The so-called Respect for Communities Act was passed in 2015 in the last Parliament, with the clear goal of impeding the expansion of supervised consumption services (SCS).
The Act is an affront to the extensive scientific evidence of the need for such health services and their benefits — including connecting people to other health care services, and preventing the spread of infection and overdose deaths. It contradicts the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in the “Insite case.” The hurdles and delays the Act creates are unjustifiable, discriminatory and deadly.
The Act should be repealed immediately. Instead of blocking such life-saving health services, federal, provincial and municipal governments should act urgently to scale them up, working with front-line service providers and groups representing people who use drugs.