PLENARY SESSION:
Sexually Transmitted Disease and Blood Borne-Pathogens

With a wealth of knowledge from having worked across Canada, Andre Corriveau will share with the audience current statistics for Alberta on sexually-transmitted and blood-borne infections. Dr. Corriveau will also describe the key strategies being used to address these challenges.

Dr. Andre Corriveau

On March 23, 2009, Dr. André Corriveau was appointed Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) for the province of Alberta. The Chief Medical Officer of Health acts on behalf of the Minister of Health to monitor the health of Albertans and to make recommendations to the Minister and Alberta Health Services on measures to protect and promote the health of the public and to prevent disease and injury. The CMOH plays a key role in advising on the need for legislation, policies and practices affecting public health. Since April 1, 2010, Dr. Corriveau is also the Provincial/Territorial Co-Chair of the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Institute of Health Information’s Population Health Initiative, as well as the Advisory Council of the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health. From 1996 to March 2009, Dr. Corriveau served as the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the Northwest Territories. Prior to moving to the Northwest Territories in 1994, Dr. Corriveau had worked in Nova Scotia and in Nunavik (Northern Quebec) as a regional medical director and general practitioner. Dr Corriveau received his degree in medicine from McGill University in 1981 and completed a residency in community medicine as well as a Master in Business Administration at Laval University in 1986.

PLENARY SESSION:
Keep doing the work; just don't call it Harm Reduction

I am a Registered Nurse, and I have worked for 20 years focusing on client needs and outcomes. One day my world changed. I was told that I could no longer call the work that I did harm reduction. “Keep doing the work that you are doing, but whatever you do - do not call it Harm Reduction!” I would like to share my story of how I managed to work (for a while) in a system that does not support Harm Reduction. You will discover, through my journey, how to make your job and life in Harm Reduction less in conflict and more balanced overall. The challenge of working in Harm Reduction is that policies, guidelines, strategies are written by people who are least affected but have the most overarching power. I made mistakes and have learned valuable lessons on how to work with funders, agencies, and the man. Some people say I took one for the team, other people told me to ‘shut up’. I needed to bend to grow, because I did almost snap. We all need to look at our roles within our organizations, and we need to focus on who we really work for at the end of the day.

Greg Riehl, RN, BScN, MA

Greg Riehl graduated from University of Saskatchewan in 1991, with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing earned a Masters of Arts in Professional Communications, specializing in Intercultural and International Communication through Royal Roads University in 2008. Greg enjoys the challenge that the nursing profession offers and has worked all over- from acute care, to northern nursing, to street outreach to local, provincial and federal positions. He has a passion for learning and sharing knowledge, which has led him to working at SIAST. He keeps super busy with volunteer organizations like SPHA and the Saskatchewan HIV HCV Nursing EDUCATION Organization and sits on various provincial and national advisory groups focusing on HIV care, treatment and support. Greg’s dog Bongo is his biggest fan for the last 11 years.

PLENARY SESSION:
Insight into Insite

Insite is the only supervised injection site operating in North America with an explicit legal exemption, originally issued by a former Minister of Health, from Canada’s drug laws that prohibit possession and trafficking. An extensive body of evidence has shown its benefits for the health of those who use it and for the wellbeing of the surrounding community, yet the federal government has spoken out against Insite and made no secret of its desire to shut it down, including by not renewing its exemption. It has also stated that it refuses to consider granting exemptions to additional sites. Insite’s operators and supporters went to court in BC to prevent the site from shutting once the exemption expired. Two levels of BC courts have granted Insite a continuing exemption from parts of Canada’s drug laws so that it can continue to operate without fear that its staff or users will be prosecuted, with different legal grounds being cited. The federal government has appealed those decisions, with a Supreme Court of Canada hearing in May 2011. More than a dozen organizations have intervened in support of Insite; some have plans to open additional supervised injection sites. This session will look at the legal issues at stake in the Insite case and what the SCC’s decision could mean for harm reduction efforts more generally.

Richard Elliott

Richard Elliot joined the Legal Network staff in January 1999 as Director of Policy and Research, following a one and a half-year term on its board of directors. He became Deputy Director in 2005, and Executive Director in 2007. Previously, he worked as a lawyer in private practice and appeared before all levels of Ontario courts, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. He has coordinated student legal aid clinic services for low-income people with HIV/AIDS, served on the boards of directors of HALCO, the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic (Ontario), and the Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN), and been involved with other human rights organizations. Between 2001 and 2007, he was a member of the Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS. Richard is a founding member of the Global Treatment Access Group (GTAG), an affiliation of Canadian civil society organizations advocating for access to medicines and other aspects of the human right to health in developing countries. Richard holds an undergraduate degree in economics and philosophy from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and obtained his LL.B. and LL.M. from the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto. He was called to the bar in Ontario in 1997, and has authored numerous reports, papers and articles on the legal and human rights issues related to HIV/AIDS.

PLENARY SESSION:
Do it Yourself Policy Development” Taking Control: Building Capacity for Community Engagement in Developing Evidence-Based Drug Policy in Canada

The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) is a new civil society organization with a vision of a drug policy for Canada that is based on principles of public health and human rights, is informed by evidence and is inclusive of people who currently use psychoactive substances. CDPC is undertaking a process to engage Canadians in contributing to the development of improved legislative, regulatory and policy frameworks for guiding responses to legal and illegal drugs in Canada. CDPC has committed to focus on key policy issues relating to substance use that impact individuals, families and communities across Canada. CDPC intends to stimulate a national dialogue on drug policy with the goal of developing alternative strategies to address substance use and related problems noting the significant calls for change in recent years and the mounting evidence that the criminalization of drugs causes significant harms to individuals, families and communities. CDPC aims to build a national movement focusing on drug policy change and provide leadership, advocacy and support for Canadians to engage in this process. This is an inter-active session where participants will learn about the work of CDPC and have an opportunity to provide input into the development of the coalition.

Donald MacPherson

Donald MacPherson is the author of Vancouver’s groundbreaking Four Pillars Drug Strategy that precipitated a broad public discussion on issues related to drug policy and addiction in the community. The strategy called for new approaches to drug problems based on public health principles and the appropriate regulation of all psychoactive substances. In 2007 he received the Kaiser Foundation National Award of Excellence in Public Policy in Canada. In 2009 the City of Vancouver was awarded the Canadian Urban Institutes Secure City Award for the Four Pillars Drug Strategy. In 2009 MacPherson was awarded the Richard Dennis Drug Peace Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Drug Policy Reform by the Drug Policy Alliance in the United States. He is one of Canada’s leading figures in drug policy and advocates policies based on principles of public health and human rights, that aim to maximize belonging and social inclusion, and that are informed by evidence. He is involved at local, national and international levels and is a founding member of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.