Blogs

August 10, 2015 - 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Jack Purcell Community Centre, Room 101
320 Jack Purcell Lane (off Elgin Street), Ottawa
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This will be an afternoon of solidarity with the criminalized and imprisoned.

From 2:00pm to 4:00pm:

• Express your unity with prisoners and resistance to state repression
• Access resources from community-based groups that work with criminalized persons
• Participate in healing arts projects in a safe space

From 4:00pm-6:00pm:

• March against deaths in custody and other human rights attrocities behind bars - starts outside Jack Purcell Community Centre;
• Vigils at the office of Ottawa-Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi and on Parliament Hill;
• Ends at the Human Rights Monument

Earlier today we released a statement about an alleged event that took place following this past week's Drug User Memorial in Ottawa in which some attendees were detained by police. In an effort to ensure we are presenting a full account, we've taken down the statement until we can confirm all of the facts of the situation.

The case remains that routine police sweeps of people who use drugs in Ottawa are an affront to human dignity and represent ineffective and harmful drug policies.

Come out to this year's World Hepatitis Day event in Ottawa.

When: Tues. July 28, 12-2pm
Where: Ottawa City Hall

There will be a free BBQ, prizes, activities, and lots of community health organizations - including CSCS Ottawa. We hope to see you there! 

We invite you to remember those who have touched our lives.

Tuesday, July 21 at 10:00am - 2:00pm in Cathcart Park, 219 Cathcart St. Ottawa

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Centretown Community Health Centre is hosting a harm reduction meet & greet on July 16th, 1:30-3pm in Dundonald Park. 

This is an opportunity to meet with community health service providers, talk harm reduction, and have some fun. CSCS and DUAL will be there, we hope you can make it too!

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As one of several community groups that have united in opposition to the Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Problem Addresses (MSAPA), the Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa would like to clarify our reasons for condemning this initiative.

CSCS Ottawa is a grassroots collective of individuals who want to see increased health services for those struggling with drug addiction in our nation’s capital. We are composed of academics, frontline workers, and people with history of substance abuse. We believe people who use drugs have a right to health and self-determination, which includes access to safe and secure housing options. We believe in pragmatic policy that is evidence-based. 

These are the three core reasons we object to the Problem Address Framework:

1. It challenges honest relationships between clients in need and service providers: Due to the criminalization and stigmatization of drug use, people who use drugs will not seek care if they do not feel safe. Concern has already been raised about privacy limitations within the PAF, as multiple stakeholders are encouraged to disclose sensitive information without their clients’ consent. We believe client confidentiality is essential to maintain honest communication and effective service delivery, particularly in health care settings.
2. It undermines pragmatic harm reduction strategies such as secondary distribution: In municipalities such as the Greater Toronto Area, formalized secondary distribution (peers providing equipment and information) out of residential units has been an innovative response to agency limitations (e.g. hours of operation). Ottawa Public Health has recognized that access to harm reduction equipment remains a challenge for people who use drugs in Ottawa, and has suggested formalizing secondary equipment distribution by people who use drugs here (1). Such secondary services provided in Ottawa could be negatively characterized by this framework as a “Problem Address” despite functioning as a community health service.
3. It ignores a clear solution to many community concerns: If agencies want to reduce public drug use and drug equipment litter, provide an alternative to illicit drug use in residential units, and encourage access to addiction treatment, then they should support the creation of safer consumption sites in Ottawa. International research has demonstrated the positive impacts of supervised injection services on clients and communities in Canada and around the globe.

Late last week Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre committed to implementing four supervised injection sites in the City of Montreal by fall of this year – regardless of Federal support. “What are we waiting for? People are dying,” said Coderre.

This assertive step to save lives and improve public health in his city is welcomed by Ottawa advocates, who are saddened by Mayor Watson’s willful ignorance of harm reduction services. Mayor Watson did recognize local drug fatalities in the summer of 2013 when he proclaimed “Overdose Awareness Day” in the City of Ottawa, but has never attended the annual event at the human rights monument.

The Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites (CSCS) in Ottawa will press on this summer, continuing to educate residents of Ottawa on the benefits of, and need for, supervised injection services and challenge stigma surrounding problematic substance use.

Other pertinent info:

• While Insite has the unanimous support of the Supreme Court of Canada, two supervised injection sites currently operate in Vancouver, BC. The second drug consumption room exists in the Dr. Peter Centre, an HIV/AIDs treatment facility. The centre has provided nursing support and supervision for clients’ injection drug use for over a decade, and applied for a federal exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) (the same that Insite has) in February 2014.
• Last summer a peer-reviewed research paper from Simon Fraser University predicted that two supervised injection facilities in Ottawa would save approximately $1 million dollars per year in reduced HIV and HCV transmissions. (1)
• According to Ottawa Public Health, an estimated 40 deaths and 115 hospitalizations are attributed to drug overdose annually in the City of Ottawa. (2)
• Of people who inject drugs in Ottawa, 10% are HIV positive and 70% have Hepatitis C (HCV) antibodies. (2)

Get involved for supervised injection in Ottawa!

Join the Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa in celebrating recent efforts to bring safer consumption to Ottawa and learn about the history of CSCS, our current projects, and how YOU can take action and get involved. Everyone welcome and refreshments will be provided. 

When: Tuesday May 19th, 5:30-7pm
Where: Centretown CHC, 420 Cooper St., Ottawa (map) 
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Everyone is welcome and refreshments will be provided. Bus tickets are available to those in need of transportation. Centretown CHC is wheel chair accessible.

We hope to see you there!

To celebrate International Harm Reduction Day, we will be co-hosting a discussion of Bill C-2 and the future of supervised injection services in Ottawa with community members, people who use drugs, service providers, and researchers.

Thursday, May 7th 2015
1:30pm - 3:30pm
St. Brigid’s Centre, 310 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa
(Entrance on Cumberland street)
Refreshments will be provided.

Researchers from the PROUD project (Participatory Research in Ottawa: Understanding Drugs) will present data from their study relating to supervised injection services. PROUD is a community-based research project that examines HIV risk among people who use drugs in Ottawa.

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Join the Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa for a screening of the documentary The House I Live In, which provides an in-depth examination of the effects of the American War on Drugs on the criminal legal system and the people who have been criminalized.

When: Thursday Feb. 5th at 7PM
Where: University of Ottawa, FSS 1005 

Following the film there will be a panel discussion to provide information about the criminalization of people who use drugs in Ottawa.

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