Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott has given a heartfelt stamp of approval to the work of Vancouver’s Insite supervised-injection site, a dramatic shift in tone from the previous Conservative government on harm reduction strategies that could have consequences across the country.
The new Liberal Health Minister, a family doctor who founded a charity that has raised more than $4-million to help those affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, visited Insite on Wednesday, one day before joining her provincial and territorial counterparts for meetings on a new health accord.
While supervised-injection sites are not on the agenda, Dr. Philpott was asked about her visit during a break in the discussions.
“I have to say my visit to Insite was extremely moving for me,” Dr. Philpott said on Thursday. “It meant so much to me because I’ve been involved in responding to things like the HIV pandemic for many years in my career and I’ve followed the work of Insite. I’ve always known that what they do absolutely saves countless lives. It has a huge impact on people.”
Insite has operated on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside since 2003. The Dr. Peter Centre, a renowned HIV/AIDS clinic in the city’s West End, has offered supervised-injection service in an integrated model since 2002, receiving federal authorization last week.
The federal Liberal government, however, has not made any commitment to repealing the legislation that makes it extremely difficult to open other supervised-injection sites.