Letter to the Works and John Howard Society Re: Partnership with the Police.

Disclaimer: We encourage all those opposed to this partnership to contact the Works, and John Howard directly.  Please voice your opposition. This pilot project needs to end.

December 21, 2015

Atten: Shaun Hopkins

Manager, The Works

Toronto Public Health

Amber Kellen
Director of Community Initiatives, Policy and Research

The John Howard Society of Toronto

We are writing you regarding the current pilot “Street Outreach” project with the John Howard Society, The Works and the Toronto Police Services. After discussions with Shaun,  it is our impression that this is a referral based outreach pilot project in partnership with plain clothes police officers. We are disappointed and dismayed by this project and are fearful of its ramifications and are asking for its immediate discontinuation.

Decades of trust has been built in this city between people who use drugs and front line harm reduction workers. This trust is being broken every day that this project continues. We do not need to explain why bringing undercover officers on outreach is problematic. The police is the most comprehensive tool in reinforcing prohibition and we know you comprehend the magnitude of the negative role the police play in the lives of people who use drugs.  As professionals working in harm reduction, you should already be aware of these problematic dynamics.

We would like to see an end to this project. It was never an appropriate partnership and we are incredibly concerned by the damage this is causing. We do not want people to be fearful of calling the Works to access harm reduction supplies and or overdose prevention. We have heard claims that this project has had a few meaningful responses. Those small meaningful responses cannot be measured against the large negative impacts this project is having.  And these impacts are not limited to The Works and the harm reduction programs it sponsors.  There is real danger that people who use drugs will generalize their distrust to all harm reduction and needle & syringe distribution programs in Toronto and beyond, increasing the risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other BBI among this vulnerable community. 

We would like to offer ourselves as a source for consultation for future projects. It is obvious that the implications and ramifications a project like this could have were not thought through. We would like to help you think these through in the future so that we do not find ourselves in an adversarial role.  We want to work in solidarity with TPH, towards a common goal.. In the meantime we ask that this project is terminated immediately and that both the Works and the John Howard Society act quickly to repair the damage that has been created by this partnership with the most coercive tool of prohibition.  This project has to stop before people who use drugs in this city become more fearful of accessing any of the needle and syringe distribution programs in Toronto and beyond.

On behalf of the Toronto Drug Users Union