Democracies, Minorities, & Incompetencies

As part of my belief that our systems of living together are a) created for good, b) ridiculously flawed, and c) capable of being redeemed, I chose to work within the system in my attempts to convince the Conservative party to stop wasting taxpayer money trying to close InSite. Many have fought and died for democracy, and I am fortunate to live in Canada, where relative peace overtakes the majority. The problem in our system, however, is protection of the minority - those that the majority don't know or care about. In order to protect those minority rights, we have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If the government attempts to trample the rights of a marginalized group that most people don't notice, that group has the right to take it to court.

So this is what has happened with InSite - the Federal government has attempted to shut them down, knowing full well that nobody outside of B.C. will pay any attention to the matter. The B.C. Supreme Court (and Appeals Court) affirmed that shutting down InSite would, in fact, contravene the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by denying a specific marginalized group the same healthcare that is provided to all other Canadians. Despite this, the Conservative government is spending large amounts of money taking this to the Supreme Court of Canada. What's a citizen to do?

Well, I started going about it within the system - by writing to my MP. Below is a copy of our email conversation.

My initial email:

Dear Mr. Anders,

I am a nurse who has lived in your riding for many years. Recently, however, I had the chance to live in Vancouver for a few months and work at Vancouver's supervised injection site, InSite, while attending an evangelical seminary, Regent College. In my time there, as a Christian nurse caring for injection drug users, I realized that this community has been marginalized in Vancouver and Calgary alike to an inhumane extent. On a typical day, I could expect to treat patients who had been hit by cars on Hastings - and the cars didn't stop. We have grown to devalue injection drug users as less than human, and it shows in our public policy.

I am writing to request that you speak out within your party to request that the Federal Government re-adjust its priorities and shuffle funds away from the impending court case against InSite at the Supreme Court of Canada, and into more effective means of preventing drug use such as adequate social services for at-risk children. Please review the attached report on InSite and take time to consider its implications. Feel free to contact me with any questions or follow-up. I look forward to hearing your response to my email. Thank you!

Meera Bai, RN
Calgary West constituent

His response:

Thank you for your email which has been read by Rob Anders, MP.  Below is his response sent from his blackberry.

 I have read your email.  The advice that I have received from former drug users is not to give federal money to people who test positive for drugs. The former users told me that those addicted take free shelter, free food and free clothes so that whatever government money they get can be used to buy drugs. Former users told me to deprive addicts of the opportunity to live off the system.
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Sincerely,

Margaret Hoppe

Constituency Assistant

Rob Anders MP Calgary West

Tel: (403) 292-6666

Fax: (403) 292-6670

robanders@telus.net

My response:

Hi Mr. Anders,

Thank you for your response. It seems as though you are unfamiliar with what InSite provides drug users. They do not provide food, shelter, or clothing, but rather health care. While there may be a wide variety of personal opinions on what drug addiction entails, I think that we can all agree health care is a basic human right that should be provided to all, drug users or not. I would be happy to sit down and discuss InSite with you so you can better understand that the issue at stake is not abusing the system but rather access to basic health care.

Meera Bai, RN

And his response back:

Thank you for your letter which has been read by Rob Anders.  Below, in italics, is his personal response.

I know they don't provide food, clothing or shelter. I was merely sharing a drug related perspective that many in my constituency hold.
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Sincerely,

Margaret Hoppe

Constituency Assistant

Rob Anders MP Calgary West

Tel: (403) 292-6666

Fax: (403) 292-6670

robanders@telus.net

This has been the extent of our communication so far. I can't honestly say that I hope it continues, but I will try nonetheless because in a democratic society, Rob Anders' response is inadequate, inappropriate, and inaccurate. I hope that he will take me up on the offer to sit and talk professionally, but for some reason, I doubt it.

So it remains up to those fringe few who interact with the marginalized to raise awareness amongst the majority and make it a mainstream issue in order to protect the Charter. Of course, we are still dependent on the Supreme Court of Canada's decision making process, and hopefully they will recognize the foolishness of this case, but in the meantime the Federal government spends hard-earned taxes without accountability from the masses. That accountability needs to come from awareness. And that's where you come in.

If you took the time to read this post, please take the time to tell a few other people about InSite, and start to make waves. It's the only way we can hold up our heads as Canadians.