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NIMBYlicious! Insite hearings make Health the most popular committee in town!

If anyone thought that the BC Supreme Court decision was going to make tomorrow’s special Health committee hearing on Insite a moot affair, I have good/bad news for you: Despite the judicial reprieve, it seems that the self-appointed “safety” lobby is still on the anti-harm reduction warpath. Guess I’d better make sure to show up early enough to get a front-row seat — liveblogging is so much better when you can see all the action up close.

I think my favourite part is the way it is helpfully cc’d to both the Prime Minister and Tony Clement – but hey, why not John Reynolds, too? After all, as Colleague Wells noted this morning, he recently registered as a lobbyist for a competitor alternative to Insite, so you’d think he’d be glad to show up to fill up the room.

Text of the call to arms below the jump:


—– Original Message —–

From: Stephanie Strudwick

To: Lebreton Flats Neighbourhood Watch
Cc: Prime Minister Harper <mailto:[email protected]> ; Dr. Philip O. Emafo, President of INCB <mailto:[email protected]> ; Tony Clement <mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:30 PM
Subject: Attention All Safety-related groups — Fw: May 29th Meeting at Parliament Hill

IMPORTANT INSITE-related Meeting on Parliament Hill: Everyone being asked to attend (if possible)

For your immediate attention / action: A great many of us have serious concerns if an illegal drug injection site similar to Vancouver’s is allowed to operate in the Central Ottawa area. There is genuine concern we would see the decay of a Central Ottawa neighbourhood — similar to Vancouver’s notorious Downtown East Side. Many of us are working to find real solutions that will truly rehabilitate and help these people who suffer from addiction illness (the folks of Safer Ottawa have been investigating the drug rehabilitation program over in San Patrignano, Italy — where there has been a proven 72% success rate, for instance (over 20,000 addicts successfully treated / rehabilitated over 30 years: http://www.saferottawa.ca/html/addictions_treatment.html ). Please see the following bulletin notice, marked important, forwarded out to ALL Community Safety groups across Ottawa — from the folks of Safer Ottawa:

” —– Original Message —–
From: Safer Ottawa <mailto:[email protected]>
To: ‘Safer Ottawa’ <mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:04 PM
Subject: May 29th Meeting at Parliament Hill

Hi all

In light of the most recent events it is more important than ever to attend the meeting on the 29th at Parliament Hill. For those not aware the BC supreme Court just granted INSITE an injunction to stay open another year thus in effect overwriting federal law. The reason this is so dire is the next suggested location for an injection site has been Ottawa and the most logical location would be the Lowertown / Market area.

Below find the only news release we have regarding the injunction as well as the info for the meeting.

MEETING INFORMATION

The Minister will be speaking to the Health Committee from noon to 1:00 p.m. approximately on May 29th. It will be on Parliament Hill, Centre Block, and the room is not yet confirmed but they are right across the hall from each other:

253D at 10:30 a.m.
or
237C at 10:00 a.m.

The public will need to go through security at the downstairs entrance, that takes a few moments, and the Committee Room is expected to be quite packed so people may want to get there early to make sure they can get in.

[snip]—
Stephanie Strudwick
Lebreton Flats Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator Concerned Citizens for Safer Neighbourhoods Central Ottawa Neighbourhoods Safety Alliance
[address redacted]
Tel: [redacted]
E-mail: [redacted]
(District 23 NW Coordinator — west of Bronson)

Remember to keep front and back porch lights on at night.

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