Liam Michaud

Liberals Fear Closing Arms Export Loophole Would Anger U.S. A leaked briefing document gives the full picture behind the government’s talking points.

Canadian products being used to commit war crimes in Gaza, Sudan, and the Caribbean, but stopping this apparently wrong because it would hurt the arms industry and relations with the fascists south of the border. We are governed by ghouls. www.readthemaple.com/liberals-fea...

Under the Compassionate Intervention Act, people with substance use disorder can be forced to take any prescription medication without consent. It doesn't matter if they have decisional capacity. While doctors are involved, ultimately a lawyer gets to decide what the treatment order will be. #ableg

Honoured! :)

Indebted to the important research of many others on this one including (but not limited to!) GKolla, GBardwell, CHastings @sarahferencz.bsky.social @zoedodd.bsky.social @ehyshka.bsky.social @drugpolicy.org @hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social @pivotlegalsociety.bsky.social

I used FOI requests, court records, and new media to map these cases. Many more are unreported. This practice is spreading rapidly beyond Ontario to other provinces / territories.

Prosecutors frame these cases as a form of redress to communities impacted by overdose. Friends and family are often charged.

Belatedly sharing this study on the rapid rise of manslaughter charges in Canada against people alleged to have shared or sold drugs that led to an accidental overdose death. Police agencies are quietly changing investigative procedures to recast medical emergencies as homicide scenes. #drugsky

This also risks also becoming a pipeline for involuntary medical intervention and longer term incarceration under the province's mental health act.

Manitoba passes detox centre legislation, but doctors say involuntary detention not the answer | CBC News Some medical professionals say detaining highly intoxicated people for up to 72 hours could put lives at risk if it's not accompanied by proper care.

Involuntarily imprisoning someone because they are under the influence of a drug aggravates risk of OD & death. Some jurisdictions have been moving away from short term incarceration for this very reason. The Bill lays out no standards for the "care" received in these cages #cdnpoli
#drugsky #mbpoli

Congrats to everyone who worked to make this victory possible! Overdoses should never be opportunities for arrests and expanded repression.

Safe Drugs on Trial: DULF’s Trafficking Case Begins The founders are charged with trafficking. Their lawyers argue they had a legal exemption from drug laws.

"The goal, DULF maintained, was to save lives."

Drug User Liberation Front "produced a peer-reviewed study that showed after about one year none of its compassion club members had died."

"Their trial is scheduled for the next two weeks."
#BritishColumbia #Canada #Policing #Drugs

So, the takeaway is that habitual offender laws did not emerge from the tough on crime era in the late 1900s, but instead from the eugenics movement in the early 1900s. The Howard Law Journal published my research on this last month.

City claims Vancouver has hit a 23-year low in violent crime | News The City of Vancouver and Mayor Ken Sim are celebrating a reported 23-year low in violent crime, dating back to 2022, when records began.

VPD has zero credibility in reporting violent crime statistics. By selective & sensational use of stats, they helped their friends get elected to city council. Now Task Force Barrage is out of gas & VPD wants more money. dailyhive.com/vancouver/va...

A new research paper shows that an inability to access health and social services, as well non-fatal overdose, was a positively tied to street sweeps.

Read the report : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The last time the Liberals proposed bail reform their justice minister admitted they had no evidence to back it. Curious what's changed. - www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Capitalism & Disability: A Symposium on the Work of Marta Russell The modern disability rights movement has been primarily oriented around seeking labor inclusion through the expansion of civil rights statutes. Despite this, few disability theorists have approached…

@avierkant.bsky.social and I also did an amazing symposium on Marta Russell with @kmtani.bsky.social for @lpeblog.bsky.social in 2022, featuring contributions from @nhold.bsky.social, Ruth Colker, Jules, @deanspade.bsky.social & Liat Ben-Moshe

two scandals here: VPD fuelled panic over stranger attacks even as they fell dramatically in 2022, and then refused to release records about them for 14 months, which is against the law

Ontario misled the public on crime data to justify closing supervised consumption sites. Evidence shows these services save lives & improve community safety. #HarmReduction tinyurl.com/ybuhw3hf

This Canadian think tank is claiming ‘victory’ over anti-trans legislation | Xtra Magazine The Macdonald-Laurier Institute routinely publishes material targeting trans rights

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is a top Canadian think tank—here’s how it got involved in opposing trans rights.

Alberta government reveals drug jail locations in procurement document The Alberta government has issued a request for interested parties to participate in the procurement process for two forced abstinence detention facilities, to be located in northwest Calgary and…

Alberta will "award $180 million for the construction of 'Compassionate Intervention Centres.'"

"The drug jails will each detain up to 150 people [..] under Alberta's new forced abstinence legislation, which eliminates the right to due process."
#Alberta #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Incarceration

Drug User Advocacy Groups Challenge ‘Recriminalization’ in Court | The Tyee Foes of decriminalization wrongly conflated it with poverty and the rise of homelessness, lawyer argues.

thetyee.ca/News/2025/07...

Alberta recovery programs require private 'coaches,' emails show As one recovery centre admits that recovery coaches supplied by Bowline Health are now mandatory to access its residential services, it is unclear if the Province will mandate its coaches across the r...

Exclusive: Alberta Recovery Model

A private company with its hands in most stages of Alberta's abstinence-oriented drug strategy has evaded public scrutiny.

Here, I show how its 'recovery coaches' are becoming mandatory to access publicly funded recovery centres.
drugdatadecoded.ca/substance-us...

the decades long fight to get needle access in prisons is also a helpful tool of how rights-based approaches, while limited, can be critical tools in fighting for material resources & basic dignity.

uptake on the program is extremely low, especially among women, because of lacking confidentiality protections & risk of reprisal. several prisons hosting a program have ZERO people accessing it. canada is an outlier internationally with its high barrier and security-oriented approach.

needle distribution, in community and in prison, began through impacted communities and healthcare allies engaging in unsanctioned practices — defying 1-for-1 exchange policies, smuggling, creative professional disobedience.

established measures like needle distribution that have been around since the 80s are facing renewed attacks; in ontario, established agencies are being barred from distributing them under new draconian funding agreements.

eligibility is effectively determined by prison wardens. close to 1/3 of applicants are deemed ineligible based on a ‘threat risk assessment’. imagine the health fallout if we subjected people in community to the same process just to access sterile equipment.

Securitizing carceral health: a realist review of Canada’s prison needle exchange program - Health & Justice Background In 2018, in response to a lawsuit and years of civil society advocacy for prison-based syringe distribution due to elevated rates of injection drug use, HIV, and hepatitis C virus among inc...

canada’s prison needle exchange program is a helpful case study in how crucial reforms can be undermined through bad implementation, punitive barriers, conditioning entitlement, or policy sabotage. it provides helpful lessons for other areas of drug policy & law reform-open access in Health&Justice

Police in Ontario Increasingly Obstruct Harm Reduction Service Delivery

"Members of the research team heard about frequent unannounced police visits to local [Ontario] harm reduction programs."

"[P]olice would enter the premises, search clients' belongings, interrogate staff, and at times arrest service users."
#Ontario #Canada #Drugs #Healthcare #Policing

The situation also underscores urgent need for public health and municipal leadership to reign in excessive and abusive enforcement practices that violate the right to health & access emergency care.