampments in Canada. A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH A National Protocol , for Homeless Encampments in Canada Leilani Farha UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Kaitlin Schwan Lead Researcher for UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing APRIL 30, 2020
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing published a National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada.
“The Principles outlined in this
Protocol are based in international human rights law and the recognition that encampment
residents are rights holders and experts in their own lives.”
“Research from the BC Centre on Substance Use and elsewhere has consistently shown that evicting and displacing people creates more harms.“
Harms include:
-disengagement from care
-prolonging homelessness
-increased barriers to health and social services
www.bccsu.ca/blog/2023/04...
