A RENEWED CALL FOR DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION ON INTERNATIONAL OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY (IOAD) 2022 For immediate release August 31st, 2022 — Toronto — On International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD), the HIV Legal Network remembers the lives of our friends, family, and community members who have been taken too soon due to the drug poisoning crisis. We … Read more
The path to human rights for all is in view with collaboration, collective advocacy, and community building. To view the 2021-2022 annual report, click here.
The HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation (CDPE) are grateful for the opportunity to complete this questionnaire and inform the Special Rapporteur on the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’s forthcoming report to the General Assembly on the theme of racism and the right to health. This questionnaire focuses … Read more
“WE NEED DECRIMINALIZATION FOR ALL”: DRUG POLICY & HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS SAY MODEL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA LEAVES MANY BEHIND Health Canada’s landmark approval of “decriminalization” for B.C. raises concerns that many people who use drugs remain criminalized For immediate release June 1, 2022 – A growing group of drug policy and human rights organizations across Canada — comprising … Read more
A Statement on Bill C-216 Bill C-216, being advanced by MP Gord Johns, is expected to come up for vote on June 1 and we urge MPs to vote to move the bill to committee stage For immediate release The following can be attributed to the HIV Legal Network May 25, 2022 — Bill C-216, … Read more
In April 2022, the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation made this submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, focusing on systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement officers against Africans and people of African descent, in the context of Canada’s drug laws and policies. … Read more
In April 2022, Sandra Ka Hon Chu, on behalf of the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, deputed at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights about Bill C-5, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The remarks focused on the section … Read more
The HIV Legal Network, in collaboration with the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, made a submission on drugs and drug policy to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as it reviewed Canada’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the … Read more
April 13, 2022 The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos Minister of Health cc: Hon. Sheila Malcolmson, B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Dear Ministers Bennett and Duclos: Re: Proposed cumulative threshold of 4.5 grams in BC We write … Read more
Today, the HIV Legal Network and 21 partner organizations sent a letter to Carolyn Bennett, federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, and Jean-Yves Duclos, federal Minister of Health, asking them to refrain from establishing and requiring threshold quantities of drugs in provincial and municipal requests for exemption from the Controlled … Read more