karen ward
@kwardvancouver
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public policy artist
downtown eastside
Joined June 2014
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@itsror9
Harm reduction is a dynamic response to a fundamentally hostile world - not a set of practices to be learned & repeated (which can fail when institutionalized & removed from everyday life). It's an approach, a strategy of resistance that at its best can build justice and is love.
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let's have a left in Canada
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how many public bathrooms have been created
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Loblaw’s health care empire is growing. But can it earn the trust of Canadian patients?
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PEOPLE without homes were evicted from a park by the city.
PEOPLE.
Park rangers remove tents, belongings from Oppenheimer Park
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Galen Weston Jr, exec chair of the board of loblaws inc, has a net worth of $7.6 billion
Canadian food banks feeling pinch as food prices soar amid rising inflation
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buddy on the corner is yelling HONK HONK HONK HONK HOW ARE YOU LIKING THIS HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK to the guy in the truck and he does not like it
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you forgot to mention that the university is closing the campus in order to facilitate the entry of hundreds of armed police as well as police vehicles and equipment to do the dismantling. you left out the thing about the police.
McGill University announced the closure of its downtown campus to dismantle the pro-Palestinian encampment that was set up more than 10 weeks ago. .
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i think im depressed because everyone's been abandoned to die, what about you?
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anyway, a good friend died from homelessness yesterday. how's that consultation going, how's your neighborhood character
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i think canada should stop using the death penalty as its drug policy
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we could address and prevent a lot of mental health problems by ending poverty instead of subsidizing massive corporations
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stop doing research on whether poor people are human and just give them the grant money ok thx bye
Pets of people experiencing homelessness are as well taken care of as any other animal, study suggests
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prolonged sleep deprivation WILL cause serious psychological injury to humans. guaranteed. every time.
every time I've assisted a person get into housing, every time, they sleep and rest and eat. they tell me that they feel human again when they do.
There is not an epidemic of mental illness making people homeless, there is an epidemic of homelessness that is making people mentally ill.
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total police expenditures in Canada in 2023:
$20,435,020,000
that's $20.4 BILLION
what if we ended homelessness and poverty instead
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"Overdose means you take too much of what you ordinarily take — too much of your dose. [These are] poisonings because you don’t know what you’re using. People don’t know what they’re putting in their body. They don’t know the composition of the substance, or its potency,”
A local advocate says B.C. is not facing an overdose crisis, it’s a poisoning crisis. Karen Ward is a drug policy advocate who says changing our language about drug-related deaths is simple and can even help mitigate stigma.
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im very tired of people conflating the poisoning massacre with addiction.
these are separate issues that overlap but they are not the same thing and do not have the same solutions.
FFS.
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accessible public bathrooms everywhere is not a radical concept
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homes
Tent cities have sprung up countrywide, but party platforms offer few clues about how to tackle homelessness.
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in B.C. the % of the population who use drugs has not increased, nor have addiction rates.
the death rate has increased tenfold since 2012.
its the supply.
thanks
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i was waiting to meet someone earlier on Hastings, just east of Main, and everyone is sitting on the sidewalk and selling stuff and smoking drugs and so forth. from the other end of that block, someone calls, "kids on the block, coming that way"
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@hellosarahgreen
@SimonTownsley
@PaulNuki
@Telegraph
@TelGlobalHealth
you have produced absolute garbage "journalism" and exemplary drug war propaganda.
don't return to my neighborhood.
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helping people is good, actually. don't call the police if you are uncomfortable with the consequences of inequality, capitalism, and colonial violence. get over yourself and build a better world.
