Publications

The HIV Legal Network urges the Ontario government to withdraw the Safer Municipalities Act, which will do nothing to address the crisis of homelessness and drug toxicity deaths in the province, and only further harm people who use drugs, particularly those who are unhoused.  

Submitted Wednesday, November 20, 2024 to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

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

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.

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

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

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

Submission on sex work, women who use drugs and gender-based violence, and HIV criminalization. Joint submission with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition on drug policy and harm reduction, with sections on women and gender-diverse people in relation to (1) gender-based violence; (2) HIV prevention, access to culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive harm reduction services, and drug decriminalization; … Read more

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