Insite - Vancouver Supervised Drug Injection Site -10 years of SUCCESS

            FOUR KUDOS to Insite for:

1) For having the insight to recognize ways of mitigating social problems associated with rampant drug use in their neighborhood

2) For being the FIRST Supervised Drug Injection Program in North America (established Sept 2003)

3) For 10 years of successful (no fatalities) operation in Vancouver, British Columbia and still going strong

4) For proving they CAN survive the efforts of a government ideologically opposed to its operation.

There are short videos detailing the daily operation of the Insite facility

     From Insite's beginning, the Canadian Federal Government has tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent Insite's operation and to close it down, requiring court orders to keep it open in: 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

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THE RCMP IS AN "ARM'S LENGTH" OPERATION ?

As has been said in a lot of the recent media:  
"The RCMP should be above suspicion, a crucial national institution that cannot be forced to lie by the government"

1) In 2008 the RCMP was complicit in attempting to discredit and undermine the Insite operation even to the extent of "quietly funding study critical of Insite effort". The Globe and Mail reported: "e-mails show the RCMP tried to discredit Vancouver's supervised-injection clinic and are part of a pattern of interference in science by the federal government". 

2 ) In 2010, McLeans magazine reported:

     "The Mounties were set to publicly acknowledge the benefits of projects like the Insite facility.    Then they backed away (because) . . . that would have been a politically awkward move for the          federal police, since Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is firmly committed to shutting down Insite."

3 ) In 2014 The RCMP helped create a handbook entitled, United Against Terrorism. It was a joint

effort between Islamic Social Services, the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the RCMP. It was released Sept 29, 2014.

    On Oct 1, 2014, the RCMP suddenly withdrew their support for their handbook "specifically stating that it could not avoid using the terms "Islamist terrorism,” “Islamic extremism” and “jihad" as was suggested on the back cover. Is it a coincidence that those terms are favorites of Harper and his Government, as is a term he has personally coined, "Islamicism"?

4) This spring (2014) , when the RCMP moved to ban a kind of semi-automatic rifle that can be easily converted to full automatic, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney angrily denounced the Mounties as “unelected bureaucrats,” and reversed the decision. 

5) And recently, while the world (including the Canadian Government) is concerned about going to war in Iraq (again), Leona Aglukkaq, the environment minister, told the House of Commons the public safety minister had told the RCMP to reverse their researched decision to cancel their researched plan of replacing some their muskrat hats with wool ones.

    According to the Ministry of Public Safety (on a different topic), “The RCMP has complete autonomy to direct its own personnel matters.” I guess that doesn't include head wear.

     As one commentator said, " The PMO is fully aware of the RCMP head gear but claims to know nothing about the $90,000 given to Senator Mike Duffy by the then Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada.

makes one of these

three of these 

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CANADIAN MP DEWAR'S FRUSTRTION

OUR CANADIAN VERSION OF DEMOCRACY

 

Reprint from: Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Democracy's face-palm moment

By: Editorial

Posted: 09/27/2014 1:00 AM | Comments: 11

On Thursday, a photo of NDP MP Paul Dewar doing a facepalm went viral around the country. Dewar had appeared on CBC's Power and Politics, along with Conservative MP Paul Calandra and Liberal MP Marc Garneau, to talk in part about the latest dust-up in the House of Commons. Frustrated with what can only be described as a deliberately obtuse response from Mr. Calandra, who was being asked to defend his behaviour, Mr. Dewar gave up and did a face-palm.

With that one spontaneous act, Mr. Dewar quickly became the poster child for Canadians who have been watching aghast as Stephen Harper and his MPs tear at the basic fabric of Canadian democracy.

The backstory in a nutshell is the NDP was asking the Conservatives to outline their plans for Iraq. Mr. Calandra, acting for Mr. Harper (and some would argue like Mr. Harper), responded with a missive about a virtual unknown NDP hack's Facebook post on Israel.

It was irritating and led NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair to get into a dust-up with the Speaker, but the bigger point is Mr. Mulcair was doing his job as the Opposition leader, holding the government to account in question period. And the Conservatives once again determined they don't have to play by those rules.

This isn't just a one-off. It's a consistent pattern with this government, and the government's contempt is apparent to the point of becoming legendary.

Mr. Harper stopped answering reporters' questions and began to provide prepackaged video responses to newsrooms instead of having to deal with interviews on the fly. He stopped providing reporters with access to MPs as they went into and out of cabinet meetings so democratically elected officials don't have to answer questions directed at them by reporters.

Then, organizations funded by the Canadian government were told they would no longer be allowed to actually engage in any type of advocacy because it may be unflattering to the government. So, Elections Canada is no longer allowed to tell people to vote.

Research scientists can no longer talk about global warming. In one ridiculous moment, an Environment Canada researcher could not attend his own book launch -- a piece of fiction -- because it described a world catastrophically dealing with climate change.

Next, Mr. Harper went after the judiciary. Unhappy his bid to put Marc Nadon on the bench was blocked by the Supreme Court of Canada, Mr. Harper went on to a mount a spurious and unfair attack on Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and then refused to apologize.

Budget announcements are no longer made in the House of Commons, where MPs can stand up and engage in discussion. Instead, they are provided off the Hill, at business luncheons, in front of friendly audiences.

The new cabinet was revealed on Twitter. Seriously. The same media platform that gives you access to fart videos and booty pics is now the site on which we hear who is going to be our next finance minister.

And dealing with this government is rage-inducing, like a three-year-old: "But you didn't say I couldn't have cake when you told me not to eat any more cookies." It follows the letter of the law, and damn the spirit.

No wonder Mr. Dewar's face-palm struck a chord with so many Canadians. For those who hang onto Canadian democratic ideals, this type of behaviour is hard to take. And it needs to stop.

This country should not be at the mercy of a government run by frat boys singing "na, na, na, boo-boo" when called on the carpet. These institutions don't belong to the political party of the day; they belong to Canadians. Mr. Harper shouldn't have to be reminded of that fact.

Editorials are the consensus view of the Winnipeg Free Press’ editorial board, comprising Catherine Mitchell, David O’Brien, Shannon Sampert, and Paul Samyn.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 27, 2014 A16