A joint submission to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights by the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, focusing on human rights violations against people in Canada of African descent, in the context of Canada’s drug laws and policies. “For the period 2014 to 2019, police in […]
Category Archives: Advocacy
Submission to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights by the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation
Also posted in Briefing Papers, Drug policy, English, Our Work
Tagged drug policy
Publication Topics: Drug policy
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Submission to the City of Vancouver: Mayor Stewart’s motion to decriminalize personal possession of controlled substances in Vancouver
The HIV Legal Network wishes to express our support for Mayor Stewart’s motion to direct “the City of Vancouver to write to the federal Ministers of Health, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Justice and Attorney General to request a federal exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize personal possession of illicit […]
Also posted in Drug policy, English, Our Work, Pub Document Type, Pub Language
Tagged drug policy
Publication Topics: Drug policy
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Letter to Ministers Ng and Bains – TRIPS Council waiver
On November 15, 2020, the Legal Network sent this letter to the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion, and International Trade, and the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, urging them to support a proposal currently before the WTO’s TRIPS Council (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) to waive stringent […]
Also posted in Access to Medicines, English, Our Work, Pub Document Type
Tagged Access to Medicine
Publication Topics: Access to Medicines
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Summary Policy Brief – HIV: Funding the Fight
From the launch of the Federal Initiative in 2004–05 through the end of the 2017–18 fiscal year, more than $123 million in total has been diverted or withheld from committed HIV funding. Services and organizations have either closed or have discontinued some programs, despite the clear need. Community organizations across the country have called for an adequately funded federal HIV […]
Also posted in English, French, HIV Funding, Our Work
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Consultation on the development of new regulations under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
Sent by email to Office of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Controlled Substances Directorate, Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Health Canada. Since the HIV Legal Network’s inception, the organization has advocated for drug policies that respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of people who use drugs, including through effective, equitable access to harm reduction services. We are pleased to […]
Also posted in Drug policy, English, French, Our Work
Tagged drug policy, scs
Publication Topics: Drug policy, scs
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Comic: No police at overdoses (Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act)
In 2017, the Canadian government passed the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, a law meant to provide certain legal protections for people who witness an overdose in Canada and call 911 for emergency assistance. Janet Butler-McPhee and Sandra Ka Hon Chu of the HIV Legal Network partnered with Emily van der Meulen at Ryerson University on a new research […]
Also posted in Drug policy, English, Our Work
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Open letter to Minister of Justice: stop enforcing sex work laws immediately
July 23, 2020 The Hon. David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Dear Minister Lametti: In 2014, the federal government passed the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (S.C. 2014, c. 25), criminalizing all facets of sex work, including selling sex in a public space, purchasing sex in all spaces, all material benefits from […]
The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Ineffective
In Canada, people who use drugs are dying in record numbers. Between January 2016 and September 2019, more than 14,700 people died of apparent opioid overdoses in this country. In Ontario alone, more than 1450 people died from opioid-related causes in 2018. The overwhelming majority of these overdoses and deaths involve fentanyl or its analogues, […]
Also posted in Drug policy, English, French, Our Work, Reports
Tagged drug policy, harm reduction, opioid overdose
Publication Topics: Drug policy, harm reduction
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Submission to Edmonton City Council: reject the proposal to permanently close Edmonton’s Body Rub Centres
In March 2020, Body Rub Centres in Edmonton were closed pursuant to a State of Local Emergency Order, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 27, 2020, Edmonton City Councillor Jon Dziadyk stated he wants to explore options for accelerating the permanent closure of Body Rub Centres in the next annual update, given that the Centres are currently […]
Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on the Rights to Freedom of Association of Migrants
We make this submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Mr. Felipe González Morales, to describe laws and policies that inhibit migrant sex workers and other marginalized communities from enjoying their right to freedom of association, as well as concrete steps that States, international organizations and the UN can take […]
Also posted in English, Our Work, Sex work, Women’s Rights
Tagged sex work, women's rights
Publication Topics: Sex work, Women's rights
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