By: Zainab Salam, Staff Writer and Hannah Fraser, News Editor

Healthcare workers and patrons in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) are voicing concerns that the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is “deterring access to harm reduction sites.” Harm reduction is an “evidence-based approach to care” that minimizes harms by “preventing infections, illness, and injury related to drug use and sexual practices.” 

According to a press release from the organization Police Oversight With Evidence and Research (POWER), police presence has significantly increased near harm reduction sites. POWER defines itself as a “community-led response to unaccountable institutions.” 

VPD officers have been observed “parking and lingering directly outside safe consumption and healthcare sites,” allegedly violating a long-standing informal agreement between the VPD and Insite, Vancouver’s supervised injection site. POWER also claimed there is an agreement to “not enforce drug possession laws directly outside of Insite’s premises.” This contradicts VPD spokesperson Sergeant Steve Addison’s recent claim to The Tyee that there is no policy — informal or formal — “about officers parking out front of harm reduction sites.” 

Caitlin Shane, a legal advocate with the DTES human rights organization Pivot Legal Society, has been seeking clarity about this issue for years. In 2022, she directly contacted the VPD and was informed that the informal policy discouraging officers from blocking access existed, but it was not going to be formalized unless a complaint was filed. 

The VPD said they are currently focusing on public safety in the DTES through increased police visibility and enforcement with their Task Force Barrage. However, healthcare providers and patrons worry that this presence could discourage individuals from accessing critical health services. 

“This is a situation that we’ve been hearing about for years in terms of police loitering outside of sites, but definitely in the last couple of months, we’ve received an influx in reports from patrons and service providers.” — Caitlin Shane, legal advocate, Pivot Legal Society

Shane said that when police presence deters individuals from accessing harm reduction sites, they are “more likely to be using drugs alone or in back alleys, or without sterile injection equipment.” She added, “When people don’t have access to these sites, they’re less able to engage in risk mitigation strategies, like using an overdose prevention site or getting sterile equipment, or having someone witness them in the event of an overdose.

“We can’t take risks like this. We need to ensure that people are getting the services that they need,” she said. “The reason why we need formalized policies is precisely so that we don’t end up in a situation like this.”

Pivot Legal Society works closely with marginalized communities to ensure their legal rights are protected. The Supreme Court of Canada has provided a legal right for individuals possessing drugs to access harm reduction sites without facing prosecution under criminal drug laws. “This is a situation that we’ve been hearing about for years in terms of police loitering outside of sites,” said Shane. “But definitely in the last couple of months, we’ve received an influx in reports from patrons and service providers. 

A study by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control published in 2019 estimated that harm reduction interventions, including supervised consumption sites, averted about 3,030 overdose deaths in the province between April 2016 and December 2017. The program also estimated that “82% of all death events were prevented with the Take Home Naloxone program, witnessed consumption sites, and opioid agonist treatment from January 2019 to October 2024.” These sites also serve as accessible entry points to broader healthcare services, including “testing for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, mental health care, and social services and supports.”

“It’s very confusing. We’re getting mixed messages from the VPD, and it’s our belief that this is probably the most dangerous time historically to be sending mixed messages to people about what to expect when accessing a harm reduction site,” Shane expressed. A 2024 study published by BMC Medicine stated that overdoses are “the leading cause of death in BC for people aged 10–59.” CBC reported that there were “more than 2,500 deaths in 2023” related to this.

The Peak did not receive a response from the VPD by the publication deadline.