Tag Archives: Overdose prevention

Community

Sex Workers on Making Their Lives Better

By Brishti Basu, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sex work is the most fulfilling job Rae has ever had. Colleagues and clients in Victoria were more welcoming than other professions had ever  been to a transgender and autistic woman like herself.

Her first professional job  after moving to Victoria seven years ago involved discrimination — she  was asked to wear a man’s shirt, for example — low paycheques and  mistreatment. 

“One day, I was just like, ‘Screw this I’m  running an ad,’” Rae said, deciding to explore sex work. The response  was immediate and positive.

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Justice

More Chaos, Less Patience – qathet has a serious crime problem

Originally published on qathet Living

By Isabelle Southcott

More than most, Debbie Dee’s words hold weight on issues affecting marginalized locals. So when she stood at the lectern at the Evergreen Theatre on September 14, the 200-plus people who had come to discuss solutions to the escalating crime issue listened intently. Debbie has been executive director of the Powell River Brain Injury Society since 2003. She was a Powell River city councillor from 2008 to 2014. In her speech at the meeting, she revealed that last year, she lost her step-son, Bodie, to a fentanyl overdose. 

Debbie was very clear: Powell River’s support system for struggling people isn’t working. It’s not working for people with addictions, mental health challenges and sometimes brain injuries. It’s not working for the wider community, who have to live with theft, vandalism, and fear. 

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Health

Toxic Drug Toll Continues Deadly Climb

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

British Columbia’s toxic drug supply killed 195 more people in May, putting 2022 on course to be the third consecutive deadliest year in the  public health emergency.

More than six people died each day on average in May, the BC Coroners Service reported today. That’s the highest number ever recorded in the month of May.

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Politics

A step by step guide to making political change: Former MP Libby Davies

“The Pulse” @ Vancouver Co-Op Radio, CRFO 100.5 FM, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In a time when many have felt hopeless, Libby Davies is anything but.

The former MP of Vancouver East of 18 years told The PULSE that she believes every group, no matter how marginalized, can “absolutely” make change.

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Health

Feds discuss decriminalizing drug possession in Vancouver

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The federal government has agreed to begin discussions about decriminalizing drug possession in Vancouver, Mayor Kennedy Stewart said  today.

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