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Archive | Insite, the first supervised injection center in Vancouver

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In 2003, the first center supervised injection facility opens in Vancouver.

Radio-Canada

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On September 15, 2003, the City of Vancouver opened Insite, a supervised injection center for drug addicts, for the first time in North America. Our journalists covered the event and the struggles that the center had to wage to ensure its existence.

Guys, we made it, we made it!

A quote from Dean Wilson, former heroin addict< /blockquote>

On September 15, 2003, Dean Wilson, a former drug addict, is practically in ecstasy.

The City of Vancouver has just finalized a very daring project. Municipal authorities inaugurate Insite, a supervised injection center, an “injection” in popular parlance.

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The program is located on Hastings Street, in the Downtown Eastside, one of the most difficult neighborhoods in Canada, even in North America North.

Journalist Jacques Rivard presents the event on September 15, 2003 in a report on Téléjournal/Le Point hosted by Gilles Gougeon.

The journalist explains that the federal government has accepted an exception in the Canadian Criminal Code. The waiver gives the city of Vancouver the green light to create Insite.

What makes Dean Wilson happy is is that Vancouver's drug addicts will leave the dark and dangerous alleys of the Downtown Eastside.

Insite, as as its name indicates in English, allows you to inject drugs in a supervised center.

In this place , drug addicts have access to staff and medical care as well as clean syringes.

In January 2006, Stephen Harper's Conservative Party took power in Ottawa.

The Harper government quickly announced that it would not renew the exception in the Canadian Criminal Code accepted by the previous government.

This decision means that Insite will have to close its doors.

Supporters of the supervised injection center and the federal government clash all the way to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Or, May 28 2008, the journalist Dominique Panebianco and the host of the show Le National, Geneviève Asselin, tell us of the defeat of the federal government in this matter.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia indeed rules in favor of maintaining the opening of Insite.

Judge Pitfield, who wrote the decision, clarifies his thoughts. He argues that drug addicts should have access to specialized health care like that available to alcoholics and smokers.

In this context, the Court's reasoning is unequivocal: closing the supervised injection center amounts to violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms included in the Constitution of Canada.

< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">The British Columbia Supreme Court also orders the federal government to amend the Narcotic Control Act to comply with the Canadian Constitution.

The Harper government contests the judgment and takes it to the Supreme Court of Canada to try to have it invalidated.

On September 30, 2011, Dean Wilson once again raised his arms in victory.

The Supreme Court of Canada upholds the judgment of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada describes as contrary to the law and arbitrary the decision of the federal Minister of Health not to recognize the legitimacy of Insite. The Conservative government's position goes against the objectives of the law, which advocates the protection of public health and safety.

A quote from Frédéric Arnould

Journalist Frédéric Arnould presents on Téléjournal of September 30, 2011, hosted by Pascale Nadeau, the details and reactions to the judgment.

Dean Wilson recalls that, without the existence of Insite, 72 drug addicts would have lost their lives.

The Vancouver Region Health Authority calculates that, since its opening, Insite has seen more than 3 .6 million people who went there to inject drugs.

Nurses intervened with more than 6,000 overdose victims. No one died at Insite.

Supervised injection centers now exist in Edmonton, Toronto, in Ottawa, in Montreal in Quebec.

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Teilor Stone

By Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116