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fixed it for you
Self-care can help manage some stress & anxiety during
#CovidBC
. Identify how you've taken care of yourself so far this week with the goal to complete a row, column, or diagonal. If you need more mental health support, find many free & low-cost options at
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#Vancouver
people are going to die in the cold.
call the city at 311 and tell them to use city-owned parkades for shelter
please
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and everyone puts their stuff away. the woman and her child walk along, and she says "thank you" to everyone on the sidewalk. one woman jumps up and waves hello to the kid and smiles and says to the mom, "of course no problem, we understand. we're all mothers here too"
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they literally MOVED MOUNTAINS faster than they raised the shelter rate, expanded safe supply, acknowledged that COVID is airborne, or started to rebuild Lytton
The re-opening of the highway has taken way faster than the province expected. There was a time when the spring even seemed unlikely for re-opening the route to regular traffic.
#bcpoli
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"SEEK CLEANER AIR" ????????????????????? HOW THE FUCK YOU THINK THAT WORKS PUBLIC HEALTH I SWEAR ON SATANS MOTHERS GRAVE I WILL COME DOWN THERE AND WE'LL SEE ABOUT HOW PEOPLE ARE SUPPOSED TO SEEK CLEANER AIR
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THE
RENT
IS
TOO
HIGH,
MICHAEL
So, how many tents need to be pitched on Burrard at Davie before the city decides enough is enough and decides to move them? I'd like to know who these people are, where they were before, and where they might go.
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the "but" implies that Paul's drug use somehow cancels out his outstanding character and work, and denies him his humanity.
NEW: Confirmed through friends and family — one of the victims of the Langley shooting spree is 60 year old Paul Wynn, known more commonly as “Small Paul.”
He’s remembered as a hard worker and “unbelievable” to those around him. But was struggling with drug addiction.
@GlobalBC
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i have never had paid sick leave. years and years ago, when i got sick, i lost my job and then my housing and then i was sicker and its taken almost 15 years to recover. what the fuck do people not get about how serious this is? pay people to stay home.
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MAYBE SOME PUBLIC WASHROOMS WOULD REDUCE THE PISS YOU SMELL
Hanging out on car free Water St, this would be incredible if it weren't for the overpowering smell of urine coming from the wall behind me. Just not enjoyable at all. We're supposed to see increased cleaning; this neighborhood needs more than planners anticipated imo
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could someone please tell the canadian federal government that the poverty rate went down because so many poor people have died; they might want to stop bragging about this
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the federal government does not fund Supervised Consumption Sites
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says Conservatives, if elected, would pull funding from supervised drug-consumption sites, by
@ericandrewgee
via
@globeandmail
#HarmReduction
#ToxicDrugCrisis
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"you live in garden sheds enclosed by a barbed wire fence next to the dump outside of town but we made it with COMPASSION and EMPATHY so it's not an internment camp"
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the workers for
@CityofVancouver
took Edgar's stuff and the cart and paintings and supplies and everything and he wants to give up. so i said i am furious and we're not putting up with this, right
@JeanSwanson_
and
@PtFry
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YOU ARE TELLING PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP THAT ASKING FOR HELP WILL BE SEEN AS AN INDICATION OF CRIMINAL INTENT
@VancouverPD
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most people who use drugs arent addicted, and no one who uses drugs deserves to die for using drugs
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MAYBE
YOU
COULD
REGULATE
THE
DRUG
SUPPLY
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people aren't injured when PEDESTRIANS COLLIDE
We are asking for public assistance to help identify a woman who remains unconscious after being injured in a pedestrian collision just after 9:00 a.m. today.
The woman was struck while using a crosswalk on Capilano Road at Garden Avenue in North Vancouver...
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the most effective "treatment" is permanent social housing, in a community that you love, a dignified income, access to healthcare, opportunities for education & employment, culture & art & friends, and having the freedom to choose your own future.
its justice, yes.
