Submission to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Pre-Inquiry Process

“We are pleased to see the new federal government’s commitment to recognizing the legacy of colonization on Indigenous peoples and its direct relationship to the widespread violence that Indigenous women suffer. We make this submission to urge the Inquiry to ensure the meaningful participation of Indigenous women who sell or trade sex and/or use drugs, … Read more

Consent: Community engagement discussion guide

This Discussion Guide was created for people who want to use the film Consent: HIV non-disclosure and sexual assault law to engage colleagues, clients, students and communities on the use of sexual assault law to criminalize HIV non-disclosure in Canada. It is meant to be used as a companion piece to the film. To watch Consent online, … Read more

Canada: Drug policy and economic, social, and cultural rights — Submission to the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

“Canada is a party to the three main UN drug control conventions, which aim to control illicit drugs by reducing supply and demand, in particular through requiring States Parties to adopt varying degrees of prohibitions and sanctions on a range of designated controlled substances, while also providing some degree of (often contested) flexibility for States … Read more

Factum of the Interveners at the Supreme Court of Canada: R. v. Lloyd

“Globally, prisons disproportionately incarcerate people from marginalized communities, who, in turn, are disproportionately affected by conditions such as drug dependence, HIV, and hepatitis C virus. … Section 5(3)(a)(i)(D) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (the “MMS Provision”) mandates that the persons to whom it applies serve a one year prison sentence, whatever their health condition. The … Read more

Letter to Prime Minister and Ministers of International Trade, Health, and International Development re: Access to medicines and the Trans‐Pacific Partnership

“We write to you as Canadian civil society organizations concerned about access to medicines, in Canada and globally. A number of us are members of the Global Treatment Access Group (GTAG), a working group bringing together various Canadian organizations advocating for greater access to medicines, and other aspects of the human right to the highest attainable standard of health, in … Read more

An open letter to the foreign participants of the 5th Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference

“We, activists and representatives of the key populations affected by HIV and non-governmental organizations working in the field of combating the HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) and other countries, with this open letter would like to express our concern in anticipation of your expected participation in the 5th Eastern Europe and … Read more

Russian Drug Policy as a Distorting Reflection of the UN Drug Conventions — Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, May 2015

This paper is drafted by members of the Russian Civil Society Mechanism for Monitoring of Drug Policy Reforms in Russia, with technical assistance of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and in response to the letter of April 16, 2015 from Nathalie Prouvez, OHCHR Chief of … Read more

Drug policy and human rights: the Canadian context — Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

“Canada is a party to the three main UN drug control conventions, which aim to control illicit drugs by reducing supply and demand, in particular through requiring States Parties to adopt varying degrees of prohibitions and sanctions on a range of designated controlled substances, while also providing some degree of (often contested) flexibility for States … Read more