Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to decrease negative consequences of recreational drug use and sexual activity without requiring abstinence, recognizing that those unable or unwilling to stop can still make positive change to protect themselves and others.
Supervised injection sites (SIS) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which people are able to consume illicit recreational drugs intravenously and prevent deaths due to drug overdoses. Proponents say they saves lives and connect users to services while opponents believe they promote drug use and attract crime to the community around the site. The legality of such a facility is dependent by location and political jurisdiction. Supervised injection sites are part of a harm reduction approach towards drug problems. The facilities provide sterile injection equipment, information about drugs and basic health care, treatment referrals, access to medical staff, and, at some facilities, counseling. Most programs prohibit the sale or purchase of recreational drugs at the facility.
Homelessness in Canada was not a social problem until the 1980s. The Canadian government housing policies and programs in place throughout the 1970s were based on a concept of shelter as a basic need or requirement for survival and of the obligation of government and society to provide adequate housing for everyone. Public policies shifted away from rehousing in the 1980s in wealthy Western countries like Canada, which led to a de-housing of households that had previously been housed. By 1987, when the United Nations established the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH), homelessness had become a serious social problem in Canada. The report of the major 1987 IYSH conference held in Ottawa said that housing was not a high priority for government, and this was a significant contributor to the homelessness problem. While there was a demand for adequate and affordable housing for low income Canadian families, government funding was not available. In the 1980s a "wider segment of the population" began to experience homelessness for the first time – evident through their use of emergency shelters and soup kitchens. Shelters began to experience overcrowding, and demand for services for the homeless was constantly increasing. A series of cuts were made to national housing programs by the federal government through the mid-1980s and in the 1990s. While Canada's economy was robust, the cuts continued and in some cases accelerated in the 1990s, including cuts to the 1973 national affordable housing program. The government solution for homelessness was to create more homeless shelters and to increase emergency services. In the larger metropolitan areas like Toronto the use of homeless shelters increased by 75% from 1988 to 1998. Urban centres such as Montreal, Laval, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary all experienced increasing homelessness.
Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is the largest hospital in the province of Alberta and is located in the city of Calgary. It is one of Canada's most recognized medical facilities and one of the leading research and teaching hospitals. Foothills Medical Centre provides advanced healthcare services to over two million people from Calgary, and surrounding regions including southern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, and southern Saskatchewan. Formerly operated by the Calgary Health Region, it is now under the authority of Alberta Health Services and part of the University of Calgary Medical Centre.
The University of CalgaryFaculty of Law, at the University of Calgary. is a law school in Calgary, Alberta.
Calgary currently has four major adult acute care hospitals; the Foothills Medical Centre, the Peter Lougheed Centre, the Rockyview General Hospital and the South Health Campus and a children's acute care hospital; Alberta Children's Hospital, all running under the auspices of Alberta Health Services, the single provincial health authority for the province, that delivers medical care on behalf of the Ministry of Health. The medical helicopters operate under the auspices of the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society. The Sheldon M. Chumir Centre, the Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Grace Women's Health Centre, Carewest, and the Glenmore Auxiliary Hospital are other medical facilities operating in the city, each providing a variety of care. The University of Calgary Medical Clinic also operates in partnership with the Calgary Health Region, and is located at the Foothills Medical Centre. The four largest Calgary hospitals have a combined total of more than 2,164 beds, and employ over 11,500 people.
Insite is a supervised drug injection site in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada The DTES had 4700 chronic drug users in 2000 and has been considered to be the centre of an "injection drug epidemic". The site provides a supervised and health-focused location for injection drug use, primarily heroin. The clinic does not supply any drugs. Medical staff are present to provide addiction treatment, mental health assistance, and first aid in the event of an overdose or wound. In 2017, the site recorded 175,464 visits by 7,301 unique users; 2,151 overdoses occurred with no fatalities, due to intervention by medical staff. The site also offers a free checking service so clients can check their substances for fentanyl and carfentanil. Health Canada has provided $500,000 per year to operate the site, and the BC Ministry of Health contributed $1,200,000 to renovate the site and cover operating costs. Insite also serves as a resource for those seeking to use a harm reduction approach for people who inject drugs around the world. In recent months and years, delegations from a number of countries are on record touring the facility, including various U.S. states, Colombia and Brazil. 95% of drug users who use Insite also inject on the street according to a British Columbia health official.
Calgary Health Region was formerly the governing body for healthcare regulation in an area of the Canadian province of Alberta. It was amalgamated with other regional health authorities in 2008 to become part of Alberta Health Services. The region administered facilities in the communities of:
Sheldon Mervin Chumir was a lawyer and politician from Alberta, Canada.