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they put the park in jail for being a home and hold it hostage to punish the entire neighbourhood. the city takes away public space. because people had to live in it because society failed. they put parks in jail
#OpenOppenheimer
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i told you that they were only worried about the tents and not the people at all
because Hastings is a trench of impoverishment between two Heritage Districts currently run by business associations that have bet everything on tourism
its awkward to make people cross the street
Back on Vancouver's Hastings Street with no tent, no mattress and nowhere to go
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more than 5000 people are homeless in Metro Vancouver, where the average rent for a 1brm apartment is 2,980/mth
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don't vote for cops or candidates who owe cops a big favour
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july 25, 2021 Vancouver
One of the great achievements of corporate-owned media since the 2020 uprisings is that by fomenting a society-wide panic over low-level crimes of the poor and pitching armed cops as a solution to the fear of poor strangers, the news distorted a whole society's notion of threat.
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that vehicle is so visually offensive that i have to join a gang immediately
#SGET
out on patrol in their Range Rover - a seized proceeds of crime vehicle designed to raise awareness and deter young people from being lured into gang activity.
Thanks to Ceramic Kings Vinyl Wrap for the design, reflecting our anti-gang presentation Shattering the Image.
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the
@CityOfVictoria
could have 24/7 staffed & accessible public bathrooms but instead the VicPD demanded 23% of the city's budget, the (appointed) police board refused the (elected) council's request (made of every department) to make a 10% cut
they CAUGHT 2 people urinating
It’s not just bars, we are also checking alleys and pathways. So far we’ve caught 2 people urinating, let’s keep the streets clean, folks.
#vicpdlive
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aside from the MANY other issues with this terrible tweet and story, please note that the “security experts” interviewed are executives of private security companies who want to sell you PRIVATE SECURITY SERVICES
this is industry communications. not news. STOP
While mask wearing declines in Metro Vancouver shops and restaurants, security experts say some criminals continue to use them to commit crimes.
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Hastings St is SIX LANES and we must expand the sidewalks on both sides of the street because they are not accessible or safe. doing this will reduce tension immediately. don't even think about an induced demand argument against this.
#DTES
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maybe you could state that alcohol and tobacco use accounts for $11.7B (or 87%) of the total amount because omitting that would be very misleading and rather harmful
$13.4 BILLION — That’s how much
#SubstanceUse
cost
#healthcare
in 2020. That includes:
• Hospitalizations, day surgeries, emergency department visits, paramedic services, specialized treatment, physician time & prescription drugs
Find out more:
#CSUCH
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oh so the problem was not enough light before
Rapid spread of Omicron shedding light on social inequities in Canada: experts
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the person you hear screaming words they invented at 3am is angry because they never wanted or imagined the existence they have. looking for food in the dumpster. they did a project about being an astronaut in grade 2. like you did
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the VANCOUVER POLICE "UNION" (NOT A UNION) has registered as a third party advertiser for the civic election and you all were too busy arguing about who called who a name to say anything about it, all of you EXCEPT
@seanorr
WELL DONE
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instead of banging pots for health care & other essential workers what if instead we get our shit together and try being a society
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the police defunded the city
As Vancouver seeks to avoid years of punishing property tax increases, councillors are now looking at fee hikes for everything from parking permits to business licences to the cost of owning a pet.
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firefighters are risking their lives to protect the pipeline, the infrastructure that ensures more fires
Structural firefighters remain in town and are working to save as many structures as possible and to protect critical infrastructure, including the wastewater treatment plant, communications facilities, the Trans Mountain Pipeline and others.
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"is being alive preferable to death? are people who use drugs human? let's discuss this endlessly like it's an abstract debate and never include the people we're talking about (who are dying)"
Nov. 26: ‘Safe supply’s role is to keep patients alive.’ Is safe supply the best solution for the opioid crisis? Plus other letters to the editor
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so now you see that its all connected and that the response required is SOLIDARITY: organizing horizontally, across issues and identities to build a movement against fascism and mass death, a movement for a better and more just future. All our crises are the same crisis.
The Far-Right’s Newest Scapegoat: ‘Drug Users and Unhoused People’
Experts say BC’s far-right is shifting focus from COVID-19, vaccines and 2SLGBTQ+ issues to safer supply drug policies.
