INSIDE: Mayor scolds Metro on waste plans T H U R S D A Y
Pg. 4
June 13, 2013
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Council backs 3 Bradner park N E W S ,
SPORTS,
WEATHER
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E N T E R T A I N M E N T abbotsfordtimes.com
Lawyer takes on Feds over new pot rules ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
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SCAN FOR PHOTOS – JOHN VAN PUTTEN/TIMES
Rod Santiago, executive director of Abbotsford Community Services, left, unveils the plan for a new housing project with John Sutherland, chair of ASDAC.
Low barrier housing & respect CHRISTINA TOTH CToth@abbotsfordtimes.com
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ocial advocates hope to use the outrage sparked by the dumping of chicken manure by the city on an Abbotsford homeless camp last week to fuel a momentum to find more appropriate responses to marginalized residents. One better tactic is to uphold a bylaw already in place that requires the city to give residents of a homeless camp a day’s notice before the site is dismantled, said John Sutherland, chairman of the Abbotsford Social Development Advisory Committee. “The bylaw doesn’t say: ‘an early dawn raid with manure.’ There is supposed to be a 24-hour notice and that was completely ignored,” said Sutherland.
ASDAC, which can make recommendations to One of those is a 20-bed facility proposed by the city council, agreed to review the bylaw. Abbotsford Community Services. It would be While its members met a low-barrier, supported tranWe d n e s d a y m o r n i n g i n sitional housing project where response to the city’s infamous “The bylaw doesn’t say: men who are homeless or at manure dump, the goal was also ‘an early dawn raid with risk of being homeless can live to hear from service providers manure.’ There is supfor up to two years, said ACS and those who interact with the executive director Santiago. posed to be a 24-hour homeless. “It’s a housing-first initiative. Committee members unani- notice and that was com- This is a huge missing piece in mously condemned the city’s pletely ignored.” the spectrum of housing needs actions, said Sutherland. in Abbotsford,” between emerMCC director of programs – John Sutherland gency shelter and more permaand ASDAC member Ron van nent residency, he said. Wyk compared it to the kind of Low-barrier means the men “fascist acts” he saw under apartheid in South don’t have to be ‘clean’ from using drugs or Africa. ASDAC will also reactivate its housing alcohol, but once they have stable shelter, they working group, to support current and future see HOMELESS, page A6 housing initiatives.
bbotsford lawyer John Conroy is undertaking a legal battle against new changes to the federal government’s medical marijuana program. On Monday, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced some of the anticipated changes to the program, which includes banning individual home-based medicinal grow-ops in favour of larger government licenced producers. The new regulations mean sick or disabled people or their legal proxies with licences will no long be able to grow their own marijuana, said Conroy. The price of marijuana from the large producers will cost people up to four times as much as producing their own, said Conroy. The government estimates under the new program medical pot will be sold for $8 to $10 a gram while individuals grew their own for between $1 to $4, said Conroy. The price increase will limit some sick individuals, many on a low income, from being able to buy marijuana for their conditions. There is legal precedent that individuals with medical conditions with a doctor’s authorization have a Constitutional right to reasonable access to medical marijuana, said Conroy. Under the old program, those that couldn’t afford dispensary or black market prices grew their own marijuana, something they won’t be able to do in the future. Conroy expects to launch a Constitutional challenge on behalf of a coalition of medical marijuana users fighting the problematic aspects of the proposed regulations. “Basically, we’re saying these people’s constitutional rights are being impaired by what’s being proposed,” said Conroy. see MARIJUANA, page A11
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