Shot over the course of several years, Hugh Gibson’s profoundly affecting and compassionate documentary examines the lives of habitual drug users in Toronto’s Regent Park.
Presented by the Canadian Film Institute. Admission is $9.00 for CFI Members and Seniors, $13.00 for the general public. For unwaged persons, admission is pay-what-you-can. This event is free for Carleton University staff and students.
Hugh Gibson's compassionate and profoundly affecting The Stairs takes us inside Toronto's Regent Park Community Health Centre, whose staff of social workers includes both former and current drug users. These workers understand all too well what their clients are going through.
Shot over five years, Gibson's film focuses on three staff members: the loquacious, seemingly tireless Marty, who was so addicted at one point that, after being shot in a deal that went south, he stopped for a hit before going to the hospital; Roxanne, a former sex worker whose tales of life in the trade are beyond harrowing; and Greg, a biracial child of the 1960s consumed with a long-delayed legal case hinging on a police officer's use of excessive force.
The Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa was formed in 2011 to advocate for evidence-based, compassionate responses to problematic drug use that focus on reducing harm and fostering healthier and safer communities for all.
The recent establishment of the city’s first pop-up overdose prevention site by Overdose Prevention Ottawa is the realization of one of our campaign’s founding goals. By offering a low-barrier, non-judgemental space for people to use drugs under supervision, OPO have taken urgent action to confront a growing health crisis.
The members of CSCSO extend our full support to OPO’s organizers and volunteers. We’re pleased to announce our donation of $1000 to aid Overdose Prevention Ottawa in their ongoing work to provide life-saving harm reduction services.
We commend OPO for responding to an overdose epidemic which has decimated communities in Western Canada and shows no signs of slowing down in Ontario. Their bold actions stand in sharp contrast to our current societal response to drug use, which is unnecessarily punitive, cruel, and expensive, in both tax dollars and in the cost to human lives.
Over the past 6 years, CSCSO have been honoured to be the recipients of funding and donations from individuals and groups including OPIRG-Ottawa, the Carleton University Graduate Association, and Promdemonium. We trust that our supporters will agree that there is no better use for these funds than in support of a peer-centered service that promotes the health and dignity of vulnerable people in our community.
Please join us in voicing your support for Overdose Prevention Ottawa and evidence-based health policy to Mayor Jim Watson, the Chief of Police, and your City Councillor. Let them know that people who use drugs are our neighbours, family, and friends, and that their lives and safety are important and valued.
To learn more about Overdose Prevention Ottawa’s important work, connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.
Towards a safer and healthier Ottawa, The Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa
On its twentieth day of operation, Overdose Prevention Ottawa (OPO) continues to provide life-saving harm reduction services to its guests.
OPO applauds the upcoming expedited opening of Sandy Hill Community Centre’s supervised injection service, and yesterday’s announcement that Ottawa Public Health will be opening a satellite supervised injection service on Clarence Street in the coming weeks. We are also encouraged to see Somerset West Community Health Centre’s and Ottawa Inner City Health`s supervised injection service pending approval by Health Canada.
OPO has worked collaboratively with all Ottawa harm-reduction partners and stakeholders since opening and will continue to do so moving forward. As OPO continues to be the only active overdose prevention service coupled with harm reduction services for those most affected by drug prohibition and homelessness, our services will continue operating. OPO is committed to an evidence-based model of care that is demonstrably successful and unique in the City of Ottawa. Decades of advocacy by people who use drugs informed our best practices. Our guests have been clear that what we offer works for them; “this is saving my life” are words we regularly hear from guests using the tents.
To the Board of Directors of Centretown Community Health Centre,
We are writing because people who access harm reduction services at Centretown CHC have noticed a change in service delivery.
Examples of changes include:
Closure of the private, easy-to-access harm reduction room, requiring people to ask for bags of harm reduction supplies from the front desk in the public lobby space. This means that people who deserve confidentiality no longer have that option. This confidentiality includes having privacy from other workers at the Centre.
The removal of the designated harm reduction worker. This worker provided services beyond harm reduction like connection to essential resources, including immediate access to health care, housing resources, counselling, addiction resources, etc. that otherwise people would not have received.
Get involved for community health and safety by joining in at our next organizers meeting:
Thursday March 23, 5:30pm at the AIDS Committee of Ottawa accessible meeting space, 19 Main St. (map)
CSCS is a grassroots group of community members who are passionate about creating a healthier Ottawa. If you're interested in getting involved with our campaign to bring supervised injection to Ottawa, please join in!
That’s why on February 21st people who use drugs in seven Canadian cities will participate in demonstrations and marches to change Canadian drug policy for the better.
End the War on Drugs. In the short-term, decriminalize possession of all drugs. In the long term full legalization and regulation of drugs.
Grant immediate exemptions to all supervised injection service (SIS) applicants and/or define them and any future SIS as health services implemented solely by provincial authorities.
Create a specific harm reduction initiative as part of the new Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy, to support, expand and adequately fund harm reduction programs and strategies including explicit funding for the development of drug user-based organizations and advocacy groups.
Remove barriers and increase access to opioid substitution therapy including access to prescription heroin.
Implement harm reduction in prisons : needle exchange programs, increasing access to opioid substitution therapy and continuation after release
TVO's The Agenda hosts an excellent in-depth discussion of the benefits of supervised injection sites and the pressing need in Ottawa & Toronto with Joe Cressy and Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi.
Last July, Toronto approved the establishment of three safe injection sites and now, in an effort to battle opioid overdose deaths, the province has agreed to fund those sites and one in Ottawa. Toronto Councillor Joe Cressy has been a strong advocate for the public health benefits of such facilities. Dr. Bayoumi is the co-author of the 2012 TOSCA report on the harm reduction potential of safe injection sites in Ottawa and Toronto.
This past summer, Ottawa Public Health conducted a public consultation survey on enhanced harm reduction services in Ottawa. Over 2,200 people completed the survey, which was available online and in paper format in English and French. The survey was anonymous, confidential, and voluntary.
Survey results indicated that:
60% of respondents thought that offering harm reduction services in more areas of the city would be beneficial.
66% of respondents thought that longer hours would be beneficial.
62% of respondents thought that having harm reduction dispensing units available would be beneficial.
66% of respondents thought that having supervised injection services available would be beneficial.
When asked for recommendations on how to address community concerns, specifically regarding supervised injection services, the top three recommendations were:
Provide information to the community about the goals and benefits of supervised injection services (61%);
Evaluate services, share results with the community and respond to evaluation results (58%);
Establish a community advisory group to identify and address issues as they emerge (50%).
International Overdose Awareness Day is a global event held on August 31st each year to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. Join us at the Human Rights Monument on Elgin at 11:30 for the Ottawa event.
This Wednesday for World Hepatitis Day there will be an event at Ottawa City Hall with individual consultations, testing & vaccination as well as entertainment & a complimentary BBQ.
CSCS and DUAL will be tabling with info on harm reduction & SIS, so come on out and say hello!
When: 12-2pm, July 27th Where: Ottawa City Hall RSVP on Facebook
The members of CSCSO extend our full support to OPO’s organizers and volunteers. We’re pleased to announce our donation of $1000 to aid Overdose Prevention Ottawa in their ongoing work to provide life-saving harm reduction services.
