Hundreds rallied for the Drug User Liberation front as co-founders’ first court appearance pushed back

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As a former employee of two Black Press papers — Penticton Western News, then Abbotsford News — I’m sad to see the company is facing an uncertain future. The company has its problems, but there are a lot of good journalists providing an essential service to small communities that have no other source of local journalism.

The company hasn’t had a paper in the Lower Mainland west of Surrey for a while — since they traded and killed publications with That Other Local News Company, Glacier Media — years back. But it’s just a reminder to support local news. Maybe keep a Lookout for newer publications doing just that?

— Dustin Godfrey

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WEATHER

Wednesday: 0 🌡️ -4 | 🌨️

Thursday: 1 🌡️ 1 | 🌧️/❄️

Friday: 5 🌡️ 3 | 🌧️

DULF

Drug User Liberation Front’s first court appearance pushed back

What happened: Two co-founders of the Drug User Liberation Front were supposed to make a first appearance on Tuesday before the BC provincial court for potential drug trafficking charges over a compassion club they operated. For over a year, the group went against the law, selling tested heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine to a few dozen members as a community-level safe supply initiative.

• But Crown prosecutors pushed the matter back, according to organizers of a rally to support them. While the lack of movement on the file effectively leaves Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum in legal limbo, with no criminal charges either laid or turned down by prosecutors, allies are taking some cautious optimism from the delays.

Why’s that? To answer why, we have to take a step back. Vince Tao, a community organizer with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, noted in an interview with Vancity Lookout that the decision of whether or not to proceed with charges is up to two questions: the likelihood of successful conviction and whether the charges are in the public interest.

On likelihood of conviction: “They would probably be convicted,” Tao said, noting it’s a purely technical matter: “Did they possess drugs? Yes. So, unfortunately that’s the letter of the law.” What’s more important in the DULF case is the second question about the public’s interest.

Is it in the public’s interest? DULF allies like Tao say emphatically no. “I think that’s exactly why they are slowing down on their prosecution because they can see what’s going on, right?” Tao said. He noted that on Nov. 3 last year, a similar rally for DULF pulled in about 600 people, shutting down Hastings Street in a march to Victory Square.

• Tuesday’s rally, while not quite as big, still pulled in two or three hundred people. Notably, those hundreds of people showed up at noon on a Tuesday. At the same time, Tao pointed to editorials that have been printed in support of DULF and other expressions of public support for the compassion club.

Harm reduction advocates point to the life-saving potential of safe supply, with a study published in the British Medical Journal last week showing a 61 percent lower risk of death by any cause, including a 55 percent lower risk of overdose death, for those who were prescribed pharmaceutical-grade opioids in the week after receiving a prescription.

What’s next? The threat of charges still hangs over Nyx and Kalicum, but Tao said he hopes the government will not follow through with charges because “they will be completely embarrassed and humiliated if they move forward with this case, and I think they know that.”

That being said, there does remain another court case. When DULF was first starting out, they applied to Health Canada for an exemption to run the compassion club, but they were denied — hence running the operation outside of the law. But they also filed for a judicial review, which will be heard in March, Tao said.

“The fight continues.”

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VANCOUVER NUMBERS

📉 $2,700: The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver in December, down 5.8 percent from the previous month, according to the monthly Rentals.ca report. Next door in Burnaby, it was $2,600, a three percent decrease. [Daily Hive]

💸 $49 million: The Vancouver School Board says it’s owed that much in back rent for the Kingsgate Mall property. The allegation came in a lawsuit filed last week against Beedie Development LP, which has leased the land since 2005. [Vancouver is Awesome]

👋 3 million: Vancouver could reach that many people living in the city this year, according to BC government statistics, marking about 20 years since the region hit two million and about 50 years since reaching one million. [Daily Hive]

📈 3.4%: The national inflation rate increased in December to this amount, up from 3.1 percent in November. The increase in the rate lowers the likelihood of a Bank of Canada interest rate cut. [CTV]

BURST PIPES

Water, water everywhere, ’cause all the pipes did shrink

Sounds messy: With temperature holding well below zero, businesses and homes are reporting burst water pipes, causing damage to their properties, according to several news outlets.

• “It’s been way more than usual,” Keyosha Waugh of Incredible Restorations told the Vancouver Sun, counting 60 to 70 calls over the weekend, with another 20 new floods on Monday.

Where is getting hit? Where isn’t? A gate in the domestic terminal at YVR was closed on Jan. 12 due to a burst pipe, according to CityNews, which also reported 13 residents at a Surrey seniors’ home were relocated.

More concerning, patients headed to Mission Memorial Hospital’s ER were, as of Sunday, being diverted to Abbotsford’s or Maple Ridge’s hospitals due to flooding from a burst pipe, according to CTV.

Not just burst pipes: There’s plenty of other damage being done by the winter weather. As noted in our Monday newsletter, there was no shortage of car crashes holding up traffic in the last week. In fact, ICBC tallied more than 3,500 claims on Jan. 11, a 160 percent increase over the average of 1,300 in any given day, according to CTV. The network is also reporting an increase in calls for frostbite and hypothermia attended by BC paramedics.