Alberta Children's Hospital (ACH) is the largest public hospital for sick children in the prairie provinces, and is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is operated by Alberta Health Services – Calgary Health Region. The new facility opened on September 27, 2006, and is the first free-standing pediatric facility to be built in Canada in more than 20 years. It was originally opened on May 19, 1922, as the Junior Red Cross Children's Hospital. It is located west of the University of Calgary campus grounds and just across from the site of the Foothills Medical Centre.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) is a large and long serving hospital in the Canadian province of Alberta. Operated by Alberta Health Services and located north of Edmonton's downtown core, the Royal Alexandra serves a diverse community stretching from Downtown Edmonton to western and northern Canada. The total catchment area for the RAH is equivalent to 1/3 of Canada's land mass, stretching north from Downtown Edmonton to enpass both the Northwest Territories and Yukon territory, and stretching as far west as British Columbia's pacific coast.
Burns Manor was the Calgary residence of Senator Pat Burns, a successful businessman who founded Burns Meat. It was located at 510 13th Avenue S.W. in the Beltline District of Calgary, Alberta. Construction started in July 1900 and was completed in January 1903. The property was torn down in May 1956 to make room for an expansion of the Colonel Belcher Hospital..
Alberta Health Services (AHS) is the single health authority for the Canadian province of Alberta and the "largest integrated provincial health care system" in Canada. Headquartered in Edmonton, AHS delivers medical care on behalf of the Government of Alberta's Ministry of Health. It operates 850 facilities throughout the province, including hospitals, clinics, continuing care facilities, mental health facilities and community health sites, that provide a variety of programs and services. AHS is the largest employer in the province of Alberta. In 2019, AHS served 4.3 million Albertans with a staff of 125,000 staff and 10,000 physicians, and an annual budget of $15.365 billion. Mauro Chies is the interim President and CEO of AHS and reports to Dr. John Cowell, the AHS Official Administrator. The Official Administrator is accountable to the Minister of Health and the Premier.
South Health Campus (SHC) is a large hospital in Calgary, in Alberta, Canada. It is administered by Alberta Health Services.
Sarah Marjorie Hoffman is a Canadian politician who served as the 10th deputy premier of Alberta and minister of Health in the cabinet of Rachel Notley. Hoffman was previously a member of the Edmonton Public School Board, where she served from 2010 to 2015 and from 2012 onward as chair. Prior to her service on the school board, she was the research director of the Alberta Legislature New Democrat caucus. After stepping down from the School Board, she was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Edmonton-Glenora for the Alberta NDP. On May 24, 2015, she was sworn in as Minister of Health and Minister of Seniors for the province of Alberta. Following a cabinet reshuffle on 2 February 2016, she retained the Health portfolio and became deputy premier, primarily responsible for answering questions to the premier when the premier is not present in the Legislature.
The Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre Kings Cross is a state government-supported facility in Kings Cross, New South Wales that provides safe injecting rooms, sterile equipment and medical supervision for individuals who wish to administer an illicit drug intravenously.
ARCHES is a non-profit organization based in Lethbridge, Alberta, that works to reduce the harm associated with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, known for operating the province-funded Lethbridge Supervised Consumption Site from February 2018 until closing in August 2020. ARCHES started in 1986, specifically focused on helping the gay community. Over time, ARCHES became a community-based organization. The SCS it operated was the busiest drug consumption site in North America. It decided to close the site following the withdrawal of government funding after an initial audit found evidence of various misappropriation of funds and lack of accounting for more than a million dollars of its funding. The concerns around unaccounted funds were investigated by Lethbridge Police Service Economics Crimes Unit, which located the missing financial records, resulting in no criminal charges. While criminally not charged, funding to the organization remains withheld as some of their spending did not comply with grant agreement.
Centre Street South is a planned and approved CTrain light rail station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada part of the Green Line. Construction will begin in 2023 and complete in 2027 as part of construction stage one, segment 2A. The station is located in the Beltline, immediately south of downtown Calgary.
OnPoint NYC is a New York City nonprofit that operates two privately-run safe injection sites. One in East Harlem and one in Washington Heights. OnPoint refers to its sites as Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) rather than safe injection sites. Placed at the sites of existing syringe service programs, these were America's first safe injection facilities when they opened in November 2021. In their first year of operation, OnPoint's sites served over 2,100 clients and treated 672 overdoses, with no resulting deaths. The sites also offer medical care, drug checking, laundry facilities, showers, and other services. OnPoint also employs staff to collect discarded drug paraphernalia in parks and other public areas. In August 2023, top Federal prosecutor for Manhattan announced consumption site part of OnPoint's activity is unlawful.
