Brief to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its Study on Gender-based Violence and Femicides in Canada
Submitted Wednesday, November 20, 2024 to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
Publication Language: English
Know Your Rights: Accessing healthcare without permanent residence or citizenship in Canada
The right to healthcare is not consistently extended to people who do not have Canadian citizenship or permanent residence. In other words, access to healthcare is often restricted for individuals in the country who have only temporary immigration status or no immigration status. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health has called … Read more
Rapid Q&A on the “Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024”
On November 18, 2024, the Ontario government tabled Bill 223, Safer Streets, Stronger Communities Act, 2024. While the bill amends several laws, of relevance to drug policy is Schedule 4 of the legislation, titled Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024. This Q&A explains what is entailed in this Act.
Podcast – The Terrible Impact of Canadian Drug Laws on Black and Indigenous Communities
The HIV Legal Network recently launched a pair of new resources designed to provide information about Canada’s confusing and racist drug laws, for Black and Indigenous people. For Indigenous communities, these “Know Your Rights” resources were produced in partnership with CAAN, Communities, Alliances and Networks. For African, Caribbean, and Black communities, we worked with the … Read more
Raising the Bar – 2023/2024 Annual Report
The creation of our annual report always gives us a unique opportunity to look back at a year’s worth of important work with hindsight, clarity, and pride. As you will see in Raising the Bar — our 2023/24 annual report — our successes and challenges don’t begin and end with the flip of a calendar … Read more
Know Your Rights: on drug laws for African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) people who use drugs
Across Canada, African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) people face state-sanctioned violence that is deeply rooted in the legacy of slavery and the enduring presence of anti-Black racism, which manifests in Canada’s drug laws. Black people are racially profiled and disproportionately criminalized and targeted by drug laws, which are themselves rooted in colonialism and the oppression … Read more
Know Your Rights: on drug laws for Indigenous people who use drugs
Drug policy in Canada is rooted in racism and colonialism, and Indigenous communities have experienced long histories of drug policy harms. Among Indigenous people living with HIV, transmissions are attributable to injection drug use at a much higher rate than for non-Indigenous populations, while Indigenous peoples have also suffered a disproportionate proportion of fatal overdoses … Read more
Connection, Care, Community
Drug policy affects the health of queer people and communities. The health of queer people who use drugs must not be overlooked in our fight for sensible drug policy. And 2SLGBTQ+ rights organizations must not ignore the rights and health of queer people who use drugs. Our new resources aim to raise awareness and build … Read more
How to Innovate in an Emergency
This paper examines the legal and policy measures needed to scale up safe supply at supervised consumption services in Canada.