NEWS FILE PHOTO Kym Porter holds a photo of her son Neil Balmer beside Robyn Westgarth, who is holding a picture of her brother Michael "Shane" Westgarth. Porter, a local harm reduction advocate, will be in Calgary at a rally in support of supervised consumption sites.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Two simultaneous rallies in support of supervised consumption sites are occurring in Calgary and Edmonton today and harm reduction advocates from the Hat are making the trek up to join them.
Kym Porter, a local harm reduction advocate who lost her son Neil Balmer to opioid addiction in July 2016, went to the “sister rally” in Calgary, which is occurring at the same time as one outside the legislature building in Edmonton organized by Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy.
The Calgary demonstration is taking place at the park across the street from the Sheldom Chumir Centre.
She told the News it’s important for harm reduction advocates to make their voices heard, even if the government has already made up its mind.
“They still haven’t made the announcement about the review from the panel on supervised consumption. We’re not sure at this point what it’s going to look like or what it’s going to say, but I believe the writing’s on the wall,” said Porter, who received a letter recently from Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Jason Luan she describes as “cryptic.”
“As people who believe in the value of all human beings, we’re gathering to express what we believe is a necessary support for people who are affected by this opioid and drug crisis.”
Corey Ranger, a Victoria-based harm reduction advocate who lived in the Hat until last year, is attending the rally at the legislature.
“Everybody’s been patient and we’ve been told to trust the process. The government have set up their committees, they’ve completed their reviews and yet we still haven’t seen any tangible evidence or anything that will tell us which way this will go, aside from some really negative rhetoric that’s come out of some of the ministry officials,” said Ranger.
Premier Jason Kenney has called supervised consumption “NDP drug sites” and claimed there is evidence the sites aren’t effective, which he didn’t cite.
“Helping addicts inject poison into their bodies is not a solution to the problem of addiction,” he said in March 2018 while campaigning in Lethbridge – the site of North America’s busiest site.
Ranger received a letter from Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Jason Luan, as did Porter, which Ranger says doesn’t inspire confidence.
“It didn’t really say much. It just reiterated what the government has done thus far in relation to the SCS review, but it carried some significant connotations of really leaning into the perceptions of social disorders that was so impactful that they’d consider defunding the sites,” Ranger said, adding that there’s an “ethical imperative” to continue funding. “Some cuts are too deep and this cut will kill people.”
Porter said she too has no illusions about convincing the government to change track.
“We have to have some sort of hope,” she said. “I believe that as more and more decisions are being made in this province that people need to stand up for what they believe in.”