Scant skating to be had: While icy ponds may be tempting, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation also had to warn people not to go skating, as the ice was still not thick enough to support people, Vancouver is Awesome reported.

Of course, the winter weather isn’t quite over yet, with Daily Hive pointing to forecasts that some areas of the Lower Mainland could get 15 to 30 cm of snow this week.

DREAM HOME

High ceilings? A mix of modern, brick and regal vibes? Two storeys in one apartment? The views!? Yes, it’s a penthouse, and yes, it’s going for…quite a bit. Just, shh. Let us have this.

See how much it’s going for at the listing (it’s not cheap!)

House of The Week is a home selected by the Lookout team and is not a paid advertisement. All ads are labeled as such. If you’re a realtor who wishes to feature your home in our newsletter, please contact our sales team.

THE AGENDA

🚨 Hate crimes were up 30 percent in 2023 compared with the year prior, with increases seen against the 2SLGBTQ+, South Asian, Muslim and Jewish communities. The Israel-Gaza war is “the single biggest reason” for increases. [CityNews]

🪧 Vancouver police spent $4 million in overtime to monitor protests last year, doubling the overtime budget for the year, with $2.5 million spent on 1,800 overtime shifts at 80 protests related to the Israel-Gaza war. [Vancouver Sun]

🛝 A “sensory park” could be in the pipeline for Vancouver. The initiative is being pushed by park board commissioner Jas Virdi, and it would be designed to be accessible for kids with autism spectrum disorder, as well as kids with mobility challenges. [Vancouver Sun]

🧑‍⚖️ Do BC’s civil forfeiture laws give police an opportunity to seek justice where criminal law is too impermissible, or is it an overreach that breaches our constitutional rights? A Shaughnessy Street property is putting that to the test in the courts. [The Canadian Press]

🚔 An advocate for Vancouver’s unhoused population, Ryan Sudds with Stop the Sweeps, was arrested Monday morning as the VPD and park rangers continued their decampment efforts in Oppenheimer Park amid -3 C weather. [CTV]

✋ While that decampment was happening, the City of Vancouver reported on Saturday that its emergency winter shelters were full every night since Wednesday up to that point. [CTV]

🏡 It’s not a price reduction, but I guess we’ll take it. Royal LePage is forecasting slower home price growth in Vancouver than the national average. That’s at about three percent in Vancouver this year, to an average of $1.257 million by the fourth quarter, compared with 5.5 percent nationally. [Daily Hive]

ARTS

The PuSh Festival has followed the lead of Victoria’s Belfry Theatre and cancelled its run of the Israel-set play The Runner. The play has been criticized by pro-Palestine groups who say it paints Palestinians as violent in a time when 24,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military. [Globe and Mail]

Vancouver musician Kate MacColl’s original musical, That Was Then, is set to run at The Nest on Friday and Saturday this week. Tickets are available for $20 to $70. [Straight]

Rickshaw Theatre is hosting Band Together, a fundraiser for BC Children’s Hospital featuring double-headers funk-prog band Brass Camel and pure pop group Bend Sinister, alongside Uncle Strut, Spendo, Tess Anderson and Bleako’s Nuclear Disco. The show is on Saturday, with tickets for $25. [Straight]

Former Mandalorian star Gina Carano is among those lined up to appear at Fan Expo Vancouver, leading to a boycott of the event over her transphobic views. [Global]

BIG SHARK. [Rio Theatre]

Legendary Vancouver graffiti artist Smokey D is taking his skills from the alleys of the Downtown Eastside to the prestige of Emily Carr University, where he’s lined up as a guest lecturer this spring. [CBC]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• A true hero spent over an hour helping to push cars up the hill near his Mount Pleasant home during the snowfall last Thursday. [CBC]

• If you see SFU in this crime drama, this time it isn’t for a meeting with The Smoking Man. Wild Cards, a new crime drama from CBC, set and filmed in Vancouver, featuring Riverdale star Vanessa Morgan and Giacomo Gianniotti of Grey’s Anatomy, is now streaming on CBC Gem. [Daily Hive]

• Baby, it’s sad outside. With all the dark and terrible weather, it’s easy to feel down. Here’s a list of places that can help change that, from cat and bunny cafes to our gorgeous park trails. [Daily Hive]

• Heading into 2024, Vancouver’s craft beer industry is in a rough spot, with some closures announced and some potentially still coming — we’re a far cry from the 2010s (a simpler time), when it seemed like there was no end to the market. [Scout]

• If you’re looking to stretch your artistic muscles, Scout Magazine knows of a few calls for submissions that could be for you. [Scout]

• Want to have your announcement featured? Learn how here.

VANCOUVER GUESSER

No, I don’t want to go here in this weather, but come summer, I wouldn’t mind a trip to this park. Can you guess which one it is? Reply with your name and answer to be included in the newsletter.