Stephen Harper’s Bad Idea: Bill C-10 and the Strategy to Fill Our Prisons

Stephen Harper’s Bad Idea: Bill C-10 and the Strategy to Fill Our Prisons Monday, 09 January 2012 17:52 By Joan Ruzsa I remember when the Harper government first introduced a bill (then called C-15) to create mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes. I was struck by something when reading the parliamentary debates on the issue. … Continue reading →

Pros&Cons

Pros&Cons is a group of federally sentenced inmates at CFF – a federal prison in the Montréal area – that brings together individuals serving time for their involvement in the drug trade, as users, dealers, traffickers, manufacturers. The group discusses the effects of the drug trade, as well as the criminalization of drugs and drug … Continue reading →

“Club Fed” – Part 1

by Giselle Dias ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Last night I was at a dinner party when the topic of prisons came up. It usually does when I am around because that is what I want to talk about. As I was talking about the poor conditions of prisons someone asked me “but what about club fed?” Immediately the … Continue reading →

The Criminalization of Poverty

by Bill O’Leary _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ There are three issues that are prevalent to my understanding of homelessness and the steps required to effectively address this national crisis; poverty, short sighted economics and criminalization. A harm reduction approach would incorporate these three issues in order to address the need to look past band aid economic “solutions” that … Continue reading →

Silence, Sex and Science: A community forum on the criminalization of HIV in Canada.

Thursday September 30th, 2010; 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. A free community forum on the criminalization of HIV in Canada With presentations by: Edwin J. Bernard:  British HIV positive writer, editor and activist.  Editor:  HIV and the Criminal Law and HIV Transmission blog Richard Elliott:  Executive Director of the HIV/AIDS Legal Network Eric Mykhalovskiy: Associate Professor … Continue reading →

Toronto City Council Endorses Vienna Declaration and Calls for Evidence-based Drug Policy

Canada’s Largest City the World’s First Municipality to Sign 
Declaration, Support Alternatives to the War on Drugs 26 August 2010 [Toronto, Canada] – Toronto City Council today voted to endorse the Vienna Declaration, a recently released document that highlights the failure of the global War on Drugs and calls for a transparent review of the … Continue reading →

Prisoners’ Justice Week

Are you furious about the arrest and detainment of over 900 people during the G20 weekend in June? Are you angry about the detention and detainment of ten of thousands every year in immigration detention centres in the city? Want to end forced incarceration of people with disabilities in provinicial institutions, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities … Continue reading →

The G20 and Its Connections to Prisoners’ Justice Organizing

by Giselle Dias The G20 symbolized many different things to each of us but one of the overarching themes (from my perspective) was the level of state repression/oppression/violence. In a statement from the Toronto Community Mobilization Network (June 2010) they stated: “Instead of simplifying our diverse struggles in to one issue, we supported actions for … Continue reading →

VANCOUVER HIV CASE HIGHLIGHTS AGAIN THE NEED FOR CLEAR GUIDELINES ON CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS

Statement from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network TORONTO, May 11, 2010 — In a ruling released last Friday, May 7th, a trial judge in British Columbia found that a gay man living with HIV had had unprotected anal sex with his then-partner without disclosing his HIV status on three occasions, but acquitted him on the … Continue reading →

The Criminalization of Hepatitis C

by Joan Ruzsa One of my jobs involves going to youth shelters to do sexual health and harm reduction education.  I do what we call “HIV 101”, an overview of the virus, how it is contracted, and ways to prevent transmission.  I always ask the youth if they can tell me the four ways that … Continue reading →