WEDNESDAY
April 1 2015 Vol. 106 No. 25
OPINION 10
Strathcona shows community ity CITY LIVING 14
Sword almighty! SPORTS 27
Eby rider
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vancourier.com MIDWEEK EDITION
THE VOICE of VANCOUVER NEIGHBOURHOODS since 1908
More drug injection services considered Health Canada yet to weigh in on current ‘illegal’ injection facility Mike Howell
mhowell@vancourier.com
STRANGE BREW Brewmaster Caleb Colten admires his handiwork outside city hall. The 10,000-square-foot City Hall Brewing Co. “demibrewery” will open its doors this summer in the basement of city hall with a line of environmental- and civic-minded craft beers. PHOTO DAN TOULGOET
City hall to convert cafeteria into craft brewery Civic-themed offerings on tap at ‘Upper Brewery Creek’ facility
Hal Incandenza
hincandenza@vancourier.com
With beehives on its roof and community gardens on its lawn, Vancouver city hall has taken what it says is the next logical step and is installing a craft brewery in its basement. In a few short months, City Hall Brewing Co. will open the doors of its 10,000-square-foot brewing facility and tasting room, occupying the former ground floor cafeteria of city hall. Larger than a nanobrewery and smaller than a microbrewery, the $1.3-million
“demibrewery” is the first project of its kind to be launched in North America by a municipal government. “Craft beer has returned to Upper Brewery Creek” a press release from the city announced earlier this week, although no one from the city’s communication staff returned the Courier’s requests for an interview before print deadline. Utilizing state-of-the-art brewing technology that requires less water and produces less waste, the brewery, according to the press release, is in keeping with the city’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. Discarded mash and
runoff from the brewing process will be used to fertilize hops and barley grown on the back lawn of city hall, while growlers and other bottles sold at the brewery’s filling station will be made from biodegradable corn plastic. The brewery’s line of beers promises to be equally civic-minded. Rankin’s Lipwarmer is a described as a “robust” oatmeal stout that gets its name from long-serving city councillor Harry Rankin, while George Puil Bitter is a nod to the famously cantankerous NPA politician, with “a hoppy bite and lingering bitterness.” Continued on page 9
Vancouver Coastal Health will consider adding supervised drug injection services to existing health clinics if Health Canada grants an exemption to a downtown facility that has “illegally” operated an injection room for its registered clients since February 2002. Dr. Patricia Daly, the chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, said the health authority is still waiting for Health Canada’s decision on the Dr. Peter Centre before it looks to expand injection services in the city. The centre operates a three-booth injection room and allows for supervised injection in its residential care facility at Comox and Thurlow. It caters to people with AIDS and those dealing with mental health and addictions issues. “I’ve been disappointed at how long it’s taken,” Daly told the Courier. “We had hoped that if Health Canada approves that different type of model [at the centre], we could then expand that to other sites. We want that model elsewhere.” Daly wouldn’t speculate on how many sites but pointed to existing community health clinics, which already provide needle exchanges, as likely locations. The concern for staff at health clinics is that drug users continue to inject drugs outside a facility without supervision, she said. “They’re worried because they know some of these vulnerable residents might be injecting drugs and might overdose, and what are they going to do if that happens?” Daly said. Vancouver Coastal Health announced last week that Health Canada renewed an exemption for the Insite supervised drug injection site on East Hastings to operate for another year. But unlike Insite, the Dr. Peter Centre has never received an exemption in the 13 years it has operated its injection services and is considered “illegal” by Health Canada, although the Vancouver Police Department has consistently said it has no plans to shut it down. Staff at the centre consulted the College of Registered Nurses and a lawyer before offering the injection service in 2002. Continued on page 5