#bcpoli
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just pointing out that people who use drugs wouldnt and havent ever protested at a health care facility despite being denied health care at said facilities. (we have certainly protested at meetings and administrative offices, because sure, drugs. but not thoughtless jerks)
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i know it might sound like an out-there idea, but what if we provide safe and accessible homes for everyone
The growing number of tents popping up on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is having an effect on neighbouring communities. Store owners in Chinatown say it's discouraging business. Lien Yeung has the details.
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the green part is Shaughnessy
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Vancouver could tax the rich, report by the rich fails to mention
Dan Fumano: Vancouver could sell assets to improve finances, report says
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the most effective treatment for problematic substance use is good healthcare and permanent housing and friends who love you, here's some science
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the police have defunded us in so many ways
it's absolutely wild we've let VPD ban watching the sunset, something the city is literally known for and is a major tourism Top 10
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"im a taxpayer"
everyone is.
oh its your identity? maybe find a hobby or something
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besides the fact that its disgustingly exploitative and dehumanizing, it also misrepresents the emergency: the constant use of such photos has distorted both the public's understanding and the policy conversation, thus playing a significant role in prolonging this catastrophe,
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no. vancouver isn't dying.
POOR PEOPLE ARE DYING.
Vancouver isn’t dying. You just hate poor people. A message to all of those who supported the mass decampment of people sheltering on sidewalks in the
#DTES
this week. Solidarity with
#StopTheSweeps
.
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to hell with "overdose awareness": over 6,200 people died of drug policy in canada last year. you are aware of this.
how about overdose outrage day, august 31?
we mourn our dead, but fight with the living
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so you're saying it was carfentanil
My stolen car was found full of fentanyl. Can I refuse to take it back?
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this housing crisis was a policy choice made a generation ago & we forgot
homelessness, evictions, paying all your money for rent, running out of choices & living in fear seem natural BUT THEYRE NOT.
it was a choice to make housing a commodity
we can choose differently
#Elxn44
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DRUG
USERS
ARE
YOUR
COMMUNITY
As B.C. brings in a new scientific advisor to help with the treatment of people with severe mental health and addictions challenges, Premier David Eby says Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s approach to safe supply is a “non-starter.”
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just heard about the toxicology report of a neighbourhood artist, a rock-smoking DTES artist who died. there was carfentanil in it, so he died.
if that happens to me, throw my corpse into the legislative chamber during question period.
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better headline suggestion:
"settler landowners, including locally resident mayoral candidate Hardwick, oppose Indigenous Nation's sovereignty, proving again that they are appalling racists who need to shut the hell up"
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if we dont replace the illicit supply with substances of known composition and potency, more and more people will die. forever.
#bcpoli
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know the downtown eastside as - in many ways - a consequence of those prisons of stolen children: a place many later escaped to. its not history, its now.
so stop doing nothing. as settlers we have a duty to listen & help in any way asked, in this long work of healing.
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what if Vancouver had a network of community health centres, one in every neighborhood, with a team of family medicine practitioners and specialized health & social services connected?
we could use the Community P̷o̷l̷i̷c̷i̷n̷g̷ Centres.
#DefundTheVPD
#vanpoli
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the police are defunding our city
Vancouver police predict $486M operating budget by 2028 - Vancouver Is Awesome
How much longer can we afford 20% increases to the VPD budget every year???
#VanPoli
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i was out wandering around this afternoon & saw someone who seemed upset & so i asked them if there was anything i could do to help out & they angrily asked ARE YOU AN OUTREACH WORKER & i said no & they said thank fuck youre real, could you please sit and talk with me & so i did
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the downtown eastside didnt fall from the sky and land in the middle of 'your' city.
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think about this for one uninterrupted minute.
Ashes of deceased loved ones lost in demolition of Prince George homeless camp, B.C. court hears
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you were the housing minister
David Eby, the person most likely to succeed John Horgan as B.C.'s premier, says that under his leadership, the province would do what is needed to tackle the ongoing homelessness crisis that cities like Vancouver are facing.
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